1997 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1997.

Events

• David Foster won the Miles Franklin Award for The Glade Within the Grove

Major publications

Novels

• John Birmingham — The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco
• James Bradley — Wrack
• Peter Carey — Jack Maggs
• J. M. Coetzee — Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life
• Marele Day — Lambs of God ^[1]
• Luke Davies — Candy
• Delia Falconer — The Service of Clouds ^[2]
• Richard Flanagan — The Sound of One Hand Clapping
• Elizabeth Jolley — Lovesong ^[3]
• Rod Jones — Nightpictures ^[4]
• Melissa Lucashenko — Steam Pigs
• Colleen McCullough — Caesar
• Madeleine St John — The Essence of the Thing
• Tim Winton — Blueback
• Alexis Wright — Plains of Promise ^[5]

Children's and young adult fiction

• Damien Broderick and Rory Barnes — Zones
• Kim Caraher — Up a Gum Tree ^[6]
• Isobelle Carmody
  • Darkfall
  • Greylands
• Gary Crew and Michael O'Hara — The Blue Feather
• Sonya Hartnett — Princes
• Catherine Jinks — Eye to Eye
• Garth Nix — Shade's Children
• Sarah Walker — The Year of Freaking Out
• Tim Winton — Lockie Leonard, Legend

Science fiction and fantasy

• Damien Broderick — The White Abacus
• Damien Broderick & David G. Hartwell (edited) — Centaurus: The Best of Australian Science Fiction ^[7]
• Sara Douglass
  • Sinner
  • Threshold
• Greg Egan
  • Diaspora
  • "Reasons to Be Cheerful"
• Kim Wilkins — The Infernal

Crime

• Jon Cleary — A Different Turf
• Peter Corris
  • The Reward ^[8]
  • The Washington Club ^[9]
• Garry Disher — Fallout ^[10]
• Kerry Greenwood — Raisins and Almonds ^[11]

Poetry

• Peter Boyle — The Blue Cloud of Crying ^[12]
• Alison Croggon — The Blue Gate ^[13]
• Philip Hodgins — Selected Poems ^[14]
• Jill Jones — The Book of Possibilities ^[15]
• Emma Lew — The Wild Reply ^[16]
• Rhyll McMaster — Chemical Bodies: A diary of probable events, 1994–1997 ^[17]

Drama

• Hilary Bell — Wolf Lullaby ^[18]
• Leah Purcell and Scott Rankin — Box the Pony
• David Williamson — After the Ball

Non-fiction

• Mark Raphael Baker — The Fiftieth Gate
• Barbara Blackman — Glass after Glass ^[19]
• Lynne Hume — Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia
• Roberta Sykes — Snake Cradle ^[20]

Awards and honours

• Morris West AO "for service to literature" ^[21]
• Barbara Buick AM "for service to women, particularly through Equal Employment Opportunity Tribunal in Western Australia and to librarianship and publishing, particularly through the promotion of children's literature" ^[22]
• Ken Goodwin (academic) AM "for service to literature, art administration and education" ^[23]
• Manfred Jurgensen AM "for service to literature as a novelist, poet and critic, and as founder of the journal Outrider" ^[24]
• Edna Laing OAM "for service to the arts and literature through the Creativity Centre, Brisbane" ^[25]
• Rodney Lumer OAM "for service to the arts through the promotion and publication of works by Australian playwrights" ^[26]
• Sydney John Trigellis-Smith OAM "for service to military history as a researcher, author and publisher of several unit histories of campaigns of World War II" ^[27]
• Albert Ullin OAM "for service to the promotion of children's literature in Australia and overseas" ^[28]

Lifetime achievement

Award	Author
Christopher Brennan Award [29]	Not awarded
Patrick White Award [30]	Vivian Smith

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year Award [31]	Peter Carey	Jack Maggs	University of Queensland Press
ALS Gold Medal [32]	Robert Dessaix	Night Letters	Macmillan Books
Colin Roderick Award [33]	Peter Edwards	A Nation at War	Allen & Unwin
Nita Kibble Literary Award [34]	Helen Garner	True Stories: Selected Non-Fiction	Text Publishing

Fiction

International

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Commonwealth Writers' Prize [35]	Best Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region	Sue Woolfe	Leaning Towards Infinity	Random House

National

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature [36]	Not awarded
The Age Book of the Year Award [31]	Peter Carey	Jack Maggs	University of Queensland Press
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award [37]	Eva Sallis	Hiam	Allen and Unwin
Miles Franklin Award [38]	David Foster	The Glade Within the Grove	Vintage
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards [39]	Robert Drewe	The Drowner	Pan Macmillan Australia
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards [40]	Robert Drewe	The Drowner	Pan Macmillan Australia
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards [41]	Robert Drewe	The Drowner	Pan Macmillan Australia
	Gail Jones	Fetish Lives	Fremantle Arts Centre Press

Crime and Mystery

National

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Ned Kelly Award [42]
	Novel	Shane Maloney	The Brush-Off	Text Publishing
	First novel	Peter Temple	Bad Debts	HarperCollins
		Peter Doyle	Get Rich Quick	Mandarin Publishing
	Lifetime Achievement	Alan Yates

Children and Young Adult

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award [43]	Older Readers	James Moloney	A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove	University of Queensland Press
	Picture Book	Elizabeth Honey	Not a Nibble!	Little Ark
Kathleen Mitchell Award [44]	Not awarded
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards [39]	Young People's Literature	Junko Morimoto	The Two Bullies	Random House Australia
Victorian Premier's Prize for Young Adult Fiction [40]		Catherine Jinks	Pagan's Scribe	Omnibus Books

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature [36]	Not awarded
The Age Book of the Year Award [31]	Emma Lew	The Wild Reply	Black Pepper
	Peter Porter	Dragons in their Pleasant Palaces	Oxford University Press
Anne Elder Award [45]	Morgan Yasbincek	Night Reversing	Fremantle Arts Centre Press
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry [46]	Geoffrey Lehmann	Collected Poems	Heinemann
Mary Gilmore Award [47]	Morgan Yasbincek	Night Reversing	Fremantle Arts Centre Press
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards [39]	Anthony Lawrence	The Viewfinder	University of Queensland Press
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards [40]	Les Murray	Subhuman Redneck Poems	Duffy and Snellgrove
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards [41]	Alec Choate	The Wheels of Hama: Collected War Poems	Victor Publishing

Non-fiction

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature [36]	Not awarded
The Age Book of the Year Award [31]	Non-Fiction	Roberta Sykes	Snake Cradle	Allen and Unwin
National Biography Award [48]	Biography	Not awarded

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1997 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

• 14 February — Marian Eldridge, short story writer, poet and book reviewer (born 1936) ^[49]
• 16 February — Gilbert Mant, journalist and writer (born 1902) ^[50]
• 8 March — Rupert Lockwood, journalist and author (born 1908) ^[51]
• 14 April — Kit Denton, writer and broadcaster (born 1928) ^[52]
• 8 June — George Turner, writer and critic, best known for science fiction novels (born 1916) ^[53]
• 11 June — Jill Neville, novelist, playwright and poet (born 1932) ^[54]
• 16 June — Dal Stivens, novelist and short story writer (born 1911) ^[55]
• 19 June — David Denholm, author and historian who published fiction under the pseudonym David Forrest and history under his own name (born 1924) ^[56]
• 1 July — David Martin, novelist, poet, playwright, journalist, editor, literary reviewer and lecturer (born 1915) ^[57]
• 2 August — Joyce Dingwell, writer of more than 80 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1931 to 1986, who also wrote under the pseudonym of Kate Starr (born 1909) ^[58]

Unknown date

• Roger Bennett, actor and playwright (born 1948) ^[59]

See also

• 1997 in Australia
• 1997 in literature
• 1997 in poetry
• List of years in literature
• List of years in Australian literature

References

1. "Lambs of God by Marele Day". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
2. "The Service of Clouds by Delia Falconer". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
3. "Lovesong by Elizabeth Jolley". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
4. "Nightpictures by Rod Jones". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
5. "Plains of Promise by Alexis Wright". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
6. "Austlit — Up a Gum Tree by Kim Caraher". Austlit. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
7. "Centaurus: The Best of Australian Science Fiction edited by Damien Broderick & David Hartwell". ISFDB. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
8. "The Reward by Peter Corris". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
9. "The Washington Club by Peter Corris". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
10. "Fallout by Garry Disher". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
11. "Raisins and Almonds by Kerry Greenwood". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
12. "The Blue Cloud of Crying by Peter Boyle". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
13. "The Blue Gate by Alison Croggon". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
14. "Selected Poems by Philip Hodgins". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
15. "The Book of Possibilities by Jill Jones". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
16. "The Wild Reply by Emma Lew". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
17. "Chemical Bodies: A diary of probable events, 1994–1997 by Rhyll McMaster". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
18. "Wolf Lullaby by Hilary bell". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
19. "Glass after Glass by Barbara Blackman". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
20. "Snake Cradle by Roberta Sykes". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
21. "Morris Langlo West, AM". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
22. "Barbara Buick". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
23. "Professor Kenneth Leslie Goodwin". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
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26. "Dr Rodney Hugh Lumer". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
27. "Sydney John Trigellis-Smith". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
28. "Albert Henry Ullin". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
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33. "Colin Roderick Award - Other Winners". James Cook University. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
34. "Kibble Literary Award". Australian National University . 9 June 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
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38. "Austlit — Miles Franklin Literary Award : 1997-1999". Austlit. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
39. ""Novelist Drewe carries off a big prize at last"". Sydney Morning Herald, 18 September 1997. ProQuest   363360979 . Retrieved 10 May 2024.
40. ""'Drowner' awarded top prize "". The Age 18 October 1997, p14. ProQuest   2521622477 . Retrieved 16 October 2024.
41. ""Australian Literary Awards: Western Australian Premier's"". University Libraries, University of Washington. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
42. "1997 Ned Kelly Award Winners". Australian Crime Writers. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
43. ""CBCA - Previous Winners - 1946 Onwards"" (PDF). CBCA. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
44. "Austlit — Kathleen Mitchell Literary Award". Austlit. Retrieved 7 August 2025.
45. "Austlit — Anne Elder Award 1995-97". Austlit. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
46. "Austlit — Grace Leven Poetry Prize 1994-2001". Austlit. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
47. "Mary Gilmore Award". Association for the Study of Australian Literature . Retrieved 10 February 2024.
48. ""National Biography Award – Past Winners"". State Library of NSW. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
49. "Marian Favel Clair Eldridge (1936-1997)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
50. "Mant, Gilbert Palmer (1902–1997) by Malcolm Brown". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
51. "Rupert Ernest Lockwood (1908–1997) by Rowan Cahill". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
52. "Death notice". Sydney Morning Herald. 15 April 1997 – via Ryerson Index.
53. "George Reginald Turner (1916–1997) by Judith Buckrich". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
54. Leitch, David (12 June 1997). "Obituary: Jill Neville (1932-1997)". The Independent . Retrieved 13 February 2024.
55. "Austlit — Dal Stivens (1911-1997)". Austlit. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
56. "David Forrest (1924-1997)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
57. "David Martin (1915-1997)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
58. "Joyce Dingwell (1909-1997)". Austlit. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
59. "Roger Bennett (1948-1997)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 13 February 2024.