1998 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1998.

Events

• Peter Carey (novelist) won the Miles Franklin Award for Jack Maggs
• The NSW Premier's Literary Awards were not presented as the eligibility dates were amended ^[1]

Major publications

Novels

• Murray Bail – Eucalyptus
• Carmel Bird – Red Shoes ^[2]
• Bryce Courtenay – Jessica
• Luke Davies – Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction
• Martin Flanagan – The Call
• Marion Halligan – The Golden Dress ^[3]
• Colleen McCullough – The Song of Troy ^[4]
• Roger McDonald – Mr Darwin's Shooter
• Les Murray – Fredy Neptune: A Novel in Verse
• Elliot Perlman – Three Dollars
• Morris West – Eminence

Short story anthologies

• Jack Dann & Janeen Webb (ed) – Dreaming Down-Under

Science fiction and fantasy

• Sara Douglass – Pilgrim
• Greg Egan
  • Luminous (short story collection)
  • "Oceanic"
  • "The Planck Dive"
• Ian Irvine – A Shadow on the Glass
• Dave Luckett – A Dark Winter
• Jane Routley – Fire Angels

Crime & mystery

• Jon Cleary – A Different Turf
• Peter Corris – The Black Prince ^[5]
• Peter Doyle – Amaze Your Friends
• Gabrielle Lord – The Sharp End ^[6]
• Shane Maloney – Nice Try ^[7]
• Andrew Masterson – The Last Days
• Matthew Reilly – Ice Station
• Peter Temple – An Iron Rose

Children's and young adult fiction

• Kim Caraher – The Cockroach Cup ^[8]
• Garry Disher – The Divine Wind ^[9]
• Alison Goodman – Singing the Dogstar Blues
• Phillip Gwynne – Deadly, Unna?
• James Moloney – Angela

Poetry

• Lee Cataldi – Race Against Time: Poems ^[10]
• Lucy Dougan – Memory Shell ^[11]
• Jean Kent – The Satin Bowerbird ^[12]
• Anthony Lawrence – New and Selected Poems ^[13]
• Gig Ryan – Pure and Applied ^[14]

Drama

• Jane Harrison – Stolen
• Katherine Thomson – Navigating ^[15]

Non-fiction

• Diane Armstrong – Mosaic: A Chronicle of Five Generations ^[16]
• Bruce Bennett and Jennifer Strauss (eds.) – The Oxford Literary History of Australia ^[17]
• Raimond Gaita – Romulus, My Father
• Dorothy McRae-McMahon – Everyday Passions: A Conversation on Living ^[18]
• Mandy Sayer – Dreamtime Alice ^[19]

Awards and honours

• John Harber Phillips AC "for service to the law, the administration of justice, law reform and education as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, and for his contributions to literature, the visual arts and the community" ^[20]
• John R. Philip AO "for service to the science of hydrology, to scientific communication in promoting the interests of science for the community, and the Australian culture through architecture and literature" ^[21]
• Anne Fairbairn AM "for service to Australian literature as a poet and to international relations, particularly between Australia and the Middle East through translations of poetry and cultural exchanges" ^[22]
• A. W. Martin AM "for service in the field of Australian historiography as a teacher and scholar, and biographer and as foundation professor of the History Department at La Trobe University" ^[23]
• Elizabeth Burchill OAM "for service to nursing, particularly as an historian, author and philanthropist" ^[24]
• Michael Noonan OAM "for service to the arts as an author of numerous novels, works of non-fiction, television scripts and plays" ^[25]

Lifetime achievement

Award	Author
Christopher Brennan Award [26]	Jennifer Maiden
Patrick White Award [27]	Alma De Groen

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year Award [28]	Elliot Perlman	Three Dollars	Picador
ALS Gold Medal [29]	James Cowan	A Mapmaker's Dream	Shambhala Publications
Colin Roderick Award [30]	Robert Dessaix	(And So Forth)	Pan Macmillan
Nita Kibble Literary Award [31]	Roberta Sykes	Snake Cradle	Allen & Unwin

Fiction

International

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Commonwealth Writers' Prize [32]	Best Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region	Peter Carey	Jack Maggs	University of Queensland Press
	Best First Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region	Emma Tom	Deadset	Random House
	Best Overall Novel	Peter Carey	Jack Maggs	University of Queensland Press

National

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature [33]	Robert Drewe	The Drowner	Pan MacMillan
The Age Book of the Year Award [28]	Elliot Perlman	Three Dollars	Picador
The Australian/Vogel Literary Award [34]	Jennifer Kremmer	Pegasus in the Suburbs	Allen and Unwin
Miles Franklin Award [35]	Peter Carey	Jack Maggs	University of Queensland Press
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards [1]	Not awarded
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards [36]	Richard Flanagan	The Sound of One Hand Clapping	Pan Macmillan Australia

Crime and Mystery

National

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Ned Kelly Award [37]
	Novel	Not awarded
	First novel	Not awarded
	Lifetime Achievement	Not awarded

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature [33]	Peter Boyle	The Blue Cloud of Crying	Hale and Ironmonger
The Age Book of the Year Award [28]	John Kinsella	The Hunt and Other Poems	Fremantle Press
Anne Elder Award [38]	Amanda Stewart	I/T: Selected Poems 1980-1996	Here and There Books
	Jane Williams	Outside Temple Boundaries	Five Islands Press
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry [39]	Not awarded
Mary Gilmore Award [40]	Emma Lew	The Wild Reply	Black Pepper Publishing

Children and Young Adult

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Victorian Premier's Prize for Young Adult Fiction [36]		Judith Clarke	Night Train	Penguin

Non-fiction

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature [33]	Non-Fiction	David Day	Claiming a Continent: A History of Australia	HarperCollins
The Age Book of the Year Award [28]	Non-Fiction	Stuart MacIntyre	The Reds	Allen and Unwin
National Biography Award [41]	Biography	Roberta Sykes	Snake Cradle	Allen and Unwin

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1998 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

• 23 January – John Forbes, poet (born 1950) ^[42]
• 11 May – John Morrison, novelist and short story writer (born 1904) ^[43]
• 14 May – Kay Glasson Taylor, novelist (born 1893) ^[44]
• 3 July – Elizabeth Riddell, poet and journalist, also known as Betty Riddell (born 1910) ^[45]
• 4 September – Elizabeth Kata, writer whose real name was Elizabeth Katayama (born 1912) ^[46]
• 17 September – Geoffrey Dutton, author and historian (born 1922) ^[47]
• 27 November – Vicki Viidikas, poet and writer (born 1948) ^[48]
• 19 December – James McQueen (writer), novelist and short story writer (born 1934) ^[49]

See also

• 1998 in Australia
• 1998 in literature
• 1998 in poetry
• List of years in literature
• List of years in Australian literature

References

1. "1998 New South Wales Premier's literary Awards". The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 September 1998, p10. ProQuest   2527898272 . Retrieved 10 May 2024.
2. "Red Shoes by Carmel Bird" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
3. "The Golden Dress by Marion Halligan" . Retrieved 25 April 2024– via National Library of Australia.
4. "The Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
5. "The Black Prince by Peter Corris" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
6. "The Sharp End by Gabrielle Lord" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
7. "Nice Try by Shane Maloney" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
8. "The Cockroach Cup by Kim Caraher" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
9. "The Divine Wind by Garry Disher" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
10. "Race Against Time by Lee Cataldi" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
11. "Memory Shell by Lucy Dougan" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
12. "Austlit – The Satin Bowerbird by Jean Kent". Austlit. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
13. "New and Selected Poems by Anthony Lawrence" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
14. "Pure and Applied by" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
15. "Navigating by Katherine Thomson" . Retrieved 15 September 2024– via National Library of Australia.
16. "Mosaic: A Chronicle of Five Generations by Diane Armstrong" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
17. "The Oxford Literary History of Australia edited by Bruce Bennett Jennifer Strauss" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
18. "Everyday Passions: A Conversation on Living by Dorothy McRae-McMahon" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
19. "Dreamtime Alice by Mandy Sayer" . Retrieved 2 May 2024– via National Library of Australia.
20. "The Honourable Chief Justice John Harber Phillips". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 2 January 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
21. "Dr John Robert Philip". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
22. "Anne Mary Ross Fairbairn". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
23. "Dr Allan William Martin". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
24. "Sister Dora Elizabeth Burchill". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
25. "Michael John Noonan". honours.pmc.gov.au. Archived from the original on 27 September 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
26. "Austlit – FAW Christopher Brennan Award". Austlit. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
27. "Austlit – Patrick White Award – Past Winners". Austlit. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
28. ""A rich and varied harvest"". The Age, 29 August 1998, p8. ProQuest   2521660665 . Retrieved 16 June 2024.
29. "ALS Gold Medal – Previous Winners". Association for the Study of Australian Literature. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
30. "Colin Roderick Award – Other Winners". James Cook University. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
31. "Kibble Literary Award". Australian National University. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
32. "Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional Winners 1987-2007" (PDF). Commonwealth Foundation. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
33. "Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature – Past Literary Award Winners". State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
34. "Austlit – The Australian/Vogel National Literary Award 1998". Austlit. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
35. "Austlit – Miles Franklin Literary Award : 1997-1999". Austlit. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
36. ""Stranger than Fiction"". The Age, 17 October 1998, p113. ProQuest   2521605130 . Retrieved 18 January 2025.
37. ""Ned Kelley Award Winners 1998"". ACWA. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
38. "Austlit – Anne Elder Award 1998-2000". Austlit. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
39. "Austlit – Grace Leven Poetry Prize 1994-2001". Austlit. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
40. "Mary Gilmore Award". Association for the Study of Australian Literature . Retrieved 10 February 2024.
41. ""National Biography Award – Past Winners"". State Library of NSW. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
42. "John Forbes (1950-1998)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
43. "John Morrison (1904-1998)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
44. "Kay Glasson Taylor (1893-1998)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
45. "Austlit – Elizabeth Riddell (1910-1998)". Austlit. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
46. "Family notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 September 1998 – via Ryerson Index.
47. "Geoffrey Dutton (1922-1998)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
48. "Vicki Viidikas (1948-1998)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
49. "James McQueen (1934-1998)". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. The University of Queensland. Retrieved 13 February 2024.