Author | Laura Jean McKay |
---|---|
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Publisher | Scribe |
Publication date | March 31, 2020 |
Pages | 288 |
Awards |
|
ISBN | 978-1925849530 (original paperback) |
OCLC | 1276806803 |
The Animals in That Country is a 2020 novel by Laura Jean McKay, published by Scribe. The novel won the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (2020), [1] Arthur C. Clarke Award (2021), [2] Victorian Prize for Literature (2021), and Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction (2021). [3]
In the novel, "A pandemic enables animals and humans to communicate," resulting "in a fierce and funny exploration of other consciousnesses and the limits of language." [4]
The Animals in That Country was inspired by McKay's experiences of the chikungunya virus caught at a writer's festival in Bali in 2013. [5] She had started working on the novel at that time; its eventual release at the start of COVID-19 pandemic was a coincidence. [6] [7] [5] McKay said of her experiences recording the audiobook in March 2020: [8]
I had spent years concocting the most impossible virus, only to witness a disease beyond my imagination infecting, killing and driving the real world towards global isolation. It was a relief to get back into the booth and read the sections of the book where the animals start talking.
The title is a homage to a 1968 poetry collection by Margaret Atwood. [9]
The Animals in That Country received a starred review from Shelf Awareness. [10] Booklist said the novel is "not just a horror story ... but one filled with humor, optimism, and grace: a wild ride worth taking." [11] The Guardian described it as an "extraordinary debut", and "a stirring attempt to inhabit other consciousnesses and a wry demonstration of the limits of our own language and empathy." [12]
The director of the Arthur C. Clarke Award said, "The novel speaks for the silent victims of our real-world climate crises, but while the environmental and social themes are deeply serious, our judges also praised the book's dark humour, sense of character and place, and its active opposition to easy genre tropes." [13]
Slate named The Animals in That Country one of the top ten books of 2020. [14] The Sunday Times selected it as one of the five best science-fiction books of the year. [15]
Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | Aurealis Award | Aurealis–Best Science Fiction Novel | Won | [1] |
Kitschies | Golden Tentacle (Debut) | Nominated | ||
2021 | ABIA | Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year | Won | [16] |
Arthur C. Clarke Award | — | Won | [2] | |
Australian Literature Society | ALS Gold Medal | Shortlisted | [17] | |
Miles Franklin Literary Award | — | Longlisted | [18] | |
Readings Prize | New Australian Fiction | Shortlisted | [19] | |
Stella Prize | — | Shortlisted | [20] | |
Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Victorian Prize for Literature | Won | [3] | |
Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction | Won | [3] |
The Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, colloquially called the Vicky, is given annually at the Writers' Trust Awards to a writer or illustrator whose body of work has been "inspirational to Canadian youth". It is a top honour for Canadian children's writers and Canadian children's book illustrators.
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The Animals in That Country is a 1968 poetry collection written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. It is her fifth volume of poetry.
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The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize is an annual award presented by The Center for Fiction, a non-profit organization in New York City, for the best debut novel. From 2006 to 2011, it was called the John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize in honor of John Turner Sargent, Sr., and, from 2011 to 2014, the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, named after Center for Fiction board member Nancy Dunnan and her journalist father Ray W. Flaherty.
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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2020.
Laura Jean McKay is an Australian author and creative writing lecturer. In 2021 she won the Victorian Prize for Literature and the Arthur C. Clarke Award for her novel The Animals in That Country.
The Costa Book Award for First Novel, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971-2006), was an annual literary award for authors' debut novels, part of the Costa Book Awards which were discontinued in 2022, the 2021 awards being the last made.
Jessica Au is an Australian editor and bookseller, and author of the novels Cargo and Cold Enough for Snow. Au won the inaugural Novel prize in 2022. She is based in Melbourne.