 First edition | |
| Author | Michelle de Kretser |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Ampersand Duck [1] |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Allen & Unwin, Australia |
Publication date | 2007 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 345 pp |
| ISBN | 978-1-74175-339-4 |
| OCLC | 177704074 |
| 823/.92 22 | |
| LC Class | PR9619.4.D4 L67 2007 |
| Preceded by | The Hamilton Case |
The Lost Dog is a 2007 novel by Australian writer Michelle de Kretser. [2]
Tom Loxley is holed up in a remote bush shack trying to finish his book on Henry James when his beloved dog goes missing. In what follows the novel loops back and forth in time to take the reader on a journey into worlds far removed from the present tragedy.
| Year | Award | Result | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Australian Literature Society Gold Medal | — | Won | [3] |
| Australia-Asia Literary Award | — | longlisted | [4] | |
| Barbara Jefferis Award | — | Shortlisted | [5] | |
| Commonwealth Writers Prize | South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book | Shortlisted | [6] | |
| Man Booker Prize | — | Longlisted | [7] | |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Book of the Year | Won | [8] | |
| Christina Stead Prize for Fiction | Won | [8] | ||
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction | Shortlisted | [9] | |
Reviewing the novel for The New Statesman, Jane Shilling noted: "Reading The Lost Dog, one is torn between contradictory urges - to race ahead, in order to find out what happens, and to linger in admiration of de Kretser's ravishing style." [10]
In The Guardian, Carmen Callil stated her opinion upfront: "This is my favourite kind of novel. It is full of incident and character, tells a gripping story, has many touches of brilliance and can make you laugh and wonder. But it is also mightily flawed...These lapses aside, the language is full of light, colour and precise observation and, better still, the author can handle ethical and political concerns with a light touch." [11]
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–1954), who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career (1901). She bequeathed her estate to fund this award. As of 2016, the award is valued at A$60,000.
The International Booker Prize is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize, as the Booker Prize was then known, was announced in June 2004. Sponsored by the Man Group, from 2005 until 2015 the award was given every two years to a living author of any nationality for a body of work published in English or generally available in English translation. It rewarded one author's "continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage", and was a recognition of the writer's body of work rather than any one title.
Dame Carmen Thérèse Callil, was an Australian publisher, writer and critic who spent most of her career in the United Kingdom. She founded Virago Press in 1973 and received the Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature in 2017. She has been described by Gail Rebuck as "the most extraordinary publisher of her generation".
The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year." From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the Australian Literature Society, then from 1983 by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, when the two organisations were merged.
The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, and the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction.
The Sydney Writers' Festival is an annual literary festival held in Sydney, with the inaugural festival taking place in 1997. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.
Alexis Wright is a Waanyi writer best known for winning the Miles Franklin Award for her 2006 novel Carpentaria and for being the first writer to win the Stella Prize twice, in 2018 for her "collective memoir" of Leigh Bruce "Tracker" Tilmouth and in 2024 for Praiseworthy.
The Age Book of the Year Awards were annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's The Age newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. After 1998, they were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Initially, two awards were given, one for fiction, the other for non-fiction work, but in 1993, a poetry award in honour of Dinny O'Hearn was added. The criteria were that the works be "of outstanding literary merit and express Australian identity or character," and be published in the year before the award was made. One of the award-winners was chosen as The Age Book of the Year. The awards were discontinued in 2013.
The Hamilton Case is a 2003 novel by Australian author Michelle de Kretser. The book won the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Encore Award (UK). The work centres on the lives of the somewhat eccentric Obeysekere family, in particular Sam, and the 1930s setting explores themes of colonization in Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka. Michelle de Kretser is originally from Sri Lanka. The title refers to a fictional case involving the murder of an English planter in Ceylon, which Sam Obeysekere, a lawyer, attempts to solve. Time Magazine named the book as one of the five best novels of 2004, referring to the date published in the United States.
Michelle de Kretser is an Australian novelist who was born in Sri Lanka, and moved to Australia in 1972 when she was 14.
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Australia-Asia Literary Award (AALA) was a literary award supported by the former Government of Western Australia department, the Department of Culture and the Arts.
Questions of Travel is a 2012 novel by Australian author Michelle de Kretser. It won the 2013 Miles Franklin Award and the 2013 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction.
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