Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies; as such, its recognised literary tradition begins with and is linked to the broader tradition of English literature. However, the narrative art of Australian writers has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent into literature—exploring such themes as Aboriginality, mateship, egalitarianism, democracy, national identity, migration, Australia's unique location and geography, the complexities of urban living, and "the beauty and the terror" of life in the Australian bush.
David George Joseph Malouf is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright and librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney. He also delivered the 1998 Boyer Lectures.
The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were an Australian suite of literary awards inaugurated in 1999 and disestablished in 2012. It was one of the most generous suites of literary awards within Australia, with $225,000 in prize money across 14 categories with prizes up to $25,000 in some categories. The awards upon their establishment incorporated a number of pre-existing awards including the Steele Rudd Award for the best Australian collection of new short fiction and the David Unaipon Award for unpublished Indigenous writing.
The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form. It is named after Kenneth Slessor (1901–1971).
Samuel Wagan Watson is a contemporary Indigenous Australian poet.
Philip Max Neilsen is an Australian poet, fiction writer and editor. He teaches poetry at the University of Queensland and was previously professor of creative writing at the Queensland University of Technology.
Sarah Holland-Batt is a contemporary Australian poet, critic, and academic.
The Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize, named in honour of a distinguished Queensland poet, is a literary award for an unpublished poetry manuscript by a Queensland-based author. The prize was established in 2003 and currently comes with prize money of $2000 and a publication contract with the University of Queensland Press. Entry can be submitted from anyone residing in Queensland and the award is administered and managed by the Queensland Poetry Festival on behalf of Arts Queensland.
The Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award is awarded annually as part of the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form.
Felicity Plunkett is an Australian poet, literary critic, editor and academic.
Ellen van Neerven is an Aboriginal Australian writer, educator and editor. Their first work of fiction, Heat and Light (2013), won several awards, and in 2019 Van Neerven won the Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Award. Their second collection of poetry, Throat (2020), won three awards at the 2021 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, including Book of the Year.
Indigenous Australian literature is the fiction, plays, poems, essays and other works authored by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia.
Stuart Barnes is an Australian poet.
Vivienne Cleven is an Indigenous Australian fiction author and writer of the Kamilaroi people. Her writing includes the novels Bitin’ Back and Her Sister’s Eye.
Rae White is a Brisbane-based poet and writer. White is non-binary and the founding editor of the online periodical #EnbyLife: Journal for non-binary and gender diverse creatives. White's 2017 poetry collection Milk Teeth won the Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize, was commended in the 2018 Anne Elder Award, and was shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. Their poetry and writing has been published in the Australian Poetry Journal, Capricious, Cordite, Meanjin, Overland, and Rabbit.
Evelyn Araluen is an Australian poet and literary editor. She won the 2022 Stella Prize with her first book, Dropbear.
Omar Sakr is a contemporary Arab Australian poet, novelist and essayist.
Mirandi Riwoe is an Australian author based in Brisbane. In 2020 Riwoe won the Queensland Literary Award Fiction Book Award for her book Stone Sky Gold Mountain.
