2006 in Australian literature

Events

• South African-born Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee takes up Australian citizenship
• Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard, complains about the modern school English syllabus, stating that it is being "dumbed down"
• Peter Carey's ex-wife, Alison Summers, takes a swipe at the author, accusing him of using his fiction to settle some old scores. She refers to a minor character in Carey's novel Theft: A Love Story (called The Plaintiff) and announces she is also writing a novel, titled Mrs Jekyll
• the ABC board decides against publishing the new Chris Masters' book Jonestown, an unauthorised biography of Alan Jones, a Sydney radio presenter
• the Australian Classification Review Board bans two radical Islamic books, prompting calls from the Australian Attorney-General for the Board to provide with even tougher laws
• a large treasure trove of missing papers belonging to Patrick White is revealed to the public. Contrary to the wishes expressed in White's will, his literary executor, Barbara Mobbs, did not destroy the material but kept it and has since offered it to the National Library of Australia

Major publications

Literary fiction

• Azhar Abidi – Passarola Rising
• Venero Armanno – Candle Life
• Max Barry – Company
• James Bradley – The Resurrectionist
• Peter Carey – Theft: A Love Story
• John Charalambous – Silent Parts
• Tegan Bennett Daylight – Safety
• Richard Flanagan – The Unknown Terrorist
• Sandra Hall – Beyond the Break
• Sheridan Hay – The Secret of Lost Things
• M. J. Hyland – Carry Me Down
• Gail Jones – Dreams of Speaking
• Simone Lazaroo – The Travel Writer
• Kate Legge – The Unexpected Elements of Love
• Angelo Loukakis – The Memory of Tides
• Andrew McGahan – Underground
• William McInnes – Cricket Kings
• Nerida Newton – Death of a Whaler
• Andrew O'Connor – Tuvalu
• D. B. C. Pierre – Ludmila's Broken English
• Cameron S. Redfern – Landscape with Animals
• Deborah Robertson – Careless
• David Whish-Wilson – The Summons
• Mike Williams – The Music of Dunes
• Alexis Wright – Carpentaria

Short story collections

• David Malouf – Every Move You Make

Children's and Young Adult fiction

• Catherine Bateson – Being Bee
• Michael Gerard Bauer – Don't Call Me Ishmael!
• Isobelle Carmody – A Fox Called Sorrow
• D. M. Cornish – Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling
• Alison Croggon – The Crow
• Ursula Dubosarsky – The Red Shoe
• Mem Fox – A Particular Cow
• Jackie French – Macbeth and Son
• Scot Gardner – Gravity
• Lian Hearn – The Harsh Cry of the Heron
• Simmone Howell – Notes from the Teenage Underground
• Stephen Michael King – Layla, Queen of Hearts
• Margo Lanagan – Red Spikes
• Justine Larbalestier – Magic Lessons
• Kate McCaffrey – Destroying Avalon
• Melina Marchetta – On the Jellicoe Road
• Juliet Marillier – Wildwood Dancing
• John Marsden – Circle of Flight
• Jaclyn Moriarty – The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie
• Garth Nix – Sir Thursday
• Shaun Tan – The Arrival
• Scott Westerfeld
  • The Last Days
  • Peeps

Crime and Mystery

• Robert G. Barrett – The Tesla Legacy
• Sydney Bauer – Undertow
• John Birmingham – Final Impact
• Laurent Boulanger – Better Dead Than Never
• Marshall Browne
  • Inspector Anders and the Blood Vendetta
  • Rendezvous at Kamakura Inn
• Paul Cleave – The Cleaner
• Peter Corris – The Undertow
• Kathryn Fox – Without Consent
• Kerry Greenwood – Devil's Food
• Edwina Grey – Prismatic
• Marion Halligan – The Apricot Colonel
• Katherine Howell – Frantic
• Adrian Hyland – Diamond Dove
• Martin Livings – Carnies
• Barry Maitland – Spider Trap
• P. D. Martin – The Murderers’ Club
• Jaclyn Moriarty – The Betrayal of Bindi Mackenzie
• Tara Moss – Hit
• Kel Robertson – Dead Set
• Angela Savage – Behind the Night Bazaar
• Lindsay Simpson – The Curer of Souls

Romance

• Marion Campbell – Shadow Thief
• Marion Lennox – Princess of Convenience
• Di Morrissey – The Valley

Science Fiction and Fantasy

• Damien Broderick – K-Machines
• D. M. Cornish – Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling
• Sara Douglass – Druid's Sword
• Terry Dowling – Basic Black: Tales of Appropriate Fear
• Grace Dugan – The Silver Road
• Will Elliott – The Pilo Family Circus
• Edwina Grey – Prismatic
• Margo Lanagan
  • "A Fine Magic"
  • Red Spikes
• Martin J. Livings – Carnies
• Brett McBean – The Mother
• Sean McMullen – Voidfarer
• Michael Pryor – Blaze of Glory
• Sean Williams & Shane Dix – Geodesica Descent

Drama

• Jane Malone – The Rumour
• Tommy Murphy – Holding the Man
• Debra Oswald – The Peach Season
• Stephen Sewell – It Just Stopped

Poetry

• Robert Adamson – The Goldfinches of Baghdad
• Laurie Duggan – The Passenger
• Brook Emery — At a Slight Angle: And Other Poems
• Dennis Haskell – All the Time in the World
• Judy Johnson – Jack
• S. K. Kelen – Earthly Delights
• Graeme Miles – Phosphorescence
• Les Murray – The Biplane Houses
• Mark Reid – A Difficult Faith
• Thomas Shapcott – The City of Empty Rooms
• John Tranter – Urban Myths: 210 Poems
• Simon West – First Names
• Fay Zwicky – Picnic

Non-fiction

• Peter Andrews – Back from the Brink: How Australia's Landscape Can Be Saved
• Janine Burke – The Gods of Freud: Sigmund Freud's Art Collection
• Les Carlyon – The Great War
• Neil Chenoweth – Packer's Lunch
• Inga Clendinnen – Agamemnon's Kiss
• Peter Cochrane – Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy
• Peter Edwards – Arthur Tange: The Last of the Mandarins
• Ken Inglis – Whose ABC? : The Australian Broadcasting Commission 1983–2006
• Justine Larbalestier – Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century

Biographies

• Quentin Beresford – Rob Riley: an Aboriginal Leader's Quest for Justice
• Michael Gurr – Days Like These
• Robert Hughes – Things I Didn't Know
• Elizabeth Jolley & Caroline Lurie – Learning to Dance
• Sylvia Martin – Ida Leeson: A Life
• Chris Masters – Jonestown: The Power and the Myth of Alan Jones
• Alice Pung – Unpolished Gem

Awards and honours

Lifetime achievement

Literary

Fiction

International

National

Children and Young Adult

National

Crime and Mystery

National

Science fiction

Poetry

Drama

Non-Fiction

Deaths

• 12 January – Rae Sexton, poet (born 1936 in New Zealand)

• 16 March – Michael Dugan, writer for children (born 1947)

• 14 April – Geoffrey Bewley, journalist and short story writer (born 1947)

• 6 July – Lisa Bellear, poet (born 1961)

• 10 July – Vera Newsom, poet (born 1912 in England)

• 16 August – Alex Buzo, dramatist (born 1944)

• 4 September – Colin Thiele, writer for children (born 1920)

• 13 September – J. E. Macdonnell, novelist of the sea (born 1917)

• 22 September – Joy Williams, poet (born 1942)

• 3 October – Gwen Meredith, novelist (born 1907) Unknown date

• Cecily Crozier, artist, poet and literary editor who co-founded A Comment (born 1911)

• Barbara Giles, poet (born 1912)

References

Note: all references relating to awards can, or should be, found on the relevant award's page.

References

1. [http://www.theage.com.au/news/books/citizen-coetzee/2006/03/06/1141493611310.html Citizen Coetzee]
2. [http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/pm-attacks-dumb-english/2006/04/20/1145344218569.html PM attacks 'dumb' English]
3. (2006-05-09). "Suzanne Goldenberg to Alison Summers about her bitter divorce of Peter Carey".
4. "ABC confirms Jones book dumped by board".
5. "Ruddock seeks tougher classification laws".
6. [http://www.theage.com.au/news/books/whites-literary-treasure-found/2006/11/02/1162339985898.html White's literary treasure found]
7. "''Passarola Rising'' by Azhar Abidi". National Library of Australia.
8. "''Candle Life'' by Venero Armanno". National Library of Australia.
9. "''The Resurrectionist'' by James Bradley". National Library of Australia.
10. "''Silent Parts'' by John Charalambous". National Library of Australia.
11. "''Safety'' by Tegan Bennett Daylight". National Library of Australia.
12. "''Beyond the Break'' by Sandra Hall". National Library of Australia.
13. "''The Secret of Lost Things'' by Sheridan Hay". Austlit.
14. "''The Travel Writer'' by Simone Lazaroo". National Library of Australia.
15. "''The Unexpected Elements of Love'' by Kate Legge". National Library of Australia.
16. "''The Memory of Tides'' by Angelo Loukakis". National Library of Australia.
17. "''Cricket Kings'' by William McInnes". National Library of Australia.
18. "''Landscape with Animals'' by Cameron S. Redfern". National Library of Australia.
19. "''The Summons'' by David Whish-Wilson". National Library of Australia.
20. "''The Music of Dunes'' by Mike Williams". National Library of Australia.
21. "''Being Bee'' by Catherine Bateson". National Library of Australia.
22. "''A Fox Called Sorrow'' by Isobelle Carmody". National Library of Australia.
23. "''The Crow'' by Alison Croggon". National Library of Australia.
24. "''The Red Shoe'' by Ursula Dubosarsky". National Library of Australia.
25. "''Macbeth and Son'' by Jackie French". National Library of Australia.
26. "''Gravity'' by Scot Gardner". National Library of Australia.
27. "''Notes from the Teenage Underground'' by Simmone Howell". National Library of Australia.
28. "''Layla, Queen of Hearts'' by Stephen Michael King". National Library of Australia.
29. "''Red Spikes'' by Margo Lanagan". National Library of Australia.
30. "''Circle of Flight'' by John Marsden". National Library of Australia.
31. "''The Tesla Legacy'' by Robert G. Barrett". National Library of Australia.
32. "''Better Dead Than Never'' by Laurent Boulanger". Austlit.
33. "''Inspector Anders and the Blood Vendetta'' by Marshall Browne". National Library of Australia.
34. "''Rendezvous at Kamakura Inn'' by Marshall Browne". National Library of Australia.
35. "''The Cleaner'' by Paul Cleave". National Library of Australia.
36. "''The Undertow'' by Peter Corris". National Library of Australia.
37. "''Without Consent'' by Kathryn Fox". National Library of Australia.
38. "''Prismatic'' by Edwina Grey". National Library of Australia.
39. "''The Apricot Colonel'' by Marion Halligan". National Library of Australia.
40. "''Frantic'' by Katherine Howell". National Library of Australia.
41. "''Carnies'' by Martin Livings". National Library of Australia.
42. "''Spider Trap'' by Barry Maitland". National Library of Australia.
43. "''The Murderers’ Club'' by P. D. Martin". National Library of Australia.
44. "''The Betrayal of Bindi Mackenzie'' by Jaclyn Moriarty". Austlit.
45. "''Hit'' by Tara Moss". National Library of Australia.
46. "''Dead Set'' by Kel Robertson". National Library of Australia.
47. "''Behind the Night Bazaar'' by Angela Savage". National Library of Australia.
48. "''The Curer of Souls'' by Lindsay Simpson". National Library of Australia.
49. "''Shadow Thief'' by Marion Campbell". National Library of Australia.
50. "''Princess of Convenience'' by Marion Lennox". National Library of Australia.
51. "''The Valley'' by Di Morrissey". National Library of Australia.
52. "''Druid's Sword'' by Sara Douglass". ISFDB.
53. "''The Silver Road'' by Grace Dugan". ISFDB.
54. "''Prismatic'' by Edwina Grey". ISFDB.
55. "''Red Spikes'' by Margo Lanagan". ISFDB.
56. "''Carnies'' by Martin J. Livings". ISFDB.
57. "''The Mother'' by Brett McBean". ISFDB.
58. "''Voidfarer'' by Sean McMullen". ISFDB.
59. "''Blaze of Glory'' by Michael Pryor". ISFDB.
60. "''Geodesica Descent'' by Sean Williams & Shane Dix". ISFDB.
61. "''The Rumour'' by Jane Malone". Austlit.
62. "''It Just Stopped'' by Stephen Sewell". National Library of Australia.
63. "''The Passenger'' by Laurie Duggan". National Library of Australia.
64. [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2559155 "At a slight angle : and other poems / by Brook Emery", ''National Library of Australia''.]
65. "''All the Time in the World'' by Dennis Haskell". National Library of Australia.
66. "''Jack'' by Judy Johnson". National Library of Australia.
67. "''Earthly Delights'' by S. K. Kelen". National Library of Australia.
68. "''Phosphorescence'' by Graeme Miles". National Library of Australia.
69. "''The Biplane Houses'' by Les Murray". National Library of Australia.
70. "''A Difficult Faith'' by Mark Reid". National Library of Australia.
71. "''The City of Empty Rooms'' by Thomas Shapcott". National Library of Australia.
72. "''Urban Myths: 210 Poems'' by John Tranter". National Library of Australia.
73. "''First Names'' by Simon West". National Library of Australia.
74. "''Picnic'' by Fay Zwicky". National Library of Australia.
75. "''Back from the Brink: How Australia's Landscape Can Be Saved'' by Peter Andrews". National Library of Australia.
76. "''The Gods of Freud: Sigmund Freud's Art Collection'' by Janine Burke". National Library of Australia.
77. "''The Great War'' by Les Carlyon". National Library of Australia.
78. "''Packer's Lunch'' by Neil Chenoweth". National Library of Australia.
79. "''Agamemnon's Kiss'' by Inga Clendinnen". National Library of Australia.
80. "''Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy'' by Peter Cochrane". National Library of Australia.
81. "''Arthur Tange: The Last of the Mandarins'' by Peter Edwards". National Library of Australia.
82. "''Whose ABC? :The Australian Broadcasting Commission 1983–2006'' by Ken Inglis". National Library of Australia.
83. "''Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century'' by Justine Larbalestier". ISFDB.
84. "''Rob Riley: an Aboriginal Leader's Quest for Justice'' by Quentin Beresford". National Library of Australia.
85. "''Days Like These'' by Michael Gurr". National Library of Australia.
86. "''Things I Didn't Know'' by Robert Hughes". National Library of Australia.
87. "''Learning to Dance'' by Elizabeth Jolley & Caroline Lurie". National Library of Australia.
88. "''Ida Leeson: A Life'' by Sylvia Martin". National Library of Australia.
89. "''Jonestown: The Power and the Myth of Alan Jones'' by Chris Masters". National Library of Australia.
90. "''Unpolished Gem'' by Alice Pung". National Library of Australia.
91. "Austlit — FAW Christopher Brennan Award". Austlit.
92. "Austlit — Melbourne Prize". Austlit.
93. "In the right place at the White time, for $25,000". Theage.com.au.
94. Steger, Jason. (2006-08-26). "Poet of the political takes Age Book of the Year prize".
95. "ALS Gold Medal — Previous Winners". Association for the Study of Australian Literature.
96. "Colin Roderick Award — Other Winners". James Cook University.
97. (2009-06-09). "Kibble Literary Award".
98. "Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional Winners 1987-2007". Commonwealth Foundation.
99. ""ABC announces Fiction Award"". RadioInfo.
100. "Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature – Past Literary Award Winners".
101. ""Austlit – Australian/Vogel Award 2006-2008"". Austlit.
102. "Austlit — Miles Franklin Literary Award (1957-)". Austlit.
103. ""NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2006 winners"". Sydney Morning Herald, 24 May 2006.
104. ""Queensland Premier's Literary Awards - Previous Winners"". Queensland Government.
105. ""Carey steals top prize with his Theft"". The Australian, 5 September 2006.
106. ""Australian Literary Awards: Western Australian Premier's"". University Libraries, University of Washington.
107. ""LibraryThing: Davitt Awards 2006"". LibraryThing.
108. "2006 Ned Kelly Award Winners".
109. [http://carrera.turboservers.com.au/~fawvic/uploads/file/pdf/FAWResults2006.pdf 2006 National Literary Awards Results] {{webarchive. link. (1 September 2007 p. 2.)
110. "Austlit — Grace Leven Poetry Prize 2005-2007". Austlit.
111. "Mary Gilmore Award".
112. ""Patrick White Playwrights' Award – Past Winners"". Sydney Theatre Company.
113. ""National Biography Award – Past Winners"". State Library of NSW.
114. "Rae Sexton (1936-2006)". The University of Queensland.
115. "Michael Dugan (1947-2006)". The University of Queensland.
116. "Geoffrey Bewley (1947-2006)". The University of Queensland.
117. "Lisa Bellear (1961-2006)". Austlit.
118. "Vera Newsom (1912-2006)". Austlit.
119. "Alex Buzo (1944-2006)". The University of Queensland.
120. "Colin Thiele (1920-2006)". The University of Queensland.
121. "J. E. Macdonnell (1917-2006)". Austlit.
122. "Joy Williams (1942-2006)". Austlit.
123. "Gwen Meredith (1907-2006)". Austlit.
124. "Cecily Crozier (1911-2006)". Austlit.
125. "Barbara Giles (1912-2006)". Austlit.