The_Age_Book_of_the_Year

The Age Book of the Year Awards

Australian literary award

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 (or imaginative writing), the other for non-fiction work, but in 1993, a poetry award in honour of Dinny O'Hearn was added.^[1] The criteria were that the works be "of outstanding literary merit and express Australian identity or character,"^[1] 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. In 2021 The Age Book of the Year was revived as a fiction prize, with the winner announced at the Melbourne Writers Festival.^[2]

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[Wilde-1] [1]
The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature edited by Wilde et al. (1994) p. 23

[2] [2]
"MWF partners with the Age, Book of the Year award returns". Books+Publishing. 10 June 2021. Archived from the original on 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.

[Age74-3] [3]
""The Age brings back Melbourne Writers Festival and revives book of the year award"". The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 June 2021. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2023.

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""Book award"". Canberra Times. The Canberra Times, 22 November 1975, p3. 22 November 1975. Retrieved 12 July 2023.

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"Austlit — A Late Picking by A. D. Hope". Austlit. Retrieved 4 September 2023.

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"Austlit — The Age Book of the Year Award 1977". Austlit. Retrieved 4 September 2023.

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"Austlit — The Age Book of the Year Award 1979". Austlit. Retrieved 5 September 2023.

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"Austlit — The Age Book of the Year Award 1980". Austlit. Retrieved 10 October 2023.

[Age81-10] [10]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year Award 1981". Austlit. Retrieved 29 December 2023.

[Age82-11] [11]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year — Imaginative Writing Prize 1982". Austlit. Retrieved 31 October 2023.

[Age83-12] [12]
""'Riddle' is Book of the Year"". Canberra Times. The Canberra Times, 7 December 1983, p28. 7 December 1983. Retrieved 29 December 2023.

[Age84-13] [13]
""Book council president"". Canberra Times. The Canberra Times, 8 December 1984, p3. 8 December 1984. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[Age85-14] [14]
""Another award for Carey's 'Illywacker'"". Canberra Times. The Canberra Times, 7 March 1986, p1. 7 March 1986. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[Age86-15] [15]
""Sister Ships by Joan London"". The Australian Book Review, April 1987. April 1987. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[Age87-16] [16]
""Popular Australian author dies"". The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 July 2010. 15 July 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[age1988-17] [17]
"The Age" 9 December 1988, p14

[Age1989-18] [18]
"Austlit — The Age Book of the Year Award — 1989". Austlit. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[Age1990-19] [19]
"Austlit — The Age Book of the Year Award — 1990". Austlit. Retrieved 31 December 2023.

[Age1991-20] [20]
"Austlit — The Age Book of the Year Award — 1991". Austlit. Retrieved 31 December 2023.

[Age1992-21] [21]
""Book prize and board chair keep Canberra author busy"". Canberra Times. The Canberra Times, 5 December 1992, p14. 5 December 1992. Retrieved 7 February 2024.

[AgeBoY1992-94-22] [22]
"Austlit — The Age Book of the Year Award — 1992-1994". Austlit. Retrieved 25 February 2024.

[AgeBoY1995-23] [23]
"Austlit — Tim Flannery". Austlit. Retrieved 25 February 2024.

[AgeBoY1996-98-24] [24]
"Austlit — The Age Book of the Year Award — 1996-1998". Austlit. Retrieved 25 February 2024.

[age1999-25] [25]
"The Age" 14 August 1999, Sat Extra p9

[AgeBoY2000-26] [26]
"Austlit — The Age Book of the Year Award — 2000". Austlit. Retrieved 25 February 2024.

[age2001-27] [27]
"The Age" 25 August 2001, p12

[AgeBoY2002-28] [28]
"Austlit — The Age Book of the Year Award — 2002". Austlit. Retrieved 25 February 2024.

[austlit2003-29] [29]
"The Austlit Gateway News September/October 2003". Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2009.

[age2004-30] [30]
"Totem wins The Age Book of the Year". The Age. 21 August 2004. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2023.

[age2005-31] [31]
"More than restaurants". The Age. 20 August 2005. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2023.

[age2006-32] [32]
Steger, Jason (26 August 2006). "Poet of the political takes Age Book of the Year prize". The Age. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2023.

[age2007-33] [33]
"Entitled to tell a story". The Age. 25 August 2007. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2023.

[age2008-34] [34]
Steger, Jason (22 August 2008). "US travel memoir wins Age Book of the Year Award". The Age. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2023.

[age2009-35] [35]
Steger, Jason (22 August 2009). "Apocalyptic novel wins book of the year". The Age. Archived from the original on 15 August 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2023.

[age2010-36] [36]
"'Simple love story' wins Age award". Archived from the original on 30 August 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2014.

[age2011-37] [37]
Steger, Jason (26 August 2011). "Winning words". The Age. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2023.

[age2012-38] [38]
Steger, Jason (24 August 2012). "The words that count". The Age. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2023.

[39] [39]
"'The Rain Heron' wins Age Book of the Year". Books+Publishing. 6 September 2021. Archived from the original on 6 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.

[40] [40]
Steger, Jason (3 September 2021). "Robbie Arnott's Rain Heron swoops on the Age Book of the Year". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2023.

[Age2022-41] [41]
""'It threw me sideways!' The Age book of the year winners announced"". The Age, 8 September 2022. 8 September 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2024.

[Age2023-42] [42]
""'He has produced a gem': An ode to humble Australians wins The Age Book of the Year"". The Age, 4 May 2023. 4 May 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2024.

[Age77-43] [43]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year Award - Fiction Prize 1977". Austlit. Retrieved 5 September 2023.

[Age80F-44] [44]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year — Imaginative Writing Prize 1980". Austlit. Retrieved 10 October 2023.

[Age81F-45] [45]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year — Imaginative Writing Prize 1981". Austlit. Retrieved 10 October 2023.

[Age82F-46] [46]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year — Imaginative Writing Prize 1982". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2023.

[Age84F-47] [47]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year — Imaginative Writing Prize 1984". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2023.

[Age85F-48] [48]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year — Imaginative Writing Prize 1985". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2023.

[Age86F-49] [49]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year — Imaginative Writing Prize 1986". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2023.

[Age87F-50] [50]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year — Imaginative Writing Prize 1987". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2023.

[Age89-91F-51] [51]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year — Imaginative Writing Prize 1989-91". Austlit. Retrieved 14 October 2023.

[Age92-94F-52] [52]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year — Imaginative Writing Prize 1992-94". Austlit. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

[Age95-97F-53] [53]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year — Imaginative Writing Prize 1995-97". Austlit. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

[Age1998-2000F-54] [54]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year — Imaginative Writing Prize 1998-2000". Austlit. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

[Age2001-2003F-55] [55]
"Austlit — Age Book of the Year — Imaginative Writing Prize 2001-2003". Austlit. Retrieved 7 February 2024.

[agef2008-2012-56] [56]
""The Age Book of the Year Award - Fiction Prize (2008-2012)"". Austlit. Retrieved 15 February 2024.

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""The Age Book of the Year Award - Non-Fiction 1974"". Austlit. Retrieved 26 September 2023.

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""The Age Book of the Year Award - Non-Fiction 1975"". Austlit. Retrieved 26 September 2023.

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""The Age Book of the Year Award - Non-Fiction 1976"". Austlit. Retrieved 27 September 2023.

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""The Age Book of the Year Award - Non-Fiction 1978"". Austlit. Retrieved 7 October 2023.

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""The Age Book of the Year Award - Non-Fiction 1979"". Austlit. Retrieved 26 September 2023.

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""The Age Book of the Year Award - Non-Fiction 1980"". Austlit. Retrieved 26 September 2023.

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""The Age Book of the Year Award - Non-Fiction 1981"". Austlit. Retrieved 11 October 2023.

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Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1974	David Foster	The Pure Land	^[3]
1975	Thea Astley	A Kindness Cup	^[4]
1976	A. D. Hope	A Late Picking : Poems 1965-1974	^[5]
1977	Not awarded		^[6]
1978	Christopher Koch	The Year of Living Dangerously	^[7]
1979	Roger McDonald	1915: A Novel of Gallipoli	^[8]
1980	David Ireland	A Woman of the Future	^[9]
1980	Murray Bail	Homesickness	^[9]
1981	Not awarded		^[10]
1982	David Malouf	Fly Away Peter	^[11]
1983	Elizabeth Jolley	Mr Scobie's Riddle	^[12]
1984	Nicholas Hasluck	The Bellarmine Jug	^[13]
1985	Peter Carey	Illywhacker	^[14]
1986	Joan London	Sister Ships and Other Stories	^[15]
1987	Jessica Anderson	Stories from the Warm Zone	^[16]
1988	Frank Moorhouse	Forty-Seventeen	^[17]
1989	Marsden Hordern	Mariners are Warned: John Lort Stokes and HMA Beagle	^[18]
1990	Gwen Harwood	Blessed City	^[19]
1991	David Marr	Patrick White: A Life	^[20]
1992	Marion Halligan	Lovers' Knots	^[21]
1993	Elizabeth Jolley	The Georges' Wife	^[22]
1994	Peter Carey	The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith	^[22]
1995	Tim Flannery	The Future Eaters	^[23]
1996	Thea Astley	The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow	^[24]
1997	Peter Carey	Jack Maggs	^[24]
1998	Elliot Perlman	Three Dollars	^[24]
1999	K.S. Inglis	Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape	^[25]
2000	Amy Witting	Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop	^[26]
2001	Rosemary Dobson	Untold Lives and Later Poems	^[27]
2002	Don Watson	Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating PM	^[28]
2003	Sonya Hartnett	Of a Boy	^[29]
2004	Luke Davies	Totem	^[30]
2005	Gay Bilson	Plenty: Digressions on Food	^[31]
2006	Jennifer Maiden	Friendly Fire	^[32]
2007	Peter Cochrane	Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy	^[33]
2008	Don Watson	American Journeys	^[34]
2009	Steven Amsterdam	Things We Didn't See Coming	^[35]
2010	Alex Miller	Lovesong	^[36]
2011	Fiona McGregor	Indelible Ink	^[37]
2012	James Boyce	1835: The Founding of Melbourne & The Conquest of Australia	^[38]
2021	Robbie Arnott	The Rain Heron	^[39]^[40]
2022	Miles Allinson	In Moonland	^[41]
2023	Robbie Arnott	Limberlost	^[42]

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1974	David Foster	The Pure Land	^[3]
1975	Thea Astley	A Kindness Cup	^[4]
1976	A. D. Hope	A Late Picking : Poems 1965-1974	^[5]
1977	No award		^[43]
1978	Christopher Koch	The Year of Living Dangerously	^[7]
1979	Roger McDonald	1915: A Novel of Gallipoli	^[8]
1980	David Ireland	A Woman of the Future	^[44]
1980	Murray Bail	Homesickness	^[44]
1981	Blanche d'Alpuget	Turtle Beach	^[45]
1982	David Malouf	Fly Away Peter	^[46]
1983	Elizabeth Jolley	Mr Scobie's Riddle	^[12]
1984	Nicholas Hasluck	The Bellarmine Jug	^[47]
1985	Peter Carey	Illywhacker	^[48]
1986	Joan London	Sister Ships and Other Stories	^[49]
1987	Jessica Anderson	Stories from the Warm Zone	^[50]
1988	Frank Moorhouse	Forty-Seventeen	^[17]
1989	Elizabeth Jolley	My Father's Moon	^[51]
1990	Glenda Adams	Longleg	^[51]
1991	Brian Castro	Double-Wolf	^[51]
1992	Marion Halligan	Lovers' Knots	^[52]
1993	Elizabeth Jolley	The Georges' Wife	^[52]
1994	Peter Carey	The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith	^[52]
1995	Rod Jones	Billy Sunday	^[53]
1996	Thea Astley	The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow	^[53]
1997	Peter Carey	Jack Maggs	^[53]
1998	Elliot Perlman	Three Dollars	^[54]
1999	James Bradley	The Deep Field	^[54]
2000	Amy Witting	Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop	^[54]
2001	Peter Carey	True History of the Kelly Gang	^[55]
2002	Joan London	Gilgamesh	^[55]
2003	Sonya Hartnett	Of a Boy	^[55]
2004	Andrew McGahan	The White Earth	^[30]
2005	Gail Jones	Sixty Lights	^[31]
2006	Christos Tsiolkas	Dead Europe	^[32]
2007	David Malouf	Every Move You Make	^[33]
2008	Tim Winton	Breath	^[34]
2009	Steven Amsterdam	Things We Didn't See Coming	^[35]
2010	Alex Miller	Lovesong	^[56]
2011	Fiona McGregor	Indelible Ink	^[56]
2012	Gillian Mears	Foal's Bread	^[56]

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1974	Manning Clark	A History of Australia (Vol. 3)	^[57]
1975	Not awarded		^[58]
1976	Hugh Stretton	Capitalism, Socialism and the Environment	^[59]
1977	Not awarded		^[60]
1978	Patsy Adam-Smith	The Anzacs	^[61]
1979	Not awarded		^[62]
1980	Not awarded		^[63]
1981	Eric Charles Rolls	A Million Wild Acres	^[64]
1982	Geoffrey Serle	John Monash: A Biography	^[65]
1983	Lloyd Robson	History of Tasmania	^[12]
1984	John Rickard	HB Higgins: The Rebel and Judge	^[66]
1985	Chester Eagle	Mapping the Paddocks	^[67]
1985	Hugh Lunn	Vietnam: A Reporter's War
1986	Garry Kinnane	George Johnston: A Biography	^[68]
1987	Robert Hughes	The Fatal Shore	^[69]
1988	Robin Gerster	Big-Noting: The Heroic Theme in Australian War Writing	^[17]
1989	Marsden Hordern	Mariners are Warned!: John Lort Stokes and HMS Beagle in Australia 1837-1843	^[70]
1990	Gwen Harwood	Blessed City
1991	David Marr	Patrick White: A Life
1992	Ruth Park	A Fence Around the Cuckoo
1993	Janet McCalman	Journeyings
1994	Jim Davidson	Lyrebird Rising
1995	Tim Flannery	The Future Eaters
1997	Roberta Sykes	Snake Cradle
1998	John Kinsella	The Hunt
1999	K.S. Inglis	Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape	^[25]
2000	Kim Mahood	Craft for a Dry Lake
2001	Nadia Wheatley	The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift	^[27]
2002	Don Watson	Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating Prime Minister
2003	Ann Galbally	Charles Condor: The Last Bohemian
2004	Peter Robb	A Death in Brazil	^[30]
2005	Gay Bilson	Plenty: Digressions on Food	^[31]
2006	Mandy Sayer	Velocity	^[32]
2007	Peter Cochrane	Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy	^[33]
2008	Don Watson	American Journeys	^[34]
2009	Guy Rundle	Down to the Crossroads	^[35]
2010	Kate Howarth	Ten Hail Marys
2011	Jim Davidson	A Three-Cornered Life
2012	James Boyce	1835: The Founding of Melbourne & The Conquest of Australia

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1993	John Tranter	At the Florida
1994	Dorothy Porter	The Monkey's Mask
1995	Chris Wallace-Crabbe	Selected poems 1956–1994
1996	Eric Beach	Weeping for Lost Babylon
1997	Emma Lew	The Wild Reply
1997	Peter Porter	Dragons in their Pleasant Places
1998	John Kinsella	The Hunt and Other Poems
1999	R. A. Simpson	The Impossible, and other Poems	^[25]
2000	Peter Minter	Empty Texas
2001	Rosemary Dobson	Untold Lives and Later Poems	^[27]
2002	Robert Gray	After Images
2003	Laurie Duggan	Mangroves
2004	Luke Davies	Totem	^[30]
2005	Dipti Saravanamuttu	The Colosseum	^[31]
2006	Jennifer Maiden	Friendly Fire	^[32]
2007	Robert Adamson	The Goldfinches of Baghdad	^[33]
2008	J. S. Harry	Not Finding Wittgenstein	^[34]
2009	Peter Porter	Better Than God	^[35]
2010	Jennifer Maiden	Pirate Rain
2011	John Tranter	Starlight: 150 Poems
2012	Mal McKimmie	The Brokenness Sonnets I-III And Other Poems

The_Age_Book_of_the_Year

The Age Book of the Year Awards

The Age Book of the Year

Fiction (or Imaginative Writing) Award

Non-fiction Award

Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize

First Book

References

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