2008 Prime Minister Literary Awards shortlist
The Minister for the Arts has announced the short list for the 2008 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.
Short list: Fiction
The 91 entries in the fiction category of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards included a wide range of contemporary Australian fiction.
The seven short-listed fiction books include works in prose, a compilation of short stories and one work in verse. Among the short list are writers whose distinguished careers have spanned decades as well as debut authors whose careers are just beginning.
- Burning In Mireille Juchau (Giramondo)
- El Dorado Dorothy Porter (Picador)
- Jamaica Malcolm Knox (Allen and Unwin)
- Sorry Gail Jones (Vintage)
- The Complete Stories David Malouf (Knopf)
- The Widow and Her Hero Tom Keneally (Doubleday)
- The Zookeeper's War Steven Conte (Fourth Estate)
Short list: Non-fiction
A total of 103 books, traversing topics from politics, art, philosophy and architecture were entered in the 2008 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards non-fiction category.
The judges selected the seven short-listed books because of their originality, rich detail and clarity of writing. Included in the short list are histories born from meticulous research, engaging accounts of survival and moving stories that resonate long after the book has been closed.
- A History of Queensland Raymond Evans (Cambridge University Press)
- Cultural Amnesia: Notes in the Margin of My Time Clive James (Picador)
- My Life as a Traitor Zarah Ghahramani with Robert Hillman (Scribe)
- Napoleon: The Path to Power, 1769–1799 Philip Dwyer (Bloomsbury)
- Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers Philip Jones (Wakefield Press)
- Shakespeare's Wife Germaine Greer (Bloomsbury)
- Vietnam: The Australian War Paul Ham (HarperCollins)
In this section
Contacts
For further information please contact the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, at the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts:
Phone: 1800 707 889
Email: pmliteraryawards @environment.gov.au
For media inquiries phone: (02) 6275 9590
