This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2011.
Events
*Four authors are named in the Queen's Birthday Honours:
Peter FitzSimons,
Susanne Gervay,
Roland Perry, and
Chris Wallace-Crabbe[Australian Writers Named in Queen's Birthday Honours]
/ref>
*Thomas Keneally
Thomas Michael Keneally, Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his historical fiction novel ''Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler' ...
donates his personal library to the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts[Keneally's Library Finds New Home]
/ref>
*Australian libraries and library associations join together to make 2012 the National Year of Reading
/ref>
*Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) declares Saturday, 20 August 2011, the inaugural National Bookshop Day
/ref>
* Final issue of the "Australian Literary Review" to be published in October 2011
/ref>
* Hannie Rayson is the first Australian to be awarded a commission with New York’s Manhattan Theatre Club[Hannie Rayson Wins New York Commission]
/ref>
*Friends and family of biographer Hazel Rowley establish funds to commemorate Rowley’s life and her writing legacy via the Hazel Rowley Literary Fund[Hazel Rowley's Literary Legacy]
/ref>
*Alison Lester
Alison Jean Lester (born 17 November 1952) is an Australian author and illustrator who has published over 25 children's picture books and two young adult novels — ''The Quickstand Pony'' and ''The Snow Pony''. In 2005 Lester won the Child ...
and Boori Monty Pryor
Boori Monty Pryor (born 1950) is an Aboriginal Australian author best known as a storyteller and as the inaugural Australian Children's Laureate (20122013).
Early life and family
Pryor is descended from the Birri Gubba nation of the Bowen re ...
are appointed to be Australia’s first Children’s Laureates[Australia's First Children's Laureates Announced]
/ref>
*The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) appoints Robert Adamson to hold the inaugural CAL Chair in Australian Poetry[UTS Appoints Inaugural CAL Chair in Australian Poetry]
/ref>
Major publications
Literary fiction
* Tony Birch – ''Blood
Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells.
Blood is com ...
''
* Geraldine Brooks – ''Caleb's Crossing''
* Annah Faulkner – ''The Beloved''
* Anna Funder
Anna Funder (born 1966) is an Australian author. She is the author of ''Stasiland'', ''All That I Am (novel), All That I Am'', ''Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life'' and the novella ''The Girl With the Dogs.''
Anna’s book ''Wifedom'' w ...
– '' All That I Am''
* Kate Grenville
Catherine Elizabeth Grenville (born 1950) is an Australian author. She has published fifteen books, including fiction, non-fiction, biography, and books about the writing process. In 2001, she won the Orange Prize for Fiction, Orange Prize for ...
– '' Sarah Thornhill''
* Gail Jones – '' Five Bells''
* Jeanine Leane – '' Purple Threads''
* Gillian Mears – '' Foal's Bread''
* Alex Miller – '' Autumn Laing''
* Frank Moorhouse
Frank Thomas Moorhouse (21 December 1938 – 26 June 2022) was an Australian writer who won major national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay and for script writing. His work has been published in the United Kingdom, France and t ...
– '' Cold Light''
* Favel Parrett – '' Past The Shallows''
* Elliot Perlman – '' The Street Sweeper''
* Craig Sherborne – ''The Amateur Science of Love''
* Cory Taylor – ''Me and Mr Booker''
* Rohan Wilson – '' The Roving Party''
* Charlotte Wood – ''Animal People''
Children's and Young Adult fiction
* Alexandra Adornetto – ''Hades''
* Em Bailey – ''Shift''
* J. C. Burke – '' Pig Boy''
* Isobelle Carmody
Isobelle Jane Carmody (born 16 June 1958) is an Australian writer of science fiction, fantasy, children's literature, and young adult literature. She is recipient of the Aurealis Award for best children's fiction.
Biography
Isobelle Carmody ...
– '' The Sending''
* Ursula Dubosarsky – '' The Golden Day''
* Scott Gardner – ''The Dead I Know''
* Steven Herrick – ''Black Painted Fingernails''
* Andrew McGahan – ''The Coming of the Whirlpool''
* Melina Marchetta – ''Froi of the Exiles''
* Vikki Wakefield – ''All I Ever Wanted''
* Scott Westerfeld
Scott David Westerfeld (born May 5, 1963) is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known as the author of the ''Uglies series, Uglies'' and the ''Leviathan (Westerfeld novel), Leviathan'' series.
Early life
Westerfeld was born in Dal ...
– ''Goliath
Goliath ( ) was a Philistines, Philistine giant in the Book of Samuel. Descriptions of Goliath's giant, immense stature vary among biblical sources, with texts describing him as either or tall. According to the text, Goliath issued a challen ...
''
Science fiction and fantasy
* Max Barry
Max Barry (born 18 March 1973) is an Australian author. He also maintains a blog on various topics, including politics. When he published his first novel, ''Syrup'', he spelled his name "Maxx", but subsequently has used "Max".
Barry is also the ...
– ''Machine Man
Machine Man (also known as Aaron Stack, Mister Machine and serial number Z2P45-9-X-51 or X-51 for short) is an android superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Jack Kirby for '' 2001: A ...
''
* Trudi Canavan – '' The Rogue''
* Greg Egan
Greg Egan (born 20 August 1961) is an Australian science fiction writer and mathematician, best known for his works of hard science fiction. Egan has won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, and the Lo ...
– '' The Clockwork Rocket''
* Will Elliott – ''Shadow''
* Kim Falconer – ''Road to the Soul''
* Pamela Freeman – ''Ember and Ash''
* Richard Harland – ''Liberator''
* Glenda Larke – ''Stormlord's Exile''
* Kim Westwood – '' The Courier's New Bicycle''
Crime and mystery
* Alan Carter – ''Prime Cut''
* Peter Corris
Peter Robert Corris (8 May 1942 – 30 August 2018) was an Australian academic, historian, journalist and a novelist of historical and crime fiction. As crime fiction writer, he was described as "the Godfather of contemporary Australian crime-w ...
– ''Follow the Money''
* Garry Disher – ''Whispering Death''
* Sulari Gentill
Sulari Gentill is a short Sri Lankan-born Australian author, also known under the pen name of S. D. Gentill. She initially studied astrophysics before becoming a corporate lawyer, but has since become a writer of mystery and fantasy fiction.
...
– ''A Decline in Prophets''
* Kerry Greenwood
Kerry Isabelle Greenwood (17 June 1954 – 26 March 2025) was an Australian author and lawyer. She wrote many plays and books, most notably a string of historical detective novels centred on the character of Phryne Fisher, which was adapted a ...
– ''Cooking the Books''
* Malcolm Knox – '' The Life''
* Stuart Littlemore – ''Harry Curry: Counsel of Choice''
* Barry Maitland – ''Chelsea Mansions''
* Kel Robertson – ''Rip Off''
* Michael Robotham – ''The Wreckage''
Poetry
* Ali Alizadeh – ''Ashes in the Air''
* Joanne Burns – ''Amphora''
* Barry Hill – ''Lines for Birds: Poems and Paintings''
* John Kinsella – ''Armour''
* Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray – ''Australian Poetry Since 1788'' (edited)
* Jaya Savige – ''Surface to Air''
Biography
* Julian Assange
Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of News leak, leaks from Chels ...
– ''Julian Assange: The Unauthorised Autobiography''
* A. J. Brown – ''Michael Kirby: Paradoxes and Principles''
* Eileen Chanin – ''Book Life: The Life and Times of David Scott Mitchell 1836–1907''
* Raimond Gaita
Raimond "Rai" Gaita (born Raimund Joseph Gaita; 14 May 1946) is a German-born Australian philosopher and writer, best known for his 1998 biography about his early life, titled '' Romulus, My Father''. He was foundation professor of philosophy a ...
– ''After Romulus''
* Mark McKenna – ''An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark''
* Susan Mitchell – ''Tony Abbott: A Man's Man''
* Christine Nixon – ''Fair Cop''
* Sue Pieters-Hawke – ''Hazel: My Mother's Story''
* Alice Pung – ''Her Father's Daughter''
* David Robert Walker – ''Not Dark Yet: A Personal History''
* Sarah Watt & William McInnes – ''Worse Things Happen at Sea''
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
* 1 March – Hazel Rowley, author (born 1951
Events
January
* January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).
* January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...
)
* 15 June – Anne Godfrey-Smith, poet and theatre producer/director (born 1921
Events
January
* January 2
** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil.
** The Spanish lin ...
)
* 20 June – T. A. G. Hungerford, author (born 1915)
* 2 September – Bernard Smith, art historian (born 1916)
* 27 September – Sara Douglass, author (born 1957
Events January
* January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany.
* January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
* January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...
)
* 4 October – Di Gribble, editor and publisher (born 1942
The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...
)
* 8 December – Zelman Cowen, jurist (born 1919
Events
January
* January 1
** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia.
** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off th ...
)
Unknown date
* May – Robert J. Merritt, playwright (born 1945
1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat.
Events
World War II will be ...
)
See also
* 2011 in Australia
The following lists events that happened during 2011 in Australia.
Incumbents
*Monarchy of Australia, Monarch – Elizabeth II
*Governor-General of Australia, Governor-General – Quentin Bryce
*Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister ...
* 2011 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2011.
Events
*June 7 – Ransom Riggs publishes his young-adult novel ''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'', which pins its narrative around a series of ...
* 2011 in poetry
* List of years in Australian literature
* List of years in literature
* List of Australian literary awards
References
{{Years in Australian literature
Literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
Australian literature by year
21st-century Australian literature
2011 in literature