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This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2012.


Events

*
Clive James Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.Stuart Macintyre, Roy Masters, Ros Pesman and Carol Woodrow. * Peter Carey is the recipient of the Bodleian Libraries' 2012 Bodley Medal. The medal is awarded by the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford "to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the worlds in which the Bodleian is active: literature, culture, science, and communication". * Incoming Premier
Campbell Newman Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman (born 12 August 1963) is an Australian former politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 26 March 2012 to 14 February 2015. He served as the member for Ashgrove in the Legislative Assembly of Que ...
cancels the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards. * In response, a week later, the new Queensland Literary Awards are announced. The awards use a crowd-funding campaign to raise the prize-money for their initial set of awards. * Sophie Cunningham is appointed as the new head of the Australian Literature Board. * In the Queen's Birthday Honours, Peter Carey,
Barbara Blackman Barbara Blackman (née Patterson; 22 December 1928 – 4 October 2024) was an Australian writer and essayist, poet, librettist, radio broadcaster and interviewer, artist, artist's model and activist and philanthropist, who was a patron of the ...
,
Rolf Harris Rolf Harris (30 March 1930 – 10 May 2023) was an Australian musician, television personality, painter, and actor. He used a variety of instruments in his performances, notably the didgeridoo and the Stylophone, and is credited with the inventi ...
, and Liz Jones were appointed Officers of the Order of Australia (AO),
Grahame Bond Grahame John Bond AM (born 21 November 1943) is an Australian Bachelor Architecture, actor, writer, director, musician and composer, known primarily for his role as Aunty Jack. Early career Bond began his career in entertainment at University ...
and Peter Steele were appointed Members of the Order of Australia (AM), and
Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher who is Emeritus Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. Singer's work specialises in applied ethics, approaching the subject from a secu ...
was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC). *
Text Publishing Text Publishing is an Australian publisher of fiction and non-fiction, based in Melbourne, Victoria. Company background Text Media was founded in Melbourne in 1990 by Diana Gribble and Eric Beecher, along with designer Chong Weng Ho and oth ...
launches its Text Classics line, reprinting Australian literary classics. * Melbourne City Council unveils "Literature Lane", a small laneway off Little LaTrobe Street near the State Library of Victoria, in recognition of Melbourne's status as a UNESCO City of Literature. * The
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry The Grace Leven Prize for Poetry was an annual poetry award in Australia, given in the name of Grace Leven who died in 1922. It was established by William Baylebridge who "made a provision for an annual poetry prize in memory of 'my benefactress ...
was discontinued.


Major publications


Literary fiction

* Romy Ash – ''Floundering'' *
Murray Bail Murray Bail (born 22 September 1941) is an Australian writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction. In 1980 he shared the Age Book of the Year award for his novel ''Homesickness''. He was born in Adelaide, South Australia, a son of Cyril Li ...
– ''The Voyage'' * Peter Carey – '' The Chemistry of Tears'' *
Brian Castro Brian Albert Castro (born 1950) is an Australian novelist and essayist. Early life and education Castro was born at sea, between Macau and Hong Kong, in 1950. His father was of Spanish, Portuguese, and English descent, and born in Shanghai. His ...
– ''Street to Street'' * Michelle de Kretser – '' Questions of Travel'' *
Annah Faulkner Annah Faulkner (1949/1950 – 8 March 2022) was an Australians, Australian novelist. At the age of five, Faulkner moved with her parents to Papua New Guinea and later lived on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sunshine Coast with her hu ...
– '' The Beloved'' * Susan Johnson – ''My Hundred Lovers'' * Toni Jordan – ''
Nine Days Nine Days (stylized as ''ninedays'') is an American rock band from Long Island, New York. It was formed in the hamlet of St. James, Suffolk County, New York in 1994 by John Hampson and Brian Desveaux, and released three independent albums in ...
'' *
Tom Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, 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's rescue of Jews during the Hol ...
– '' The Daughters of Mars'' *
Christopher Koch Christopher John Koch AO (16 July 1932 – 23 September 2013) was an Australian novelist, known for his 1978 novel '' The Year of Living Dangerously'', which was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film by the same name for which he co-wro ...
– ''Lost Voices'' * Drusilla Modjeska – ''
The Mountain The Mountain () was a political group during the French Revolution. Its members, called the Montagnards (), sat on the highest benches in the National Convention. The term, first used during a session of the Legislative Assembly, came into ge ...
'' * Stephanie Radok – ''An Opening: twelve love stories about art'' * Graeme Simsion – '' The Rosie Project'' * M. L. Stedman – '' The Light Between Oceans'' * Carrie Tiffany – '' Mateship with Birds'' *
Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was an Australian novelist and playwright who explored themes of religious experience, personal identity and the conflict between visionary individuals and a materialistic, co ...
– '' The Hanging Garden'' * Sue Woolfe – ''The Oldest Song in the World''


Children's and Young Adult fiction

*
Michael Gerard Bauer Michael Gerard Bauer (born 1955 in Brisbane) is an Australian full-time children's and young adult author, and was formerly an English teacher. Biography Bauer was born in Brisbane and attended Marist College Ashgrove before attending the Univ ...
– ''Epic Fail'' *
Mem Fox Merrion Frances "Mem" Fox AM (; born 5 March 1946) is an Australian writer of children's books and an educationalist specialising in literacy. Fox has been semi-retired since 1996, but she still writes and gives seminars. She lives in Adelaide ...
** '' Good Night, Sleep Tight'' ** '' Tell Me About Your Day Today'' ** '' Two Little Monkeys'' * Jackie French – ''Pennies for Hitler'' *
Morris Gleitzman Morris Gleitzman (born 9 January 1953) is an Australian author of children's and young adult fiction.Morris ...
– ''After'' *
Sonya Hartnett Sonya Louise Hartnett (born 23 March 1968) is an Australian author of fiction for adults, young adults, and children. She has been called "the finest Australian writer of her generation". For her career contribution to "children's and young adu ...
– ''Children of the King'' * Steven Herrick – ''Pookie Aleera Is Not My Boyfriend'' * Doug MacLeod – ''The Shiny Guys'' * Emily Rodda – ''The Silver Door'' * Carole Wilkinson – ''Blood Brothers''


Science Fiction and Fantasy

*
John Birmingham John Birmingham (born 7 August 1964) is a British-born Australian author, known for the 1994 memoir ''He Died with a Felafel in His Hand'', the ''Axis of Time'' trilogy, and the well-received space opera series, the ''Cruel Stars'' trilogy. ...
– ''Stalin's Hammer: Rome'' * Trudi Canavan – '' The Traitor Queen'' *
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 Eternal Flame'' * Will Elliott – ''Nightfall'' * Jennifer Fallon – ''The Dark Divide'' * Ian Irvine – ''Rebellion'' * Margo Lanagan – ''Sea Hearts'' * Jaclyn Moriarty – ''A Corner of White'' *
Garth Nix Garth Richard Nix (born 19 July 1963) is an Australian writer who specialises in children's and young adult fantasy novels, notably the ''The Old Kingdom, Old Kingdom'', ''The Seventh Tower, Seventh Tower'' and ''The Keys to the Kingdom, Keys t ...
– '' A Confusion of Princes''


Crime and Mystery

* Jessie Cole – ''Darkness on the Edge of Town'' *
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 ...
– ''Comeback'' * Kathryn Fox – ''Cold Grave'' *
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 ...
– ''Unnatural Habits'' * Katherine Howell – ''Silent Fear'' * L. A. Larkin – ''Thirst'' * Gabrielle Lord – ''Death by Beauty'' * Zane Lovitt – ''The Midnight Promise'' *
Colleen McCullough Colleen Margaretta McCullough (; married name Robinson, previously Ion-Robinson; 1 June 193729 January 2015) was an Australian author known for her novels, her most well-known being '' The Thorn Birds'' and '' The Ladies of Missalonghi''. Lif ...
– ''The Prodigal Son'' * Geoffrey McGeachin – '' Blackwattle Creek'' *
Adrian McKinty Adrian McKinty is a Northern Irish writer of crime and mystery novels and young adult fiction, best known for his 2020 award-winning thriller, ''The Chain'', and the Sean Duffy novels set in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. He is a winner o ...
– ''The Cold, Cold Ground'' *
Tara Moss Tara Rae Moss (born 2 October 1973) is a Canadian-Australian author, documentary maker and presenter, journalist and UNICEF national ambassador for child survival. Biography Moss was born in Victoria, British Columbia, where she attended schoo ...
– ''Assassin'' * Malla Nunn – ''Silent Valley'' * Michael Robotham – ''Say You're Sorry''


Poetry

*
Rosemary Dobson Rosemary de Brissac Dobson, AO (18 June 192027 June 2012) was an Australian poet, who was also an illustrator, editor and anthologist.Anderson (1996) She published fourteen volumes of poetry, was published in almost every annual volume of ''Au ...
– ''Collected'' * Kate Fagan – ''First Light'' * Robert Gray – ''Cumulus: Collected Poems'' * John Kinsella – ''Jam Tree Gully: Poems'' * Kate Lilley – ''Ladylike'' * Rhyll McMaster – ''Late Night Shopping'' * Jennifer Maiden – ''
Liquid Nitrogen Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is nitrogen in a liquid state at cryogenics, low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, mobile liquid whose vis ...
'' * Les Murray ed. – ''The Quadrant Book of Poetry 2001–2010'' * John Shaw Neilson – ''Collected Verse of John Shaw Neilson'' * Peter Rose – ''Crimson Crop'' * Randolph Stow – ''The Land's Meaning: New Selected Poems'' (edited by John Kinsella) *
John Tranter John Ernest Tranter (29 April 1943 – 21 April 2023) was an Australian poet, publisher and editor. He published more than twenty books of poetry; devising, with Jan Garrett, the long running ABC radio program ''Books and Writing''; and foundin ...
ed. – ''The Best Australian Poems 2012''


Biography

* John Bailey – ''Into the Unknown: The Tormented Life and Expeditions of Ludwig Leichhardt'' * Daryl Dellora – ''Michael Kirby: Law, Love and Life'' * Gideon Haigh – ''On Warne'' *
Jenny Hocking Jennifer Jane Hocking is an Australian historian, political scientist and biographer. She is the inaugural Distinguished Whitlam Fellow with the Whitlam Institute at Western Sydney University, Emeritus Professor at Monash University, and ...
– ''Gough Whitlam: His Time: Volume 2'' * J. C. Kannemeyer – ''J. M. Coetzee: A Life in Writing'' *
Malcolm Knox Sir Thomas Malcolm Knox (28 November 1900 – 6 April 1980) was a British philosopher who served as Principal of St Andrews University from 1953 to 1966 and vice-president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1975 to 1978. Biography K ...
– ''Bradman's War: How the 1948 Invincibles Turned the Cricket Pitch into a Battlefield'' * Mungo MacCallum – ''The Good, the Bad and the Unlikely: Australia's Prime Ministers'' * David McKnight – ''Rupert Murdoch: An Investigation of Political Power'' *
Brenda Niall Brenda Mary Niall (born 25 November 1930) is an Australian biographer, literary critic and journalist. She is noted for her work on Australia's well-known Boyd family of artists and writers. Educated at Genazzano FCJ College, in Kew, Victoria, ...
– ''True North: The Story of Mary and Elizabeth Durack''


Drama

*
Ian Meadows Ian Meadows is an Australian actor, playwright and writer. Early life and education Born and raised in Collie, Western Australia, Meadows trained at Curtin University and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), graduating i ...
– ''
Between Two Waves ''Between Two Waves'' is a play by Australian playwright Ian Meadows. It was first produced by Griffin Theatre Company in 2012. Plot Daniel – a climatologist and advisor to the government – loses a lifetime of research in a flood. When F ...
'' * Tee O'Neill – '' Barassi''


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

* 14 April –
Bruce Bennett Bruce Bennett (born Harold Herman Brix, also credited Herman Brix; May 19, 1906 – February 24, 2007) was an American film and television actor who was a college athlete in football and in intercollegiate and international track-and-field co ...
, literary academic (born
1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...
) *18 June – Don Charlwood, writer (born
1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 * ...
) *24 June – Ralph Elliott, critic and academic (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 ...
) * 27 June – **
Rosemary Dobson Rosemary de Brissac Dobson, AO (18 June 192027 June 2012) was an Australian poet, who was also an illustrator, editor and anthologist.Anderson (1996) She published fourteen volumes of poetry, was published in almost every annual volume of ''Au ...
, poet (born
1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...
) **
Peter Steele Peter Thomas Ratajczyk (January 4, 1962 – April 14, 2010), known professionally as Peter Steele, was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist and composer of the gothic metal band Type O Negative. Before forming Type O N ...
, poet (born
1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...
) * 6 August – Robert Hughes, writer and critic (born
1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...
) * 20 September – Robert G. Barrett, novelist (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 ...
) * 14 October –
Max Fatchen Maxwell Edgar Fatchen, AM (3 August 192014 October 2012) was an Australian children's writer and journalist. Early life Fatchen was born at "Narma" private hospital, South Terrace, Adelaide, the only son of Cecil William Fatchen and Isabe ...
, writer for children (born
1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...
) * 22 November –
Bryce Courtenay Arthur Bryce Courtenay, (14 August 1933 – 22 November 2012) was a South African-Australian advertising director and novelist. He is one of Australia's best-selling authors, notable for his book '' The Power of One''. Background and early ye ...
, novelist (born
1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...
in Johannesburg)


See also

* 2012 in Australia *
2012 in literature This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2012. Events *January 1 – Copyright restrictions on James Joyce's major works are lifted on the first day of the year, 70 years having passed last year since hi ...
* 2012 in poetry *
List of years in Australian literature This page gives a chronological list of years in Australian literature (descending order), with notable publications and events listed with their respective years. The time covered in individual years covers the period of European settlement of ...
*
List of years in literature This article gives a chronological list of years in literature, with notable publications listed with their respective years and a small selection of notable events. The time covered in individual years covers Renaissance, Baroque and Modern liter ...
* 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 2012 in literature