This is a list of historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2024.

Events

* Both the chief executive and deputy chairman quit over promotional material released for the 2024

Melbourne Writers Festival Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) is an annual literary festival held in the Australian city of Melbourne, a UNESCO City of Literature. The Festival runs during early September each year. Melbourne Writers Festival is part of the Word Alliance, a ...

* Major Australian online bookseller

Booktopia Booktopia Direct Pty Ltd is an Australian online bookseller. The company also owns Angus & Robertson, a major Australian online bookseller, publisher, and printer. In 2020, it had listed on the ASX, but a series of factors including a Post-COV ...

enters voluntary administration as it explores options for "sale and/or recapitalisation."

Major publications

Literary fiction

* Jumaana Abdu – ''

Translations Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

'' * Robbie Arnott – ''Dusk'' * Amy Brown – ''My Brilliant Sister'' * Shankari Chandran – ''Safe Haven'' *

Melanie Cheng Melanie Cheng is an Australian doctor and author of ''Australia Day'' (2017) and two novels, ''The Burrow (novel), The Burrow'' (2024) and ''Room for a Stranger'' (2019). Cheng draws upon her biracial, Chinese-Australian heritage as well as her ...

– '' The Burrow'' *

Charmian Clift Charmian Clift (30 August 1923 – 8 July 1969) was an Australian writer. She was the second wife and literary collaborator of George Johnston. Early life Clift was born 30 August 1923 in Kiama, a coastal town 120 kilometres south of Sydney ...

– ''The End of the Morning'' *

Michelle de Kretser Michelle de Kretser (born 1957) is an Australian novelist who was born in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), and moved to Australia in 1972 when she was 14. Her father was Oswald Leslie De Kretser III, a judge of the Supreme Court of Ceylon. Education an ...

– ''

Theory & Practice ''Theory & Practice'' is a 2024 novel by Australian author Michelle de Kretser. The novel is set in 1986 and is narrated by a Sri Lankan-born woman undertaking postgraduate studies on Virginia Woolf at the University of Melbourne. The book, whic ...

'' * David Dyer – ''This Kingdom of Dust'' * Nikki Gemmell – ''Wing'' * Rodney Hall – ''

Vortex In fluid dynamics, a vortex (: vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in th ...

'' * Dylin Hardcastle – ''A Language of Limbs'' *

Anita Heiss Anita Marianne Heiss (born 1968) is an Aboriginal Australian author, poet, cultural activist and social commentator. She is an advocate for Indigenous Australian literature and literacy, through her writing for adults and children and her memb ...

– ''Dirrayawadha'' * Kirsty Iltners – ''Depth of Field'' * Gail Jones – ''One Another'' * Lauren Keegan – ''All the Bees in the Hollows'' * Meg Keneally – ''Free'' * Kate Kruimink – ''Heartsease'' * Siang Lu – ''Ghost Cities'' * Emily Maguire – ''Rapture'' *

Alex Miller Alex Miller (born 4 July 1949) is a Scottish football manager and former player. As a player, he had a 15-year career with Rangers, winning several trophies. As a manager, he won the 1991–92 Scottish League Cup with Hibernian. He subsequen ...

– ''The Deal'' * Stephen Orr – ''Shining Like the Sun'' *

Jock Serong Jock Serong is an Australian writer. Serong grew up in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs and completed his secondary education at Xavier College in Kew. From years 4-8 he attended Xavier’s Kostka Hall junior campus in Brighton. He graduated fro ...

– ''Cherrywood'' * Inga Simpson – ''The Thinning'' * Nardi Simpson – ''The Belburd'' *

Tim Winton Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the ...

– ''

Juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or Cold-pressed juice, pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat ...

Short story collections

* Ceridwen Dovey – ''Only the Astronauts'' *

Fiona McFarlane Fiona McFarlane (born 1978) is an Australian author, best known for her novel '' The Night Guest'' (2013) and her collections of short stories ''The High Places'' (2016) and '' Highway 13'' (2024). She is a recipient of the Voss Literary Prize, ...

– ''

Highway 13 The following roads may be referred to as Route 13 or Highway 13. For a list of roads named A13, see List of A13 roads. International * AH13, Asian Highway 13 * European route E13 * European route E013 Afghanistan *The Kabul–Behsud Highwa ...

'' * Mykaela Saunders – ''Always Will Be''

Crime and mystery

* Garry Disher – ''Sanctuary'' * Candice Fox – ''Devil's Kitchen'' *

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. ...

– ''The Mystery Writer'' * Chris Hammer – ''The Valley'' *

Dervla McTiernan Dervla McTiernan is an Irish crime novelist. Early life and career Dervla McTiernan was born in County Cork, growing up initially in Carrigaline and Douglas before her father's work in the bank took her to Dublin, aged six, and then Limerick. ...

– '' What Happened to Nina?'' *

Louise Milligan Louise Milligan is an Australian author and investigative reporter for the ABC TV ''Four Corners'' program. As of March 2021, she is the author of two award-winning non-fiction books. Her first novel, ''Pheasants Nest'', was published in 2024. ...

– ''Pheasants Nest''

Science fiction and Fantasy

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 ...

** "Death and the Gorgon" ** ''Morphotrophic'' * Kate Forsyth – ''Psyckhe'' * Ben Peek – "Shadow Films" * Angela Slatter – ''The Briar Book of the Dead'' * Kaaron Warren – ''The Underhistory''

Children's and young adult

* Kate Emery – ''My Family and Other Suspects'' * Ambelin Kwaymullina – ''Liar's Test'' * Emma Lord – ''Anomaly'' * Katrina Nannestead – ''All the Beautiful Things'' * Lili Wilkinson – ''Deep is the Fen''

Poetry

* Chris Andrews – ''The Oblong Plot'' * Manisha Anjali – ''Naag Mountain'' *

Judith Beveridge Judith Beveridge (born 1956) is a contemporary Australian poet, editor and academic. She is a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award. Biography Judith Beveridge was born in London, England, arriving in Australia with her parents in 1960. S ...

– ''Tintinnabulum'' * Hasib Hourani – ''rock flight'' * Nam Le – ''36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem'' * Jeanine Leane – ''gawimarra gathering'' * Kate Middleton – ''Television'' * Izzy Roberts-Orr – ''Raw Salt''

Plays

* Patricia Cornelius – ''Bad Boy'' * Glenn Shea – ''Three Magpies Perched in a Tree'' *

Melanie Tait Melanie Tait (born ) is an Australian playwright and author. a freelance journalist, she often writes for ABC Online, ''Guardian Australia'', and news.com.au. She is the author of several plays, including ''The Appleton Ladies' Potato Race'', wh ...

– ''The Queen's Nanny'' *

David Williamson David Keith Williamson (born 1942) is an Australian playwright, who has also written screenplays and teleplays. He became known in the early 1970s with his political comic drama '' Don's Party'', and other well-known plays include '' The Clu ...

– ''The Great Divide''

Non-Fiction

James Bradley James Bradley (September 1692 – 13 July 1762) was an English astronomer and priest who served as the third Astronomer Royal from 1742. He is best known for two fundamental discoveries in astronomy, the aberration of light (1725–1728), and ...

– ''Deep Water'' * Criss Canning – ''The Paintings of Criss Canning'' * Santilla Chingaipe – '' Black Convicts'' *

Helen Garner Helen Garner (née Ford, born 7 November 1942) is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garner's debut novel, first novel, ''Monkey Grip (novel), Monkey Grip'', published in 1977, immediately established her ...

– '' The Season'' * Royce Kurmelovs – ''Slick: Australia's Toxic Relationship with Big Oil'' * Amy McQuire – ''

Black Witness ''Black Witness'' is a 2024 non-fiction book by Aboriginal Australian journalist and researcher Amy McQuire. In the book McQuire criticises the mainstream media's treatment of stories about First Nations Australians, and argues that traditional ...

'' * Lucia Osborne-Crowley – ''The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell'' * Cher Tan – ''Peripathetic : Notes on (Un)belonging''

Memoir

* Abbas El-Zein – ''Bullet, Paper, Rock'' * Susan Hampton – ''Anything Can Happen'' * Samah Sabawi – '' Cactus Pear for My Beloved'' *

Markus Zusak Markus Zusak (born 23 June 1975) is an Australian-German writer. He is best known for ''The Book Thief'' and ''The Messenger (Zusak novel), The Messenger'', two novels that became international bestsellers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award in 2 ...

– ''Three Wild Dogs and the Truth''

Awards and honours

Note: these awards were presented in the year in question.

Lifetime achievement

Literary

Fiction

Children and Young Adult

Crime and Mystery

National

Non-Fiction

Poetry

Drama

Deaths

* 13 January – David Hansen, art historian (born

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

) * 4 February –

Lowitja O'Donoghue Lowitja O'Donoghue (August 1932 – 4 February 2024), also known as Lois O'Donoghue and Lois Smart, was an Australian public administrator and Indigenous rights advocate. She was the inaugural chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait I ...

, public administrator and Indigenous rights advocate (born

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

) * 19 February –

Marion Halligan Marion Mildred Halligan Order of Australia, AM (16 April 1940 – 19 February 2024) was an Australian writer and novelist. She authored twenty-three books, including fiction, short-fiction, and non-fiction. Her novel ''Lovers' Knots'' (1992) won ...

, novelist, short story writer, reviewer and essayist (born

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...

) * 25 March –

Ian Heads Ian John Heads (15 February 1943 – 25 March 2024) was an Australian historian, journalist, commentator and author. He was described as "Australia's foremost rugby league historian" by the National Museum of Australia. In the recon ...

, historian and journalist (born

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

) * 30 April – Lyndall Ryan, historian (born

) * 10 May – Hugh Edwards, journalist, author and marine photographer (born 1933 in Scotland) * 24 July –

Ray Lawler Raymond Evenor Lawler (23 May 1921 – 24 July 2024) was an Australian playwright and dramatist, actor, theatre producer and director. Lawler's most notable play was his tenth, '' Summer of the Seventeenth Doll'' (1953), which had its premie ...

, playwright (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 ...

) * 31 August –

Jack Hibberd John Charles Hibberd (12 April 1940 – 30 August 2024) was an Australian playwright best known for his plays '' Dimboola'' (1969) and '' A Stretch of the Imagination'' (1972). He was also a physician. Biography John Charles Hibberd was bor ...

, playwright (born

) * 4 October –

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 ...

, writer, essayist, poet, librettist, broadcaster and philanthropist (born

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

) * 30 November – Susan Duncan, journalist, memoirist and novelist (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 ...

) * 10 December – Brenda Walker, novelist (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 ...

) Unknown date * Eric Beach, poet and playwright (born in New Zealand,

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

)

References

{{Years in Australian literature 2024 in Australia Australian literature by year Years of the 21st century in Australia 2024 in literature

Events

Major publications

Literary fiction

Short story collections

Crime and mystery

Science fiction and Fantasy

Children's and young adult

Poetry

Plays

Non-Fiction

Memoir

Awards and honours

Lifetime achievement

Literary

Fiction

Children and Young Adult

Crime and Mystery

National

Non-Fiction

Poetry

Drama

Deaths

See also

References