2016 Prime Minister's Literary Awards

Winners of the 2016 PM’s Literary Awards

The winners of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2016 were announced on 8 November, with 3 categories having joint winners, meaning there were nine very happy authors on the night. A special congratulations to Cockburn local Meg McKinlay who won the Young Adult category for her novel A Single Stone and to the other Western Australian winner Sally Morgan who won the Children’s Fiction category. 

Fiction (joint winners)

•  The Life of Houses / Lisa Gorton
• The Natural Way of Things / Charlotte Wood

Non-fiction (joint winners)

• On Stalin’s Team: the Years of Living Dangerously in Soviet Politics / Sheila Fitzpatrick
• Thea Astley: Inventing her own Weather / Karen Lamb

Young Adult fiction

• A Single Stone / Meg McKinlay

Children’s fiction

• Sister Heart / Sally Morgan

Prize for Australian History (joint winners)

• The Story of Australia’s People. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Australia / Geoffrey Blainey
• Let My People Go: the Untold Story of Australia and the Soviet Jews 1959–89 / Sam Lipski and Suzanne D Rutland

Poetry

• The Hazards / Sarah Holland-Batt

Check out all the shortlisted titles below

Shortlisted Books for the 2016 PM’s Literary Awards

The annual Prime Minister’s Literary Award recognises and celebrates the best of Australian writing in six categories: fiction, non-fiction, Australian history, young adult fiction, children’s fiction and poetry. Below are the 30 shortlisted books across the six categories for 2016 (title links take you to the library catalogue).

Fiction

• Forever Young / Steven Carroll
• The Life of Houses / Lisa Gorton
• The World Repair Video Game / David Ireland
• Quicksand / Steve Toltz
• The Natural Way of Things / Charlotte Wood

Non-fiction

• Tom Roberts and the Art of Portraiture / Julie Cotter
• On Stalin’s Team: the Years of Living Dangerously in Soviet Politics / Sheila Fitzpatrick
• Thea Astley: Inventing her own Weather / Karen Lamb
• Second Half First / Drusilla Modjeska
• Island Home / Tim Winton

Young adult fiction

• Becoming Kirrali Lewis / Jane Harrison
• Illuminae: The Illuminae Files _01 / Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
• A Single Stone / Meg McKinlay
• Inbetween Days / Vikki Wakefield
• Green Valentine / Lili Wilkinson

Children’s fiction

• Adelaide’s Secret World / Elise Hurst
• Sister Heart / Sally Morgan
• Perfect / Danny Parker and illustrated
• The Greatest Gatsby : A Visual Book of Grammar / Tohby Riddle
• Mr Huff / Anna Walker

Prize for Australian History

• The Story of Australia’s People. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Australia / Geoffrey Blainey
• Let My People Go: the Untold Story of Australia and the Soviet Jews 1959–89 / Sam Lipski and Suzanne D Rutland
• Red Professor: the Cold War Life of Fred Rose / Peter Monteath and Valerie Munt
• Ned Kelly: A Lawless Life / Doug Morrissey
• The War with Germany: Volume III—The Centenary History of Australia and the Great War / Robert Stevenson

Poetry

• Net Needle / Robert Adamson
• Cocky’s Joy / Michael Farrell
• The Hazards / Sarah Holland-Batt
• Waiting for the Past / Les Murray
• The Ladder / Simon West

For more information on all the winners and the other shortlisted authors visit the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards website. 

Originally posted on 3 November with only the shortlisted titles. Post now updates to include the winners.

All images sourced from Prime Minister’s Literary Awards – used and modified under Creative Commons – Attribution 3.0 International License