Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Arts Minister Simon Crean today announced the shortlists for the 2012 Prime Minister's Literary Awards and congratulated the shortlisted authors and producers.
The 2012 shortlists recognise some of the strongest literary talent and history expertise in Australia and feature a range of authors and producers from award-winners to first-time novelists.
This year's Awards are the largest ever, including an inaugural poetry award and the newly incorporated Prize for Australian History, with over five hundred entries across all categories.
This was a very competitive year for the Awards and all the judges were extremely impressed with the high calibre of work entered.
The shortlists include a diverse range of entries from richly illustrated children's books to powerful documentaries with a broad range of themes including Indigenous history, family conflict, alienation, memoirs and fantasy.
In particular, the shortlist for the inaugural poetry award - a welcome and important introduction to the Awards - includes strong and innovative works, continuing Australia's rich tradition of the poetic voice.
It is also encouraging to see publishers of all sizes represented in this year's Awards, including small ‘micro'-publishers, independent Australian-owned publishers, university presses and multinational publishers.
A total of $600,000 will be awarded in six award categories making the Prime Minister's Literary Awards the nation's richest literary awards in Australia. A prize of $80,000 tax-free will be awarded to the final winner in each of the award categories: fiction, non-fiction, Australian history, poetry, young adult fiction and children's fiction. Shortlisted entries also receive $5,000 tax-free.
The Gillard Government has also provided support to Australian authors, publishers, booksellers and libraries through investing $1.3 million in the National Year of Reading 2012.
All Australians are encouraged to reignite their passion for reading with these imaginative and compelling Australian stories during the National Year of Reading.
The 2012 Prime Minister's Literary Awards shortlists are:
Fiction shortlist
All That I Am by Anna Funder
Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville
Foal's Bread by Gillian Mears
Autumn Laing by Alex Miller
Forecast: Turbulence by Janette Turner Hospital
Poetry shortlist
Ashes in the Air by Ali Alizadeh
Interferon Psalms by Luke Davies
Armour by John Kinsella
Southern Barbarians by John Mateer
New and Selected Poems by Gig Ryan
Non-fiction shortlist
A Short History of Christianity by Geoffrey Blainey
Michael Kirby Paradoxes and Principles by A J Brown
When Horse Became Saw: A Family's Journey Through Autism by Anthony Macris
Kinglake-350 by Adrian Hyland
An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark by Mark McKenna
Prize for Australian History shortlist
1835: The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia by James Boyce
The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia by Bill Gammage
Breaking the Sheep's Back by Charles Massy
Indifferent Inclusion: Aboriginal people and the Australian Nation by Russell McGregor
Immigration Nation: The Secret History of Us by Renegade Films Australia Pty Ltd
Young adult fiction shortlist
A Straight Line to My Heart by Bill Condon
Being Here by Barry Jonsberg
Pan's Whisper by Sue Lawson
When We Were Two by Robert Newton
Alaska by Sue Saliba
Children's fiction shortlist
Evangeline, The Wish Keeper's Helper by Maggie Alderson
The Jewel Fish of Karnak by Graeme Base
Father's Day by Anne Brooksbank
Come Down, Cat! by Sonya Hartnett, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo
Goodnight, Mice! by Frances Watts, illustrated by Judy Watson
For more information on the shortlists including judges' comments and author biographies visitwww.arts.gov.au/pmliteraryawards