1988 in Australian literature

none December 2019 December 2019 This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1988. Events Peter Carey won the 1988 Booker Prize for Oscar and Lucinda The Miles Franklin Award was not awarded this year as the date was changed from year of publication to year of announcement. Major publications Novels Peter Carey — Oscar and Lucinda Liam Davison — The Velodrome Austlit — The Velodrome by Liam Davison Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C95505 11 December 2023 Rodney Hall — Captivity Captive Helen Hodgman — Broken Words Dorothy Johnston — Maralinga, My Love Austlit — Maralinga, My Love by Dorothy Johnston Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C99054 11 December 2023 Thomas Keneally — Act of Grace Alex Miller — Watching the Climbers on the Mountain Gerald Murnane — Inland Morris West — Masterclass Tim Winton — In the Winter Dark Short stories Rob Hood — Daydreaming on Company Time Olga Masters — The Rose Fancier Austlit — The Rose Fnacier by Olga Masters Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C247302 11 December 2023 Frank Moorhouse — Forty-Seventeen Children's and young adult fiction Graeme Base — The Eleventh Hour Hesba Fay Brinsmead — When You Come to the Ferry Austlit — When You Come to the Ferry by Hesba Brinsmead Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C138131 11 December 2023 Caroline MacDonald — The Lake at the End of the World P. L. Travers — Mary Poppins and the House Next Door Gillian Rubinstein — Beyond the Labyrinth Austlit — Beyond the Labyrinth by Gillina Rubinstein Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C247210 11 December 2023 Tim Winton — Jesse Crime fiction Jon Cleary — Now and Then, Amen Peter Corris — Man in the Shadows : A Short Novel and Six Stories Marele Day — The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender (first in the Claudia Valentine series) The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender by Marele Day National Library of Australia https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2008520 23 July 2026 Science fiction and fantasy Damien Broderick Matilda at the Speed of Light (edited) Matilda at the Speed of Light by Damien Broderick National Library of Australia https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1804730 25 May 2025 Striped Holes David J. Lake — West of the Moon West of the Moon by David J. Lake National Library of Australia https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1962015 25 May 2025 Lucy Sussex – "My Lady Tongue" Poetry Gwen Harwood — Bone Scan Judith Rodriguez — The House by Water: New and Selected Poems The House by Water: New and Selected Poems by Judith Rodriguez National Library of Australia https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/356911 24 April 2026 John Tranter — Under Berlin Drama Andrew Bovell — After Dinner Jan Cornall — Escape from a Better Place Austlit — Escape from a Better Place by Jan Cornall Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C381834 11 December 2023 Non-fiction Tom Cole — Hell West and Crooked Austlit — Hell West and Crooked by Tom Cole Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C849029 11 December 2023 Peter Conrad — Down Home: Revisiting Tasmania Austlit — Down Home: Revisiting Tasmania by Peter Conrad Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C36179 11 December 2023 Laurie Hergenhan (editor) — The Penguin New Literary History of Australia Austlit — The Penguin New Literary History of Australia edoited by Laurie Hergenhan Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C228461 11 December 2023 Eric Rolls — A Million Wild Acres Dale Spender — Writing a New World: Two Centuries of Australian Women Writers Austlit — Writing a New World: Two Centuries of Australian Women Writers by Dale Spender Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C55815 11 December 2023 Awards and honours Dorothy Auchterlonie Green AUS AO, for "service to Australian literature, particularly as a writer, critic and teacher"https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870185 Dorothy Green, OAM honours.pmc.gov.au live https://web.archive.org/web/20191221233535/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870185 21 December 2019 2019-12-21 Elizabeth Jolley AUS AO, for "service to Australian literature"https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870292 Monica Elizabeth Jolley honours.pmc.gov.au live https://web.archive.org/web/20191221233538/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870292 21 December 2019 2019-12-21 Rosemary Wighton AUS AO, for "public service, to literature and to the community"Rosemary Neville Wighton https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/869893 live https://web.archive.org/web/20191211195605/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/869893 11 December 2019 2020-06-09 Dept of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Tom Hungerford AUS AM, for "service to literature"https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870328 Thomas Arthur Guy Hungerford honours.pmc.gov.au live https://web.archive.org/web/20191221233543/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870328 21 December 2019 2019-12-21 David Martin (poet) AUS AM, for "service to Australian literature"https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870172 David Martin honours.pmc.gov.au live https://web.archive.org/web/20191221233545/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870172 21 December 2019 2019-12-21 Gavin Souter AUS AM, for "service to literature and journalism"https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870265 Gavin Geoffrey Souter honours.pmc.gov.au live https://web.archive.org/web/20191221233541/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/870265 21 December 2019 2019-12-21 Len Beadell AUS OAM, for "service to the Public service and to literature"https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/885113 Leonard Beadell, BEM honours.pmc.gov.au live https://web.archive.org/web/20191211194517/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/885113 11 December 2019 2019-12-21 Lifetime achievement Award Author Christopher Brennan Award Austlit — FAW Christopher Brennan Award Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/v539?mainTabTemplate=awardWorksAndAgents&from=15&count=3 13 September 2023 Roland Robinson Patrick White Award Austlit — Patrick White Award - Past Winners Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/v617?mainTabTemplate=awardWorksAndAgents 22 August 2023 22 August 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230822040912/https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/v617?mainTabTemplate=awardWorksAndAgents dead Roland Robinson Literary Award Author Title Publisher The Age Book of the Year AwardMoorhouse's 'Forty-Seventeen' is Age Book of the Year" The Age, 9 December 1988, p4 https://www.proquest.com/docview/2521177872 28 May 2024 2521177872 Frank Moorhouse Forty-Seventeen Viking ALS Gold Medal ALS Gold Medal - Previous Winners Association for the Study of Australian Literature https://www.asal.org.au/awards/als-gold-medal/ 10 November 2023 Brian Matthews Louisa McPhee Gribble Colin Roderick Award Colin Roderick Award - Other Winners James Cook University https://www.jcu.edu.au/foundation-for-australian-literary-studies/roderick-award/previous-winners2 10 November 2023 Peter Carey Oscar and Lucinda Hyland House Fiction International Award Category Author Title Publisher Booker PrizeJordison Sam Looking back at the Booker: Peter Carey https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2008/may/28/lookingbackatthebookerpet The Guardian 28 May 2008 Peter Carey Oscar and Lucinda University of Queensland Press Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional Winners 1987-2007 Commonwealth Foundation http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/uploads/documents/Regional%20Winners%201987-20071.pdf 17 January 2024 23 October 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20071023223729/http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/uploads/documents/Regional%20Winners%201987-20071.pdf dead Best Novel, SE Asia and South Pacific region George Turner The Sea and Summer Faber & Faber National Award Author Title Publisher Adelaide Festival Awards for LiteratureState Library of South Australia https://stories.slsa.sa.gov.au/south-australian-literary-awards/ Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature – Past Literary Award Winners 7 August 2026 Rod Jones Julia Paradise McPhee Gribble The Age Book of the Year Award Frank Moorhouse Forty-Seventeen Viking The Australian/Vogel Literary Award Austlit — The Australian/Vogel National Literary Award 1988 Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/v385?mainTabTemplate=awardWorksAndAgents&from=30&count=3 13 December 2023 Tom Flood Oceana Fine Allen and Unwin Miles Franklin Award Austlit — Miles Franklin Literary Award Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/v254?mainTabTemplate=awardWorksAndAgents&from=33&count=3 14 September 2023 Not awarded New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Award to book on Lawson's mother Sydney Morning Herald, 13 September 1988, p4 https://www.proquest.com/docview/2526412308 3 May 2024 2526412308 John Sligo Final Things Penguin Books Australia Victorian Premier's Literary AwardsSeason of gifts The Age Monthly Review, 1 September 1988, p2 https://www.proquest.com/docview/2521064438/se-2 26 April 2024 2521064438 Murray Bail Holden's Performance Viking Western Australian Premier's Book Awards"Australian Literary Awards: Western Australian Premier's" University Libraries https://guides.lib.uw.edu/c.php?g=341672&p=2299464 4 April 2025 Tim Winton Minimum of Two Fremantle Arts Centre Press Children and Young Adult Award Category Author Title Publisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Children's Gillian Rubinstein Space Demons Omnibus BooksChildren's Book of the Year AwardThe Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards 1946– The Children's Book Council of Australia https://cbca.blob.core.windows.net/documents/National/CBCA%20Awards%201946%20on.pdf 26 July 2026 Older Readers John Marsden So Much to Tell You Walter McVitty Books Picture Book Bob Graham Crusher is Coming! Lothian Books New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Young People's Literature Gillian Rubinstein Answers to Brut Omnibus Books Victorian Premier's Prize for Young Adult Fiction John Marsden So Much to Tell You Walter McVitty Books Science fiction and fantasy Award Category Author Title Publisher Australian SF Achievement Award "Ditmar Awards 1988" SFADB https://www.sfadb.com/Ditmar_Awards_1988 28 June 2025 Best Australian Long Fiction Terry Dowling For As Long As You Burn Aphelion SF Magazine Best Australian Short Fiction Terry Dowling "The Last Elephant" Australian Short Stories #20 Poetry Award Author Title Publisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Les Murray The Daylight Moon Angus & Robertson Anne Elder Award Austlit — Anne Elder Award 1985-88 Austlit https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/v148?mainTabTemplate=awardWorksAndAgents&from=33&count=3 9 February 2024 Alex Skovron The Rearrangement Melbourne University Press Grace Leven Prize for Poetry"Booknotes" The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 August 1990 https://www.proquest.com/docview/3179756809 24 April 2026 3179756809 John Tranter Under Berlin University of Queensland Press Mary Gilmore AwardMary Gilmore Award Association for the Study of Australian Literature https://www.asal.org.au/awards/mary-gilmore-award/ 8 February 2024 Judith Beveridge The Domesticity of Giraffes Black Lightning Press New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Judith Beveridge The Domesticity of Giraffes Black Lightning Press Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Judith Beveridge The Domesticity of Giraffes Black Lightning Press Drama Award Category Author TitleNew South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Film Script Laura Jones High Tide Radio Script Keith Gallasch and Virginia Baxter Australia-Japan: A Love Story Television Script Anthony Wheeler Olive Play Alma De Groen The Rivers of China Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Drama Alma De Groen The Rivers of China Non-fiction Award Author Title Publisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Trevor Wilson The Myriad Faces of War Polity/Blackwells The Age Book of the Year Award Robin Gerster Big-Noting : The Heroic Theme in Australian War Writing Melbourne University Press New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Brian Matthews Louisa McPhee Gribble Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Brian Matthews Louisa McPhee Gribble Deaths A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1988 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth. 4 January — Alice Duncan-Kemp, writer and Indigenous rights activist (born 1901) Duncan-Kemp, Alice Monkton (1901–1988) by Pamela Lukin Watson Australian Dictionary of Biography https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/duncankemp-alice-monkton-12444 23 September 2023 28 February — Kylie Tennant, novelist, playwright, short-story writer, critic, biographer and historian (born 1912) Kathleen (Kylie) Tennant (1912–1988) by Jane Grant Australian Dictionary of Biography https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tennant-kylie-15669 25 November 2023 31 July — Stephen Murray-Smith, writer, editor and educator (born 1922)Stephen Murray-Smith (1922-1988) https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A24657 2023-09-26 AustLit: Discover Australian Stories The University of Queensland 12 November — Vincent Buckley, poet, teacher, editor, essayist and critic (born 1925)Vincent Buckley (1925-1988) https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A31963 2023-09-26 AustLit: Discover Australian Stories The University of Queensland See also 1988 in Australia 1988 in literature 1988 in poetry List of years in literature List of years in Australian literature References Category:1988 in Australia Category:Australian literature by year Category:20th-century Australian literature Category:1988 in literature