This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2006 .
Events [ ]
South African-born Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee takes up Australian citizenship[1]
Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard , complains about the modern school English syllabus, stating that it is being "dumbed down"[2]
Peter Carey's ex-wife, Alison Summers, takes a swipe at the author, accusing him of using his fiction to settle some old scores. She refers to a minor character in Carey's novel Theft: A Love Story (called The Plaintiff) and announces she is also writing a novel, titled Mrs Jekyll [3]
the ABC board decides against publishing the new Chris Masters' book Jonestown , an unauthorised biography of Alan Jones , a Sydney radio presenter[4]
the Australian Classification Review Board bans two radical Islamic books, prompting calls from the Australian Attorney-General for the Board to provide with even tougher laws[5]
a large treasure trove of missing papers belonging to Patrick White is revealed to the public. Contrary to the wishes expressed in White's will, his literary executor, Barbara Mobbs, did not destroy the material but kept it and has since offered it to the National Library of Australia [6]
Major publications [ ]
Literary fiction [ ]
Azhar Abidi – Passarola Rising
Venero Armanno – Candle Life
Max Barry – Company
James Bradley – The Resurrectionist
Peter Carey – Theft: A Love Story
John Charalambous – Silent Parts
Tegan Bennett Daylight – Safety
Richard Flanagan – The Unknown Terrorist
Sandra Hall – Beyond the Break
Sheridan Hay – The Secret of Lost Things
M.J. Hyland – Carry Me Down
Gail Jones – Dreams of Speaking
Simone Lazaroo – The Travel Writer
Kate Legge – The Unexpected Elements of Love
Angelo Loukakis – The Memory of Tides
David Malouf – Every Move You Make
Andrew McGahan – Underground
William McInnes – Cricket Kings
Andrew O'Connor – Tuvalu
D.B.C. Pierre – Ludmila's Broken English
Cameron S. Redfern – Landscape with Animals
Deborah Robertson – Careless
David Whish-Wilson – The Summons
Mike Williams – The Music of Dunes
Alexis Wright – Carpentaria
Children's and Young Adult fiction [ ]
Crime and Mystery [ ]
Sydney Bauer – Undertow
John Birmingham – Final Impact
Laurent Boulanger – Better Dead Than Never
Kirsty Brooks – The Lady Splash
Marshall Browne
Inspector Anders and the Blood Vendetta
Rendezvous at Kamakura Inn
Steve Caple – Blood On A Blue Line
Paul Cleave – The Cleaner
Peter Corris – The Undertow
Kathryn Fox – Without Consent
Edwina Grey – Prismatic
Wayne Grogan – Vale Byron Bay
Marion Halligan – The Apricot Colonel
Katherine Howell – Frantic
Adrian Hyland – Diamond Dove
Martin Livings – Carnies
Barry Maitland – Spider Trap
P.D. Martin – The Murderers’ Club
Jaclyn Moriarty – The Betrayal of Bindi Mackenzie
Tara Moss – Hit
Kel Robertson – Dead Set
David Rollins – A Knife Edge
Angela Savage – Behind the Night Bazaar
Lindsay Simpson – The Curer of Souls
John Trigger – Upshot
Michael White – Equinox
Romance [ ]
Marion Campbell – Shadow Thief
Sophia James – Ashblane's Lady
Marion Lennox – Princess of Convenience
Di Morrissey – The Valley
Science Fiction and Fantasy [ ]
Damien Broderick – K-Machines
D. M. Cornish – Monster Blood Tattoo 1: Foundling
Sara Douglass – Druid's Sword
Terry Dowling – Basic Black: Tales of Appropriate Fear
Grace Dugan – The Silver Road
Will Elliott – The Pilo Family Circus
Edwina Grey – Prismatic
Margo Lanagan – Red Spikes
Martin J. Livings – Carnies
Brett McBean – The Mother
Sean McMullen – Voidfarer
Michael Pryor – Blaze of Glory
Sean Williams & Shane Dix – Geodesica Descent
Drama [ ]
Jane Malone – The Rumour
Tommy Murphy – Holding the Man
Debra Oswald – The Peach Season
Stephen Sewell – It Just Stopped
Poetry [ ]
Robert Adamson – The Goldfinches of Baghdad
Laurie Duggan – The Passenger
Dennis Haskell – All the Time in the World
Judy Johnson – Jack
S.K. Kelen – Earthly Delights
Graeme Miles – Phosphorescence
Les Murray – The Biplane Houses
Mark Reid – A Difficult Faith
Thomas Shapcott – The City of Empty Rooms
John Tranter – Urban Myths: 210 Poems
Simon West – First Names
Fay Zwicky – Picnic
Non-fiction [ ]
Peter Andrews – Back from the Brink: How Australia's Landscape Can Be Saved
Janine Burke – The Gods of Freud: Sigmund Freud's Art Collection
Les Carlyon – The Great War
Neil Chenoweth – Packer's Lunch
Inga Clendinnen – Agamemnon's Kiss
Peter Cochrane – Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy
Peter Edwards – Arthur Tange: The Last of the Mandarins
Ken Inglis – Whose ABC? The Australian Broadcasting Commission 1983-2006
Justine Larbalestier – Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century
Biographies [ ]
Quentin Beresford – Rob Riley: an Aboriginal Leader's Quest for Justice
Michael Gurr – Days Like These
Robert Hughes – Things I Didn't Know
Elizabeth Jolley & Caroline Lurie – Learning to Dance
Sylvia Martin – Ida Leeson: A Life
Chris Masters – Jonestown: The Power and the Myth of Alan Jones
Alice Pung – Unpolished Gem
Awards and honours [ ]
Lifetime achievement [ ]
Fiction [ ]
International [ ]
National [ ]
Children and Young Adult [ ]
National [ ]
Crime and Mystery [ ]
National [ ]
Science Fiction [ ]
Award
Category
Author
Title
Publisher
Aurealis Award
Novel
Damien Broderick
K-Machines
Thunder's Mouth Press
Short Story
Sean Williams
The Seventh Letter
"Bulletin" Magazine, Summer Reading Edition
Ditmar Award
Novel
Sean Williams & Shane Dix
Geodesica: Ascent
HarperCollins
Novella/Novelette
Kaaron Warren
"The Grinding House"
The Grinding House
Short Story
Kaaron Warren
"Fresh Young Widow"
The Grinding House
Collected Work
Robert Hood & Robin Pen
Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales
Agog! Press
Australian Shadows Award
Will Elliott
The Pilo Family Circus
ABC Books
Non-Fiction [ ]
Poetry [ ]
Drama [ ]
Deaths [ ]
12 January – Rae Sexton, poet (born 1936)
16 March – Michael Dugan , writer for children (born 1947)
14 April – Geoffrey Bewley, journalist and short story writer (born 1947)
6 July – Lisa Bellear , poet (born 1961)
10 July – Vera Newsom, poet (born 1912)
16 August – Alex Buzo , dramatist (born 1944)
4 September – Colin Thiele , writer for children (born 1920)
13 September – J. E. Macdonnell , novelist of the sea (born 1917)
22 September – Joy Williams , poet (born 1942)
3 October – Gwen Meredith , novelist (born 1907)
Unknown date
Cecily Crozier , artist, poet and literary editor who co-founded A Comment (born 1911)
See also [ ]
References [ ]
Note: all references relating to awards can, or should be, found on the relevant award's page.
Years in
Australian literature (1860–present)
19th century 20th century 21st century