Overview of the events of 2006 in literature
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
Children's and Young Adult fiction
Crime and Mystery
Romance
Science Fiction and Fantasy
Drama
Poetry
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
Literary
Fiction
International
National
Children and Young Adult
National
Crime and Mystery
National
Science fiction
Poetry
Drama
Non-Fiction
Deaths
- 12 January – Rae Sexton, poet (born 1936 in New Zealand)[39]
- 16 March – Michael Dugan, writer for children (born 1947)[40]
- 14 April – Geoffrey Bewley, journalist and short story writer (born 1947)[41]
- 6 July – Lisa Bellear, poet (born 1961)
- 10 July – Vera Newsom, poet (born 1912)
- 16 August – Alex Buzo, dramatist (born 1944)[42]
- 4 September – Colin Thiele, writer for children (born 1920)[43]
- 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)[44]
Unknown date
See also
References
Note: all references relating to awards can, or should be, found on the relevant award's page.