The shortlists for the 2024 South Australian Literary Awards have been announced.

The shortlisted works in each category are:

Prize for Fiction (US$15,000)

• Everything that remains unsaid (Tracey Lien, HQ)
• Hydra (Adriane Howell, Transit Lounge)
• The in-between (Christos Tsiolkas, A&U)
• Permafrost (SJ Norman, UQP)
• West Girl (Laura Elizabeth Woollett, writer)

Non-Fiction Prize (US$15,000)

• The Ballad of Abdul Wade (Ryan Butta, Confirm)
• childhood (Shannon Burns, lyrics)
• Fat girl dancing (Kris Kneen, lyrics)
• I would rather not (Robert Skinner, Black Inc.)
• Personal Score: Sports, Culture, Identity (Ellen van Neerven, UQP)

Prize for Young Adult Literature (US$15,000)

• The edge (Holden Sheppard, lyrics)
• Completely normal (and other lies) (Biffy James, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishers)
• If you could see the sun (Ann Liang, HQ Young Adults)
• Sugar (Carly Nugent, lyrics)
• Sugar Town Queens (Malla Nunn, A&U)

Children’s Literature Prize (US$15,000)

• Be Jimmy Baxter (Fiona Lloyd, Puffin)
• Leave the souvenir shop (Maryam Master, Pan)
• Dwarf (Craig Silvey, illustration by Sara Acton, A&U)
• Scar City (Tristan Bancks, Puffin)
• Stay for dinner (Sandhya Parappukkaran, illustration by Michelle Pereira, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
• The Way of the Dog (Zana Fraillon, UQP)

John Bray Poetry Award ($15,000)

• Acrobat Music: New and selected poems (Jill Jones, Puncher & Wattmann)
• At the altar of touch (Gavin Yuan Gao, UQP)
• Human appearance (Andy Jackson, Giramondo)
• Hunger and predators (Pooja Mittal Biswas, Cordite)
• The Singer and Other Poems (Kim Cheng Boey, Cordite)

Jill Blewett Prize for Playwrights ($12,500)

• Hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s (Rebecca Meston)
• Log Boy (Anthony Nocera)
• Mallee District (Michael Hill)
• The Lost Paradise (Melissa Kelly Franklin)
• secure (Nina Pearce)
• Think of Jana Wendt (Nicola Watson)
• The loot (Piri Eddy)

Prize for unpublished manuscripts (US$10,000)

• “Young Swimmer” (Gina Inverarity)
• “Catastrophic” (Alastair Sarre)
• “Dear Vincent” (Heather Taylor Johnson)
• “Out of Place” (Robin Board)
• “Salt on the Water” (Lyn Dickens)
• “The tongue is a witch” (Alicia Carter)

Tangkanungku Pintyanthi Scholarship ($15,000)

• “Kali (Boomerang)” (Ali Cobby Eckermann)
• “Half a Life” (Karen Wyld)
• “Monologues, poems and chats for you, them, us… and me…” (Alexis West)

Barbara Hanrahan Scholarship ($15,000)

• “Half a Life” (Karen Wyld)
• “The Peasant Queen” (Katerina Bryant)
• “Radiance: A State of Being” (Molly Murn)

Max Fatchen Fellowship (US$15,000)

• “The Children of Elphinstone” (James A. Cooper)
• “Maisy” (working title) (Allayne Webster).

The South Australian Literary Awards, formerly known as the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature and previously held as part of Adelaide Writers’ Week, are awarded every two years by the South Australian Government.

The 2024 shortlisted works were selected from 827 entries. The winners of each category, as well as the recipient of the $25,000 Premier’s Award for the overall winner, will be announced in October.

Category: Awards Local News