2017 Queensland Literary Awards Finalists Announced

The diversity and excellence of literature from Queensland and across Australia has been recognised with the announcement of the finalists for the 2017 Queensland Literary Awards (QLAs).

Presented by the State Library of Queensland (SLQ), the QLAs offer prizes for writers in thirteen categories across fiction, non-fiction and poetry, for published and unpublished work.

State Librarian and CEO Vicki McDonald said that celebrating some of the best examples of locally developed literature through events such as the QLAs is central to the State Library of Queensland's commitment to nurturing a culture of reading, writing and ideas.

"This year's shortlist includes important accounts of real life events that have shaped Queensland communities and individuals, as well as extraordinary works of creativity and imagination. The QLA have fostered the careers of writers such as Cathy McLennan, who has progressed from winning the Emerging Queensland Writer award in 2014 through to a nomination for the Queensland Premier's Award for a Work of State Significance for her remarkable non-fiction book Saltwater in 2017."

"Nominees also include last year's winner of The Courier-Mail People's Choice category, Mary-Rose Maccoll, a writer who has previously been celebrated for fictional works, but in 2017 has received three nominations for her deeply personal non-fiction title, For a Girl." Ms McDonald noted the introduction of the QUT Digital Literature Award by SLQ in 2017 to acknowledge contemporary publishing and digital innovation in storytelling. "Queensland has always been home to a vibrant and passionate literary community and we are proud to continue supporting writing, publishing and reading, both in print and online," Ms McDonald said.

"We are grateful to have the continued support of key QLA partners including the Queensland Government, The University of Queensland, Griffith University, University of Southern Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, Copyright Agency Limited Cultural Fund and The Courier- Mail."

The Queensland Government continues to match sponsor and partnership funding across all award categories, and in partnership with SLQ supports three Queensland Writers Fellowships of $15,000 to provide authors with an opportunity to develop their manuscripts and writing projects.

The award winners and fellowship recipients will be announced at a special ceremony to be held at State Library of Queensland on Wednesday 4 October.

The shortlists can be found at qldliteraryawards.org.au/about/shortlists.

The 2017 Queensland Literary Awards categories are:

• Queensland Premier's Award for a Work of State Significance
• Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Awards
• The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award
• The University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award
• Griffith University Young Adult Book Award
• Griffith University Children's Book Award
• University of Southern Queensland History Book Award
• University of Southern Queensland Australian Short Story Collection - Steele Rudd Award
• State Library of Queensland Poetry Collection - Judith Wright Calanthe Award
• QUT Digital Literature Award (new category in 2017)
• Unpublished Indigenous Writer - David Unaipon Award (supported by the Copyright Agency
• Cultural Fund and the University of Queensland Press)
• Emerging Queensland Writer - Manuscript Award (supported by the University of
• Queensland Press)
• The Courier-Mail People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award

The winner of The Courier-Mail People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award is determined by public votes, with online voting continuing until Monday 25 September via qldliteraryawards.org.au.

2017 Queensland Literary Awards shortlist

Queensland Premier's Award for a Work of State Significance ($25,000)

• Little Fish Are Sweet by Matthew Condon (UQP)
• For a Girl by Mary-Rose MacColl (Allen & Unwin)
• Saltwater by Cathy McLennan (UQP)
• The Daintree Blockade: The Battle for Australia's Tropical Rainforests by Bill Wilkie (Four Mile Books)

Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Awards (two available, $10,000*each)

• Lech Blaine
• Mindy Gill
• Anna Jacobson
• Emily O'Grady
• Bonnie Stevens

* Winners of this award also receive $2,500 worth of professional development

The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award ($10,000)

• The Birdman's Wife by Melissa Ashley (Affirm Press)
• Vancouver by Nick Earls (Inkerman & Blunt)
• A Hundred Small Lessons by Ashley Hay (Allen & Unwin)
• The Good People by Hannah Kent (Pan Macmillan)
• The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose (Allen & Unwin)

The University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award ($10,000)

• Songs of a War Boy by Deng Adut and Ben Mckelvey (Hachette)
• Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler (HarperCollins)
• For a Girl by Mary-Rose MacColl (Allen & Unwin)
• Position Doubtful by Kim Mahood (Scribe)
• Saltwater by Cathy McLennan (UQP)

Griffith University Young Adult Book Award ($10,000)

• The Hounded by Simon Butters (Wakefield Press)
• Words In Deep Blue by Cath Crowley (Pan Macmillan)
• The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon (Hachette)
• The Road to Winter by Mark Smith (Text Publishing)
• This is My Song by Richard Yaxley (Scholastic)

Griffith University Children's Book Award ($10,000)

• Somewhere Else by Gus Gordon (Penguin Random House)
• A Different Dog by Paul Jennings (Allen & Unwin)
• How to Bee by Bren MacDibble (Allen & Unwin)
• Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr (Allen & Unwin)
• The Grand, Genius Summer of Henry Hoobler by Lisa Shanahan (Allen & Unwin)

University of Southern Queensland History Book Award ($10,000)

• The Tim Carmody Affair: Australia's Greatest Judicial Crisis by Rebecca Ananian-Welsh,
• Gabrielle Appleby, Andrew Lynch (NewSouth)
• Hidden in Plain View: The Aboriginal people of coastal Sydney by Paul Irish (NewSouth)
• Evatt: A life by John Murphy ( NewSouth)
• Into the Heart of Tasmania by Rebe Taylor (MUP)

University of Southern Queensland Australian Short Story Collection - Steele Rudd Award ($10,000)

• Letter to Pessoa by Michelle Cahill (Giramondo)
• The Circle and the Equator by Kyra Giorgi (UWA Publishing)
• After the Carnage by Tara June Winch (UPQ)

State Library of Queensland Poetry Collection - Judith Wright Calanthe Award ($10,000)

• Euclid's Dog by Jordie Albiston (GloriaSMH Press)
• Meteorites by Carmen Leigh Keates (Whitmore Press)
• Fragments by Antigone Kefala (Giramondo)
• The Blue Decodes by Cassie Lewis (Grand Parade Poets)
• These Wild Houses by Omar Sakr (Cordite Books)

QUT Digital Literature Award ($10,000)

• Inanimate Alice: Perpetual Nomads (Beta) by Mez Breeze
• Generation Loss by Pascalle Burton
• Nine Billion Branches by Jason Nelson
• Paige and Powe by David Thomas Henry Wright
• Unpublished Indigenous Writer - David Unaipon Award (supported by the Copyright Agency

Cultural Fund and Univerity of Queensland Press) ($10,000)

• Mai Stori by Alicia Farmer
• Mirrored Pieces by Lisa Fuller

Emerging Queensland Writer - Manuscript Award (supported by the University of Queensland Press) ($10,000*)

• How to Knit a Human by Anna Jacobson
• The Killing of Louisa by Janet Lee
• The Fox by Ben Marshall
• The Coming by Siall Waterbright

The Courier-Mail People's Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award ($10,000)

• The Birdman's Wife by Melissa Ashley (Affirm Press)
• Vancouver by Nick Earls (Inkerman & Blunt)
• Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler (HarperCollins)
• A Hundred Small Lessons by Ashley Hay (Allen & Unwin)
• Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss (Simon & Schuster)
• To Prey and To Silence by Joan Isaacs (A and A Publishing)
• For a Girl by Mary-Rose MacColl (Allen & Unwin)
• Saltwater by Cathy McLennan (UQP)