ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

The 2017 ABIA (Australian Book Industry Awards) Longlist has been announced.  There are a lot of categories and I’m only covering three where I’ve reviewed some of the titles, so you’ll need to visit the ABIA website to see the others.

Literary Fiction Book of the Year 

• An Isolated Incident, Emily Maguire (Picador Australia, Pan Macmillan Australia), see my review
• Between a Wolf and a Dog, Georgia Blain (Scribe Publications), see my review
• Crimes of the Father, Tom Keneally (Vintage Australia, Penguin Random House), see my review
• Goodwood, Holly Throsby (Allen & Unwin)
• The Easy Way Out, Steven Amsterdam (Hachette, Hachette Australia), see my review
• The Good People, Hannah Kent (Picador Australia, Pan Macmillan Australia)
• The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, Dominic Smith (Allen & Unwin), see my review
• Where the Trees Were, Inga Simpson (Hachette, Hachette Australia)

Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year

• Fight Like a Girl, Clementine Ford (Allen & Unwin)
• Goodwood, Holly Throsby (Allen & Unwin)
• Music and Freedom, Zoë Morrison (Vintage Australia, Penguin Random House), see my review
• The Dry, Jane Harper (Macmillan Australia, Pan Macmillan Australia)
• The Island Will Sink, Briohny Doyle (The Lifted Brow, The Lifted Brow)
• The Midnight Watch, David Dyer (Hamish Hamilton (AU Adult), Penguin Random House)
• The Paper House, Anna Spargo-Ryan (Picador Australia, Pan Macmillan Australia)
• Wasted: A Story of Alcohol, Grief and a Death in Brisbane, Elspeth Muir (Text Publishing)

Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year

• Damned Whores and God’s Police, Anne Summers (NewSouth, NewSouth Publishing), see my review
• Offshore: Behind the wire on Manus and Nauru, Madeline Gleeson (NewSouth, NewSouth Publishing)
• Position Doubtful: Mapping Landscapes and Memories, Kim Mahood (Scribe Publications), see my review
• Poum and Alexandre, Catherine de Saint Phalle (Transit Lounge, Transit Lounge Publishing)
• Saltwater, Cathy McLennan (University of Queensland Press)
• The Australian Native Bee Book, Tim Heard (Sugarbag Bees)
• The Island Will Sink, Briohny Doyle (The Lifted Brow)
• The Worst Woman in Sydney: The Life and Crimes of Kate Leigh, Leigh Straw (NewSouth, NewSouth Publishing)

International Book of the Year

• Born To Run, Bruce Springsteen (Simon & Schuster Australia)
• Commonwealth, Ann Patchett (Bloomsbury Publishing, Bloomsbury)
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, J.K. Rowling & John Tiffany & Jack Thorne (Little Brown, Hachette Australia)
• The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet, Michael Mosley (Simon & Schuster Australia)
• The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, Amy Schumer (HarperCollins, HarperCollins Publishers)
• The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries From a Secret World, Peter Wohlleben (Black Inc., Schwartz Publishing)
• The North Water, Ian McGuire (Scribner, Simon & Schuster Australia)
• The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead (Fleet, Hachette Australia), see my review