Update 23rd March 2021. The winners have been announced. I’ve underlined them below.
The 2021 Indie Book Awards Longlist has been announced. Most of them were not even on my radar…
FICTION SHORTLIST
All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton (HarperCollins Australia), see the SRB review
The Living Sea of Waking Dreams by Richard Flanagan (Knopf Australia), see my review
Mammoth by Chris Flynn (University of Queensland Press), on my TBR, see Sue’s review at Whispering Gums
Honeybee by Craig Silvey (Allen & Unwin)
NON-FICTION SHORTLIST
Phosphorescence by Julia Baird (Fourth Estate Australia), see Sue’s review at Whispering Gums
The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku (Macmillan Australia)
People of the River by Grace Karskens (Allen & Unwin)
Truganini by Cassandra Pybus (Allen & Unwin), on my TBR
DEBUT FICTION SHORTLIST
The Bluffs by Kyle Perry (Michael Joseph Australia)
Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson (Hachette Australia), on my TBR
A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing by Jessie Tu (Allen & Unwin), see Kim’s review at Reading Matters
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Affirm Press), see my review
ILLUSTRATED NON-FICTION SHORTLIST
Sam Bloom: Heartache & Birdsong by Samantha Bloom, Cameron Bloom & Bradley Trevor Greive (ABC Books, HarperCollins Australia)
Plantopedia by Lauren Camilleri & Sophia Kaplan (Smith Street Books)
Beatrix Bakes by Natalie Paull (Hardie Grant Books)
In Praise of Veg by Alice Zaslavsky (Murdoch Books)
CHILDREN’S SHORTLIST
The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals by Sami Bayly (Lothian Children’s Books)
Sing Me The Summer by Jane Godwin, illustrated by Alison Lester (Affirm Press)
The Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Mellor (Affirm Press)
Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Lothian Children’s Books)
YOUNG ADULT SHORTLIST
Future Girl by Asphyxia (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
Catch Me If I Fall by Barry Jonsberg (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
This One is Ours by Kate O’Donnell (University of Queensland Press)
Category Winners and the Overall Book of the Year Winner will be announced on Monday 22nd March 2021.
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
Thanks for the links Lisa … I think People of the river is supposed to be good? Also the Jessica Tu. But I probably won’t get to read them!
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By: whisperinggums on January 20, 2021
at 3:33 pm
No, I won’t either…except for Mammoth I’ve already read the ones from these lists that I’m interested in, the others don’t appeal.
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By: Lisa Hill on January 20, 2021
at 3:42 pm
Thanks for the link, Lisa. I’ve just finished reading Honeybee, but not reviewed it yet, and sound it surprisingly enjoyable, although I think it should be aimed at a YA audience. I tried reading The Bluffs a while back and abandoned it; it just felt too similiar to a million other things. I donated it to my apartment block’s Little Library in the hope someone else might get more out of it.
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By: kimbofo on January 20, 2021
at 4:08 pm
About half of the books I bought last year in my efforts to support bookshops and Australian authors were ‘too similar to other things’ and I abandoned them. I think…no, I know, we can do much better than that.
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By: Lisa Hill on January 20, 2021
at 11:18 pm