First half of the year we’re always bombed with awards and prizes lists. Sometimes it can be very overwhelming. However it’s still worth to mention that this year’s Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) have announced its shortlists. You can, of course, pick up the titles that you’d like to read or recommend to others. It’s better having a variety of choices than a fewer titles.
General fiction book of the year
The Lake House (Kate Morton, A&U)
Close Your Eyes (Michael Robotham, Sphere)
The Perfumer’s Secret (Fiona McIntosh, Michael Joseph)
The Patterson Girls (Rachael Johns, Mira)
Literary fiction book of the year
The Natural Way of Things (Charlotte Wood, A&U)
The Other Side of the World (Stephanie Bishop, Hachette)
The Secret Chord (Geraldine Brooks, Hachette)
The World Without Us (Mireille Juchau, Bloomsbury)
General nonfiction book of the year
One Life: My Mother’s Story (Kate Grenville, Text)
Island Home (Tim Winton, Hamish Hamilton)
Australia’s Second Chance (George Megalogenis, Hamish Hamilton)
The Dismissal (Paul Kelly & Troy Bramston, Viking)
Biography of the year
Reckoning: A Memoir (Magda Szubanski , Text)
A Mother’s Story (Rosie Batty, HarperCollins)
Flesh Wounds (Richard Glover, ABC Books)
The Anti-Cool Girl (Rosie Waterland, Fourth Estate)
Older children (8 to 14 years)
Illuminae (Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff, A&U)
Cloudwish (Fiona Wood, Macmillan)
The Cat with the Coloured Tail (Gillian Mears, Walker Books)
Under Suspicion: Friday Barnes Book 2 (R A Spratt, Random House)
Younger children (0 to 8 years)
The 65-Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)
Perfect (Danny Parker & Freya Blackwood, Little Hare)
This is a Ball (Beck & Matt Stanton, ABC Books)
The Amazing True Story Of How Babies Are Made (Fiona Katauskas, ABC Books)
Illustrated book of the year
Wendy Whiteley and the Secret Garden (Janet Hawley, Lantern)
The Happy Cookbook (Lola Berry, Plum)
Cornersmith (Alex Elliott-Howery & James Grant, Murdoch Books)
I Quit Sugar: Simplicious (Sarah Wilson, Macmillan)
International book of the year
The Story of the Lost Child (Elena Ferrante, Text)
The Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins, Doubleday)
Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Under-Rated Organ (Giulia Enders, Scribe)
Grandpa’s Great Escape (David Walliams, HarperCollins)
Matt Richell Award for new writer of the year
Reckoning: A Memoir (Magda Szubanski, Text)
Rush Oh! (Shirley Barrett, Picador)
The Anti-Cool Girl (Rosie Waterland, Fourth Estate)
Salt Creek (Lucy Treloar, Macmillan)
Small publishers’ children’s book of the year
Numerical Street (Antonia Presenti & Hilary Bell, NewSouth)
The Underwater Fancy-Dress Parade (Davina Bell, illus by Allison Colpoys, Scribble)
Kookoo Kookaburra (Gregg Dreise, Magabala)
My Pop is a Pirate (Damon Young, illus by Peter Carnavas, UQP)
Small publishers’ adult book of the year
All Fall Down (Matthew Condon, UQP)
Body Lengths (Leisel Jones, Black Inc.)
The Art of Free Travel (Patrick Jones & Meg Ullman, NewSouth)
Give the Devil His Due (Sulari Gentill, Pantera Press)