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2009 in Australian literature

overview of the events of 2009 in literature

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ4615376 ↗
Source-derived summary

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2009.

Events

HarperCollins takes over ABC Books – the publishing arm of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Caro Llewellyn, resigns as director of the new Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas (now called the Wheeler Centre) in Melbourne before taking up the role. Chrissy Sharp, the Australian general manager of Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, is appointed to take her place.

The Australia-Asia Literary Award, based in Western Australia, is suspended.

Major publications

Literary fiction

Steven Amsterdam – Things We Didn't See Coming

Peter Carey – Parrot and Olivier in America

Steven Carroll – The Lost Life

Brian Castro – The Bath Fugues

Nick Cave – The Death of Bunny Munro

Tracy Crisp – Black Dust Dancing

Deborah Forster – The Book of Emmett

Andrea Goldsmith – Reunion

Marion Halligan – Valley of Grace

Sonya Hartnett – Butterfly

Eva Hornung – Dog Boy

Katherine Johnson – Pescador's Wake

Tom Keneally – The People's Train

Kate Legge – The Marriage Club

David Malouf – Ransom

Alex Miller – Lovesong

Jennifer Mills – The Diamond Anchor

Liane Moriarty – What Alice Forgot

Kristina Olsson – The China Garden

Sonia Orchard – The Virtuoso

Susan Varga – Headlong

Children's and Young Adult fiction

Allan Baille – Krakatoa Lighthouse

Alyssa Brugman – Girl Next Door

Judith Clarke – The Winds of Heaven

Mem Fox

Hello, Baby!

The Goblin and the Empty Chair

Odo Hirsch – Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool

Paul Jennings – The Nest

Justine Larbalestier – How to Ditch Your Fairy

Sophie Masson – The Madman of Venice

David Metzenthen – Jarvis 24

Tohby Riddle – The Lucky Ones

Lili Wilkinson – Pink

Sean Williams – The Scarecrow

Crime and Mystery

Robert G. Barrett – High Noon in Nimbin

Sydney Bauer – Move to Strike

Marshall Browne – The Iron Heart

Peter Corris – Deep Water

Marianne Delacourt – Sharp Shooter

Garry Disher – Blood Moon

Kathryn Fox – Blood Born

Leah Giarratano – Black Ice

Kerry Greenwood – Forbidden Fruit

Bronwyn Parry – Dark Country

Romance

Michelle Douglas – The Aristocrat and The Single Mom

Nicola Marsh – Two Weeks in the Magnate's Bed

Katherine Scholes – The Hunter's Wife

Maxine Sullivan – Valente's Baby

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Trudi Canavan – The Magician's Apprentice

Greg Egan

Crystal Nights and Other Stories

Oceanic

Kim Falconer – The Spell of Rosette

Pamela Freeman – Full Circle

Christopher Green – "Father's Kill"

Traci Harding – Being of the Field

Deborah Kalin – Shadow Queen

Glenda Larke – The Last Stormlord

Juliet Marillier – Heart's Blood

Ian McHugh – "Once a Month, On a Sunday"

K. J. Taylor – The Dark Griffin

Sean Williams – The Grand Conjunction

Drama

Angela Betzien – The Dark Room

Matt Cameron & Tim Finn – Poor Boy

Joanna Murray-Smith – Rockabye

Richard Tulloch – The Book of Everything

David Williamson – Let the Sunshine

Poetry

Emily Ballou – The Darwin Poems

Judith Beveridge – Storm and Honey

Emma Jones – The Striped World

Jennifer Maiden – Pirate Rain

Geoff Page – 60 Classic Australian Poems

Dorothy Porter – The Bee Hut

Peter Porter – Better Than God

Biographies

Roger Averill – Boy He Cry: An Island Odyssey

Stephen Cummings – Will It Be Funny Tomorrow, Billy?: Misadventures in Music

Jacqueline Kent – The Making of Julia Gillard

Harry M. Miller with Peter Holder – Harry M Miller: Confessions of a Not-So-Secret Agent

Don Walker – Shots

Jonathon Welch – Choir Man

Shirley Walker – The Ghost at the Wedding

George Whaley – Leo 'Rumpole' McKern: An Accidental Actor

Kristin Williamson – David Williamson: Behind the Scenes

Awards and honours

Lifetime achievement

Literary

Fiction

International

National

Children and Young Adult

National

Crime and Mystery

National

Science Fiction and Fantasy

International

National

Poetry

Drama

Non-Fiction

Deaths

14 January – Val Vallis, poet (born 1916)

3 June – Geoffrey C. Bingham, theological and short story writer (born 1919)

3 July – Frank Devine, journalist (born 1931)

6 September – Catherine Gaskin, author (born 1929 in Ireland)

8 September – Rica Erickson, botanical and historical writer (born 1908)

24 November – John West, poet (born 1951)

See also

2009 in Australia

2009 in literature

2009 in poetry

List of years in literature

List of Australian literary awards

References

Note: all references relating to awards can, or should be, found on the relevant award's page.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “2009 in Australian literature” as overview of the events of 2009 in literature. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2009, 1916, 1919, 1931—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2009-01-01. The account is most persuasive where Australian, literature and overview can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as overview of the events of 2009 in literature. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4615376. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2009, 1916, 1919 and 1931.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “2009 in Australian literature” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.