2016 in Australian literature
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2016.
Major publications
Literary fiction
- Melissa Ashley – The Birdman's Wife
- Hannah Kent – The Good People
- Heather Rose – The Museum of Modern Love
Children's and Young Adult fiction
- Andy Griffiths – The Tree House Fun Book and The 78-Storey Treehouse
- Zana Fraillon – The Bone Sparrow
- Richard Roxburgh – Artie and the Grime Wave
- Shaun Tan – Tales from Outer Suburbia
Crime
- Jane Harper – The Dry
- David Whish-Wilson – Old Scores
Science Fiction and Fantasy
- Juliet Marillier – Den of Wolves
- Lian Hearn – Emperor of the Eight Islands
Poetry
- John Kinsella – Drowning in Wheat
- Susan Varga – Rupture: Poems 2012–2015
Biographies
- Deng Thiak Adut with Ben McKelvey – Songs of a War Boy: My Story
- Julia Baird – Victoria: The Queen
- Jimmy Barnes –Working Class Boy
- Mark Colvin – Light and Shadow: Memoirs of a Spy's Son
- Suzanne Falkiner – Mick: A Life of Randolph Stow
- Stan Grant – Talking to My Country
- Cory Taylor – Dying: A Memoir
Non-fiction
- Richard Fidler – Ghost Empire
- Peter FitzSimons – Victory at Villers-Bretonneux: Why a French town will never forget the Anzacs
- Clementine Ford – Fight Like A Girl
- Helen Garner – Everywhere I Look
- David Hunt – True Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia volume 2
- Lynne Kelly – The Memory Code
- Tara Moss – Speaking Out: A 21st Century Handbook For Women and Girls
Awards and honours
Lifetime achievement
Fiction
National
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| The Australian/Vogel Literary Award | Katherine Brabon | The Memory Artist | Allen & Unwin | |
| Miles Franklin Award | A. S. Patrić | Black Rock White City | Transit Lounge | |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Fiction | Lisa Gorton | The Life of Houses | Giramondo |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Fiction | Charlotte Wood | The Natural Way of Things | Allen & Unwin |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Fiction | Merlinda Bobi | Locust Girl: A Lovesong | Spinifex Press |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Fiction | Georgia Blain | Between a Wolf and a Dog | Scribe |
| Stella Prize | Charlotte Wood | The Natural Way of Things | Allen & Unwin | |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Fiction | Mireille Juchau | The World Without Us | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Children and Young Adult
National
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Fiona Wood | Cloudwish | Macmillan Australia | |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Morris Gleitzman | Soon | Viking Books | |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Nadia Wheatley, text Armin Greder, illus. | Flight | Windy Hollow Books | |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Anna Walker | Mr Huff | Penguin Random House | |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Children's | Rebecca Young & Matt Ottley | Teacup | Scholastic Australia |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Young People's | Alice Pung | Laurinda | Black Inc. |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Young Adult Fiction | Marlee Jane Ward | Welcome to Orphancorp | Xou Pty Ltd |
Crime and Mystery
International
National
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Davitt Award | Novel | Emma Viskic | Resurrection Bay | Echo Publishing |
| Ned Kelly Award | Novel | Dave Warner | Before It Breaks | Fremantle Press |
| Ned Kelly Award | First novel | Emma Viskic | Resurrection Bay | Echo Publishing |
Science Fiction
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Aurealis Award | Sf Novel | Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff | Gemima: The Illuminae Files 2 | Allen & Unwin |
| Aurealis Award | Sf Short Story | Samantha Murray | "Of Sight, of Mind, of Heart" | Clarkesworld 122 |
| Aurealis Award | Fantasy Novel | Jay Kristoff | Nevernight | Harper Voyager |
| Aurealis Award | Fantasy Short Story | Thoraiya Dyer | "Where the Pelican Builds Her Nest" | In Your Face |
| Aurealis Award | Horror Novel | Kaaron Warren | The Grief Hole | IFWG Publishing Australia |
| Aurealis Award | Horror Short Story | TR Napper | "Flame Trees" | Asimov’s Science Fiction |
| Aurealis Award | Young Adult Novel | Alison Goodman | Lady Helen and the Dark Days Pact | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Aurealis Award | Young Adult Short Story | Leife Shallcross | "Pretty Jennie Greenteeth" | Strange Little Girls |
| Ditmar Award | Novel | Lisa L. Hannett | Lament for the Afterlife | ChiZine Publications |
| Ditmar Award | Best Novella or Novelette | Sean Williams | "Of Sorrow and Such" | Of Sorrow and Such |
| Ditmar Award | Best Short Story | Kathleen Jennings | "A Hedge of Yellow Roses" | Hear Me Roar |
Non-Fiction
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Non-Fiction | Magda Szubanski | Reckoning: A Memoir | Text Publishing |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Australian History | Stuart Macintyre | Australia’s Boldest Experiment: War and Reconstruction in the 1940s | NewSouth Books |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Community and Regional History | Tanya Evans | Fractured Families: Life on the Margins in Colonial New South Wales | University of New South Wales Press |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | General History | Ann McGrath | Illicit Love: Interracial Sex and Marriage in the United States and Australia | Nebraska University Press |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Non-Fiction | Fiona Wright | Small Acts of Disappearance: Essays on Hunger | Giramondo |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Non-fiction | Gerald Murnane | Something for the Pain | Text Publishing |
Poetry
| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Joanne Burns | brush | Giramondo |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Alan Loney | Crankhandle | Cordite Books |
Drama
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Script | Cate Shortland | Deadline Gallipoli, Episode 4: "The Letter" | Matchbox Pictures & Full Clip Productions |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Award | Lewis Treston | Hot Tub | Sydney Theatre Company |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Fellowship | Andrew Bovell |
Deaths
- 19 February 2016 – Kim Gamble, illustrator of children's books
- 3 April 2016 – Bob Ellis, writer, journalist, filmmaker, and political commentator
- 20 April 2016 – Dame Leonie Judith Kramer, author, editor and academic
- 16 May – Gillian Mears, short story writer and novelist
- 5 July 2016 – Cory Taylor, writer
- 15 July 2016 – Billy Marshall Stoneking, poet, playwright, filmmaker, and teacher
- 4 September 2016 – Richard Neville, writer and social commentator
- 8 September 2016 – Inga Clendinnen, author and historian
- 5 October 2016 – Narelle Oliver, ward-winning children's author-illustrator, artist and print maker
- 9 December 2016 – Georgia Blain, novelist, journalist and biographer
- 12 December 2016 – Anne Deveson, writer, broadcaster, filmmaker and social commentator