2005 in Australian literature

Events

• Morag Fraser is appointed as a judge of the Miles Franklin Award, following the resignation of three judges in late 2004
• Murray Bail is accused of plagiarism over several passages in his novel Eucalyptus. Bail later accepts the breach and intends adding an acknowledgment in future editions
• The Victorian town of Shepparton unveils a statue of Joseph Furphy, author of Such is Life
• Collins Booksellers, Australia's third largest national bookseller, goes into voluntary administration

  Major publications

Literary fiction

• Diane Armstrong – Winter Journey
• Anne Bartlett – Knitting
• Geraldine Brooks – March
• Brian Castro – The Garden Book
• J.M. Coetzee – Slow Man
• Gregory Day – The Patron Saint of Eels
• Robert Drewe – Grace
• Arabella Edge – The God of Spring
• Delia Falconer – The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers
• Kate Grenville – The Secret River
• Sonya Hartnett – Surrender
• Wendy James – Out of the Silence
• Nicholas Jose – Original Face
• Stephen Lacey – Sandstone
• Steven Lang – An Accidental Terrorist
• Carolyn Leach-Paholski – The Grasshopper Shoe
• Andrew McCann – Subtopia
• Roger McDonald – The Ballad of Desmond Kale
• Alex Miller – Prochownik's Dream
• Joanna Murray-Smith – Sunshine
• Eva Sallis – The Marsh Birds
• Elizabeth Stead – The Book of Tides
• Carrie Tiffany – Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living
• Ian Townsend – Affection
• Christos Tsiolkas – Dead Europe
• Brenda Walker – The Wing of Night
• Tim Winton – The Turning

  Children's and Young Adult fiction

• Randa Abdel-Fattah – Does My Head Look Big in This?
• Isobelle Carmody – Alyzon Whitestarr
• Kate Constable – The Tenth Power
• Gary Crew – The Lace Maker's Daughter
• Morris Gleitzman – Once
• Kerry Greenwood – The Rat and the Raven
• Sonya Hartnett – Surrender
• Barry Jonsberg – It's Not All About You, Calma!
• Justine Larbalestier – Magic or Madness
• Victor Kelleher – Dogboy
• Mardi McConnochie – Fivestar
• Garth Nix – Drowned Wednesday
• Penni Russon – Breathe
• Scott Westerfeld
• * Pretties
• * Touching Darkness
• * Uglies
• Markus Zusak – The Book Thief

  Crime

• Robert G. Barrett – Crime Scene Cessnock
• John Birmingham – Designated Targets: World War 2.2
• Peter Corris – Saving Billie
• Colin Cotterill – Thirty-Three Teeth
• Michelle de Kretser – The Hamilton Case
• Garry Disher – Snapshot
• Greg Flynn – The Berlin Cross
• Robert Gott – A Thing of Blood
• Kerry Greenwood – Death by Water
• Gabrielle Lord – Dirty Weekend
• P. D. Martin – Body Count
• Chris Nyst – Crook as Rookwood
• Leigh Redhead – Rubdown
• Matthew Reilly – Seven Ancient Wonders
• Michael Robotham – Lost
• Heather Rose – The Butterfly Man
• Steve J. Spears – Innocent Murder
• Peter Temple – The Broken Shore

  Romance

• Lilian Darcy – The Father Factor
• Marion Lennox – Bride by Accident

  Science fiction and fantasy

• K. A. Bedford – Eclipse
• Damien Broderick – Godplayers
• Cecilia Dart-Thornton – The Well of Tears
• Marianne de Pierres – Crash Deluxe
• Sara Douglass – Darkwitch Rising
• Kate Forsyth – The Shining City
• Catherine Jinks – Evil Genius
• Juliet Marillier – The Blade of Fortriu
• Sean Williams
• * Ascent
• * The Blood Debt
• * The Hanging Mountains

  Drama

• Chris Aronsten – Human Resources
• Jane Brodie – A Single Act
• Catherine Lazaroo – Asylum

  Poetry

• Alan Gould – The Past Completes Me: Selected Poems 1973-2003
• John Kinsella – The New Arcadia
• Jennifer Maiden – Friendly Fire
• Jaya Savige – Latecomers

  Non-fiction

• R.J.B. Bosworth – Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Dictatorship 1915-1945
• Richard Broome – Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800
• Helen Ennis – Margaret Michaelis: Love, Loss and Photography
• Pamela Freeman – The Black Dress: Mary MacKillop's Early Years
• Tom Keneally –
• Maria Nugent – Botany Bay: Where Histories Meet

  Biographies

• John Baxter – We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light
• Richie Benaud – My Spin on Cricket
• Eric Campbell – Absurdistan: A Bumpy Ride Through Some of the World's Scariest, Weirdest Places
• Maryanne Convoy – Morris West: Literary Maverick
• Peter C. Doherty – The Beginner's Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize: A Life in Science
• Graham Freudenberg – A Figure of Speech: A Political Memoir
• Gavin Fry – Albert Tucker
• Aneurin Hughes – Billy Hughes: Prime Minister and Controversial Founding Father of the Australian Labor Party
• Sandy McCutcheon – The Magician's Son
• William McInnes – A Man's Got to Have a Hobby: Long Summers with My Dad
• Brenda Niall – Judy Cassab: A Portrait
• Barry Pearce – Jeffrey Smart
• Jacob G. Rosenberg – East of Time
• Mandy Sayer – Velocity
• Craig Sherborne – Hoi Polloi
• Steve Waugh – Out of My Comfort Zone
• Elisabeth Wynhausen – Dirt Cheap: Life at the Wrong End of the Job Market

  Awards and honours

Lifetime achievement

Fiction

International

National

Children and Young Adult

National

Crime and Mystery

National

Science Fiction

Non-Fiction

Poetry

Drama

Deaths

• 11 April – John Brosnan, sf and cinema writer
• 10 May – Percy Trezise, children's writer
• 30 May – Michael Thwaites, poet
• 29 August – Margaret Scott, poet and novelist
• 8 September – Donald Horne, social and political commentator
• 14 October – Barney Roberts, poet and short story writer
• 1 November – Jenny Boult, poet
• 24 December – Bill Scott, poet and children's writer