2015 in Australian literature
This is a list of the historical events and publications of 2015 in Australian literature.
Major publications
Literary fiction
- Tony Birch – Ghost River
- Geraldine Brooks – The Secret Chord
- Stephen Daisley – Coming Rain
- Gregory Day – Archipelago of Souls
- Peggy Frew – Hope Farm
- Susan Johnson – The Landing
- Gail Jones – A Guide to Berlin
- Myfanwy Jones – Leap
- Mireille Juchau – The World Without Us
- Malcolm Knox – The Wonder Lover
- Amanda Lohrey – A Short History of Richard Kline
- A. S. Patrić – Black Rock White City
- Steve Toltz – Quicksand
- Lucy Treloar – Salt Creek
- Charlotte Wood – The Natural Way of Things
Children's and Young Adult fiction
- Nick Earls – New Boy
- Andy Griffiths – The 65-Storey Treehouse
- Maureen McCarthy – Stay With Me
- Sophie Masson – Hunter's Moon
- Gillian Mears – The Cat with the Coloured Tail
- Louis Nowra – Prince of Afghanistan
- Emily Rodda – Two Moons
- Lili Wilkinson – Green Valentine
- Fiona Wood – Cloudwish
Crime
- Peter Corris – Gun Control
- Garry Disher – The Heat
- Mark Dapin – R&R
- Candice Fox – Fall
- Katherine Howell – Tell the Truth
- Adrian McKinty – Gun Street Girl
- Barry Maitland – Ash Island
- Michael Robotham – Close Your Eyes
- Emma Viskic – Resurrection Bay
- Dave Warner – Before It Breaks
Science Fiction and Fantasy
- K. A. Bedford – Black Light
- John Birmingham – Resistance
- James Bradley – Clade
- Trudi Canavan — Angel of Storms
- Isobelle Carmody – The Red Queen
- Kate Forsyth — The Beast's Garden
- Jane Rawson – Formaldehyde
Poetry
- Robert Adamson – Net Needle
- David Brooks – Open House
- Clive James – Sentenced to Life
- Les Murray – Waiting for the Past
Drama
- Matthew Whittet, Seventeen
Biographies
- David Day – Paul Keating : The Biography
- Peter Garrett – Big Blue Sky : A Memoir
- Kate Grenville – One Life : My Mother's Story
- Gerald Murnane – Something for the Pain : A Memoir of the Turf
- Brenda Niall – Mannix
- Magda Szubanski – Reckoning : A Memoir
- Tim Winton – Island Home : A Landscape Memoir
Non-fiction
- Gideon Haigh – Certain Admissions
- Lucy Sussex – Blockbuster! : Fergus Hume and the Mystery of the Hansom Cab
Awards and honours
Lifetime achievement
| Award | Author |
| Patrick White Award | Joan London |
Fiction
National
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| The Australian/Vogel Literary Award | Murray Middleton | When There’s Nowhere Else to Run | Allen & Unwin | |
| Miles Franklin Award | Sofie Laguna | The Eye of the Sheep | Allen & Unwin | |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Fiction | Joan London | The Golden Age | Random House |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Fiction | Mark Henshaw | The Snow Kimono | Text Publishing |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Fiction | Joan London | The Golden Age | Random House |
| Stella Prize | Emily Bitto | The Strays | Affirm Press | |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Fiction | Rohan Wilson | To Name Those Lost | Allen & Unwin |
Children and Young Adult
National
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Claire Zorn | The Protected | University of Queensland Press | |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Libby Gleeson | The Cleo Stories : The Necklace and the Present | Allen & Unwin | |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Freya Blackwood, text Irema Kobald | My Two Blankets | Little Hare, Hardie Grant Egmont | |
| Children's Book of the Year Award | Libby Gleeson, illus. Freya Blackwood | Go to Sleep, Jessie! | Little Hare, Hardie Grant Egmont | |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Children's | Catherine Norton | Crossing | Omnibus/Scholastic Australia |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Children's | Tamsin Janu | Figgy in the World | Omnibus/Scholastic Australia |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Young People's | Jaclyn Moriarty | The Cracks in the Kingdom | Pan Macmillan Australia |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Young Adult Fiction | Claire Zorn | The Protected | University of Queensland Press |
Crime and Mystery
International
National
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Davitt Award | Novel | Liane Moriarty | Big Little Lies | Penguin Books |
| Ned Kelly Award | Novel | Candice Fox | Eden | Random House |
| Ned Kelly Award | First novel | Jack Sarong | Quota | Text Publishing |
Science Fiction
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| Aurealis Award | Sf Novel | Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff | Illuminae | Allen & Unwin |
| Aurealis Award | Sf Short Story | Sean Williams | "All the Wrong Places" | Meeting Infinity |
| Aurealis Award | Fantasy Novel | Trent Jamieson | Day Boy | Text Publishing |
| Aurealis Award | Fantasy Short Story | Rowena Cory Daniels | "The Giant's Lady" | Legends 2 |
| Aurealis Award | Horror Novel | Trent Jamieson | Day Boy | Text Publishing |
| Aurealis Award | Horror Short Story | Joanne Anderton | "Bullets" | In Sunshine Bright and Darkness Deep |
| Aurealis Award | Young Adult Novel | Kathryn Barker | In the Skin of a Monster | Allen & Unwin |
| Aurealis Award | Young Adult Short Story | Deborah Kalin | "The Miseducation of Mara Lys" | Cherry Crow Children |
| Ditmar Award | Novel | Glenda Larke | The Lascar's Dagger | Hachette |
| Ditmar Award | Best Novella or Novelette | Sean Williams | "The Legend Trap" | Kaleidoscope |
| Ditmar Award | Best Short Story | Cat Sparks | "The Seventh Relic" | Phantazein |
Non-Fiction
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Non-Fiction | Don Watson | The Bush : Travels in the Heart of Australia | Penguin |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Australian History | Alan Atkinson | The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation | Oxford University Press |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Community and Regional History | Babette Smith | The Luck of the Irish : How a Shipload of Convicts Survived the Wreck of the Hive to Make a New Life in Australia | Allen & Unwin |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | General History | Warwick Anderson & Ian R Mackay | Intolerant Bodies : A Short History of Autoimmunity | Johns Hopkins University Press |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Non-Fiction | Don Watson | The Bush : Travels in the Heart of Australia | Penguin |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Non-fiction | Alan Atkinson | The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation | Oxford University Press |
Poetry
| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | David Malouf | Earth Hour | University of Queensland Press |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Award | Jill Jones | The Beautiful Anxiety | Puncher and Wattmann |
Drama
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards | Script | Jennifer Kent | The Babadook | Causeway Films |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Award | Neil Levi | Kin | Sydney Theatre Company |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Fellowship | Tommy Murphy |
Deaths
- 28 January – Lionel Gilbert, 90, historian, author, and academic,
- 29 January — Colleen McCullough, 77, novelist
- 13 February — Faith Bandler, 96, author and civil rights activist
- 23 February — James Aldridge, 96, novelist
- 24 March – Alan Seymour, 87, playwright
- 20 May – J. S. Harry, poet, 76