National Year of Reading – PRESS RELEASE!!
on October 25th, 2011 at 8:09 am
Australia’s National Year of Reading 2012 starts here, with the opportunity for you to vote for the book that you think should represent your state or territory as one of the eight on our national recommended reading lists for 2012.
Margaret Allen, chair of the National Year of Reading founders and State Librarian of WA explains, “For 2012, we’re creating a collection of books which, read together, describe the Australian experience. We all know how very different it is if you’re living in the city or in a remote community; in the Northern Territory or New South Wales. We’re hoping that thousands of readers will take a journey around Australia through the pages of these eight books and come out of it with an even greater depth of understanding about what it means to be Australian.”
The list of eight winning titles and the start of Australia’s biggest book group for the National Year of Reading will be announced at the launch of the campaign on 14 February, 2012, at the National Library of Australia in Canberra. After than, existing book groups, new groups and individual readers can go online and register as a member of Our Story, joining in the discussion about the books the nation has chosen.
The state and territory shortlists, chosen by independent panels of readers have been announced. The shortlist is available on the National Year of Reading Website. Voting commences 1 November 2011, online and in participating libraries and bookshops. The closing date is 6 January 2012.
Shortlist for Victoria
- Robyn Annear, Bearbrass, Black Ink
- Brendan Gullifer, Sold, Sleepers
- Barry Heard, Well Done Those Men, Scribe
- Alice Pung, Unpolished Gem, Black Ink
- Jeff & Jill Sparrow, Radical Melbourne, Vulgar Press
- Maya Ward, The Comfort of Water, Transit Lounge
Shortlist for the ACT
- John Clanchly, Vincenzo’s Garden, UQP
- Alan Gould, The Lake Woman, Australian Scholarly Publishing
- Marion Halligan, The Fog Garden, Allen & Unwin
- Jack Heath, The Hit List, Pan Macmillan Australia
- Dorothy Johnston, The White Tower, Wakefield Press
- Kel Robertson, Smoke and Mirrors, Pan Macmillan Australia
Shortlist for NSW
- Peter Corris, Torn Apart, Allen & Unwin
- Kate Genville, Lillian’s Story, Allen & Unwin
- Ian Hoskins, Sydney Harbour: A History, New South Publishing
- John Hughes, The Idea of Home, Giramondo
- Ruth Park, The Harp in the South, Penguin
- Chris Womersley, Bereft, Scribe
Shortlist for the NT
- Ros Moriarty, Listening to Country, Allen & Unwin
- Daena Murray (ed), The Sound of the Sky, CDU Press
- Judy Nunn, Territory, Random House
- Alan Powell, Far Country: A Short History of the Northern Territory, CDU Press
- Alan Powell, Shadow’s Edge: Australia’s Northern War (revised ed.), CDU Press
- Nicholas Rothwell, The Red Highway, Black Ink
Shortlist for Queensland
- Chloe Hooper, The Tall Man, Penguin
- Andrew McGahan, The White Earth, Allen & Unwin
- Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin
- Estelle Pinney, House on the Hill, Penguin
- Ian Townsend, Affection, Harper Collins
- Matthew Condon, Brisbane, New South Publishing
Shortlist for South Australia
- Max Fatchen, River Kings, Wakefield Press
- Kerryn Goldsworthy, Adelaide, New South Publishing
- Peter Goldsworthy, Three Dog Night, Penguin
- Scott Monk, The Never Boys, Random House
- Stephen Orr, Time’s Long Ruin, Wakefield Press
- Alastair Sarre, Prohibited Zone, Wakefield Press
Shortlist for Tasmania
- Richard Flanagan, Wanting, Random House
- Anna Krien, Into the Woods: The Battle for Tasmania’s Forests, Black Ink
- Julia Leigh, The Hunter, Penguin
- Kathryn Lomer, What Now Tilda B?, UQP
- Peter Timms, In Search of Hobart, New South Publishing
- Rohan Wilson, The Roving Party, Allen & Unwin
Shortlist for WA
- Elizabeth Jolley, The Newspaper of Claremont Street, Freemantle Press
- Sally Morgan, My Place, Freemantle Press
- Howard Penderson & Banjo Woorunmurra, Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance, Magabala Books
- Kim Scott, True Country, Freemantle Press
- Craig Silvey, Jasper Jones, Allen & Unwin
- Tim Winton, Couldstreet, Penguin
