(Imported from Blogger; formatting glitches need to be fixed)

What contribution has the AWW challenge made to the reviewing books of literary merit published recently by women writers in Australia?

2012 releases(links to reviews/reviewers posted between January and June on second line)

• Ash, Romy – Floundering. Text
  Jessica White, Sian Campbell, Jon Page – Bite the Book,
• Bobis, Merlinda – Fish-hair Woman Spinifex Press
  Whispering Gums  
• Johnson, Susan – My Hundred Lovers Allen & Unwin
  Marg/IntrepidReader, Jessica White  
• Jones, Gail – Five Bells. Random House/Vintage
  Annabel Smith, Book Lover Book Reviews, Sue Driscoll, Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out, Lucy Perkins, Brenda
• Mills, Jennifer – The Rest is Weight. UQP
  Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out  
• Robertson, Deborah – Sweet Old World. Random House/Vintage
  Angela Meyer @ LiteraryMinded  
• Tiffany, Carrie – Mateship with Birds. PanMacmillan/Picador
  Janine Rozetti. Tony’s Reading List, Angela Meyer @LiteraryMinded,  
• Tranter, Kirsten – A Common Loss. HarperCollins
  Ann-Marie Sjoberg, Jessica White, Annabel Smith, JudiJ, Lisa Walker, Phillip A Ellis
  

Tally: 8 books reviewed, 17 reviewers, 23 reviews, 6 publishers

Publishers: Random House: 2 books, 7 reviews; HarperCollins: 1 book, 6 reviews; Pan Macmillan: 1 book, 3 reviews; Allen & Unwin: 1 book, 2 reviews; Text: 1 book, 1 review; UQP: 1 book, 1 review; Spinifex Press: 1 book, 1 review.

The above books were defined as “literary”, either by their reviewers or the publishers.

How do you define the term “literary”? Should nonfiction books of literary merit be included, such as Jane Gleeson-White‘s creative nonfiction history, Double Entry: How the merchants of Venice created modern finance?

Or True North, by Brenda Niall (Text 2012), the story of Mary and Elizabeth Durack, also reviewed by Yvonne Perkins?

How about Speculative Fiction books like Margo Lanagan’s Seahearts and Kate Forsyth’s Historical Speculative Fiction novel for adults, Bittergreens – should these be included under the label of “literary”? (If the latter are included, the tally of reviews increases considerably: Lanagan: 9 reviews; Forsyth: 7.)

• Seahearts by Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin) reviewed for AWW by Nalini Haynes, Mark Webb, Lizabelle, Astrid, Sue Luus, Jason Nahrung, bookonaut, Angela Meyer @LiteraryMinded, Krissy Keen
• Bittergreens by Kate Forsyth (Random House) reviewed for AWW by speculatef, Jo @ BookloverBookReviews, Angela @ LiteraryMinded, Book’d Out, Bookonaut, Bree @1girl2manybooks, Monique at Write Note Reviews

Are there other – broadened defined – “literary” books by Australian women published in 2012 that aren’t on the above list?

Added suggestions via comments and Twitter:

• Running Dogs by Ruby J Murray (Scribe 2012) ~ Debut fiction
• Smith, Sydney – The Lost Woman (Text 2012)
• James, Wendy – The Mistake (Penguin 2012)
• Nunn, Malla – Silent Valley (Pan Macmillan 2012)
• Evans, Tess – The Memory Tree (Allen & Unwin 2012)
• The Hum of Concrete by Anna Solding (MidnightSun Publishing: self-published 2012)