Sixteen books, seven of them by women, have been shortlisted for the Australian Independent Bookseller Awards (The Indie Awards). Voted on by the independent booksellers of Australia, the category winners and the overall ‘Book of the Year’ winner will be announced on Monday 25 March 2013.
The shortlisted books for the Indie Awards 2013 are:
FICTION:
Nine Days by Toni Jordan (Text)
Lost Voices by Christopher Koch (HarperCollins)
Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser (Allen & Unwin)
The Mountain by Drusilla Modjeska (Random House)
NON-FICTION:
Lake Eyre by Paul Lockyer (HarperCollins)
QF32 by Richard de Crespigny (Macmillan)
Sandakan by Paul Ham (Random House)
The Essential Leunig: Cartoons from a Winding Path by Michael Leunig (Penguin)
DEBUT FICTION:
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman (Random House)
Eleven Seasons by Paul D. Carter (Allen & Unwin)
The Cartographer by Peter Twohig (HarperCollins)
Secrets of the Tides by Hannah Richell (Hachette Little Brown)
CHILDREN’S:
The Convent by Maureen McCarthy (Allen & Uwnin)
The 26-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton (Macmillan)
Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin)
Unforgotten by Tohby Riddle (Allen & Unwin)
Surprisingly, women are absent from the non-fiction shortlist. Which books would you have liked to have seen nominated in this category?
About Me
I’m a freelance book reviewer, journalist, editor and librarian. I blog over at Wordsville and you can find me on Twitter @PaulaGrunseit
Thanks for this round-up Paula. That’s interesting regarding non-fiction. Are these awards, simply books a committee of them choose are the “best” (based on some quality criteria) or are they the top selling books in independent bookstores? I guess I’m a little surprised that Brenda Niall’s True North isn’t there. Also, I haven’t read it yet, but I would have thought Anita Heiss’s Am I black enough for you? would have been eligible in terms of when it was published? Why is it not there?
Interestingly, last year’s Prime Minister’s Literary Awards had no women writers in their short list. Was it a lean year? I think Anna Krien has one coming out this year – I’m looking forward to it as I liked her Into the forest.
Hi Sue,
Thanks. Yes it is odd and I’m curious and still not clear about the selection process. That is, are the shortlisted titles selected according to a set of criteria or according to sales or literary merit? Judges read only shortlisted titles and the awards are given to best book by an Australian author, published in 2012 in the 4 categories.
I’d have to find about the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.