Culture and the Arts Minister John Day has announced the shortlist for this year’s Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards. The awards recognise and support excellence in writing across Australia in 2012.

Mr Day said more than 500 entries were received from fiction and non-fiction writers.

“From Sue Smith’s script for the televised biopic Mabo to Montebello, Robert Drewe’s sequel to The Shark Net, the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards continue to attract the finest literary works created in Australia today,” Mr Day said.

“The 15 judges had a challenging task in assessing all the entries and their dedication is most appreciated.”

The shortlist includes Miles Franklin and ALS Gold Medal winner Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser, Deborah Forster’s The Meaning of Grace, and David Brooks’ fourth novel, The Conversation.

The shortlist also includes Murray Bail’s The Voyage and Drusilla Modjeska’s first novel, The Mountain, which looks at the independence of Papua New Guinea in 1968.

Another contender for the fiction category is Carrie Tiffany’s Mateship with Birds, which won the 2013 NSW Premier’s Literary Award. Along with Questions of Travel and The Mountain, it was also shortlisted for the prestigious Miles Franklin Award.

Children’s Literature

• The Australian Backyard Naturalist, Peter Macinnis (National Library of Australia)
• Pookie Aleera is Not My Boyfriend, Steven Herrick (University of Queensland Press)
• Sophie Scott Goes South, Alison Lester (Penguin Group Australia)
• The Coat, Julie Hunt, Illustrated by Ron Brooks (Allen & Unwin)
• The Terrible Suitcase, Emma Allen, IIlustrated by Freya Blackwood (Omnibus Books)
• Tanglewood, Margaret Wild (Omnibus Books)

Poetry

• Certain Fathoms, Bonny Cassidy (Puncher & Wattmann)
• Asymmetry, Aidan Coleman (Brandl & Schlesinger)
• Cumulus, Robert Gray (John Leonard Press)
• Darger: His Girls, Julie Chevalier (Puncher & Wattmann)
• Collusion, Brook Emery (John Leonard Press)
• Crimson Crop, Peter Rose (UWA Publishing)

Young Adult Fiction

• A Corner of White, Jaclyn Moriarty (Pan Macmillan Australia)
• Friday Brown, Vikki Wakefield (Text Publishing)
• Sea Hearts, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin)
• Fog A Dox, Bruce Pascoe (Magabala Books)
• Night Beach, Kirsty Eagar (Penguin Group Australia)
• The Ink Bridge, Neil Grant (Allen & Unwin)

Scripts

• Mabo, Sue Smith (Blackfella Films)
• Happy Ending, Melissa Reeves (Melbourne Theatre Company)
• Fearless, Mirra Todd (Currency Press)
• The Fremantle Candidate, Ingle Knight (Prickly Pear Playscripts)
• Medea, Kate Mulvany & Anne-Louise Sarks (Belvoir Street Theatre)
• Barassi, Tee O’Neill (Currency Press)
• Digital Narrative
• My Planets: Reunion Memoir, David P. Reiter (Interactive Publications)
• The Box that Changed Bea’s Life, Lana Young

Non-fiction

• Montebello, Robert Drewe (Penguin Group Australia)
• The Mind of a Thief, Patti Miller (University of Queensland Press)
• Earth Wars: The Battle for Global Resources, Geoff Hiscock (John Wiley & Sons)
• Mr JW Lewin, Painter & Naturalist, Richard Neville (NewSouth Publishing)
• Exile: The Live & Hopes of Werner Pelz, Roger Averill (Transit Lounge)
• Sandakan, Paul Ham (Random House Australia)

WA History

• Kurlumarniny: We come from the desert, Monty Hale (Minyjun) (Aboriginal Studies Press)
• Shipwrecks of Australia’s West Coast, Michael McCarthy (ed) (Western Australian Museum)
• Guy Grey Smith: Life Force, Andrew Gaynor (UWA Publishing)
• True North, Brenda Niall (Text Publishing)
• 110° in the Waterbag, Lenore Layman and Criena Fitzgerald (ed) (Western Australian Museum)
• Voices from the West End, Paul Longley Arthur and Geoffrey Bolton (eds) (Western Australian Museum)

Highly Commended:

• Beyond Matta Gerup: A History of Victoria Park, Susannah Thompson (Brown Cow Design)

Fiction

• The Voyage, Murray Bail (Text Publishing)
• The Conversation, David Brooks (University of Queensland Press)
• Questions of Travel, Michelle de Kretser (Allen & Unwin)
• The Meaning of Grace, Deborah Forster (Random House Australia)
• The Mountain, Drusilla Modjeska (Random House Australia)
• Mateship with Birds, Carrie Tiffany (Pan Macmillan Australia)

The winners of this year’s awards will be announced on September 16. The Premier’s Prize, worth $25,000, will be presented to the best overall entry from all category winners. Voting for the People’s Choice Award has also opened. Everyone who votes will go into a random-draw to win an invitation for two to attend the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards presentation ceremony. The prize will also include a copy of the winning book from all of the 2013 Premier’s Book Awards categories signed by the author. The People’s Choice Award is sponsored by The West Australian, where readers can vote for their favourite shortlisted fiction. Voting closes at 10 am Friday August 30, 2013.