So many prizes; so many wonderful books!

Among recent announcements is the Griffin Poetry Prize 2013 International and Canadian Short Lists, with Liquid Nitrogen by Jennifer Maiden (Giramondo) in the mix.

The winners, to be announced at the Griffin Poetry Prize Awards evening on Thursday, June 13, will each be awarded $65,000.

The Commonwealth Book Prize 2013 Short List has 21 titles, including five from Australia: The Last Thread by Michael Sala (Affirm Press), Tiger in Eden by Chris Flynn (Text Publishing), Mazin Grace by Dylan Coleman (UQP), Floundering by Romy Ash (Text) and Beneath the Darkening Sky by Majok Tulba (Penguin).

“Commonwealth Writers inspires writers, storytellers and a range of cultural practitioners to work for social change. It builds communities of less heard and emerging voices to influence, directly and indirectly, the decision making processes which affect their lives.”

The Children’s Book Council Awards Short List has six titles in each of several categories: Older Readers, Younger Readers, Early Childhood, Picture Books and the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books.

Among those Short Listed:

• Margo Lanagan’s Sea Hearts (Allen & Unwin)
• Suzy Zail’s The Wrong Boy (Black Dog Books, Walker Books)
• Jackie French’s Pennies for Hitler (Angus & Robertson, HarperCollins)
• Emma Allen and Freya Blackwood’s (illustrator) The Terrible Suitcase (Omnibus/Scholastic Australia)
• Alison Lester’s Sophie Scott Goes South (Viking/Penguin) and
• Portrait of Spain for Kids from the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art.

In all categories the awards primarily consider literary merit, with the quality of illustrations also important in the EC category in particular. Picture Books is different: the text and the illustrations must achieve artistic and literary unity.

The many categories in the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards include the Christina Stead Prize for fiction. The Short List is:

• The Voyage by Murray Bail (Text)
• The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally (Vintage)
• Foal’s Bread by Gillian Mears (Allen & Unwin)
• Cold Light by Frank Moorhouse (Vintage)
• Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany (Picador)
• Animal People by Charlotte Wood (Allen & Unwin)

And you can vote in the people’s choice award.

The Kibble Awards, recognising the work of an established Australian woman writer, announced its Long List:

• Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser (Allen & Unwin)
• The Beloved by Annah Faulkner (Pan Macmillan Australia)
• The Engagement by Chloe Hooper (Penguin Group Australia)
• My Hundred Lovers by Susan Johnson (Allen & Unwin)
• Like A House On Fire by Cate Kennedy (Scribe)
• The Mind of a Thief by Patti Miller (University of Queensland Press)
• An Opening: Twelve love stories about art by Stephanie Radok (Wakefield Press)
• Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany (Picador)

The Long List for the Dobbie Literary Award, recognising a first published work of an Australian woman, is:

• Floundering by Romy Ash (Text)
• Darkness on the Edge of Town by Jessie Cole (HarperCollins Publishers)
• The Burial by Courtney Collins (Allen & Unwin)
• Toyo: A Memoir by Lily Chan (Black Inc.)
• Finding Jasper by Lynne Leonhardt (Margaret River Press)
• Red Dirt Talking by Jacqueline Wright (Fremantle Press)

See the media release.

The Wheeler Centre provides good coverage of the awards season.