ALS Gold Medal
Encyclopedia
The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal) is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature
for “an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year.” From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the Australian Literature Society, then from 1983 by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, when the two organisations were merged.
2008
Association for the Study of Australian Literature
The Association for the Study of Australian Literature is an Australian organisation which promotes the creation and study of Australian literature and literary culture especially through the interaction of Australian writers with teachers and students...
for “an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year.” From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by the Australian Literature Society, then from 1983 by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, when the two organisations were merged.
Award winners
- 2010: David MaloufDavid MaloufDavid George Joseph Malouf is an acclaimed Australian writer. He was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000, his 1993 novel Remembering Babylon won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, he won the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008, and he was...
- RansomRansom (Malouf novel)Ransom is a novel by Australian author David Malouf. It retells the story of the Iliad from books 16 to 24.It is studied in Australian high schools as an English text.-Summary and Analysis:...
(Knopf Australia) - 2009: Christos TsiolkasChristos Tsiolkas-Biography:He was born and grew up in Melbourne and was educated at Blackburn High School and the University of Melbourne where he completed an Arts Degree in 1987. www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 2007-07-22. He edited the student newspaper Farrago in 1988....
- The SlapThe SlapThe Slap is a novel by Australian author Christos Tsiolkas. The eight-part television series, The Slap, is an adaptation of the book. Its filming commenced in January 2011 and first screened on Australian television channel ABC1 from October 2011....
(Allen & UnwinAllen & UnwinAllen & Unwin, formerly a major British publishing house, is now an independent book publisher and distributor based in Australia. The Australian directors have been the sole owners of the Allen & Unwin name since effecting a management buy out at the time the UK parent company, Unwin Hyman, was...
) - 2008: Michelle de KretserMichelle de KretserMichelle de Kretser is an Australian novelist who was born in Sri Lanka but moved to Australia when she was 14.She was educated in Melbourne and Paris, and published her first novel, The Rose Grower in 1999...
- The Lost DogThe Lost Dog-Awards:*Commonwealth Writers Prize, South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book, 2008: shortlisted*Barbara Jefferis Award, 2008: shortlisted*New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, 2008: winner...
(Allen & UnwinAllen & UnwinAllen & Unwin, formerly a major British publishing house, is now an independent book publisher and distributor based in Australia. The Australian directors have been the sole owners of the Allen & Unwin name since effecting a management buy out at the time the UK parent company, Unwin Hyman, was...
) - 2007: Alexis WrightAlexis WrightAlexis Wright is an Indigenous Australian writer best known for winning the Miles Franklin Award for her 2006 novel Carpentaria....
- CarpentariaCarpentaria (novel)Carpentaria is the second novel by the Indigenous Australian author Alexis Wright. It met with widespread critical acclaim when it was published in mid-2006, and went on to win Australia's premier literary prize, the Miles Franklin Award, in mid-2007....
(Giramondo) - 2006: Gregory DayGregory Day-Life:Gregory Day is a writer, poet and musician based in Victoria, Australia. He is a founding director of the art, music & publishing collective, Merrijig Word & Sound Co. http://www.merrijigwordandsound.com/-Awards and nominations:...
- The Patron Saint of Eels (Picador) - 2005: Gail JonesGail JonesGail Jones is an Australian novelist and academic.-Early life and career:Gail Jones was born in Harvey, Western Australia and educated at the University of Western Australia...
- Sixty LightsSixty Lights-Awards:*Man Booker Prize, 2004: longlisted*Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, Fiction, 2004: winner*Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, Premier's Prize, 2004: winner...
(Harvill) - 2004: Laurie DugganLaurie DugganLaurence "Laurie" James Duggan is an Australian poet, editor, and translator.-Life:Laurie Duggan was born in Melbourne and attended Monash University, where his friends included the poets Alan Wearne and John A. Scott. Both he and Scott won the Monash Poetry Prize...
- Mangroves (UQP) - 2003: Kate JenningsKate JenningsKate Jennings is an Australian poet, essayist, memoirist, and novelist.-Life:Jennings grew up on a farm near Griffith, New South Wales. She attended the University of Sydney in the late 1960s, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honours...
- Moral HazardMoral Hazard (novel)-Awards:*Festival Awards for Literature , Dymocks Booksellers Award for Fiction, 2004: winner*New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, 2003: winner*Miles Franklin Literary Award, 2003: shortlisted... - 2002: Richard FlanaganRichard FlanaganRichard Flanagan is a novelist from Tasmania, Australia.-Early life:Flanagan was born in Longford, Tasmania, in 1961, the fifth of six children. He is descended from Irish convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land in the 1840s. His father is a survivor of the Burma Death Railway. One of his three...
- Gould's Book of FishGould's Book of FishGould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish is a 2001 novel by Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan. Gould's Book of Fish was Flanagan's third novel.-Plot summary:... - 2001: Rodney HallRodney Hall-Biography:Born in Solihull, Warwickshire, England, Hall came to Australia as a child after World War II and studied at the University of Queensland . In the 1960s Hall began working as a freelance writer, and a book and film reviewer. He also worked as an actor, and was often engaged by the...
- The Day We Had Hitler HomeThe Day We Had Hitler Home-Reviews:*"The Australian Public Intellectual Network" *"The London Review of Books" *"The Observer" *"Words and Flavours"... - 2000: Drusilla ModjeskaDrusilla Modjeska- Life :Drusilla Modjeska was born in England and lived in Papua New Guinea before arriving in Australia in 1971. She studied at the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales completing a PhD which was published as Exiles at Home: Australian Women Writers 1925-1945...
- Stravinsky's Lunch - 1999: Murray BailMurray BailMurray Bail is an Australian writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction.He was born in Adelaide, South Australia. He has lived most of his life in Australia except for sojourns in India and England and Europe...
- EucalyptusEucalyptus (novel)Eucalyptus is a novel by Australian novelist Murray Bail. The book won the 1999 Miles Franklin Award and the 1999 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.-Plot introduction:... - 1998: James CowanJames Cowan (author)James Cowan is an Australian author. James Cowan is author of a number of internationally acclaimed books, including A Troubadour's Testament and Letters from A Wild State. In 1998 he was awarded the prestigious Australian Literature Society's Gold Medal for his novel, A Mapmaker's Dream...
- A Mapmaker's Dream - 1997: Robert DessaixRobert Dessaix- Biography :Dessaix was born in Sydney and adopted at an early age. He was educated at North Sydney Boys High School. He studied in Moscow during the early 1970s, and taught Russian Studies at the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales from 1972 to 1984...
- Night Letters - 1996: Amanda LohreyAmanda LohreyAmanda Francis Lillian Lohrey, , in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia) is a writer, and novelist. She completed her education at the University of Tasmania before taking up a scholarship at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. From 1988 to 1994 she lectured in writing and textual studies at the...
- Camille's Bread - 1995: Helen Demidenko - The Hand That Signed the Paper
- 1994: Louis NowraLouis NowraLouis Nowra is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist.He is best known as one of Australia's leading playwrights...
- Radiance and The Temple - 1993: Elizabeth RiddellElizabeth RiddellElizabeth Riddell was an Australian poet and journalist.Born in Napier, New Zealand, Elizabeth Richmond Riddell came to Australia in 1928 where she worked at Smith's Weekly and won a Walkley Award....
- Selected Poems - 1992: Rodney HallRodney Hall-Biography:Born in Solihull, Warwickshire, England, Hall came to Australia as a child after World War II and studied at the University of Queensland . In the 1960s Hall began working as a freelance writer, and a book and film reviewer. He also worked as an actor, and was often engaged by the...
- The Second Bridegroom - 1991: Elizabeth JolleyElizabeth JolleyMonica Elizabeth Jolley AO was an English-born writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s. She was 53 when her first book was published, and she went on to publish fifteen novels , four short story collections and three non-fiction books, publishing well into her 70s and achieving...
- Cabin FeverCabin feverCabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in a small space, with nothing to do, for an extended period... - 1990: Peter PorterPeter PorterPeter Porter is the name of:* Peter Buell Porter , U.S. political figure and soldier* Peter A. Porter , U.S. political figure and grandson of Peter Buell Porter* Peter Porter , Australian-born British poet...
- Possible WorldsPossible WorldsPossible Worlds may refer to:* Possible worlds, a concept in philosophy* Possible Worlds , by John Mighton** Possible Worlds , by Robert Lepage, based on the Mighton play* Possible Worlds , by Peter Porter... - 1989: Frank MoorhouseFrank MoorhouseFrank Moorhouse is an acclaimed Australian writer with a growing international reputation. He has won major Australian national prizes for the short story, the novel, the essay, and for script writing....
- Forty-seventeen - 1988: Brian MatthewsBrian MatthewsBrian Matthews is an actor, best known for acting in daytime soap operas in the 1980s.Matthews and co-stars Holly Hunter, Jason Alexander, and Fisher Stevens all made their film debuts in The Burning . He then played Eric Garrison on the soap opera The Young and the Restless from 1983-1985...
- Louisa - 1987: Alan WearneAlan WearneAlan Wearne is an Australian poet.Alan Wearne was born and grew up in Melbourne. He studied history at Monash University where he met the poets Laurie Duggan and John A. Scott...
- The Nightmarkets - 1986: Thea AstleyThea AstleyThea Astley was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She was a prolific writer who was published for over 40 years from 1958. At the time of her death, she had won more Miles Franklin Awards, Australia's major literary award, than any other writer...
- Beachmasters - 1985: David IrelandDavid Ireland (author)David Neil Ireland AM is an Australian novelist.-Biography:David Ireland was born in Lakemba in New South Wales in 1927....
- Archimedes and the Seagle - 1984: Les MurrayLes Murray (poet)Leslie Allan Murray, AO , known as Les Murray, is an Australian poet, anthologist and critic. His career spans over forty years, and he has published nearly 30 volumes of poetry, as well as two verse novels and collections of his prose writings...
- The People's Other World - 1983: David MaloufDavid MaloufDavid George Joseph Malouf is an acclaimed Australian writer. He was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000, his 1993 novel Remembering Babylon won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, he won the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008, and he was...
- Child's Play; Fly Away Peter - 1975-82: No Award
- 1974: David MaloufDavid MaloufDavid George Joseph Malouf is an acclaimed Australian writer. He was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000, his 1993 novel Remembering Babylon won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, he won the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008, and he was...
- Neighbours in a Thicket - 1973: Francis WebbFrancis Webb (poet)Francis Charles Webb-Wagg was an Australian poet who published under the name Francis Webb. "Diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia in the 1950s, he spent most of his adult life in and out of psychiatric hospitals, writing poetry against terrible odds." He is widely regarded as one of...
- 1972: Alex BuzoAlex BuzoAlex Buzo was an Australian playwright and author who wrote 88 works.-Early life:Buzo was born in Sydney in 1944 to an Albanian-born father and an Australian mother...
- Macquarie (play) - 1971: Colin Badger
- 1970: Manning ClarkManning ClarkCharles Manning Hope Clark, AC , an Australian historian, was the author of the best-known general history of Australia, his six-volume A History of Australia, published between 1962 and 1987...
- 1966: A. D. HopeA. D. HopeAlec Derwent Hope AC OBE was an Australian poet and essayist known for his satirical slant. He was also a critic, teacher and academic.-Life:...
- 1965: Patrick WhitePatrick WhitePatrick Victor Martindale White , an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays.White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative...
- The Burnt OnesThe Burnt OnesThe Burnt Ones is a collection of eleven short stories by Australian writer Patrick White, first published by Eyre and Spottiswoode in 1964. Penguin Books published it in 1968 with reprints in 1972 and 1974... - 1964: Geoffrey BlaineyGeoffrey BlaineyGeoffrey Norman Blainey AC , is a prominent Australian historian.Blainey was born in Melbourne and raised in a series of Victorian country towns before attending Wesley College and the University of Melbourne. While at university he was editor of Farrago, the newspaper of the University of...
- The Rush that Never Ended - 1963: John Morrison - Twenty-three stories
- 1962: Vincent BuckleyVincent BuckleyVincent Thomas Buckley was an Australian poet, teacher, editor, essayist and critic.-Life:He was born in 1925 in Romsey, Victoria and was educated at both the University of Melbourne and the :University of Cambridge, and died in Melbourne in 1988..Buckley edited the magazine, Prospect, from 1958...
- Masters in Israel - 1960: William Hart Smith - Poems of Discovery
- 1959: Randolph StowRandolph StowJulian Randolph Stow was an Australian writer.-Life:Born in Geraldton, Western Australia, Randolph Stow attended Guildford Grammar School and the University of Western Australia. He lectured in English Literature at the University of Adelaide, the University of Western Australia and the...
- To the IslandsTo the IslandsTo the Islands is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel by Australian author Randolph Stow.-References:***... - 1957: Martin BoydMartin BoydMartin à Beckett Boyd was a member of Australia’s most prolific artistic dynasty of painters, sculptors, potters, writers, architects, graphic designers and musicians....
- A Difficult Young Man - 1955: Patrick WhitePatrick WhitePatrick Victor Martindale White , an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays.White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative...
- The Tree of ManThe Tree of ManThe Tree of Man is the fourth published novel by the Australian novelist and 1973 Nobel Prize-winner, Patrick White. It is a domestic drama chronicling the lives of the Parker family and their changing fortunes over many decades... - 1954: Mary GilmoreMary GilmoreDame Mary Gilmore DBE was a prominent Australian socialist poet and journalist.-Early life:Mary Jean Cameron was born on 16 August 1865 at Cotta Walla near Goulburn, New South Wales...
- Fourteen Men - 1952: Tom Hungerford
- 1950: Jon ClearyJon ClearyJon Stephen Cleary was an Australian author.-Biography:Cleary was born in Erskineville, Sydney. He wrote many books, among them The Sundowners , a portrait of a rural family in the 1920s as they move from one job to the next, and The High Commissioner , the first of a long series of popular...
- Just Let Me Be - 1948: Herz Bergner - Between Sky and Sea
- 1942: Kylie TennantKylie TennantKathleen Kylie Tennant AO was an Australian novelist, playwright, short-story writer, critic, biographer and historian.-Life and career:Tennant was born in Manly, New South Wales; she was educated at Brighton College in Manly and Sydney University, though she left without graduating...
- The Battlers - 1941: Patrick WhitePatrick WhitePatrick Victor Martindale White , an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays.White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative...
- Happy Valley - 1940: William BaylebridgeWilliam BaylebridgeWilliam Baylebridge was the pseudonym of Charles William Blocksidge , an Australian poet and short-story writer.Blocksidge was born in Brisbane, Queensland, the son of George Henry Blocksidge, an auctioneer and estate agent...
- This Vital Flesh - 1939: Xavier HerbertXavier HerbertXavier Herbert was an Australian writer best known for his Miles Franklin Award-winning novel Poor Fellow My Country . He is considered one of the elder statesmen of Australian literature...
- Capricornia - 1938: R. D. FitzGeraldR. D. FitzgeraldRobert David FitzGerald III AM OBE was an Australian poet.-Biography:FitzGerald was born in Hunters Hill, New South Wales, a third-generation Australian of Irish extraction, and studied science at the University of Sydney. He left before graduating, however, and followed in the footsteps of both...
- Moonlight Acre - 1937: Seaforth MackenzieSeaforth Mackenzie (author)Kenneth Ivo Brownley Langwell Mackenzie , was an Australian poet and novelist....
- The Young Desire It - 1936: Eleanor DarkEleanor DarkEleanor Dark was an Australian author whose novels included Prelude to Christopher and Return to Coolami , both winners of the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal for literature, and her best known work The Timeless Land .-Life and career:Eleanor Dark was born in Sydney...
- Return to Coolami - 1935: Winifred Birkett - Earth's Quality
- 1934: Eleanor DarkEleanor DarkEleanor Dark was an Australian author whose novels included Prelude to Christopher and Return to Coolami , both winners of the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal for literature, and her best known work The Timeless Land .-Life and career:Eleanor Dark was born in Sydney...
- Prelude to Christopher - 1933: G. B. Lancaster (Edith J. Lyttleton) - Pageant
- 1932: Leonard MannLeonard Mann-Life:He served in the Australian Imperial Force during World War I, and with the Department of Aircraft Production in World War II.-External links:*...
- Flesh in Armour - 1931: Frank Dalby DavisonFrank Dalby DavisonFrank Dalby Davison , also known as F.D. Davison and Freddie Davison, was an Australian novelist and short story writer...
- Man-shy - 1930: Vance Palmer - The Passage
- 1929: Henry Handel RichardsonHenry Handel RichardsonHenry Handel Richardson, the pseudonym used by Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, was an Australian author. She took the name "Henry Handel" because at that time, many people did not take women's writing seriously, so she used a male name...
- Ultima ThuleThe Fortunes of Richard MahonyThe Fortunes of Richard Mahony is a three-part novel by Australian writer Henry Handel Richardson. It consists of Australia Felix , The Way Home , and Ultima Thule . It was collected in 1930 under the title by which it is now best known... - 1928: Martin Mills(Martin Boyd)Martin BoydMartin à Beckett Boyd was a member of Australia’s most prolific artistic dynasty of painters, sculptors, potters, writers, architects, graphic designers and musicians....
- The Montforts
Shortlisted works
2009- Emily BallouEmily BallouEmily Ballou is an Australian-American poet, novelist and screenwriter. Her first poetry collection The Darwin Poems, a verse portrait of Charles Darwin, was published by University of Western Australia Press in 2009...
, The Darwin Poems - Steven CarrollSteven CarrollSteven Carroll is an Australian novelist. He was born in Melbourne, Victoria and studied at La Trobe University. He has taught English at secondary school level, and drama at RMIT...
, The Lost Life - Eva Hornung, Dog Boy (novel)
- Cate KennedyCate KennedyCate Kennedy is an author born in Louth, Lincolnshire, England who moved to Australia in her childhood. She graduated from University of Canberra and has also taught at several colleges, including The University of Melbourne...
, The World Beneath - David MaloufDavid MaloufDavid George Joseph Malouf is an acclaimed Australian writer. He was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000, his 1993 novel Remembering Babylon won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, he won the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008, and he was...
, Ransom (Malouf novel)Ransom (Malouf novel)Ransom is a novel by Australian author David Malouf. It retells the story of the Iliad from books 16 to 24.It is studied in Australian high schools as an English text.-Summary and Analysis:...
2008
- Michelle de KretserMichelle de KretserMichelle de Kretser is an Australian novelist who was born in Sri Lanka but moved to Australia when she was 14.She was educated in Melbourne and Paris, and published her first novel, The Rose Grower in 1999...
, The Lost DogThe Lost Dog-Awards:*Commonwealth Writers Prize, South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book, 2008: shortlisted*Barbara Jefferis Award, 2008: shortlisted*New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, 2008: winner...
(Allen & Unwin) - J. S. HarryJ. S. HarryJ. S. Harry is a contemporary Australian poet who has been described as “one of Australian poetry’s keenest satirists, political and social commentators, and perhaps its most ethical agent and antagonist.”...
, Not Finding Wittgenstein (Giramondo) - Rhyll McMasterRhyll McMasterRhyll McMaster is a contemporary Australian poet and novelist. She has worked as a secretary, a nurse and a sheep farmer. She now lives in Sydney and has written full-time since 2000....
, Feather Man (Brandl & Schlesinger) - David MaloufDavid MaloufDavid George Joseph Malouf is an acclaimed Australian writer. He was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000, his 1993 novel Remembering Babylon won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, he won the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008, and he was...
, Typewriter Music (University of Queensland Press) - Alex MillerAlex Miller (writer)Alexander McPhee Miller is an Australian novelist. Born in London, England to Scottish parents, he migrated to Australia at the age of 16. After working and travelling he graduated from the University of Melbourne in English and History in 1965...
, Landscape of FarewellLandscape of FarewellLandscape of Farewell is a 2007 novel by the Australian author Alex Miller.-Awards and nominations:*Commonwealth Writers Prize, South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book, 2008: shortlisted*Miles Franklin Literary Award, 2008: shortlisted...
(Allen & Unwin)