1987 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1987.

Events

 * Glenda Adams won the 1987 Miles Franklin Award for Dancing on Coral

Novels

 * Glenda Adams — Dancing on Coral
 * Murray Bail — Holden's Performance
 * Sumner Locke Elliott — Waiting for Childhood
 * Barbara Hanrahan — Kewpie Doll
 * Nicholas Jose — Paper Nautilus
 * Thomas Keneally — The Playmaker
 * Olga Masters — Amy's Children
 * Colleen McCullough — The Ladies of Missalonghi
 * Boyd Oxlade — Death in Brunswick
 * Eric Willmot — Pemulwuy, the Rainbow Warrior

Short stories

 * Jessica Anderson — Stories from the Warm Zone
 * Thea Astley — It's Raining in Mango
 * Julie Lewis — The Walls of Jericho: Stories
 * Patrick White — Three Uneasy Pieces

Children's and young adult fiction

 * John Marsden — So Much to Tell You

Science fiction and fantasy

 * Greg Egan – "Neighbourhood Watch"
 * Isobelle Carmody — Obernewtyn
 * George Turner — The Sea and Summer

Crime and mystery

 * Jon Cleary — Dragons at the Party
 * Peter Corris — The January Zone
 * Jennifer Rowe — Grim Pickings

Poetry

 * Judith Beveridge — The Domesticity of Giraffes
 * Dorothy Hewett — Alice in Wormland

Drama

 * Dorothy Hewett — Me and the Man in the Moon
 * David Malouf — Blood Relations
 * Wendy Richardson — Windy Gully
 * David Williamson — Emerald City

Non-fiction

 * Brian Matthews — Louisa
 * Sally Morgan — My Place

Awards and honours

 * Rosemary Dobson, for "service to literature, particularly in the field of poetry"
 * David Malouf, for "service to literature"
 * Peter Cowan (writer), for "service to Australian literature"
 * Ruth Park, for "service to literature"
 * Rica Erickson, for "service to the arts, particularly as an author and illustrator

Deaths
A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1987 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.


 * 3 March — Cyril Pearl, Australian journalist, editor, author, social historian, wit and television personality (born 1904)
 * 18 April — Kenneth Cook, Australian journalist, television documentary maker and novelist (born 1929)
 * 8 May — Marjorie Barnard, Australia novelist and short story writer, critic, historian and librarian (born 1897)
 * 24 May — Robert D. Fitzgerald, poet (born 1902)
 * 3 July — Grace Perry, poet, playwright, and founder and editor of the South Head Press (born 1927)
 * 17 December — Lucy Walker, romance novelist (born 1907)