1994 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1994.

Events

 * Rodney Hall (writer) won the Miles Franklin Award for The Grisly Wife

Novels

 * Thea Astley — Coda
 * Lily Brett — Just Like That
 * Peter Carey — The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith
 * Richard Flanagan — Death of a River Guide
 * Drusilla Modjeska — The Orchard
 * John A. Scott — What I Have Written
 * Tim Winton — The Riders

Short stories

 * Marian Eldridge — The Wild Sweet Flowers
 * Lucy Sussex – The Lottery : Nine Science Fiction Stories (edited)

Science fiction and fantasy

 * Greg Egan — Permutation City
 * Sean McMullen – Voices in the Light
 * George Turner – Genetic Soldier

Crime and mystery

 * Jon Cleary – Autumn Maze
 * Peter Corris
 * Casino
 * Get Even
 * The Time Trap
 * Marele Day – The Disappearances of Madalena Grimaldi
 * Garry Disher – Crosskill
 * Kerry Greenwood – Blood and Circuses
 * Nicholas Hasluck – A Grain of Truth
 * Barry Maitland – The Marx Sisters
 * Shane Maloney – Stiff
 * Dorothy Porter — The Monkey's Mask

Children's and young adult fiction

 * Pamela Allen — Clippity-Clop
 * Gary Crew — The Watertower
 * Mem Fox — Tough Boris
 * Jackie French — Somewhere Around the Corner

Poetry

 * Robert Adamson — Waving to Hart Crane
 * Bruce Beaver — Anima and Other Poems
 * Peter Boyle — Coming Home from the World
 * Dorothy Hewett — Peninsula
 * Rhyll McMaster — Flying the Coop: New and Selected Poems 1972-1994
 * Jan Owen — Night Rainbows

Drama

 * Beatrix Christian — Blue Murder
 * Michael Gow — Sweet Phoebe
 * Hannie Rayson — Falling From Grace
 * David Williamson — Sanctuary

Non-fiction

 * John Birmingham — He Died with a Felafel in His Hand
 * Gillian Bouras — Aphrodite and the Others
 * Robert Dessaix — A Mother's Disgrace
 * Tim Flannery — The Future Eaters
 * Jan Ruff O'Herne — Fifty Years of Silence
 * Susan Varga — Heddy and Me
 * Donna Williams — Somebody Somewhere

Awards and honours

 * Patsy Adam-Smith "for service to community history, particularly through the preservation of national traditions and folklore and recording of oral histories"
 * Laurie Hergenhan "for service to Australian literary scholarship and to education"
 * Joan Phipson "for service to children's literature"
 * Judith Rodriguez "for service to Australian literature, particularly in the area of poetry"

Births
A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1994 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.


 * 18 April — Alexandra Adornetto, actress and author who writes for children and young adults
 * 25 June — Robbie Coburn, poet

Deaths
A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1994 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.


 * 28 January — Frank Hardy, novelist, best known for Power Without Glory (born 1917)
 * 7 February — Rosemary Wighton, literary editor, author and advisor to the South Australian government on women's affairs (born 1925)
 * 29 May — Nene Gare, writer and artist, best known for The Fringe Dwellers (born 1919)
 * 7 September — James Clavell, novelist, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war (born 1921)
 * 9 September — Hugh Atkinson (novelist), novelist, journalist, screenwriter and documentary film maker (born 1921)
 * 16 December — Mary Durack, author and historian (born 1913)