2002 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2002.

Literary fiction

 * J. M. Coetzee – Youth: Scenes from Provincial Life II
 * Bryce Courtenay – Matthew Flinders' Cat
 * Andrea Goldsmith – The Prosperous Thief
 * Sonya Hartnett – Of a Boy
 * Sarah Hay – Skins
 * Chloe Hooper – A Child's Book of True Crime
 * Kate Jennings – Moral Hazard
 * Gail Jones – Black Mirror
 * Thomas Keneally – An Angel in Australia
 * Colleen McCullough – The October Horse
 * Alex Miller – Journey to the Stone Country
 * Dorothy Porter – Wild Surmise
 * Eva Sallis – The City of Sealions

Children's and Young Adult fiction

 * J. C. Burke – White Lies
 * Isobelle Carmody – Darksong
 * Alison Croggon – The Gift
 * Mem Fox – The Magic Hat
 * Marieke Hardy – Short Cuts
 * Richard Harland – Ferren and the White Doctor
 * Lian Hearn – Across the Nightingale Floor
 * Maureen McCarthy – When You Wake and Find Me Gone
 * Meme McDonald and Boori Pryor – Njunjul the Sun
 * David Metzenthen – Wildlight: A Journey
 * Kirsty Murray – Walking Home with Marie-Claire
 * Gillian Rubinstein – The Whale's Child
 * Markus Zusak – The Messenger

Crime

 * Carmel Bird – Open for Inspection
 * Kirsty Brooks – Lady Luck
 * Jon Cleary – The Easy Sin
 * Jane Clifton – Half Past Dead
 * Peter Corris – Salt and Blood
 * Kerry Greenwood – Murder in Montparnasse
 * Gabrielle Lord – Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing
 * Barry Maitland – Babel
 * Shane Maloney – Something Fishy
 * Tara Moss – Split
 * Alex Palmer – Blood Redemption
 * Peter Temple – In The Evil Day

Romance

 * Lilian Darcy – For the Taking
 * Barbara Hannay
 * A Bride at Birralee
 * Their Doorstep Baby
 * Di Morrissey – Kimberley Sun
 * Valerie Parv
 * The Baron and the Bodyguard
 * The Marquis and the Mother-To-Be

Science Fiction and Fantasy

 * Damien Broderick – Transcension
 * Trudi Canavan – The Novice
 * Cecilia Dart-Thornton
 * The Battle of Evernight
 * The Lady of the Sorrows
 * Sara Douglass
 * The Crippled Angel
 * Hades' Daughter
 * Greg Egan
 * Schild's Ladder
 * "Singleton"
 * Ian Irvine – Tetrarch
 * Fiona McIntosh
 * Destiny
 * Revenge
 * Sean McMullen – Voyage of the Shadowmoon
 * Juliet Marillier – Wolfskin
 * Sean Williams
 * Echoes of Earth with Shane Dix
 * The Sky Warden and the Sun
 * The Storm Weaver and the Sand

Drama

 * David Brown – Eating Ice Cream With Your Eyes Closed
 * Nick Enright
 * Country Music
 * A Man with Five Children
 * Michael Gow – The Fortunes of Richard Mahony
 * Michael Gurr – The Simple Truth
 * Daniel Keene – Half and Half
 * Jenny Kemp – Still Angela
 * Joanna Murray-Smith – Rapture
 * David Williamson – Soulmates

Poetry

 * M. T. C. Cronin – My Lover's Back : 79 Love Poems
 * Robert Gray – Afterimages
 * Jill Jones – Screens Jets Heaven: New and Selected Poems
 * Emma Lew – Anything the Landlord Touches
 * Kate Lilley – Versary
 * Les Murray
 * Collected Poems : 1961–2002
 * Poems the Size of Photographs

Non-fiction

 * Bruce Bennett, Australian Short Fiction: A History
 * Anna Funder – Stasiland
 * Mark McKenna – Looking for Blackfellas' Point : An Australian History of Place
 * Ashley Mallett – The Black Lords of Summer : The Story of the 1868 Aboriginal Tour of England and Beyond
 * John Marsden – The Boy You Brought Home : A Single Mother's Guide to Raising Boys

Biographies

 * Nick Bleszynski – Shoot Straight, You Bastards! : The Truth Behind the Killing of 'Breaker' Morant
 * Barry Dickins – Black and Whiteley : Barry Dickins in Search of Brett
 * Ann Galbally – Charles Conder : The Last Bohemian
 * Barry Hill – Broken Song : T. G. H. Strehlow and Aboriginal Possession
 * Thomas Keneally – American Scoundrel : The Life of the Notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles
 * Ross McMullin – Pompey Elliott
 * Brenda Niall – The Boyds : A Family Biography
 * Don Watson – Recollections of a Bleeding Heart : A Portrait of Paul Keating PM

Awards and honours
Note: these awards were presented in the year in question.

Deaths

 * 27 May – Ray Mathew, poet and novelist (born 1929)
 * 6 June – Peter Cowan, short story writer and literary editor (born 1914)
 * 25 August – Dorothy Hewett, poet (born 1923)
 * 16 September – J. E. Macdonnell, novelist (born 1917)
 * 2 October – R. A. Simpson, poet (born 1929)
 * 8 December – Gary Catalano, poet and critic (born 1947)

Unknown date
 * Olive Pell, librarian and poet (born 1903)