2004 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2004.

Events

 * John Hay, Peter Porter, Elizabeth Webby, W. H. Wilde, and Barbara Ker Wilson are all recognised in the 2004 Australia Day Honours.
 * Peter Craven is sacked as editor of Quarterly Essay and the annual The Best Australian... anthologies after a dispute with Black Inc. publisher Morry Schwartz.
 * Kenneth Dutton, Nick Enright, Morag Fraser, David Myers, and Brenda Niall are recognised in the Queen's Birthday honours list.
 * Independent book publishers Text (Australia) and Canongate (UK) form a joint venture. The Text Media Group, purchased by John Fairfax earlier this year, sells Text Publishing to the joint venture partners.
 * Sydney Morning Herald Literary Editor, Malcolm Knox exposes Norma Khouri and her 'factual' account of honour killings in Jordan as a fabrication.
 * Mark Rubbo, David Marr and Kerryn Goldsworthy resign as Miles Franklin Award judges in protest at changes to the charter governing the award's administration.
 * Inaugural Chief Minister's Northern Territory Book History Awards held

Literary fiction

 * Sarah Armstrong – Salt Rain
 * Larissa Behrendt – Home
 * Carmel Bird – Cape Grimm
 * Steven Carroll – The Gift of Speed
 * John Charalambous – Furies
 * Bryce Courtenay – Brother Fish
 * Sophie Cunningham – Geography
 * Jack Dann – The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean
 * Nick Earls – The Thompson Gunner
 * Susan Johnson – The Broken Book
 * Gail Jones – Sixty Lights
 * Stefan Laszczuk – The Goddamn Bus of Happiness 
 * Amanda Lohrey – The Philosopher's Doll
 * Colleen McCullough – Angel Puss
 * Andrew McGahan – The White Earth
 * Monica McInerney – The Alphabet Sisters
 * Emily Maguire – Taming the Beast
 * Steven Orr – Hill of Grace
 * Eva Sallis – Fire Fire
 * Nicholas Shakespeare – Snowleg
 * Celestine Hitiura Vaite – Frangipani
 * Gerard Windsor – I Have Kissed Your Lips
 * Charlotte Wood – The Submerged Cathedral
 * Arnold Zable – Scraps of Heaven

Children's and Young Adult fiction

 * Joanna Baker – Devastation Road
 * Michael Gerard Bauer – The Running Man
 * Sherryl Clark – Farm Kid
 * Joanne Crawford and Grace Fielding – A Home for Bilby
 * Anthony Eaton – Fireshadow
 * Sonya Hartnett – The Silver Donkey
 * Steven Herrick – By the River
 * Joanne Horniman – Secret Scribbled Notebooks
 * Prue Mason – Camel Rider
 * Garth Nix – Grim Tuesday
 * Scott Westerfeld – So Yesterday

Crime

 * Peter Corris – The Coast Road
 * Colin Cotterill – The Coroner's Lunch
 * Kathryn Fox – Malicious Intent
 * Jane Goodall – The Walker
 * Kerry Greenwood
 * Earthly Delights
 * Heavenly Pleasures
 * Malcolm Knox – A Private Man
 * Barry Maitland – No Trace
 * Tara Moss – Covet
 * Tony Park – Far Horizon
 * Steve J. Spears – Murder by Manuscript

Romance

 * Christine Balint – Ophelia's Fan
 * Catherine Jinks – Spinning Around
 * Stephanie Laurens – The Ideal Bride
 * Rachael Treasure – The Stockmen
 * Lynne Wilding – Outback Sunset

Science Fiction and Fantasy

 * John Brosnan – Mothership
 * Jack Dann – The Rebel
 * Marianne de Pierres – Nylon Angel
 * Rob Gerrand — The Best Australian Science Fiction Writing : A Fifty Year Collection (edited)
 * Richard Harland – The Black Crusade
 * Simon Haynes – Hal Spacejock: Just Desserts
 * Liam Hearn – Brilliance of the Moon
 * Margo Lanagan – Black Juice
 * Glenda Larke – The Tainted
 * Maxine McArthur – Less than Human
 * Fiona McIntosh – Bridge of Souls
 * Sophie Masson – Snow, Fire, Sword
 * Josephine Pennicott – A Fire in the Shell
 * Cherry Wilder – The Wanderer
 * Kim Wilkins – Brilliance of the Moon
 * Sean Williams – The Crooked Letter

Drama

 * Martin Flanagan – The Call
 * Michael Gurr – Julia Three
 * Debra Oswald – Mr Bailey's Minder
 * Abe Pogos – Toby
 * Alana Valentine – Run Rabbit Run!
 * David Williamson – Amigos

Poetry

 * M. T. C. Cronin –
 * Luke Davies – Totem
 * Sarah Day – The Ship
 * Noel Rowe – Next to Nothing
 * Dipti Saravanamuttu – The Colosseum
 * Samuel Wagan Watson – Smoke Encrypted Whispers

Non-fiction

 * Peter Carey – Wrong About Japan: A Father's Journey with His Son
 * Graeme Davison with Sheryl Yelland – Car Wars: How the Car Won Our Hearts and Conquered Our Cities
 * Sally Neighbour – In the Shadow of Swords: on the Trail of Terrorism from Afghanistan to Australia

Biographies

 * Michael Ackland – Henry Handel Richardson: A Life
 * Phillip Adams – Adam's Ark
 * Gay Bilson – Plenty: Digressions on Food
 * Max Brown – Charmian and George: The Marriage of George Johnston and Charmian Clift
 * Don Chipp – Keep the Bastards Honest
 * Michael Duffy – Latham and Abbott
 * Carolly Erikson – The Girl from Botany Bay: The True Story of Mary Broad and Her Extraordinary Escape
 * Peter FitzSimons – Steve Waugh
 * Tim Flannery – Country
 * John Hughes – The Idea of Home: Autobiographical Essays
 * John Marsden – I Am What I Am: My Life and Curious Times
 * Siobhan O'Brien – A Life by Design: The Art and Lives of Florence Broadhurst
 * Sue Pieters-Hawke and Hazel Flynn – Hazel's Journey: A Personal Experience of Alzheimer's
 * Peter Roebuck – Sometimes I Forgot to Laugh
 * Charles Tingwell – Bud: A Life
 * Stevie Wright and Glenn Goldsmith – Hard Road: The Life and Times of Stevie Wright

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

Deaths

 * 3 January –
 * Len Fox, journalist, historian, social activist and painter (born 1905)
 * Barbara Jefferis, novelist and dramatist (born 1917)
 * 8 January – Norman Talbot, poet (born 1936)
 * 17 February – Bruce Beaver, poet (born 1928)
 * 11 April – Wilbur G. Howcroft, writer for children (born 1917)
 * 7 July – Elisabeth MacIntyre, writer for children (born 1916)
 * 17 August – Thea Astley, novelist (born 1925)
 * 8 November – Peter Mathers, novelist and short story writer (born 1931 in Fulham, England)