2005 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2005.

Events

 * Morag Fraser is appointed as a judge of the Miles Franklin Award, following the resignation of three judges in late 2004
 * Murray Bail is accused of plagiarism over several passages in his novel Eucalyptus. Bail later accepts the breach and intends adding an acknowledgment in future editions
 * The Victorian town of Shepparton unveils a statue of Joseph Furphy, author of Such is Life
 * Collins Booksellers, Australia's third largest national bookseller, goes into voluntary administration

Literary fiction

 * Diane Armstrong – Winter Journey
 * Anne Bartlett – Knitting
 * Geraldine Brooks – March
 * Brian Castro – The Garden Book
 * J.M. Coetzee – Slow Man
 * Gregory Day – The Patron Saint of Eels
 * Robert Drewe – Grace
 * Arabella Edge – The God of Spring
 * Delia Falconer – The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers
 * Kate Grenville – The Secret River
 * Sonya Hartnett – Surrender
 * Wendy James – Out of the Silence
 * Nicholas Jose – Original Face
 * Stephen Lacey – Sandstone
 * Steven Lang – An Accidental Terrorist
 * Carolyn Leach-Paholski – The Grasshopper Shoe
 * Andrew McCann – Subtopia
 * Roger McDonald – The Ballad of Desmond Kale
 * Alex Miller – Prochownik's Dream
 * Joanna Murray-Smith – Sunnyside
 * Eva Sallis – The Marsh Birds
 * Elizabeth Stead – The Book of Tides
 * Carrie Tiffany – Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living
 * Ian Townsend – Affection
 * Christos Tsiolkas – Dead Europe
 * Brenda Walker – The Wing of Night
 * Tim Winton – The Turning

Children's and Young Adult fiction

 * Randa Abdel-Fattah – Does My Head Look Big in This?
 * Isobelle Carmody – Alyzon Whitestarr
 * Kate Constable – The Tenth Power
 * Gary Crew – The Lace Maker's Daughter
 * Mem Fox – Hunwick's Egg
 * Morris Gleitzman – Once
 * Kerry Greenwood – The Rat and the Raven
 * Sonya Hartnett – Surrender
 * Barry Jonsberg – It's Not All About You, Calma!
 * Justine Larbalestier – Magic or Madness
 * Victor Kelleher – Dogboy
 * Mardi McConnochie – Fivestar
 * Garth Nix – Drowned Wednesday
 * Penni Russon – Breathe
 * Scott Westerfeld
 * Pretties
 * Touching Darkness
 * Uglies
 * Markus Zusak – The Book Thief

Crime

 * Robert G. Barrett – Crime Scene Cessnock
 * John Birmingham – Designated Targets: World War 2.2
 * Peter Corris – Saving Billie
 * Colin Cotterill – Thirty-Three Teeth
 * Michelle de Kretser – The Hamilton Case
 * Garry Disher – Snapshot
 * Greg Flynn – The Berlin Cross
 * Robert Gott – A Thing of Blood
 * Kerry Greenwood – Death by Water
 * Gabrielle Lord – Dirty Weekend
 * P. D. Martin – Body Count
 * Chris Nyst – Crook as Rookwood
 * Leigh Redhead – Rubdown
 * Matthew Reilly – Seven Ancient Wonders
 * Michael Robotham – Lost
 * Heather Rose – The Butterfly Man
 * Steve J. Spears – Innocent Murder
 * Peter Temple – The Broken Shore

Romance

 * Lilian Darcy – The Father Factor
 * Marion Lennox – Bride by Accident

Science fiction and fantasy

 * K. A. Bedford – Eclipse
 * Damien Broderick – Godplayers
 * Cecilia Dart-Thornton – The Well of Tears
 * Marianne de Pierres – Crash Deluxe
 * Sara Douglass – Darkwitch Rising
 * Kate Forsyth – The Shining City
 * Catherine Jinks – Evil Genius
 * Juliet Marillier – Blade of Fortriu
 * Sean Williams
 * Ascent (with Shane Dix)
 * The Blood Debt
 * The Hanging Mountains

Drama

 * Chris Aronsten – Human Resources
 * Jane Brodie – A Single Act
 * Catherine Lazaroo – Asylum

Poetry

 * Alan Gould – The Past Completes Me: Selected Poems 1973-2003
 * John Kinsella – The New Arcadia
 * Jennifer Maiden – Friendly Fire
 * Jaya Savige – Latecomers

Non-fiction

 * R.J.B. Bosworth – Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Dictatorship 1915-1945
 * Richard Broome – Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800
 * Helen Ennis – Margaret Michaelis: Love, Loss and Photography
 * Pamela Freeman – The Black Dress: Mary MacKillop's Early Years
 * Tom Keneally – A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia
 * Maria Nugent – Botany Bay: Where Histories Meet

Biographies

 * John Baxter – We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light
 * Richie Benaud – My Spin on Cricket
 * Eric Campbell – Absurdistan: A Bumpy Ride Through Some of the World's Scariest, Weirdest Places
 * Maryanne Convoy – Morris West: Literary Maverick
 * Peter C. Doherty – The Beginner's Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize: A Life in Science
 * Graham Freudenberg – A Figure of Speech: A Political Memoir
 * Gavin Fry – Albert Tucker
 * Aneurin Hughes – Billy Hughes: Prime Minister and Controversial Founding Father of the Australian Labor Party
 * Sandy McCutcheon – The Magician's Son
 * William McInnes – A Man's Got to Have a Hobby: Long Summers with My Dad
 * Brenda Niall – Judy Cassab: A Portrait
 * Barry Pearce – Jeffrey Smart
 * Jacob G. Rosenberg – East of Time
 * Mandy Sayer – Velocity
 * Craig Sherborne – Hoi Polloi
 * Steve Waugh – Out of My Comfort Zone
 * Elisabeth Wynhausen – Dirt Cheap: Life at the Wrong End of the Job Market

Deaths

 * 11 April – John Brosnan, sf and cinema writer (born 1947)
 * 10 May – Percy Trezise, children's writer (born 1923)
 * 13 May – Shelton Lea, poet (born 1946)
 * 29 August – Margaret Scott, poet and novelist (born in Bristol, England, 1934)
 * 8 September – Donald Horne, social and political commentator (born 1921)
 * 14 October – Barney Roberts, poet and short story writer (born 1920)
 * 18 October – Philip Martin, poet (born 1931)
 * 1 November –
 * Jenny Boult, poet (born 1951)
 * Michael Thwaites, poet (born 1915)
 * 22 December – Bill Scott, poet and children's writer (born 1923)