SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2021 INDIE BOOK AWARDS
Australian independent booksellers are thrilled to announce their Shortlist for the Indie Book Awards 2021, their favourite Australian books published in 2020!
Established in 2008, the Indie Book Awards recognize
and celebrate this country’s incredible literary talent and who better to
nominate and judge the best-of-the-best than indie booksellers – the ultimate champions
of great Australian writing!
Who will win each category in 2021?
Who will take out the overall ‘2021 Book of the Year’ Award?!
The Category Winners and the Overall Book of the Year Winner will be announced at a virtual awards event on Monday 22 March 2021.
The Shortlist for the Indie Book Awards 2021 is:
FICTION
All
Our Shimmering Skies by Trent
Dalton (HarperCollins Australia)
The
Living Sea of Waking Dreams by
Richard Flanagan (Knopf Australia)
Mammoth
by Chris Flynn (University of Queensland
Press)
Honeybee
by Craig Silvey (Allen & Unwin)
NON-FICTION
Phosphorescence
by Julia Baird (Fourth Estate Australia)
The
Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie
Jaku (Macmillan Australia)
People
of the River by Grace
Karskens (Allen & Unwin)
Truganini
by Cassandra Pybus (Allen & Unwin)
DEBUT FICTION
The
Bluffs by Kyle Perry (Michael Joseph Australia)
Song
of the Crocodile by Nardi
Simpson (Hachette Australia)
A
Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing by Jessie Tu (Allen & Unwin)
The
Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Affirm Press)
ILLUSTRATED NON-FICTION
Sam
Bloom: Heartache & Birdsong by Samantha Bloom, Cameron Bloom & Bradley Trevor Greive (ABC Books,
HarperCollins Australia)
Plantopedia
by Lauren Camilleri & Sophia Kaplan
(Smith Street Books)
Beatrix
Bakes by Natalie Paull (Hardie Grant Books)
In
Praise of Veg by Alice
Zaslavsky (Murdoch Books)
CHILDREN’S
The
Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals by Sami Bayly (Lothian Children's Books)
Sing
Me The Summer by Jane
Godwin, illustrated by Alison Lester (Affirm Press)
The
Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Mellor (Affirm Press)
Hollowpox:
The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by
Jessica Townsend (Lothian Children's Books)
YOUNG ADULT
Future
Girl by Asphyxia (Allen & Unwin
Children's)
Catch
Me If I Fall by Barry
Jonsberg (Allen & Unwin Children's)
The
Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin Children's)
This
One is Ours by Kate
O'Donnell (University of Queensland Press)
The twenty-four shortlisted books, the best titles of the year as nominated by Australian independent booksellers themselves, will be vying for the top spot as the Overall Indie ‘Book of the Year’ for 2021. Panels of expert judges (all indie booksellers and avid readers) will choose the winners in the six book categories – Fiction, Debut Fiction, Non-Fiction, Illustrated Non-Fiction, Children’s books (up to 12yo) and Young Adult (12+). Independent booksellers from around the country will then vote to select their favourite book of the year from the six category winners.
Since the Awards inception in 2008, the Indies have a well-deserved reputation for picking the best of the best in Australian writing. Past Book of the Year winners have gone on to be bestsellers and win other major literary awards. Previous winners include: There Was Still Love by Favel Parrett, Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton; Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend; The Dry by Jane Harper; The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood; The Bush by Don Watson; The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan; The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman; All That I Am by Anna Funder; The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do; Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey; and Breath by Tim Winton.
The Awards recognise and celebrate indie booksellers as the number one supporters of Australian authors. What makes our Indies uniquely placed to judge and recommend the best Aussie books of the past year to their customers and readers, is their incredible passion and knowledge, their contribution to the cultural diversity of the Australian reading public by recommending books beyond the big brands, and their love of quality writing.
The Indie Book Awards would like to gratefully acknowledge the 2021 Awards Sponsors: Shawline Publishing Group, Pan Macmillan Australia, Affirm Press, Simon & Schuster Australia, Thames & Hudson Australia, Hachette Australia, Text Publishing and Award partner: CirclePOS. The Indie Book Awards are proudly coordinated by Leading Edge Retail.