2012 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards shortlist
- Fiction shortlist
- Poetry shortlist
- Non-fiction shortlist
- Australian history shortlist
- Young adult fiction shortlist
- Children’s fiction shortlist
Read first chapters by following the links to each shortlisted book.
Fiction
- All That I Am, Anna Funder
- Sarah Thornhill, Kate Grenville
- Foal's Bread, Gillian Mears
- Autumn Laing, Alex Miller
- Forecast: Turbulence, Janette Turner Hospital
Poetry
- Ashes in the Air, Ali Alizadeh
- Interferon Psalms, Luke Davies
- Armour, John Kinsella
- Southern Barbarians, John Mateer
- New and Selected Poems, Gig Ryan
Non-fiction
- A Short History of Christianity, Geoffrey Blainey
- Michael Kirby Paradoxes and Principles, A J Brown
- Kinglake-350, Adrian Hyland
- When Horse Became Saw, Anthony Macris
- An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark, Mark McKenna
Prize for Australian History
- 1835: The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia, James Boyce
- The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aboriginies Made Australia, Bill Gammage
- Breaking the Sheep's Back, Charles Massy
- Indifferent Inclusion: Aboriginal people and the Australian Nation, Russell McGregor
- Immigration Nation: The Secret History of Us, Renegade Films Australia Pty Ltd
Young adult fiction
- A Straight Line to My Heart, Bill Condon
- Being Here, Barry Jonsberg
- Pan’s Whisper, Sue Lawson
- When We Were Two, Robert Newton
- Alaska, Sue Saliba
Children's fiction
- Evangeline, The Wish Keeper's Helper, Maggie Alderson
- The Jewel Fish of Karnak, Graeme Base
- Father's Day, Anne Brooksbank
- Come Down, Cat!, written by Sonya Hartnett and illustrated by Lucia Masciullo
- Goodnight, Mice!, written by Frances Watts and illustrated by Judy Watson