1963 in Australian literature

Literature-related events in Australia during the year of 1963

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1963.

Major publications

Books

Jessica Anderson – An Ordinary Lunacy
Jon Cleary – Forests of the Night
Sumner Locke Elliott – Careful, He Might Hear You
Catherine Gaskin – The Tilsit Inheritance
Brian James – Hopeton High
Barbara Jefferis – Wild Grapes
Mungo MacCallum – Son of Mars
Randolph Stow – Tourmaline
Arthur Upfield – The Body at Madman's Bend
Morris West – The Shoes of the Fisherman

Short stories

A. Bertram Chandler – Beyond the Galactic Rim
Jon Cleary – Pillar of Salt and Other Stories
Peter Cowan – "The Voice"
Frank Hardy – Legends from Benson's Valley
Shirley Hazzard
- Cliffs of Fall and Other Stories
- "The Picnic"
Xavier Herbert – Larger Than Life : Twenty Short Stories
Hal Porter
- "Gretel"
- "Young Woman in a Wimple"
Colin Thiele – Favourite Australian Stories (edited)
Patrick White
- "Clay"
- "Down at the Dump"
- "Miss Slattery and Her Demon Lover"

Children's and Young Adult fiction

Nan Chauncy – The Roaring 40
L. H. Evers – Danny's Wonderful Uncle
John Gunn – The Goodbye Island
Eric Lambert – Dolphin
Joan Phipson – Threat to the Barkers
Eleanor Spence – The Green Laurel
Colin Thiele – Storm Boy

Poetry

Bruce Dawe – "And a Good Friday Was Had By All"
Gwen Harwood – "Suburban Sonnet"
Dorothy Hewett - What About the People (with Merv Lilley)
A. D. Hope
- "Crossing the Frontier"
- "A Letter from Rome"
James McAuley – "Pieta"
Ian Mudie – The North-Bound Rider
Peter Porter – "Your Attention Please"
Chris Wallace-Crabbe – In Light and Darkness
Henry Kendall – Henry Kendall (edited by T. Inglis Moore)
John Shaw Neilson – Shaw Neilson (edited by Judith Wright)
Judith Wright – Five Senses : Selected Poems

Biography

Xavier Herbert – Disturbing Element
Alan Marshall – In Mine Own Heart
Hal Porter – The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony

Non-fiction

Geoffrey Blainey – The Rush That Never Ended : A History of Australian Mining

Drama

Alan Hopgood – And the Big Men Fly
Hal Porter – The Tower

Awards and honours

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
ALS Gold Medal^[1]	John Morrison	Twenty-Three : Stories	Australasian Book Society
Miles Franklin Award^[2]	Sumner Locke Elliott	Careful, He Might Hear You	Angus and Robertson

Children and Young Adult

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award	Older Readers^[3]	Joan Phipson	The Family Conspiracy	Constable
Children's Book of the Year Award	Picture Book	No award

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry^[4]	Ian Mudie	The North-Bound Rider	Rigby

Births

A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1963 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.

19 July – Garth Nix, novelist^[5]
30 September – Stan Grant, non-fiction writer and journalist^[6]
8 October – Nick Earls, novelist^[7]

Unknown date

Jennie Adams, romance novelist^[8]
Catherine Jinks, novelist^[9]
John Kinsella, poet^[10]
Mandy Sayer, novelist^[11]
Donna Williams, writer, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and sculptor (died 2017)^[12]

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1963 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

30 January – Will H. Ogilvie, poet (born 1869)^[13]
11 March – Deirdre Cash (Criena Rohan), Australian novelist (born 1924)^[14]
24 July – Ruth Bedford, poet (born 1882)^[15]

References

^ "ALS Gold Medal — Previous Winners". Association for the Study of Australian Literature. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
^ ""£500 Prize for Novel"". The Canberra Times, 17 April 1964, p17. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
^ Austlit - The Family Conspiracy by Joan Phipson
^ Austlit - The North-Bound Rider by Ian Mudie
^ "Garth Nix". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
^ "Stan_Grant". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
^ "Nick Earls". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
^ "Jennie Adams". Austlit. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
^ "Catherine Jinks". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
^ "John Kinsella". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
^ "Mandy Sayer". Austlit. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
^ Williams, Donna (30 April 2017). "Vale Polly Samuel (aka 'Donna Williams') (1963–2017) Polly's pages (aka Donna Williams)". Donna Williams. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
^ "Ogilvie, William Henry (Will) (1869–1963) by Clement Semmler". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
^ "Cash, Deirdre (1924–1963) by James Griffin". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
^ "Bedford, Ruth Marjory (1882–1963) by Jane Connors". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 11 July 2023.