1947 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1947.

Events

The Grace Leven Prize for Poetry, worth £50, is awarded for the first time to Pacific Sea by Nan McDonald.

Books

Jon Cleary – You Can't See 'Round Corners
Erle Cox – The Missing Angel
M. Barnard Eldershaw – Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Miles Franklin – The Thorny Rose
Arthur Gask – The Dark Mill Stream
Catherine Gaskin – With Every Year
Ion L. Idriess – Isles of Despair
Norman Lindsay – Halfway to Anywhere
Vance Palmer – Cyclone
Nevil Shute – ''The Chequer Board''

Short stories

Myra Morris – The Township
Judah Waten – "To a Country Town"

Children's and Young Adult fiction

Ruth C. Williams – ''Timothy Tatters''

Poetry

David Campbell – "Small-Town Gladys"
Victor Daley – Creeve Roe : Poetry
Rosemary Dobson – "Country Press"
R. D. Fitzgerald – "Fifth Day"
A. D. Hope – "Conquistador"
Nancy Keesing – "Detective Story"
Nan McDonald – Pacific Sea
John Shaw Neilson – Unpublished Poems of John Shaw Neilson
Will H. Ogilvie – "Harry Morant"
Elizabeth Riddell – "The Train in the Night"
Roland Robinson – "Drifting Dug-Out"
Douglas Stewart — Glencoe
Judith Wright
* "Flame-Tree in a Quarry"
* "The Bull"
* "The Cycads"
* "The Killer"

Drama

Radio

John Appleton – Hester's Diary
Sumner Locke Elliott – ''Wicked is the Vine''

Theatre

Awards and honours

Note: these awards were presented in the year in question.

Literary

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
ALS Gold Medal	Not awarded

Children's and Young Adult

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Children's Book of the Year Award	Older Readers	No award

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Grace Leven Prize for Poetry	Nan McDonald	Pacific Sea	Angus and Robertson

Births

A list, ordered by date of birth of births in 1947 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.

10 January – Arnold Zable, novelist
15 January – Richard Harland, novelist
22 January – Geoffrey Bewley, journalist and short story writer
7 February – Elizabeth Honey, children's author, illustrator and poet
21 March – Terry Dowling, novelist and short story writer
13 April – Amanda Lohrey, novelist
4 May
* Marele Day, novelist
* Peter Kocan, author and poet
13 July – David Marr, journalist and biographer
23 September – Gary Crew, novelist
29 September – Cassandra Pybus, historian and biographer
9 October – Michael Dugan, poet
30 October – Gary Catalano, poet and art critic
12 November – Martin Johnston, novelist and poet

Unknown date

Eric Beach, poet and playwright
Jacqueline Kent, writer and biographer
Rhyll McMaster, novelist
Bruce Pascoe, novelist
Graham Rowlands, poet

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death of deaths in 1947 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

25 January — Pinchas Goldhar, writer and translator
12 February – Douglas Sladen, poet and biographer
19 July – Lennie Lower, journalist and novelist
18 October – R. H. Croll, poet and writer
1 November – Tilly Aston, blind writer and teacher