2004 in Australian literature

Events

• John Hay, Peter Porter, Elizabeth Webby, W. H. Wilde, and Barbara Ker Wilson are all recognised in the 2004 Australia Day Honours.
• Peter Craven is sacked as editor of Quarterly Essay and the annual The Best Australian... anthologies after a dispute with Black Inc. publisher Morry Schwartz.
• Kenneth Dutton, Nick Enright, Morag Fraser, David Myers, and Brenda Niall are recognised in the Queen's Birthday honours list.
• Independent book publishers Text and Canongate form a joint venture. The Text Media Group, purchased by John Fairfax earlier this year, sells Text Publishing to the joint venture partners.
• Sydney Morning Herald Literary Editor, Malcolm Knox exposes Norma Khouri and her 'factual' account of honour killings in Jordan as a fabrication.
• Mark Rubbo, David Marr and Kerryn Goldsworthy resign as Miles Franklin Award judges in protest at changes to the charter governing the award's administration.
• Inaugural Chief Minister's Northern Territory Book History Awards held

Major publications

Literary fiction

• Sarah Armstrong – Salt Rain
• Larissa Behrendt – Home
• Carmel Bird – Cape Grimm
• Steven Carroll – The Gift of Speed
• John Charalambous – Furies
• Jon Cleary – Miss Ambar Regrets
• Bryce Courtenay – Brother Fish
• Sophie Cunningham – Geography
• Jack Dann – The Rebel: An Imagined Life of James Dean
• Nick Earls – The Thompson Gunner
• Robert Engwerda – Backwaters
• Susan Johnson – The Broken Book
• Gail Jones – Sixty Lights
• Stefan Laszczuk – The Goddamn Bus of Happiness
• Amanda Lohrey – The Philosopher's Doll
• Colleen McCullough – Angel Puss
• Andrew McGahan – The White Earth
• Monica McInerney – The Alphabet Sisters
• Emily Maguire – Taming the Beast
• Steven Orr – Hill of Grace
• Eva Sallis – Fire Fire
• Nicholas Shakespeare – Snowleg
• Celestine Hitiura Vaite – Frangipani
• Gerard Windsor – I Have Kissed Your Lips
• Charlotte Wood – The Submerged Cathedral
• Denise Young – The Last Ride
• Arnold Zable – ''Scraps of Heaven''

Children's and Young Adult fiction

• Joanna Baker – Devastation Road
• Michael Gerard Bauer – The Running Man
• Sherryl Clark – Farm Kid
• Robert Corbert – Shelf Life
• Joanne Crawford and Grace Fielding – A Home for Bilby
• Anthony Eaton – Fireshadow
• Jon Flanagan – The Ruins of Gorlan
• Sonya Hartnett – The Silver Donkey
• Steven Herrick – By the River
• Joanne Horniman – Secret Scribbled Notebooks
• Prue Mason – Camel Rider
• James Moloney – The Book of Lies
• Garth Nix – Grim Tuesday
• Emily Rodda
• * Dragon's Nest
• * Isle of the Dead
• * Shadowgate
• * The Sister of the South
• Scott Westerfeld – ''So Yesterday''

Crime

• Peter Corris – The Coast Road
• Colin Cotterill – The Coroner's Lunch
• Kathryn Fox – Malicious Intent
• Jane Goodall – The Walker
• Kerry Greenwood
• * Earthly Delights
• * Heavenly Pleasures
• Malcolm Knox – A Private Man
• Barry Maitland – No Trace
• Tara Moss – Covet
• Tony Park – Far Horizon
• Leigh Redhead – Peepshow
• Steve J. Spears – ''Murder by Manuscript''

Romance

• Christine Balint – Ophelia's Fan
• Catherine Jinks – Spinning Around
• Stephanie Laurens – The Ideal Bride
• Rachael Treasure – The Stockmen
• Lynne Wilding – ''Outback Sunset''

Science Fiction and Fantasy

• John Birmingham – Weapons of Choice
• John Brosnan – Mothership
• Alison Croggon – The Riddle
• Cecilia Dart-Thornton – The Iron Tree
• Marianne de Pierres – Nylon Angel
• Jennifer Fallon – Wolfblade
• Rob Gerrand — The Best Australian Science Fiction Writing : A Fifty Year Collection
• Richard Harland – The Black Crusade
• John Harwood – The Ghost Writer
• Simon Haynes – Hal Spacejock: Just Desserts
• Nathan Hobby – The Fur
• Liam Hearn – Brilliance of the Moon
• Ian Irvine – The Life Lottery
• Margo Lanagan – Black Juice
• Glenda Larke – The Tainted
• Maxine McArthur – Less than Human
• Fiona McIntosh
• * Blood and Memory
• * Bridge of Souls
• Sophie Masson – Snow, Fire, Sword
• Josephine Pennicott – A Fire in the Shell
• Matthew Reilly – Hover Car Racer
• Cherry Wilder and Katya Reimann – The Wanderer
• Kim Wilkins – Giants of the Frost
• Sean Williams – ''The Crooked Letter''

Drama

• Bob Ellis and Robin McLachlan – A Local Man
• Martin Flanagan – The Call
• Michael Gurr – Julia 3
• Debra Oswald – Mr Bailey's Minder
• Abe Pogos – Toby
• Alana Valentine – Run Rabbit Run!
• David Williamson – ''Amigos''

Poetry

• M. T. C. Cronin –
• Luke Davies – Totem
• Sarah Day – The Ship
• Noel Rowe – Next to Nothing
• Dipti Saravanamuttu – The Colosseum
• Samuel Wagan Watson – ''Smoke Encrypted Whispers''

Non-fiction

• Peter Carey – Wrong About Japan: A Father's Journey with His Son
• Graeme Davison with Sheryl Yelland – Car Wars: How the Car Won Our Hearts and Conquered Our Cities
• Sally Neighbour – ''In the Shadow of Swords: on the Trail of Terrorism from Afghanistan to Australia''

Biographies

• Michael Ackland – Henry Handel Richardson: A Life
• Phillip Adams – Adam's Ark
• Gay Bilson – Plenty: Digressions on Food
• Max Brown – Charmian and George: The Marriage of George Johnston and Charmian Clift
• Don Chipp – Keep the Bastards Honest
• Michael Duffy – Latham and Abbott
• Carolly Erikson – The Girl from Botany Bay: The True Story of Mary Broad and Her Extraordinary Escape
• Peter FitzSimons – Steve Waugh
• Tim Flannery – Country
• John Hughes – The Idea of Home: Autobiographical Essays
• John Marsden – I Am What I Am: My Life and Curious Times
• Siobhan O'Brien – A Life by Design: The Art and Lives of Florence Broadhurst
• Sue Pieters-Hawke and Hazel Flynn – Hazel's Journey: A Personal Experience of Alzheimer's
• Peter Roebuck – Sometimes I Forgot to Laugh
• Charles Tingwell – Bud: A Life
• Stevie Wright and Glenn Goldsmith – ''Hard Road: The Life and Times of Stevie Wright''

Awards and honours

Drama

Deaths

• 3 January –
• * Len Fox, journalist, historian, social activist and painter
• *Barbara Jefferis, novelist and dramatist
• 8 January – Norman Talbot, poet
• 17 February – Bruce Beaver, poet
• 11 April – Wilbur G. Howcroft, writer for children
• 7 July – Elisabeth MacIntyre, writer for children
• 17 August – Thea Astley, novelist
• 8 November – Peter Mathers, novelist and short story writer