2005 in Australian literature
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2005.
Events
- Morag Fraser is appointed as a judge of the Miles Franklin Award, following the resignation of three judges in late 2004
- Murray Bail is accused of plagiarism over several passages in his novel Eucalyptus. Bail later accepts the breach and intends adding an acknowledgment in future editions
- The Victorian town of Shepparton unveils a statue of Joseph Furphy, author of Such is Life
- Collins Booksellers, Australia's third largest national bookseller, goes into voluntary administration
Major publications
Literary fiction
- Diane Armstrong – Winter Journey
- Anne Bartlett – Knitting
- Geraldine Brooks – March
- Brian Castro – The Garden Book
- J. M. Coetzee – Slow Man
- Gregory Day – The Patron Saint of Eels
- Robert Drewe – Grace
- Arabella Edge – The God of Spring
- Delia Falconer – The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers
- Kate Grenville – The Secret River
- Sonya Hartnett – Surrender
- Wendy James – Out of the Silence
- Nicholas Jose – Original Face
- Stephen Lacey – Sandstone
- Steven Lang – An Accidental Terrorist
- Carolyn Leach-Paholski – The Grasshopper Shoe
- Andrew McCann – Subtopia
- Roger McDonald – The Ballad of Desmond Kale
- Alex Miller – Prochownik's Dream
- Joanna Murray-Smith – Sunnyside
- Eva Sallis – The Marsh Birds
- Elizabeth Stead – The Book of Tides
- Carrie Tiffany – Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living
- Ian Townsend – Affection
- Christos Tsiolkas – Dead Europe
- Brenda Walker – The Wing of Night
- Tim Winton – ''The Turning''
Children's and Young Adult fiction
- Randa Abdel-Fattah – Does My Head Look Big in This?
- J. C. Burke – The Story of Tom Brennan
- Isobelle Carmody – Alyzon Whitestarr
- Kate Constable – The Tenth Power
- Gary Crew – The Lace Maker's Daughter
- Mem Fox – Hunwick's Egg
- Morris Gleitzman – Once
- Kerry Greenwood – The Rat and the Raven
- Sonya Hartnett – Surrender
- Barry Jonsberg – It's Not All About You, Calma!
- Justine Larbalestier – Magic or Madness
- Victor Kelleher – Dogboy
- Mardi McConnochie – Fivestar
- Garth Nix – Drowned Wednesday
- Penni Russon – Breathe
- Scott Westerfeld
- * Pretties
- * Touching Darkness
- * Uglies
- Markus Zusak – ''The Book Thief''
Crime
- Robert G. Barrett – Crime Scene Cessnock
- John Birmingham – Designated Targets: World War 2.2
- Peter Corris – Saving Billie
- Colin Cotterill – Thirty-Three Teeth
- Michelle de Kretser – The Hamilton Case
- Garry Disher – Snapshot
- Greg Flynn – The Berlin Cross
- Robert Gott – A Thing of Blood
- Kerry Greenwood
- * Death by Water
- * Heavenly Pleasures
- Gabrielle Lord – Dirty Weekend
- P. D. Martin – Body Count
- Chris Nyst – Crook as Rookwood
- Leigh Redhead – Rubdown
- Matthew Reilly – Seven Ancient Wonders
- Michael Robotham – Lost
- Heather Rose – The Butterfly Man
- Steve J. Spears – Innocent Murder
- Peter Temple – ''The Broken Shore''
Romance
- Lilian Darcy – The Father Factor
- Marion Lennox – ''Bride by Accident''
Science fiction and fantasy
- K. A. Bedford – Eclipse
- Damien Broderick – Godplayers
- Cecilia Dart-Thornton – The Well of Tears
- Marianne de Pierres – Crash Deluxe
- Sara Douglass – Darkwitch Rising
- Greg Egan – "Riding the Crocodile"
- Kate Forsyth – The Shining City
- Catherine Jinks – Evil Genius
- Juliet Marillier – Blade of Fortriu
- Sean Williams
- * Ascent
- * The Blood Debt
- * ''The Hanging Mountains''
Drama
- Chris Aronsten – Human Resources
- Jane Brodie – A Single Act
- Catherine Lazaroo – Asylum
- Louis Nowra – ''The Marvellous Boy''
Poetry
- Alan Gould – The Past Completes Me: Selected Poems 1973-2003
- John Kinsella – The New Arcadia
- Jennifer Maiden – Friendly Fire
- Jaya Savige – ''Latecomers''
Non-fiction
- R.J.B. Bosworth – Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Dictatorship 1915-1945
- Richard Broome – Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800
- Helen Ennis – Margaret Michaelis: Love, Loss and Photography
- Pamela Freeman – The Black Dress: Mary MacKillop's Early Years
- Tom Keneally – A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia
- Maria Nugent – ''Botany Bay: Where Histories Meet''
Biographies
- John Baxter – We'll Always Have Paris: Sex and Love in the City of Light
- Richie Benaud – My Spin on Cricket
- Eric Campbell – Absurdistan: A Bumpy Ride Through Some of the World's Scariest, Weirdest Places
- Maryanne Convoy – Morris West: Literary Maverick
- Peter C. Doherty – The Beginner's Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize: A Life in Science
- Graham Freudenberg – A Figure of Speech: A Political Memoir
- Gavin Fry – Albert Tucker
- Aneurin Hughes – Billy Hughes: Prime Minister and Controversial Founding Father of the Australian Labor Party
- Sandy McCutcheon – The Magician's Son
- William McInnes – A Man's Got to Have a Hobby: Long Summers with My Dad
- Brenda Niall – Judy Cassab: A Portrait
- Barry Pearce – Jeffrey Smart
- Jacob G. Rosenberg – East of Time
- Mandy Sayer – Velocity
- Craig Sherborne – Hoi Polloi
- Steve Waugh – Out of My Comfort Zone
- Elisabeth Wynhausen – ''Dirt Cheap: Life at the Wrong End of the Job Market''
Awards and honours
Drama
Deaths
- 11 April – John Brosnan, sf and cinema writer
- 10 May – Percy Trezise, children's writer
- 13 May – Shelton Lea, poet
- 29 August – Margaret Scott, poet and novelist
- 8 September – Donald Horne, social and political commentator
- 14 October – Barney Roberts, poet and short story writer
- 18 October – Philip Martin, poet
- 1 November –
- * Jenny Boult, poet
- * Michael Thwaites, poet
- 22 December – Bill Scott, poet and children's writer