Fierce critique of Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu nominated for prestigious PM’s Literature Award

One of this year’s most controversial books, a fierce critique of Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu, has been shortlisted for ‘scholarly accomplishment’ in the Australian history category.

Farmers or Hunter-Gatherers, a takedown of Bruce Pascoe's Dark Emu, has been nominated for the Prime Minister's Literary Award in the Australian History category.

One of this year’s most controversial books, a fierce critique of Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu, has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. Farmers or Hunter-Gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate (MUP) by Peter Sutton and Keryn Walshe received the nod for “scholarly accomplishment” in the Australian History category.

The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards are given in six categories, with 30 books on the various shortlists.

Sutton and Walshe argue in their book that Aboriginal Australians were hunter-gatherers, and proudly so. Pascoe’s book, by contrast, made the case that First Nations people engaged in agricultural practices, much like ­European farmers.

The Sutton and Walshe book received praise in The Australian’s book pages in May, with academic and critic Victoria Grieve-Williams, a Warraimaay woman from the mid-north coast of NSW whose ancestors were hunter-gatherers, describing it as a “muscular takedown” of Dark Emu.

Keryn Walshe.

Peter Sutton.

Pascoe himself is a previous winner of a Prime Minister’s Literature Award, winning the Young Adult Fiction prize in 2013 for Fog a Dox.

The Prime Minister’s Awards 2022 attracted more than 500 entries, with books about death and disability, war and cigarettes, modern art, jazz music, mining, mystery and military services making the shortlists.

For the first time, there’s a graphic, or illustrated novel, in the mix.

Two debut writers are included on the shortlist for fiction; five First Nations writers are nominated; and two writers have been acknowledged post­humously.

The Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe.

The “PM’s Lit Prizes”, as the awards are colloquially known, are a boon for winners, with up to $100,000 awarded in each category: $80,000 for each winner and $5000 each for shortlisted entries. Added bonus: all winnings are tax-free.

Anthony Albanese and Minister for the Arts Tony Burke announced the shortlists on Sunday, praising the depth, originality and scholarship of the entries.

First Nations writers are well-represented, with works by Tony Birch, Elfie Shiosaki, Chelsea ­Watego, Gregg Dreise and Archie Roach, who has been shortlisted posthumously for Tell Me Why for Young Adults (Simon & Schuster). Roach died in July.

Archie Roach, Tell Me Why for Young Adults.

Jordi Albiston, recognised for Fifteeners, is one of two authors shortlisted posthumously.

Also nominated posthumously is Jordie Albiston, for ­Fifteeners (Puncher & Wattmann). Albiston died in February.

Issues pertaining to First Nat­ions people are further discussed in Title Fight: How the Yindjibarndi battled and defeated a mining giant (Black Inc) by Paul Cleary; and in Return to Uluru (Simon and Schuster) by Mark McKenna, which re-examines the shooting at Uluru of Aboriginal man Yokununna by white ­policeman Bill McKinnon in 1934.

There are two debut novels on the fiction list, including one told from the perspective of a painting, Blue Poles; and another about a classical pianist.

A fun history of the controversy surrounding the Archibald Prize also gets a nod, as does Red Heaven, a novel by Nicolas Rothwell, who was for many years a writer on The Australian.

Red Heaven, a novel by Nicolas Rothwell

The poetry shortlist includes a collection completed by a poet who spent years observing fish at the Great Barrier Reef; and another by a poet with Marfan syndrome, who examines his own and other disabilities.

The writers on the nonfiction shortlist have not flinched in the face of the war. Rogue Forces by Mark Willacy was described in The Australian’s book pages as a “brilliant and courageous book.”

Also nominated is Semut: The untold story of a secret Australian operation in WWII Borneo (Penguin Random House) by Christine Helliwell, praised by The Australian’s critic Ross ­Fitzgerald for its “meticulous ­research”.

A graphic novel, Still Alive: Notes from Australia’s immigration detention system, documents the stories of several people Safdar Ahmed met while running art classes in an immigration detention centre in Villawood, in Sydney’s west.

Small, independent publishers are well represented, with books by Fomite, the Halstead Press, Pitt Street Poetry, Puncher and Wattman, Magabala Books and Twelve Panels Press

It’s an unusual year for the prize, with judging taking place while Scott Morrison was in The Lodge but a new Prime Minister deciding the winners.

Mr Albanese said the shortlists captured “a diverse range of voices” connecting readers to Australian values, history and culture.

“It is fundamental that Australian writers, illustrators and historians continue to share their stories, connecting our ­people and paving the way for reflection, education, entertainment and respect,” the Prime Minister said.

“These 30 shortlisted books demonstrate the major contribution of literature … I congratulate these creatives for their excellent work.

Mr Burke said this year’s shortlist presented a difficult challenge for the judges, who had to carefully review more than 540 entries to select the 30 titles on the shortlist.

“There is an extraordinary level of talent and creativity demonstrated in this year’s shortlisted books,” Mr Burke said.

The winners will be announced on December 13 in Launceston, Tasmania.

While judges draw up the shortlists and make recommendations on the winners, the Prime Minister’s decision is final.

Prime Minister’s Literary Award shortlists

Fiction

• Dark as Last Night, Tony Birch, University of Queensland Press

• Devotion, Hannah Kent, Pan Macmillan Australia: Picador

• Night Blue, Angela O’Keeffe, Transit Lounge

• Red Heaven, Nicolas Rothwell, Text Publishing

• The Hands of Pianists, Stephen Downes, Fomite

Poetry

• Dancing with Stephen Hawking, John Foulcher, Pitt Street Poetry

• Fifteeners, Jordie Albiston, Puncher and Wattman

• Fish Work, Caitlin Maling, UWA Publishing

• Homecoming, Elfie Shiosaki, Magabala Books

• Human Looking, Andy Jackson, Giramondo Publishing Company

Non-fiction

• Another Day in the Colony, Chelsea Watego, University of Queensland Press

• Puff Piece, John Safran, Penguin Random House Australia: Hamish Hamilton

• Rogue Forces: An explosive insiders’ account of Australian SAS war crimes in Afghanistan, Mark Willacy, Simon & Schuster Australia

• Title Fight: How the Yindjibarndi battled and defeated a mining giant, Paul Cleary, Schwartz Books: Black Inc.

• The Case that Stopped a Nation: The Archibald Prize controversy of 1944, Peter Edwell, Halstead Press

Australian history

• Farmers or Hunter-gatherers? The Dark Emu debate, Peter Sutton and Keryn Walshe, Melbourne University Press

• Harlem Nights: The secret history of Australia’s Jazz Age, Deirdre O’Connell, Melbourne University Press

• Return to Uluru, Mark McKenna, Schwartz Books: Black Inc.

• Semut: The untold story of a secret Australian operation in WWII Borneo, Christine Helliwell, Penguin Random House Australia: Michael Joseph

• White Russians, Red Peril: A Cold War history of migration to Australia, Sheila Fitzpatrick, La Trobe University Press in conjunction with Black Inc.

Children’s literature

• Common Wealth, Gregg Dreise, Scholastic Australia

• Dragon Skin, Karen Foxlee, Allen & Unwin

• Exit Through the Gift Shop, Maryam Master, illustrated by Astred Hicks, Pan Macmillan Australia

• Mina and the Whole Wide World, Sherryl Clark, illustrated by Briony Stewart, University of Queensland Press

• The Boy and the Elephant, Freya Blackwood, HarperCollins Publishers: Angus & Robertson

Young adult literature

• 100 Remarkable Feats of Xander Maze, Clayton Zane Comber, HarperCollins Publishers: Angus & Robertson

• Still Alive: Notes from Australia’s immigration detention system, Safdar Ahmed, Twelve

Panels Press

• Tell Me Why for Young Adults, Archie Roach, Simon & Schuster Australia

• The Gaps, Leanne Hall, Text Publishing

• Tiger Daughter, Rebecca Lim, Allen & Unwin