Newsflash:

We’re open every day except Good Friday, 29 March. View our Easter opening hours here ›

National Biography Award shortlist announced

The memoirs of Helen Garner, David Williamson AO, Amani Haydar and Lech Blaine, along with biographies of some of Australia’s best-known writers, have been shortlisted for the 2022 Award, Australia’s richest prize in the genre. 

The shortlisted works, selected from 109 entries, are:

  • Car Crash: A Memoir by Lech Blaine (Black Inc. Books)
  • Leaping into Waterfalls: The Enigmatic Gillian Mears by Bernadette Brennan (Allen & Unwin) 
  • One Day I’ll Remember This: Diaries 1987-1995 by Helen Garner (Text Publishing)
  • The Mother Wound by Amani Haydar (Pan Macmillan Australia) 
  • Into the Loneliness: The unholy alliance of Ernestine Hill and Daisy Bates by Eleanor Hogan (NewSouth) 
  • Home Truths: A Memoir by David Williamson AO (HarperCollins Publishers) 

The 2022 Award was assessed by an independent judging panel: Suzanne Falkiner, Rick Morton and Mandy Sayer.

Once again, due to a high proportion of accomplished works by debut authors, the judges have selected three Highly Commended titles: 

  • Muddy People: A Memoir by Sara El Sayed (Black Inc. Books)  
  • Black and Blue: a memoir of racism and resilience by Veronica Gorrie (Scribe Publications)  
  • Mother and I: The Fable of a Wilful Family by Ianto Ware (Hunter Publishers)

The winner will be announced in August. 

Read the judges' comments

Free event

On Saturday 30 July at 4pm National Biography Award judge and author Rick Morton will be in conversation with some of the writers shortlisted for the 2022 Award: Lech Blaine, Bernadette Brennan and Eleanor Hogan.