The longlist for the richest literary award in Australia and Asia and the shortlist for the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards have been released by Culture and Arts Minister John Day.

Read the Minister's statement.

Mr Day said twelve novels had been longlisted for the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award, worth $110,000.

The Minister said the award was open to any book-length work of literary fiction published in print or electronically.

The judging panel consists of three renowned authors and literary experts drawn from the countries eligible to nominate: Pakistani born and multi-award winning author, Kamila Shamsie, author of ‘Kartography’ and ‘Broken Verses’; Sri Lankan born, Hong Kong based columnist and founder of the ‘Asia Literary Review’, Nury Vittachi; and Melbourne–based  literary critic, Peter Craven.

The $110,000 prize makes the award the richest in the nation. Where the winning entry has been translated into English, the author will receive $88,000 and the translator $22,000.

The award is open to works written by an author resident in Australia or Asia, or which are primarily set in Australia or an Asian country. Works must have been either written in, or translated into English and published in the preceding year.

The Minister also took this occasion to announce the 28 works shortlisted for the seven award categories comprising the 26th Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards.

“These pieces have been chosen in the following award categories: Non-Fiction; Fiction; Children’s Books; Poetry; Scripts; Young Adults; and History.

One of the winning titles will receive the Premier’s Prize at the Awards ceremony to be held on November 21, 2008 at Fraser’s Restaurant in Kings Park.

Read the longlist author biographies and book synopses

AUSTRALIA-ASIA LITERARY AWARD LONGLIST

J.M. COETZEE
Diary of a Bad Year
Publisher: Random House Group Ltd

Matthew CONDON
The Trout Opera
Publisher: Random House (Vintage)

Michelle DE KRETSER
The Lost Dog
Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Ceridwen DOVEY
Blood Kin
Publisher: Atlantic Books

Rodney HALL
Love without Hope
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Mohsin HAMID
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Publisher: Penguin

Mireille JUCHAU
Burning In
Giramondo Publishing

David MALOUF
The Complete Stories
Publisher: Random House

Alex MILLER
Landscape of Farewell
Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Haruki MURAKAMI
After Dark
Translator: Jay Rubin
Publisher: Random House Group

Indra SINHA
Animal’s People
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd

(Prof) Janette TURNER HOSPITAL
Orpheus Lost
Publisher: HarperCollins

2007 WESTERN AUSTRALIAN PREMIER’S BOOK AWARDS SHORTLIST

Non-Fiction Shortlist

Paul TOOHEY
Killer Within 
Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Antonio BUTI
Sir Ronald Wilson: A Matter of Conscience
Publisher: UWA Press

Gina WILKINSON
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sky
Publisher:  East Street Publications

Estelle BLACKBURN
The End of Innocence
Publisher: Hardie Grant Books

Russell GUEHO
Rhythms of the Kimberley
Publisher: Fremantle Press

Fiction

Stephen SCOURFIELD
Other Country
Publisher:  Allen & Unwin

Susan MIDALIA
A History of the Beanbag
Publisher: UWA Press

Geraldine WOOLLER
The Seamstress
Publisher: UWA Press

Jessica WHITE
A Curious Intimacy
Publisher:  Penguin Group (Australia)

Children’s Books

Wendy BINKS
Scrambled Egg
Publisher:  Self t/a Stunned Emu Press

Meg McKINLAY
Annabel, again
Publisher:  Walker Books

Brian HARRISON-LEVER
Three Kings
Publisher: Fremantle Press

Ambelin KWAYMULLINA
Crow and the Waterhole
Publisher: Fremantle Press

Liz LOFTHOUSE & Robert INGPEN
Ziba came on a Boat
Publisher:  Penguin Group (Australia)

Poetry

Murray Jennings
Flash Company
Publisher: Stone’s Publishing P/L

Caroline CADDY
Esperance
Publisher:  Fremantle Press

Hal COLEBATCH
The Light River
Publisher: Connor Court

Scripts

John BISHOP
The Greatest Woman in the World
Producer:  Prickly Pear Playscripts WA

Kelly LEFEVER
The Circuit: Episode 1 – A Long Way Home
Producer:  Media World Pictures

Elissa DOWN & Jimmy the Exploder
The Black Balloon
Producer:  Black Balloon

Young Adults

Anthony EATON
Skyfall: Book Two of the Darklands Trilogy
Publisher: University of Queensland Press

Brigid LOWRY
Tomorrow all will be Beautiful
Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Juliet MARILLIER
Cybele’s Secret
Publisher: Pan MacMillan

Ken Spillman
Love is a UFO
Publisher: Pan MacMillan

History Award

Ruth Marchant James
Cottesloe: A Town of Distinction
Publisher: Town of Cottesloe

Graeme HENDERSON
Unfinished Voyages: Western Australian Shipwrecks 1622-1850
Publisher: UWA Press

Bob REECE
Daisy Bates: Grand Dame of the Desert
Publisher: National Library of Australia

Verity NORMAN & John E deBURGH NORMAN
A Pearling Master's Journey: In the Wake of the Schooner Mist
Publisher: BPA Print Group P/L