Compelling biographies of trailblazers and survivors have been shortlisted alongside raw-edged memoirs by debut authors for the 2021 National Biography Award, the richest prize in Australia for biography and life stories, the State Library announced today.

• The Lotus Eaters by Emily Clements (Hardie Grant Books)
• One Bright Moon by Andrew Kwong (HarperCollins Publishers)
• Max by Alex Miller (Allen & Unwin)
• Truganini: Journey through the apocalypse by Cassandra Pybus (Allen & Unwin)
• Tell Me Why by Archie Roach (Simon & Schuster Australia)  
• Penny Wong: Passion and Principle by Margaret Simons (Black Inc. Books) 

The 2021 Award was assessed by judges – Suzanne Falkiner, Rick Morton and Mandy Sayer. 

Due to the lockdowns, the National Biography Award shortlist was announced live on ABC Radio Sydney. Listen to Focus presenter Cassie McCullagh’s interview with the judges here (listen at 37:43).

Highly Commended

The National Biography Award’s strong showing of debut works made for a difficult task of narrowing them down to the most worthy contenders for inclusion in the shortlist. Therefore, the judges requested to mention these further titles as ‘highly commended’:

• The Shelf Life of Zora Cross by Cathy Perkins (Monash University Publishing) 
• Into the Suburbs: A Migrant’s Story by Christopher Raja (University of Queensland Press)
• Lowitja by Stuart Rintoul (Allen & Unwin)

SAVE THE DATE: The National Biography Award winner will be announced live on ABC Radio Sydney on Thursday 26 August.