Books by two South Australian authors, Hannah Kent and Pip Williams, were in the top 10 Australian books of the 21st Century in a vote by listeners of the ABC Radio National. Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites came in at No.6 and Pip Williams’ Dictionary of Lost Words at No.7 in the vote won by Trent Dalton and Boy Swallows Universe.
The Top 10
1. Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton (2018)
2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2005)
3. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (2016)
4. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (2014)
5. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (2022)
6. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (2013)
7. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (2020)
8. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022)
9. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (2015)
10. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (2009)
An international bestseller, Hannah Kent’s first novel Burial Rites (2013),\ was translated into 28 languages and was shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Guardian First Book Award. It won the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year, the Indie Awards debut fiction book of the year and the Victorian Premier’s people’s choice Aaward, and was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Hannah is also the co-founder and publishing director of Australian literary publication Kill Your Darlings.
Pip Williams The Dictionary of Lost Words, also a multi-award winner, made the best selling Australian fiction book category since Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe. Adapted as a play by South Australian playwright Verity Laughton, from Pip Williams’ acclaimed bestseller, The Dictionary of Lost Words had sellout seasons in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
Another South Australian author, of acclaimed children’s books, Mem Fox was voted No.76 on the top 100 list for Where Is the Green Sheep? (2004) illustrated by Judy Horacek. Where is The Green Sheep? appeared on the School Library Journal Top 100 Picture Books List and the New York Public Library 100 Great Children’s Books of the Last 100 Years list.
Clare Valley’s Monica McInerney makes Booktopia’s Top 100 list
Monica McInerney didn’t make it onto the Radio National top 100 list but in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019 was voted into the top 10 of Booktopia’s Australia’s favourite novelist poll. McInerney grew up in a family of seven children in South Australia’s Clare Valley, where her father was the railway stationmaster and her mother worked in the local library. Later living between Australia and Dublin, McInerney had a prolific output of popular fiction books published worldwide and in more than a dozen languages and attracted multiple awards.
Listen to the Top 100
here
The official ‘Listen Again’ ABC page. Clever graphics show number of votes, male vs female split, profile of which states voted for what and recommendations by radio and TV personalities.
Listen to the whole Top 100 again in easy to navigate 10-book blocks. Each section of the countdown is approximately two hours and filled with author interviews, recommendations by a wide range of contributors and anecdotes.
Men Fox’s sheep counted
Men Fox and Judy Horacek’s Australian classic Where is the Green Sheep was voted number 76 in the ABC Top 100. With one million copies sold that’s a lot of sheep to count!