The Magarey Medal for biography is a biennial prize. The prize is awarded to the female author who has published the work judged to be the best biographical writing on an Australian subject in the preceding two years. The awarding of the prize is administered and judged by a panel set up by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature and the Australian Historical Association. The prize is very generously donated by Professor Emerita Susan Magarey.

Award: The prize will be presented at the Australian Historical Association and Association for the Study of Australian Literature conferences.

Magarey Medal for Biography

ASAL and the Australian Historical Association (AHA) now invite submissions for the 2024 Magarey Medal for Biography.

The Magarey Medal for Biography is awarded biennially to the female person who has published the work judged to be the best biographical writing on an Australian subject. It is judged jointly by ASAL and the AHA, with the AHA hosting the judging for 2024.

Nomination/submission details are available here (AHA website).

Terms and conditions

Nominations are invited for a published biography in the form of a book on an Australian subject by a female author in the two years prior to the year of the award. Nominations may be made either by the author or, with the nominee’s permission, by the book’s publishers or by any member of the Australian Historical Association (AHA) or the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL).

The award will be presented at the conference of AHA or the ASAL in alternate years. If two winners are chosen, the prize will be shared between them.

Eligibility

Authors must be female, and co-authored books with males are not eligible. Works of autobiography are also not eligible for the Magarey Medal. Please contact the AHA if you wish to clarify eligibility.

Selection process

The awarding of the prize is administered and judged by a panel of three judges established by the AHA and the ASAL. The judges’ decision is final.

The winner of the 2022 Magarey Medal for Biography

• Bernadette Brennan, Leaping into Waterfalls: The Enigmatic Gillian Mears (Allen & Unwin, 2021)
• Magarey Medal Citation 2022

The shortlist for the 2022 Magarey Medal for Biography 

• Eleanor Hogan, Into the Loneliness: The Unholy Alliance of Ernestine Hill and Daisy Bates (NewSouth 2021)
• Krissy Kneen, The Three Burials of Lotty Kneen: Travels with my Grandmother’s Ashes (Text 2021)
• Bernadette Brennan, Leaping into Waterfalls: The Enigmatic Gillian Mears (Allen & Unwin, 2021)
• Louise Martin-Chew, Fiona Foley: Provocateur, An Art Life (QUT Art Museum 2021)
• Cassandra Pybus, Trugganni: Journey Through the Apocalypse (Allen & Unwin 2020)

The judging panel for the 2021 Magarey Medal for Biography are:

• Dr. Kylie Cardell (Chair, Flinders University),
• Professor Kate Douglas (Flinders University) and
• Dr. Sam Furphy (ANU).

The judging panel for the 2020 Magarey Medal for Biography:

• Sheila Fitzpatrick (AHA)
• Kate Fullagar (AHA)
• Demelza Hall (ASAL)

The winner for the 2020 Magarey Medal for Biography 

Helen Ennis, Olive Cotton. A Life in Photography

The shortlist for the 2020 Magarey Medal for Biography 

• Helen Ennis, Olive Cotton. A Life in Photography
• Mary Hoban, An Unconventional Wife. The Life of Julia Sorell Arnold
• Suzanne Robinson, Peggy Glanville-Hicks: Composer and Critic
• Angela Woollacott, Don Dunstan: The Visionary Politician Who Changed Australia
• Clare Wright, You Daughters of Freedom: The Australians Who Won the Vote and Inspired the World

The judging panel for the 2018 Magarey Medal for Biography:

Gillian Whitlock (ASAL) Chair
Chris Lee (ASAL)
Fiona Paisley (AHA)

Winner: Alexis Wright, Tracker (Giramondo, 2017).

Citation: Alexis Wright’s Tracker is a significant achievement, providing a complex historical, social and personal account of a remarkable Australian, and innovating the conventions of biography with Indigenous knowledges and perspectives. Tracker is a bespoke biography which crafts its form to fit with its individual subject, while respecting more collective responses which are important to the Indigenous life story. The author calls it ‘consensus storytelling’ and locates its conventions in the decision-making practices of indigenous community. Tracker Tilmouth was an extraordinary Australian who worked across the complex organisational networks of business, government, politics and wider society to improve the well-being of indigenous Australians – he was a tireless and influential advocate and actor who inspired people and projects. To tell such a story Wright curates a range of different perspectives from a remarkably diverse set of people who were chosen by Tracker to contribute to his story. The book artfully organises these recollections along with interviews with Tracker himself. The overlapping, re-storying, and meshing together of different perspectives on indigenous experiences and histories, and the irreverent humour that recurs throughout make a powerful statement about a life expressed as purpose, imagination, action, resilience, and connection. Not only does it provide insight into individual and collective views of a remarkable Arrente man, Tracker also provides a complex appreciation of the challenges, labours, achievements and capacities of Indigenous Australians. It is a clear and worthy winner of the Magarey medal.

Highly Commended: Judith Brett, The Enigmatic Mr Deakin (Text Publishing, 2017).

Shortlist for the 2018 Magarey Medal for Biography

We are delighted to announce the books that have been shortlisted for this year’s Magarey Medal for Biography.

Shortlist:

• Bernadette Brennan, A Writing Life: Helen Garner and Her Work (Text, 2017).
• Judith Brett, The Enigmatic Mr Deakin (Text Publishing, 2017).
• Suzanne Falkiner, Mick: A Life of Randolph Stow (UWA Publishing, 2016).
• Cathy McLennan, Saltwater: An Epic Fight for Justice in the Tropics (UQP, 2016).
• Alexis Wright, Tracker (Giramondo, 2017).

The judging panel commends all the authors whose books are shortlisted this year, and both ASAL and AHA thank the judges for their work. The winner of the Magarey Medal will be announced at the awards ceremony on Tuesday 3 July, on the opening night of the 2018 Literary Convention, at the ANU in Canberra.

For more details click here