The Sisters in Crime organisation has announced the shortlists for their 2020 Davitt Awards.
The Davitt Awards celebrate the best crime books by Australian women.
They were first presented at the SheKilda Women’s Crime Convention in 2001. They were presented by Christine Nixon, who was then the Victorian Police Commissioner.
The awards span six categories – Best Adult Novel, Best Young Adult Novel, Best Children’s Novel, Best Non-fiction Book, Best Debut Book, and Reader’s Choice, which is voted by the 600 members of Sisters in Crime Australia.
The awards are named in honour of Ellen Davitt, who wrote Australia’s first mystery novel, Force and Fraud, in 1865.
The organisation, Sisters in Crime, was launched at the Feminist Book Festival in September 1991 to share a collective passion for women’s crime writing.
It aims to bring together women crime writers, screen-writers, producers, booksellers, publishers, lawyers, judges, police, forensic specialists, librarians, academics, and critics – but mostly readers and viewers.
They also work to promote the professional development of women crime writers, especially emerging writers.
Now in its 19th year, the Davitt Awards will be announced in September. The ceremony will take place over Zoom to adhere to ongoing coronavirus restrictions, especially in Melbourne, where most of the Sisters in Crime members reside.
Check out the shortlist below!
Adult crime novel
- Bruny by Heather Rose Buy the book | Read the article
- Six Minutes by Petronella McGovern Buy the book | Read the article
- Eight Lives by Susan Hurley Buy the book | Read the review
- The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan Buy the book | Read the review
- The Trespassers by Meg Mundell Buy the book | Read the review
- Life Before by Carmel Reilly Buy the book | Read the article
- Present Tense by Natalie Conyer Buy the book
Young Adult crime novel
- Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte Buy the book
- When the Ground is Hard by Malla Nunn Buy the book
- All That Impossible Space by Anna Morgan Buy the book
Children’s crime novel
- Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery by Renée Treml Buy the book
- The Girl in the Mirror by Jenny Blackford Buy the book
- The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Lucerne by Katrina Nannestad Buy the book
- Jinxed!: The curious curse of Cora Bell by Rebecca McRitchie Buy the book
Nonfiction crime book
- See What You Made Me Do: Power, control and domestic abuse by Jess Hill
Buy the book | Read the review - Troll Hunting: Inside the world of online hate and its human fallout by Ginger Gorman
Buy the book | Read the review - Banking Bad: Whistleblowers. Corporate cover-ups. One journalist’s fight for the truth by Adele Ferguson
Buy the book - Fallen: The inside story of the secret trial and conviction of Cardinal George Pell by Lucie Morris-Marr
Buy the book - Fixed It: Violence and the representation of women in the media by Jane Gilmore
Buy the book
Debut crime books
- Banking Bad: Whistleblowers. Corporate cover-ups. One journalist’s fight for the truth by Adele Ferguson Buy the book
- The Bee and the Orange Tree by Melissa Ashley Buy the book
- Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte Buy the book
- Life Before by Carmel Reilly Buy the book
- Present Tense by Natalie Conyer Buy the book
- Six Minutes by Petronella McGovern Buy the book | Read the article
- The Drover’s Wife by Leah Purcell Buy the book | Read the review
- Eight Lives by Susan Hurley Buy the book | Read the review
- Troll Hunting: Inside the world of online hate and its human fallout by Ginger Gorman Buy the book | Read the review
