This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1994.
Events
Rodney Hall (writer) won the Miles Franklin Award for The Grisly Wife
Major publications
Novels
Thea Astley — Coda
Lily Brett — Just Like That
Peter Carey — The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith
Richard Flanagan — Death of a River Guide
Drusilla Modjeska — The Orchard
Dorothy Porter — The Monkey's Mask
John A. Scott — What I Have Written
Tim Winton — The Riders
Short story anthologies
Marian Eldridge — The Wild Sweet Flowers
Children's and young adult fiction
Pamela Allen — Clippity-Clop
Kim Caraher — There's a Bat on the Balcony
Gary Crew — The Watertower
Mem Fox — Tough Boris
Jackie French — Somewhere Around the Corner
Poetry
Robert Adamson — Waving to Hart Crane
Bruce Beaver — Anima and Other Poems
Peter Boyle — Coming Home from the World
Dorothy Hewett — Peninsula
Rhyll McMaster — Flying the Coop: New and selected poems 1972-1994
Jan Owen — Night Rainbows
Drama
Beatrix Christian — Blue Murder
Michael Gow — Sweet Phoebe
Hannie Rayson — Falling From Grace
David Williamson — Sanctuary
Science fiction and fantasy
Greg Egan — Permutation City
Non-fiction
John Birmingham — He Died with a Felafel in His Hand
Gillian Bouras — Aphrodite and the Others
Robert Dessaix — A Mother's Disgrace
Tim Flannery — The Future Eaters
Jan Ruff O'Herne — Fifty Years of Silence
Susan Varga — Heddy and Me
Donna Williams — Somebody Somewhere
Awards and honours
Patsy Adam-Smith "for service to community history, particularly through the preservation of national traditions and folklore and recording of oral histories" Laurie Hergenhan "for service to Australian literary scholarship and to education" Joan Phipson "for service to children's literature" Judith Rodriguez "for service to Australian literature, particularly in the area of poetry"
Lifetime achievement
Literary
Births
A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1994 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.
18 April — Alexandra Adornetto, actress and author who writes for children and young adults 25 June — Robbie Coburn, poet and writer
Deaths
A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1994 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.
28 January — Frank Hardy, novelist, best known for Power Without Glory (born 1917) 7 February — Rosemary Wighton, literary editor, author and advisor to the South Australian government on women's affairs (born 1925) 29 May — Nene Gare, writer and artist, best known for The Fringe Dwellers (born 1919) 7 September — James Clavell, novelist, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war (born 1921) 9 September — Hugh Atkinson (novelist), novelist, journalist, screenwriter and documentary film maker (born 1921) 16 December — Mary Durack, author and historian (born 1913)