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Sonya Hartnett

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Sonya Hartnett
Born (1968-03-23) March 23, 1968 (age 56)
Melbourne, Australia
Pen nameCameron S. Redfern
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAustralian
EducationRoyal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1988, BA)
Period1984–present
GenreNovels, especially young adult fiction; children's picture books
Notable awards

Sonya Louise Hartnett (born 23 March 1968)[1] is an Australian author of fiction for adults, young adults, and children. She has been called "the finest Australian writer of her generation".[2] For her career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense" Hartnett won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council in 2008, one of the largest cash prizes in children's literature.[3][4]

She has published books as Sonya Hartnett, S. L. Hartnett, and Cameron S. Redfern.[5][6]

Personal life and education

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Hartnett was born 23 March 1968, in Melbourne, Australia to Philip Joseph and Virginia Mary Hartnett.[1] In 1988, she received a Bachelor of Arts from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.[1]

Career

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Hartnett was thirteen years old when she wrote her first novel and fifteen when it was published for the adult market in Australia, Trouble All the Way (Adelaide: Rigby Publishers, 1984).[7][8] For years she has written about one novel annually.[6] Although she is often classified as a writer of young adult fiction, Hartnett does not consider this label entirely accurate: "I've been perceived as a young adult writer whereas my books have never really been young adult novels in the sort of classic sense of the idea." She believes the distinction is not so important in Britain as in her native land.[9]

According to the National Library of Australia, "The novel for which Hartnett has achieved the most critical (and controversial) acclaim was Sleeping Dogs".[5] The book, which involves incest between siblings, is "often critiqued as 'without hope'" but has "generated enormous discussion both within Australia and overseas."[5]

Many of Hartnett's books have been published in the UK and in North America. For Thursday's Child (2000; 2002 in the UK), she won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers.[10][11] The novel was eligible for such award in 2002 because it was her first publication in the UK. In 2008 she won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award which is administered by the Swedish Arts Council.[12]

Landscape with Animals controversy

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In 2006, Hartnett was involved with some controversy regarding the publication of Landscape with Animals, published under the pseudonym Cameron S. Redfern. The book contains many sex scenes and Hartnett was almost immediately "outed" as the author. She said that she wanted to avoid the book being accidentally shelved with her work for children in libraries and denied that she used a pseudonym to evade responsibility for the work or as a publicity stunt à la Nikki Gemmell's The Bride Stripped Bare.[13] In a review published in The Age, Peter Craven savaged the book describing it as an "overblown little sex shocker", a "tawdry little crotch tickler" and lamented that Hartnett was "too good a writer to put her name to this indigestible hairball of spunk and spite".[2] It was defended vigorously in The Australian by Marion Halligan ("I haven't read many books by Hartnett, but I think this is a much more amazing piece of writing than any of them") who chastised Craven for missing the joke ("How could an experienced critic get that so wrong?") and wonders why female authors writing frankly about sex is so frowned upon.[14]

Awards and honours

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In 2000 and 2003, The Sydney Morning Herald named Hartnett one of their Young Novelists of the Year.[15]

In 2008, Hartnett received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which annually honours an author of children's books whose "a body of work known for its unflinching focus on the toughest aspects of life."[16]

In 2016, Shelf Awareness included Golden Boys on their list of the best teen novels of the year.[17]

Awards for Hartnett's writing
Year Title Award Result Ref.
1996 Sleeping Dogs CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Honour
Kathleen Mitchell Award (Australia) Winner
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Shortlist
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Sheaffer Pen Prize Winner
Willful Blue IBBY Ena Noel Award (1996) Winner
1999 Princes CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Shortlist
2000 Thursday's Child Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel Winner [18]
Australian Publishers Association Award Shortlist
2001 CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Shortlist
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Shortlist
2002 Forest CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Winner
Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Shortlist
Thursday's Child Guardian Children's Fiction Prize Winner [10][11]
Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize Shortlist
2003 Of a Boy The Age Book of the Year Award Winner [19]
Commonwealth Writers Prize (South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book) Finalist [20]
Miles Franklin Award Shortlist
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Shortlist
2005 The Silver Donkey Courier Mail Award for young readers Winner
CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers Winner
Surrender The Age Book of the Year Award Shortlist
Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel Shortlist [21]
2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize (South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book) Shortlist
2007 The Silver Donkey COOL Award Fiction for Years 7-9 Winner
Surrender Michael L. Printz Award Honour [22]
2008 The Ghost's Child CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Winner [23]
2010 Butterfly Miles Franklin Award Shortlist [24]
The Midnight Zoo Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel Finalist [25]
The Silver Donkey Andersen Award (Italy) Best Book for readers 9–12 Winner [26][27]
2011 The Midnight Zoo CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Winner [28]
2012 Come Down, Cat! CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers Honour [29]
Prime Minister's Literary Awards for Children's Fiction Finalist [30]
The Midnight Zoo CILIP Carnegie Medal Shortlist [31]
2013 The Children of the King CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers Winner [32]
Prime Minister's Literary Awards Young Adult Fiction Shortlist [33]
2015 Golden Boys Christine Stead Prize for Fiction Shortlist
Miles Franklin Award Shortlist [34]
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Shortlist
Prime Minister's Literary Awards for Fiction Finalist
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Shortlist
2022 Blue Flower CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Picture Book Shortlist [35]

Bibliography

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Fiction

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Picture books

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  • The Boy and the Toy (2010)
  • Come Down, Cat! (2011)
  • Blue Flower (2021)

Junior fiction

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Teen and young adult fiction

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Adult fiction

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  • Trouble All the Way (1984)
  • Sparkle and Nightflower (1986)
  • The Glass House (1990)
  • Black Foxes (1996)
  • Earls, Nick; Sonya Hartnett; Heide Seaman (1998). There must be lions : stories about mental illness. Charnwood, A.C.T.: Ginninderra Press.
  • Of a Boy (adult, 2002) (first published in the UK as What the Birds See in 2003)
  • Landscape with Animals (2006), as by Cameron S. Redfern
  • Golden Boys (2014)

Memoirs

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  • Life in Ten Houses: A Memoir (2013)

Critical studies and reviews of Hartnett's work

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Hartnett, Sonya 1968-". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b Peter Craven (20 May 2006). "Landscape with Animals" Archived 11 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine (review). The Age.
  3. ^ "2008: Sonya Hartnett: A Concealed Yet Palpable Anger" Archived 19 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  4. ^ Ray Cassin (14 March 2008). "Hartnett wins top prize for children's literature". The Sydney Morning Herald (smh.com.au). Archived from the original on 16 March 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
  5. ^ a b c (National Library of Australia identity file)[permanent dead link‍]. Virtual International Authority File (VIAF). Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  6. ^ a b "Hartnett, Sonya (a.k.a. Hartnett, S. L.)". Austlit Agent Details. Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2007. (subscription required for full access)
  7. ^ It has been classified as Juvenile Fiction by some libraries. Trouble All the Way in libraries (WorldCat catalog). Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  8. ^ Eccleshare, Julia (12 October 2002). "Dig a little deeper". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 November 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  9. ^ "Sonya Hartnett: London, 2002" Archived 12 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine (interview, part 1 of 5). ACHUKA (achuka.co.uk). 2002.
  10. ^ a b The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2002 Archived 2 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine (top page). guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  11. ^ a b "Guardian children's fiction prize relaunched: Entry details and list of past winners" Archived 27 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine. guardian.co.uk. 12 March 2001. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  12. ^ "A Sense of Empathy and Involvement - ALMA". www.alma.se. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  13. ^ Sonya Hartnett (28 May 2006). "Faking It" Archived 23 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine. The Age.
  14. ^ Marion Halligan (24 June 2006). "Sex and the singular woman" Archived 12 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine. The Australian. [dead link‍] Quoted in Middlemiss, Weekend Round-Up Archived 19 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine, June 2006
  15. ^ "Sonya Hartnett - Literature". British Council. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  16. ^ "Awards: PEN/Faulkner; Astrid Lindgren; Arabic Booker". Shelf Awareness. 13 March 2008. Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  17. ^ "Our Best Children's & Teen Books of the Year". Shelf Awareness. 13 December 2016. Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  18. ^ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2001 Aurealis Awards". Locus Online. Archived from the original on 24 April 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  19. ^ "The Austlit Gateway News September/October 2003". Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
  20. ^ "Commonwealth Writers' Prize Regional Winners 1987–2007" (PDF). Commonwealth Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 October 2007.
  21. ^ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2006 Aurealis Awards". Locus Online. Archived from the original on 20 April 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
  22. ^ Snelson, Karin. "Golden Boys". Shelf Awareness. Archived from the original on 1 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  23. ^ "BOOK OF THE YEAR 2008 WINNERS". Children's Book Council of Australia. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  24. ^ "Awards: Miles Franklin; Locus; PubWest Book Design; Etc". Shelf Awareness. 21 April 2010. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  25. ^ "Aurealis Awards Finalists 2010" (PDF). SpecFaction NSW. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  26. ^ "The Silver Donkey". Reading Australia. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  27. ^ "Sonya Hartnett". www.sonyahartnett.com.au. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  28. ^ "BOOK OF THE YEAR 2011 WINNERS". Children's Book Council of Australia. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  29. ^ "BOOK OF THE YEAR 2012 WINNERS". Children's Book Council of Australia. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  30. ^ "2012 shortlists". Office for the Arts. Archived from the original on 2 June 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  31. ^ "Awards: Miles Franklin Longlist; Carnegie Medal Shortlist". Shelf Awareness. 28 March 2012. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  32. ^ "Book of the Year: Younger Readers 2013". Children's Book Council of Australia. Archived from the original on 5 April 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  33. ^ "Prime Minister's Literary Awards – 2013 shortlists". Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  34. ^ "Awards: Chautauqua; Ondaatje; Miles Franklin; SCBWI". Shelf Awareness. 19 May 2015. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  35. ^ "CBCA 2022 Book of the Year shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 30 March 2022. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
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