The National Biography Award shortlist 2019
The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) has announced this year’s shortlist for the $25,000 National Biography Award.
This Award is presented annually to a published work of biographical or autobiographical writing aiming to promote public interest in these genres.
The shortlisted works are:
- No Friend But the Mountains by Behrouz Boochani
- The Wasp and the Orchid by Danielle Clode
- The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein
- Do Oysters Get Bored? by Rozanna Lilley
- One Hundred Years of Dirt by Rick Morton
- Miss Ex-Yugoslavia by Sofija Stefanovic
This year’s winner will be announced at a special event on 12 August. You can read more about the prize, and the shortlist, here.

No Friend But the Mountains
An account of life inside Manus detention centre, from journalist and asylum-seeker Behrouz Boochani.
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The Wasp and the Orchid
Award-winning zoologist and author Danielle Clode presents the life of one of Australia's foremost female naturalists, Edith Coleman, and the story of the quest to recover her from the footnotes of history - now available in trade...
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The Trauma Cleaner
$32.99Buy now
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Do Oysters Get Bored?
$29.99Buy now
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One Hundred Years of Dirt
Social mobility is not a train you get to board after you've scraped together enough for the ticket. You have to build the whole bloody engine, with nothing but a spoon and hand-me-down psychological distress.
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Miss Ex-Yugoslavia
Unpolished Gem with a touch of Stasiland: a funny, dark and tender memoir about growing up between the lunacy of Yugoslavia's civil war and suburban Australia.
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