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After months of anxiety about the fate of the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, the shortlists were released quietly on Sunday afternoon with the promise that the winners of the $600,000 shared prizemoney - Australia's largest pot - will be named before the end of the year.
Among the finalists is Richard Flanagan, who won the Man Booker Prize last week for his World War II novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and several other fiction and non-fiction works about the two world wars.
Kevin Rudd established the awards in 2008 (modelled, perhaps, on John Howard's History Award), usually presented mid-year, and each year the categories and prizemoney have multiplied. But a long silence this year suggested a rethink by new Prime Minister Tony Abbott about continuing Labor's cultural gifts.
Instead, in June a new set of judging panels was named, raising another anxiety that they reflected a conservative bias that might affect the results. In particular, the chair of the non-fiction and history panel, columnist at The Weekend Australian Gerard Henderson, was seen as an intemperate critic of certain writers and journalists, especially those of the left.
The shortlists include some authors and books that reinforce that view, such as The Lucky Culture, a critique of Australian intellectual life, by Nick Cater, an editor at The Australian, and Australia's Secret War: How unionists sabotaged our troops in World War II by Hal G.P. Colebatch, which is published by the small independent Quadrant Books. Henderson's fellow judge, the former Liberal MP Peter Coleman, was editor of Quadrant magazine for 20 years.
Two of the fiction and poetry judges are also associated with the conservative Quadrant - leading poets Les Murray, who is the magazine's poetry editor, and Jamie Grant, a contributor of poems; neither would be seen as having a taste for "experimental" writing. And there are further connections with The Australian in non-fiction judge Ida Lichter, a psychiatrist, author and contributor to the newspaper; Helen Trinca, another of the paper's editors, who is author of Madeleine, a biography of the writer Madeleine St John; and Nicolas Rothwell, a senior writer for the paper, whose novel Belomor is shortlisted.
None of this suggests unworthy choices, and there are shortlisted books that dispel any hint of bias: the lively feminist history The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka by Clare Wright, who won the Stella Award for women's writing this year, and the naval history First Victory 1914 by Mike Carlton, one of Henderson's political opponents and vocal jousters.
You could wonder whether Carlton won points for his unhappy departure from his long tenure as a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald, similar to Henderson's under different circumstances. There are no other Fairfax-linked names, except for the non-fiction judge historian Ross Fitzgerald, a reviewer who also writes for The Australian. And, by coincidence or not, there are no books published by Black Inc. or Scribe, the independent houses whose respective principals, Morry Schwartz and Chris Feik, and Henry Rosenbloom, were critical of the judging panels' make-up, demanding (unsuccessfully) a list of all books entered.
The fiction, poetry, young adult and children's shortlists show as much diversity as any award lists, chosen by panels chaired by Louise Adler, Tony Abbott's publisher though of different political hue, and Mike Shuttleworth, program manager of Melbourne Writers' Festival.
The fiction finalists range from the award-winning veteran Alex Miller's Coal Creek, a story of white and Aboriginal country Australia, to The Night Guest, a contemporary story of old age and deception by the impressive newcomer Fiona McFarlane.
The press release from the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Arts, Senator George Brandis, said: "These awards recognise the role Australian writers play in enlightening and entertaining us, reflecting on our history and taking our stories to the world.
"Australia's writers are ambassadors for our stories and our cultural life and experience.
"The 2014 shortlists feature some of Australia's most significant and recognised writers, as well as gifted debut authors across all six award categories: fiction, poetry, non-fiction, Australian history, young adult fiction and children's fiction.
"The shortlists span many genres, styles and subjects, reflecting on contemporary Australian life, significant moments in Australian and world history as well as gripping readers with fictional stories that captivate young and old readers alike.
"These 30 books have become part of the contemporary Australian literary canon.
"A number of the shortlisted books reflect on World War I and the Anzac story – the crucible in which the Australian identity was forged. These works are essential resources to remembering the tide of events that shaped our nation and that still cast a shadow over the wider world."
THE SHORTLISTS
Fiction
A World of Other People, Steven Carroll (HarperCollins)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan (Vintage Australia)
The Night Guest, Fiona McFarlane (Penguin: Hamish Hamilton)
Coal Creek, Alex Miller (Allen & Unwin)
Belomor, Nicolas Rothwell (Text Publishing)
Poetry
Tempo, Sarah Day (Puncher & Wattmann Poetry)
Eldershaw, Stephen Edgar (Black Pepper)
1953, Geoff Page (University of Queensland Press)
Drag Down to Unlock or Place an Emergency Call, Melinda Smith (Pitt Street Poetry)
Chains of Snow, Jakob Ziguras (Pitt Street Poetry)
Non-Fiction
Moving Among Strangers, Gabrielle Carey (University of Queensland Press)
The Lucky Culture, Nick Cater (HarperCollins Publishers)
Citizen Emperor, Philip Dwyer (Bloomsbury Publishing)
Rendezvous with Destiny, Michael Fullilove (Penguin)
Madeleine: A Life of Madeleine St John, Helen Trinca (Text Publishing)
Prize for Australian History
Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War, Joan Beaumont (Allen & Unwin)
First Victory 1914, Mike Carlton (Random House)
Australia's Secret War: How unionists sabotaged our troops in World War II, Hal G.P. Colebatch (Quadrant Books)
Arthur Phillip: Sailor, Mercenary, Governor, Spy, Michael Pembroke (Hardie Grant Books)
The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka, Clare Wright (Text Publishing)
Young Adult Fiction
The Incredible Here and Now, Felicity Castagna (Giramondo)
Pureheart, Cassandra Golds (Penguin)
Girl Defective, Simmone Howell (Pan Macmillan)
Life in Outer Space, Melissa Keil (Hardie Grant Egmont)
The First Third, Will Kostakis (Penguin)
Children's Fiction
Silver Buttons, Bob Graham (Walker Books )
Song for a Scarlet Runner, Julie Hunt (Allen & Unwin)
My Life as an Alphabet, Barry Jonsberg (Allen & Unwin)
Kissed by the Moon, Alison Lester (Puffin)
Rules of Summer, Shaun Tan (Hachette)
