I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about the World Fantasy Awards, when she asked me who was the first Australian to win the award? It gave me pause, if only because it’s something I’d expect myself to know.  It motivated me to do a little detective work and go looking through the thirty-four year history of the award.

From my cursory inspection, ten Australians have been nominated for the World Fantasy Award in six categories for a total of seventeen nominations and seven wins. The first Australian work to be nominated for the World Fantasy Award was Peter Carey for his novel Illywhacker in 1986. The first Australians to win were Jack Dann and Janeen Webb, who won for Best Anthology in 1996 for Dreaming Down Under.  The other recipients of the Award are Margo Lanagan (Best Collection for Black Juice, Best Short Story for “Singing My Sister Down”, and Best Novel for Tender Morsels) and Shaun Tan (Best Artist three times).

The full list of Australian World Fantasy Award nominees is below:

1986: Novel: Peter Carey, Illywhacker
1996: Anthology: She’s Fantastical, Lucy Sussex & Judith Raphael Buckrich, eds.
1996: Short Story: “Angel Thing”, Petrina Smith
1999: Anthology: Dreaming Down-Under, Jack Dann & Janeen Webb eds. **
2001: Collection: Blackwater Days, Terry Dowling
2001: Short Story: “The Saltimbanques”, Terry Dowling
2001: Artist: Shaun Tan **
2002: Collection: The Essential Ellison, Harlan Ellison, Terry Dowling with Richard Delap & Gil Lamont, eds.
2004: Anthology: Gathering the Bones, Jack Dann, Ramsey Campbell & Dennis Etchison, eds.
2004: Novel: The Etched City, K.J. Bishop
2005: Short Story: “Singing My Sister Down”, Margo Lanagan **
2005: Collection: Black Juice, Margo Lanagan **
2007: Collection: Red Spikes, Margo Lanagan
2007: Artist: Shaun Tan **
2009: Collection: Tales from Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan
2009: Artist: Shaun Tan **
2009: Novel: Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan**
** denotes winner