This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1991.
Events
David Malouf won the Miles Franklin Award for The Great World
Major publications
Novels
Peter Carey — The Tax Inspector
Brian Castro — Double-Wolf
Bryce Courtenay — Tandia
Robert Drewe — Our Sunshine
Colleen McCullough — The Grass Crown
Morris West — The Ringmaster
Tim Winton — Cloudstreet
Short story anthologies
Suzanne Edgar — Counting Backwards and Other Stories
Jackie French — Rain Stones (for children)
Children's and young adult fiction
Anna Fienberg — The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels
Robin Klein — Came Back to Show You I Could Fly
John Marsden — Letters from the Inside
Margaret Barbalet — The Wolf
Poetry
Alison Croggon — This is the stone
A. D. Hope — Orpheus
Jean Kent — Practising Breathing
John Tranter — The Floor of Heaven
Drama
Michael Gow — Furious
Non-fiction
Bruce Bennett — Spirit in exile, Peter Porter and his poetry
Barry Hill — Sitting In
Julie Lewis — Olga Masters, a lot of living
David Marr — Patrick White: A Life
Awards and honours
Robert Hughes , for "service to art and to the promotion of Australian culture" Bruce Beaver , for "service to literature, particularly in the field of poetry" David Rowbotham , for "service to literature" Patricia Scott , for "service to children's literature"
Lifetime achievement
Literary
Deaths
A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1991 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.
21 February — Dorothy Auchterlonie Green, academic, literary critic and poet (born 1915) 3 April — Coral Lansbury, writer and academic (born 1929) 7 April — Bob Brissenden, poet, novelist, critic and academic (born 1928) 2 May — Ronald McKie, novelist (born 1909) 23 May — Manning Clark, historian (born 1915) 24 June — Sumner Locke Elliott, novelist and playwright (born 1917) 17 November — Pixie O'Harris, children's book author and illustrator (born 1903) 1 December — Barbara Hanrahan, novelist and artist (born 1939)