The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) has announced this year’s shortlist for the National Biography Award! This award is presented annually to a published work of biographical or autobiographical writing, to help promote public interest in these genres. Each shortlisted author will receive $2,000 while the winner will receive $25,000.

Chair of the judges, Melinda Harvey, said: ‘This magnificent shortlist is united in a single pursuit: to understand Australian lives, from the famous to the forgotten, as snapshots of political and social history. But not only that: these books harbour the belief that the act of remembering what Australians have experienced and contributed is, itself, potentially transformative for our country’s future.’

Discover the shortlisted works:

• Donald Horne: A Life in the Lucky Country by Ryan Cropp
• Bee Miles: Australia’s Famous Bohemian Rebel, and the Untold Story Behind the Legend by Rose Ellis
• Inner Song: A Biography of Margaret Sutherland by Jillian Graham
• The Shape of Dust by Lamisse Hamouda with Hazem Hamouda
• Frank Moorhouse: A Life by Catharine Lumby
• Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life by Brigitta Olubas

And highly commended was Graft by Maggie MacKellar

Read more about the prize and the shortlist here. The winner will be announced at the end of this month.