This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1974.
For an overview of world literature see 1974 in literature.
See also: 1973 in Australian literature, 1974 in Australia, 1975 in Australian literature.
The Patrick White Award is presented for the first time. White used his 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature award to establish a trust for this prize.
James Aldridge – Mockery in Arms
Jon Cleary – Peter's Pence
Catherine Gaskin – The Property of a Gentleman
David Ireland – Burn
Thomas Keneally – Blood Red, Sister Rose
Colleen McCullough – Tim
Ronald McKie – The Mango Tree
Gerald Murnane – Tamarisk Row
Morris West – Harlequin
Peter Carey – The Fat Man in History
Frank Moorhouse – The Electrical Experience : A Discontinuous Narrative
Patrick White – The Cockatoos : Shorter Novels and Stories
Science Fiction and Fantasy
A. Bertram Chandler – The Bitter Pill
Cherry Wilder – "The Ark of James Carlyle"
Children's and Young Adult fiction
James Aldridge – The Marvellous Mongolian
Mavis Thorpe Clark – The Sky is Free
Ruth Park – Callie's Castle
Joan Phipson – Helping Horse
Colin Thiele
Albatross Two
Magpie Island
Bruce Beaver – Lauds and Plaints : Poems (1968-1972)
Robert Gray – Creekwater Journal
Clive James – Peregrine Prykke's Pilgrimage Through the London Literary World : A Tragedy in Heroic Couplets
Jennifer Maiden – Tactics
David Malouf – Neighbours in a Thicket : Poems
Les Murray – Lunch and Counter Lunch
Louis Nowra – The Death of Joe Orton
David Williamson – The Department
Ivan Southall – Fly West
A list, ordered by date of birth (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of births in 1974 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of death.
Unknown date
Matthew Reilly, author
Shaun Tan, Artist and author
A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1974 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.
7 January – Nan McDonald, writer for children (born 1921)
June – Eve Langley, novelist (born 1908)
