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Sonya Hartnett
Born (1968-03-23) March 23, 1968 (age 56)
Melbourne, Australia
Pen name Cameron S. Redfern
Occupation Writer
Language English
Nationality Australian
Education Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1988, BA)
Period 1984–present
Genre Novels, especially young adult fiction; children's picture books
Notable awards
  • Kathleen Mitchell Award (1996)
  • Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel (2000)
  • Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (2002)
  • The Age Book of the Year Award (2003)
  • Astrid Lindgren Award (2008)

Sonya Louise Hartnett (born March 23, 1968, in Melbourne) is an Australian author of fiction for adults, young adults, and children. She has been called "the finest Australian writer of her generation". For her career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense" Hartnett won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council in 2008, the biggest prize in children's literature.

She has published books as Sonya Hartnett, S. L. Hartnett, and Cameron S. Redfern.

Personal life and education

Hartnett was born March 23, 1968, in Melbourne, Australia to Philip Joseph and Virginia Mary Hartnett. In 1988, she received a Bachelor of Arts from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Career

Hartnett was thirteen years old when she wrote her first novel and fifteen when it was published for the adult market in Australia, Trouble All the Way (Adelaide: Rigby Publishers, 1984). For years she has written about one novel annually. Although she is often classified as a writer of young adult fiction, Hartnett does not consider this label entirely accurate: "I've been perceived as a young adult writer whereas my books have never really been young adult novels in the sort of classic sense of the idea." She believes the distinction is not so important in Britain as in her native land.

According to the National Library of Australia, "The novel for which Hartnett has achieved the most critical (and controversial) acclaim was Sleeping Dogs". .....

Many of Hartnett's books have been published in the UK and in North America. For Thursday's Child (2000, UK 2002), she won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers. In 2008 she won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award which is administered by the Swedish Arts Council.

Awards and honours

In 2000 and 2003, The Sydney Morning Herald named Hartnett one of their Young Novelists of the Year.

In 2008, Hartnett received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which annually honours an author of children's books whose "a body of work known for its unflinching focus on the toughest aspects of life."

In 2016, Shelf Awareness included Golden Boys on their list of the best teen novels of the year.

Awards for Hartnett's writing
Year Title Award Result Ref.
1996 Sleeping Dogs CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Honour
Kathleen Mitchell Award (Australia) Winner
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Shortlist
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Sheaffer Pen Prize Winner
Willful Blue IBBY Ena Noel Award (1996) Winner
1999 Princes CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Shortlist
2000 Thursday's Child Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel Winner
Australian Publishers Association Award Shortlist
2001 CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Shortlist
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Shortlist
2002 Forest CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Winner
Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Shortlist
Thursday's Child Guardian Children's Fiction Prize Winner
Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize Shortlist
2003 Of a Boy The Age Book of the Year Award Winner
Commonwealth Writers Prize (South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book) Finalist
Miles Franklin Award Shortlist
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Shortlist
2005 The Silver Donkey Courier Mail Award for young readers Winner
CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers Winner
Surrender The Age Book of the Year Award Shortlist
Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel Shortlist
2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize (South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book) Shortlist
2007 The Silver Donkey COOL Award Fiction for Years 7-9 Winner
Surrender Michael L. Printz Award Honour
2008 The Ghost's Child CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Winner
2010 Butterfly Miles Franklin Award Shortlist
The Midnight Zoo Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel Finalist
The Silver Donkey Andersen Award (Italy) Best Book for readers 9–12 Winner
2011 The Midnight Zoo CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers Winner
2012 Come Down, Cat! CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers Honour
Prime Minister's Literary Awards for Children's Fiction Finalist
The Midnight Zoo CILIP Carnegie Medal Shortlist
2013 The Children of the King CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers Winner
Prime Minister's Literary Awards Young Adult Fiction Shortlist
2015 Golden Boys Christine Stead Prize for Fiction Shortlist
Miles Franklin Award Shortlist
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Shortlist
Prime Minister's Literary Awards for Fiction Finalist
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Shortlist
2022 Blue Flower CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Picture Book Shortlist
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