1987 in Australian literature

This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1987.

• Glenda Adams won the 1987 Miles Franklin Award for Dancing on Coral

• Glenda Adams — Dancing on Coral
• Murray Bail — Holden's Performance
• Sumner Locke Elliott — Waiting for Childhood^[1]
• Barbara Hanrahan — Kewpie Doll^[2]
• Nicholas Jose — Paper Nautilus^[3]
• Thomas Keneally — The Playmaker
• Olga Masters — Amy's Children^[4]
• Colleen McCullough — The Ladies of Missalonghi
• Boyd Oxlade — Death in Brunswick
• Eric Willmot — Pemulwuy, the Rainbow Warrior^[5]

• Jessica Anderson — Stories from the Warm Zone
• Thea Astley — It's Raining in Mango^[6]
• Julie Lewis — The Walls of Jericho: Stories^[7]
• Patrick White — Three Uneasy Pieces

• John Marsden — So Much to Tell You

• Greg Egan – "Neighbourhood Watch"
• Isobelle Carmody — Obernewtyn
• George Turner — The Sea and Summer

• Jon Cleary — Dragons at the Party
• Peter Corris — The January Zone^[8]
• Jennifer Rowe — Grim Pickings^[9]

• Judith Beveridge — The Domesticity of Giraffes
• Dorothy Hewett — Alice in Wormland^[10]

• Dorothy Hewett — Me and the Man in the Moon^[11]
• David Malouf — Blood Relations
• Wendy Richardson — Windy Gully^[12]
• David Williamson — Emerald City

• Brian Matthews — Louisa
• Sally Morgan — My Place

• Rosemary Dobson AO, for "service to literature, particularly in the field of poetry"^[13]
• David Malouf AO, for "service to literature"^[14]
• Peter Cowan (writer) AM, for "service to Australian literature"^[15]
• Ruth Park AM, for "service to literature"^[16]
• Rica Erickson AM, for "service to the arts, particularly as an author and illustrator^[17]

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1987 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

• 3 March — Cyril Pearl, Australian journalist, editor, author, social historian, wit and television personality (born 1904)^[34]
• 18 April — Kenneth Cook, Australian journalist, television documentary maker and novelist (born 1929)^[35]
• 8 May — Marjorie Barnard, Australia novelist and short story writer, critic, historian and librarian (born 1897)^[36]
• 24 May — Robert D. Fitzgerald, poet (born 1902)^[37]
• 3 July — Grace Perry, poet, playwright, and founder and editor of the South Head Press (born 1927)^[38]
• 17 December — Lucy Walker, romance novelist (born 1907)^[39]

• 1987 in Australia
• 1987 in literature
• 1987 in poetry
• List of years in literature
• List of years in Australian literature