This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1998.

Events

• Peter Carey (novelist) won the Miles Franklin Award for Jack Maggs

Major publications

Novels

• Murray Bail — Eucalyptus
• Bryce Courtenay — Jessica
• Luke Davies — Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction
• Marion Halligan — The Golden Dress
• Roger McDonald — Mr Darwin's Shooter
• Les Murray — Fredy Neptune: A Novel in Verse
• Elliot Perlman — Three Dollars
• Morris West — Eminence

Children's and young adult fiction

• Kim Caraher — The Cockroach Cup
• Alison Goodman — Singing the Dogstar Blues
• Phillip Gwynne — Deadly, Unna?
• James Moloney — Angela

Poetry

• Lee Cataldi — Race Against Time: Poems
• Lucy Dougan — Memory Shell
• Jean Kent — The Satin Bowerbird
• Anthony Lawrence — New and Selected Poems
• Gig Ryan — Pure and Applied

Drama

• Jane Harrison (playwright) — Stolen

Science fiction and fantasy

• Sara Douglass — Pilgrim
• Greg Egan — Oceanic
• Ian Irvine — A Shadow on the Glass
• Dave Luckett — A Dark Winter
• Jane Routley — Fire Angels

Crime

• Peter Doyle — Amaze Your Friends
• Andrew Masterson — The Last Days
• Peter Temple — An Iron Rose

Non-fiction

• Diane Armstrong — Mosaic: A Chronicle of Five Generations
• Bruce Bennett and Jennifer Strauss (eds.) — The Oxford Literary History of Australia
• Raimond Gaita — Romulus, My Father
• Dorothy McRae-McMahon — Everyday Passions: A Conversation on Living
• Mandy Sayer — Dreamtime Alice

Awards and honours

• John Harber Phillips AC "for service to the law, the administration of justice, law reform and education as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, and for his contributions to literature, the visual arts and the community"^[1]
• John R. Philip AO "for service to the science of hydrology, to scientific communication in promoting the interests of science for the community, and the Australian culture through architecture and literature"^[2]
• Anne Fairbairn AM "for service to Australian literature as a poet and to international relations, particularly between Australia and the Middle East through translations of poetry and cultural exchanges"^[3]
• A. W. Martin AM "for service in the field of Australian historiography as a teacher and scholar, and biographer and as foundation professor of the History Department at La Trobe University"^[4]
• Elizabeth Burchill OAM "for service to nursing, particularly as an historian, author and philanthropist"^[5]
• Michael Noonan OAM "for service to the arts as an author of numerous novels, works of non-fiction, television scripts and plays"^[6]

Lifetime achievement

Literary

Fiction

International

National

Crime and Mystery

National

Poetry

Non-fiction

Deaths

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1998 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

• 23 January — John Forbes, poet (born 1950)^[22]
• 11 May — John Morrison, novelist and short story writer (born 1904)^[23]
• 14 May — Kay Glasson Taylor, novelist (born 1893)^[24]
• 3 July — Elizabeth Riddell, poet and journalist, also known as Betty Riddell (born 1910)^[25]
• 4 September — Elizabeth Kata, writer whose real name was Elizabeth Katayama (born 1912)^[26]
• 17 September — Geoffrey Dutton, author and historian (born 1922)^[27]
• 27 November — Vicki Viidikas, poet and writer (born 1948)^[28]
• 19 December — James McQueen (writer), novelist and short story writer (born 1934)^[29]