ALIA Graphic's Notable Australian Graphic Novels of 2021 - The Shortlist

Today we're very happy to announce our shortlist for the best of the best in Australian comics from last year. Of course, the long list was announced last month and we encourage everyone to check it out. 

We're fortunate to be seeing lots of great comics and graphic novels by Australian creators, and it's great to see their numbers keep increasing. We would like to note the great quality of titles this year and the fact that we're seeing titles increasingly being noticed, celebrated and published internationally.

We also want to highlight the fact that a lot of the graphic novels in this shortlist are debuts. In the Junior category, Big Apple Diaries by Alyssa Bermudez, Pawcasso by Remy Lai and Treasure in the Lake by Jason Pamment. In the Young Adult category Stars in Their Eyes by Jessica Walton and Aśka and in the Adult General category, both Still Alive by Safdar Ahmed and Stone Fruit by Lee Lai. With debuts of this quality the future of Australian comics sure looks bright!

For our friends in the GNCRT and around the world, some of these titles are are already available by U.S. and international publishers. Others are set to be published in the U.S. and around the world in the near future. For example, Stars in Their Eyes has been picked up by Scholastic, Still Alive has been picked up by Fantagraphics.

In this post, we publish the shortlist in both poster form and as a list. You can also scroll down to the bottom of the post for some resources the publishers have produced that could be used in the classroom.

Congratulations to all the creators, publishers and titles in both the longlist and the shortlist and a big thank you for all the work you do. We look forward to more comics and graphic novels!

The ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics team.

ALIA Graphic's 2021 Notable Australian Graphic Novels Shortlist

Junior

• Big Apple Diaries by Alyssa Bermudez (MacMillan)
• Pawcasso by Remy Lai (Allen & Unwin)
• Treasure in the Lake by Jason Pamment (Allen & Unwin in Australia, Harper Alley in the U.S.)

Young Adult

• Seven Secrets: Volume 1 by Tom Taylor, Daniele Di Nicuolo (Boom!)
• Stars in their Eyes by Jessica Walton, Aśka (Fremantle Press)

General Adult

• Still Alive by Safdar Ahmed (Twelve Panels)
• Stone Fruit by Lee Lai (Fantagraphics)
• Underground: Marsupial Outlaws and Other Rebels of Australia's War in Vietnam by Mirranda Burton (Allen & Unwin)

Classroom Resources

Pawcasso by Remy Lai. Allen & Unwin has published teacher's notes on their website.

Stars in Their Eyes by Jessica Walton and Aśka. Freemantle Press has published teaching notes and a teaching activity on their website.

Still Alive by Safdar Ahmed. Twelve Panels Press has published teacher's notes as well as a list of references for the book and other resources.

Treasure in the Lake by Jason Pamment. Allen & Unwin has published teacher's notes on their website.

Underground by Mirranda Burton. Allen & Unwin has published teacher's notes on their website.

If you want to see the long list (we highly recommend you do) it's here.