This exhaustive guide to Australian literature provides a comprehensive look at all works published in Australia within the last two centuries, regardless of genre or perceived literary merit. From poetry and drama to fiction and children's works, every entry contains detailed bibliographic data as well as information on pertinent awards and revised or translated editions. Each volume addresses specific authors: Volume 1, authors whose last names begin with A through E; Volume 2, F through J; Volume 3, K through O.

John Arnold is a former head of the National Centre for Australian Studies at Monash University and the coeditor of Towards a National Culture in a Colonised Market. John Hay is a former vice chancellor of the University of Queensland, a former English professor at the University of Western Australia, a former dean of arts and senior deputy vice chancellor at Monash University, and a former vice chancellor and president of Deakin University.