Three important lists have been released over the past week in the Australian Literary Awards season.

Ahead of the announcement of the first ever Stella Prize on April 16, the shortlist was announced last Monday. The burial, Questions of travel, The sunlit zone, Like a house on fire, Sea hearts and Mateship with birds are all in contention to win the inaugural prize. As mentioned earlier, the Stella is a brand new literary prize, aimed at raising the profile of Australian women's writing.

The shortlist for the ALS Gold Medal was also released last week. The medal was first awarded to Martin Boyd in 1928. The winner will be announced on 3 July at the ASAL annual conference. The shortlisted titles are:

• Darkness on the edge of town by Jessie Cole
• Questions of travel by Michelle de Kretser
• Montebello by Robert Drewe
• Lost voices by Christopher Koch
• The fine colour of rust by P. A. O'Reilly

This morning, the 2013 longlist for Australia's leading literary award, the Miles Franklin was announced.

Tom Keneally is nominated for The daughters of Mars and Drusilla Modjeska for The mountain, which she discussed during a Friends of Fryer event last year.

M L Stedman is listed for The light between oceans, which won two prizes, including the Book of the Year Award, at last night's Indie Awards .

Carrie Tiffany's Mateship with birds is cited in both the Stella Prize shortlist and the Miles Franklin longlist, and Questions of travel by Michelle de Kretser in included in all three lists.

You can view all ten longlist titles and learn more about the Miles Franklin Award (and Reading Challenge!) online.