This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1999.

• Murray Bail won the Miles Franklin Award for Eucalyptus
• Jan Fullerton was appointed Director General of the National Library of Australia, being the first woman and first internal appointee

• Thea Astley — Drylands
• Lily Brett — Too Many Men
• Marshall Browne – The Burnt City^[1]
• Kate Grenville — The Idea of Perfection
• Dorothy Hewett — Neap Tide^[2]
• Julia Leigh — The Hunter
• Bruce Pascoe — Shark^[3]
• Dorothy Porter — What a Piece of Work
• Matthew Reilly — Ice Station
• Heather Rose — White Heart^[4]
• Kim Scott — Benang
• Amy Witting — Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop

• James Bradley — The Deep Field
• Sara Douglass — Crusader
• Kate Forsyth – The Cursed Towers^[5]
• Greg Egan
  • "Border Guards"
  • Teranesia
• Ian Irvine — Dark is the Moon^[6]
• Juliet Marillier – Daughter of the Forest
• Sean McMullen – Souls in the Great Machine^[7]
• George Turner – Down There in Darkness^[8]

• Marshall Browne — The Wooden Leg of Inspector Anders
• Garry Disher — The Dragon Man
• Kerry Greenwood – Death Before Wicket^[9]
• Gabrielle Lord – Feeding the Demons^[10]
• Barry Maitland – The Chalon Heads
• Tara Moss – Fetish^[11]
• Chris Nyst — Cop This!
• Peter Temple
  • Black Tide
  • Shooting Star

• Helen Barnes — Killing Aurora
• Graeme Base — The Worst Band in the Universe
• Kim Caraher — Goanna Anna^[12]
• Nick Earls — 48 Shades of Brown
• Christine Harris — Foreign Devil
• Sonya Hartnett — Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf
• Victor Kelleher — The Ivory Trail
• Markus Zusak — The Underdog

• Kevin Hart — Wicked Heat^[13]
• John Kinsella — Visitants^[14]
• Jennifer Maiden — Mines^[15]
• Les Murray — Conscious and Verbal^[16]

• Van Badham — The Wilderness of Mirrors^[17]

• Ian McFarlane — Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop
• Drusilla Modjeska — Stravinsky's Lunch
• Les Murray — The Quality of Sprawl: Thoughts about Australia^[18]
• Anne Summers — Ducks on the Pond: An Autobiography 1945–1976^[19]
• David Walker— Anxious Nation: Australia and the Rise of Asia 1850–1939

• Michael Fitzgerald Page AM "for service to the book publishing industry and to literature as a writer, and through the encouragement and support of upcoming Australian authors"^[20]
• Frank John Ford AM "for service to the development of the performing arts in South Australia as a director, playwright, administrator and educator"^[21]
• Kay Saunders AM "for service to Australian history as a scholar, author and commentator on social issues"^[22]
• John Antill Millett OAM "for service to literature as editor of Poetry Australia"^[23]

A list, ordered by date of death (and, if the date is either unspecified or repeated, ordered alphabetically by surname) of deaths in 1999 of Australian literary figures, authors of written works or literature-related individuals follows, including year of birth.

• 15 February — Gordon Neil Stewart, writer (born 1912)^[40]
• 1 March — Richard Beynon, playwright, actor and television producer (born 1925)^[41]
• 20 April — Ric Throssell, diplomat and author whose writings included novels, plays, film and television scripts and memoirs (born 1922)^[42]
• 8 July — Mavis Thorpe Clark, novelist and writer for children (born 1909)^[43]
• 12 July — Mungo Ballardie MacCallum, journalist, broadcaster and poet (born 1913)^[44]
• 9 October — Morris West, novelist and playwright (born 1916)^[45]
• 16 November — Mal Morgan, poet (born 1936, London, England)^[46]

• 1999 in Australia
• 1999 in literature
• 1999 in poetry
• List of years in literature
• List of years in Australian literature