Jacqueline Kent, who chaired the judging panel, said when she first saw Bisley’s debut book, Stillways, ‘‘I had ghastly preconceptions of actors and happy childhoods. ‘Hello, William McInnes’ – more of that twinkly nostalgia stuff’.’’

But she said of Bisley, ‘‘He was able to enter into what it was like to be a kid and know your family has secrets, things you don’t talk about. He can look back on himself not in a cutesy way but with understanding and a total lack of sentimentality. Also, he’s a good storyteller.’’

Bisley had to withdraw from a Melbourne Theatre Company production of Glengarry Glen Ross this week several days before the play’s opening night due to illness.

The other shortlisted books are A Spy in the Archives by Sheila Fitzpatrick, Exit Wounds: One Australian's War on Terror by John Cantwell & Greg Bearup, Kitty’s War by Janet Butler, On Warne by Gideon Haigh and The Ambitions of Jane Franklin by Alison Alexander.

Kent said she and her fellow judges – National Centre of Biography director Melanie Nolan and critic James Ley – agreed it was a ‘‘strong and varied shortlist’’.

‘‘An extraordinary range of history, biography, diaries and memoir comes under the heading ‘biography’ and Australian authors are making good use of the hybrids, which does make the judging more challenging.’’

Kent, an award-winning biographer, added that she liked Bisley's memoir "despite the hideous cover", which shows a sepia-toned photo of the author as a boy. "I'm really annoyed at the way so many publishers do terrible generic covers for the non-fiction. I wish they would take as much care with non-fiction as with fiction."

The winner - still undecided - will be announced on August 4 at the beginning of Biography Week at the State Library of NSW.