2025 in Australian literature
This is a list of historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2025.
Events
[edit]- Text Publishing is acquired by Penguin Random House Australia.[1]
Major publications
[edit]Literary fiction
[edit]- Randa Abdel-Fattah – Discipline
- Lyn Dickens – Salt Upon the Water[2]
- Moreno Giovannoni – The Immigrants
- Toni Jordan – Tenderfoot[3]
- Steve MinOn – First Name Second Name[4]
- Konrad Muller – My Heart at Evening[5]
- Omar Musa – Fierceland
- Josephine Rowe – Little World[6]
- Madeleine Watts – Elegy, Southwest[7]
- Sean Wilson – You Must Remember This[8]
Crime and mystery
[edit]- James Bradley – Landfall[9]
- Catherine Jinks – Panic[10]
- Dervla McTiernan – The Unquiet Grave[11]
Science fiction and Fantasy
[edit]- James Islington – The Strength of the Few
- Angela Slatter – The Crimson Road[12]
- Emma Sloley – The Island of Last Things
Children's and young adult
[edit]- Margot McGovern – This Stays Between Us[13]
- Zeno Sworder – Once I Was a Giant[14]
- Lili Wilkinson – Unhallowed Halls[15]
Poetry
[edit]- Eunice Andrada – KONTRA[16]
- Evelyn Araluen – The Rot[17]
Drama
[edit]- Emilie Collyer – Super[18]
Non-Fiction
[edit]- Robert Dessaix – Chameleon[19]
- Brenda Niall – Joan Lindsay[20]
- Micaela Sahhar – Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An Encyclopaedia of a Palestinian Family[21]
- Kate Wild – The Red House[22]
Awards and honours
[edit]Note: these awards were presented in the year in question.
Lifetime achievement
[edit]| Award | Author |
|---|---|
| Patrick White Award | Not yet awarded |
Literary
[edit]| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALS Gold Medal[23] | Fiona McFarlane | Highway 13 | Allen & Unwin |
| Colin Roderick Award[24] | Khin Myint | Fragile Creatures : A Memoir | Black Inc |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year[25] | Robbie Arnott | Dusk | Picador |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[26] | Nam Le | 36 Ways to Write a Vietnamese Poem | Scribner |
| Stella Prize[27] | Michelle de Kretser | Theory & Practice | Text Publishing |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[28][29] | Wanda Gibson | Three Dresses | University of Queensland Press |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards – Book of the Year[30] | Alan Fyfe | G-d, Sleep, and Chaos | Gazebo |
Fiction
[edit]| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Age Book of the Year[31] | Rodney Hall | Vortex | Picador |
| ARA Historical Novel Prize[32] | Robbie Arnott | Dusk | Picador |
| Tasma Walton | I Am Nannertgarrook | Bundyi | |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction[25] | Robbie Arnott | Dusk | Picador |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Debut Fiction[25] | Lauren Keegan | All the Bees in the Hollows | Affirm Press |
| Miles Franklin Award[33] | Siang Lu | Ghost Cities | University of Queensland Press |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards[34] | Michelle de Kretser | Theory & Practice | Text |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[26] | Fiona McFarlane | Highway 13 | Allen & Unwin |
| Queensland Literary Awards[35] | Emily Maguire | Rapture | Allen & Unwin |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[28][29] | Fiona McFarlane | Highway 13 | Allen & Unwin |
| Voss Literary Prize[36] | Fiona McFarlane | Highway 13 | Allen & Unwin |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards[30] | Louise Wolhuter | Shadows of Winter Robins | Ultimo |
Children and Young Adult
[edit]| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARA Historical Novel Prize[32] | Children and Young Adult | Suzanne Leal | The Year We Escaped | HarperCollins |
| Children's Book of the Year Award[37] | Older Readers | Gary Lonesborough | I'm Not Really Here | Allen and Unwin |
| Younger Readers | Maryam Master, illus. by Astred Hicks | Laughter Is the Best Ending | Pan | |
| Picture Book | Deborah Frenkel, illus. by Danny Snell | The Truck Cat | Bright Light | |
| Early Childhood | Darren McCallum, illus. by Craig Smith | The Wobbly Bike | Walker | |
| Eve Pownall Award for Information Books | Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson | Always Was, Always Will Be | Magabala | |
| New Illustrator | Sarah Capon, written by Bec Nanayakkara | Grow Big, Little Seed | Bright Light | |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year[25] | Children's | Katrina Nannestad | All the Beautiful Things | HarperCollins |
| Young Adult | Kate Emery | My Family and Other Suspects | Allen and Unwin | |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards[34] | Children's | Peter Carnavas | Leo and Ralph | University of Queensland Press |
| Young Adult | Krystal Sutherland | The Invocations | Penguin | |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[26] | Children's | Katrina Nannestad | All the Beautiful Things | HarperCollins |
| Young People's | Emma Lord | Anomaly | Affirm Press | |
| Queensland Literary Awards[35] | Children's | Sandy Bigna | Little Bones | University of Queensland Press |
| Young Adult | C. G. Drews | Don't Let the Forest In | Feiwel & Friends | |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[28][29] | Young Adult Fiction | Emma Lord | Anomaly | Affirm Press |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards[30] | Children's | Kelly Canby | A Leaf Called Greaf | Fremantle |
| Young Adult | Kate Emery | My Family and Other Suspects | Allen & Unwin |
Crime and Mystery
[edit]National
[edit]| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davitt Award[38] | Novel | Vikki Wakefield | To the River | Text Publishing |
| Young adult novel | Erin Gough | Into the Mouth of the Wolf | Hardie Grant Publishing | |
| Children's novel | Judith Rossell | The Midwatch | Hardie Grant Publishing | |
| Non-fiction | Lucia Osborne-Crowley | The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell | Allen and Unwin | |
| Debut | Georgia Harper | What I Would Do to You | Penguin Random House Australia | |
| Readers' choice | Dervla McTiernan | What Happened to Nina? | HarperCollins Publishers | |
| Ned Kelly Award[39] | Novel | Margaret Hickey | The Creeper | Random House Australia |
| First novel | Lisa Kenway | All You Took From Me | Transit Lounge | |
| True crime | Steve Johnson | A Thousand Miles from Care | HarperCollins Publishers | |
Non-Fiction
[edit]| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Age Book of the Year[31] | Non-Fiction | Lech Blaine | Australian Gospel | Black Inc. |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year[25] | Non-Fiction | Markus Zusak | Three Wild Dogs and the Truth | Picador |
| Illustrated Non-Fiction | Criss Canning | The Paintings of Criss Canning | Thames and Hudson Australia | |
| National Biography Award[40] | Biography | Abbas El-Zein | Bullet, Paper, Rock: A Memoir of Words and Wars | Upswell Publishing |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards[34] | Non-Fiction | Rick Morton | Mean Streak | Fourth Estate |
| Australian History | Geraldine Fela | Critical Care: Nurses on the Frontline of Australia’s AIDS Crisis | UNSW Press | |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[26] | Non-Fiction | James Bradley | Deep Water | Hamish Hamilton |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards[41] | Australian History | Darren Rix and Craig Cormick | Warra Warra Wai | Scribner Australia |
| Community and Regional History | Alana Piper | Yirranma Place: Stories of a Darlinghurst corner | NewSouth Publishing | |
| General History | Robyn Arianrhod | Vector: A surprising story of space, time, and mathematical transformation | UNSW Press | |
| Young People's History Prize | Sophie Masson | Our History: Bold Ben Hall | Walker Books | |
| Anzac Memorial Trustees Military History Prize | Patricia Collins | Rock and Tempest: Surviving Cyclone Tracy and its aftermath | Hachette Australia | |
| Queensland Literary Awards[35] | Non-Fiction | Clare Wright | Näku Dhäruk: The Bark Petitions | Text |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[28][29] | Non-Fiction | Susan Hampton | Anything Can Happen | Puncher & Wattman |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards[30] | Non-Fiction | Gerard McCann | Anatomy of a Secret | Fremantle |
Poetry
[edit]| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anne Elder Award[42] | Izzy Roberts-Orr | Raw Salt | Vagabond |
| Mary Gilmore Award[43] | Hasib Hourani | rock flight | Giramondo |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards[34] | David Brooks | The Other Side of Daylight: New and Selected Poems | University of Queensland Press |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[26] | Hasib Hourani | rock flight | Giramondo |
| Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection[35] | Chris Andrews | The Oblong Plot | Puncher and Wattmann |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[28][29] | Jeanine Leane | Gawimarra: Gathering | University of Queensland Press |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards[30] | Alan Fyfe | G-d, Sleep, and Chaos | Gazebo |
Drama
[edit]| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[26] | Script | Charles Williams | Inside | Simpatico Films, Macgowan Films, Never Sleep Pictures |
| Play | Glenn Shea | Three Magpies Perched in a Tree | Currency Press, with La Mama Theatre | |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[28][29] | Nathan Maynard | 37 | Currency Press, with Melbourne Theatre Company | |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award[44] | Award | Karolina Ristevski | River Was Here | Sydney Theatre Company |
| Fellowship | Sheridan Harbridge |
Deaths
[edit]- 26 March — Kerry Greenwood, novelist and lawyer (born 1954)[45]
- 19 April — Damien Broderick, sf novelist (born 1944)[46]
- 5 May — Tracy Sorensen, novelist and academic (born 1963)[47]
- 10 June — Leanne Frahm, sf author (born 1946)[48]
- 6 August — David Dale, journalist and travel writer (born 1948)[49]
- 27 August — Charmaine Papertalk Green, poet and artist (born 1962)[50]
- 17 November — Robert Gray, poet and critic (born 1945)[51]
- 11 December — Jean Bedford, novelist (born 1946 in Cambridge, England)[52]
- 16 December — Chris Wallace-Crabbe, poet and academic (born 1934)[53][54]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ ""Text Publishing joins Penguin Random House"". Text Publishing. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
- ↑ "Salt Upon the Water by Lyn Dickens". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
- ↑ "Tenderfoot by Toni Jordan". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
- ↑ "First Name Second Name by Steve MinOn". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
- ↑ "My Heart at Evening by Konrad Muller". Austlit. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
- ↑ "Little World by Josephine Rowe". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ "Elegy, Southwest by Madeleine Watts". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
- ↑ "You Must Remember This by Sean Wilson". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 21 May 2026.
- ↑ "Landfall by". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ "Panic by Catherine Jinks". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ "The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ "The Crimson Road by Angela Slatter". ISFDB. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
- ↑ "This Stays Between Us by Margot McGovern". Austlit. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ "Once I Was a Giant by Zeno Sworder". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ "Unhallowed Halls by Lili Wilkinson". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ "KONTRA by Eunice Andrada". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ "The Rot by Evelyn Araluen". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ "Super by". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ "Chameleon by Robert Dessaix". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ "Joan Lindsay by Brenda Niall". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ "Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An Encyclopaedia of a Palestinian Family by Micaela Sahhar". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ "The Red House by Kate Wild". Allen & Unwin. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ "McFarlane wins 2025 ALS Gold Medal". Books+Publishing. 1 July 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ↑ ""Debut author Khin Myint wins 2025 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award"". James Cook University. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 ""Indie Book Awards - Winners 2025"". Australian Independent Booksellers. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Story, Hannah (19 May 2025). "Nam Le wins major literary award, 16 years after winning for The Boat". ABC News. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
- ↑ ""'Serious consequences for Australian democracy': Author uses prize speech to warn against censorship"". The Age, 24 May 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2025". The Wheeler Centre. 2025. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Story, Hannah (19 March 2025). "Growing up, Wanda got old dresses for Xmas. Her book about it just won $125k". ABC News. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Fyfe wins 'Book of the Year' at 2025 WA Premier's Book Awards". Books+Publishing. 1 September 2025. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
- 1 2 ""A late-career marvel and an enriching memoir: The Age Book of the Year winners"". The Age, 8 May 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
- 1 2 "Arnott, Walton, Leal win 2025 ARA Historical Novel Prize". Books+Publishing. 16 October 2025. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
- ↑ "Siang Lu's book languished in a drawer for years. Now it's won $60,000". ABC News. 24 July 2025. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 "Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2025 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 29 September 2025. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 "Queensland Literary Awards 2025 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 29 September 2025. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
- ↑ ""Voss Literary prize 2025 Winner"". Voss Literary Prize. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
- ↑ "CBCA Book of the Year Award winners". Books+Publishing. 15 August 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
- ↑ ""Sisters in Crime's 25th Davitt Awards winners announced"". Sisters in Crime. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
- ↑ "2025 Ned Kelly Awards winners". Books+Publishing. 25 September 2025. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
- ↑ "El-Zein wins 2025 National Biography Award". Books+Publishing. 1 August 2025. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
- ↑ "NSW History Awards 2025 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 8 September 2025. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
- ↑ "Roberts-Orr wins 2024 Anne Elder Award". Books+Publishing. 3 June 2025. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
- ↑ "Hourani wins 2025 Mary Gilmore Prize". Books+Publishing. 1 July 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ↑ ""Patrick White Playwrights' Award – Past Winners"". Sydney Theatre Company. Retrieved 25 December 2025.
- ↑ Flux, Elizabeth (6 April 2025). "Kerry Greenwood, author behind Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, dies at 70". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
- ↑ ""Damien Broderick (1944-2025)"". File770. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
- ↑ Spencer, Neville (6 May 2025). "Vale Tracy Sorensen: Academic, author and all-round creative human". Green Left. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
- ↑ "Austlit — Leanne Frahm (1946-2025)". Austlit. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
- ↑ "David DALE Obituary (2025) – The Sydney Morning Herald". Legacy.com. 12 August 2025. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
- ↑ Duffy, Piper (28 August 2025). "Indigenous community in mourning after celebrated artist's death". ABC News. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
- ↑ Lehmann, Geoffrey (18 November 2025). "'A great humanist': One of Australia's greatest poets dead at 80". The Age. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
- ↑ "Austlit — Jean Bedford". Austlit. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
- ↑ "Chris Wallace-Crabbe". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
- ↑ ""Chris Wallace-Crabbe was a poet of international renown, a beloved teacher and a generous man"". Yahoo News. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
 Years in Australian literature (1850–present) | |
|---|---|
| 19th century | |
| 20th century |
|
| 21st century | |
