Creative Australia has today revealed the shortlist for the 2025 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, the richest literary prize in the nation. The awards celebrate the exceptional talents of emerging and established Australian writers, illustrators, poets, and historians.
The Prime Minister's Literary Awards acknowledge the contribution of Australian literature to the nation's cultural and intellectual life. This marks the third year Creative Australia has delivered the awards, following the release of the Australian Government's 2023 National Cultural Policy, Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place.
Newly appointed Director, Writing Australia Wenona Byrne said:
"These awards celebrate the highest expression of literary excellence, and we warmly congratulate the shortlisted authors and illustrators on this recognition of their outstanding work.
This year marks the first delivery of the Prime Minister's Literary Awards under Writing Australia. The Awards are a key part of our commitment to supporting the literature sector, and we are proud to celebrate these works as part of a new era in Australian writing."
Creative Australia received a remarkable 645 entries across six literary categories: fiction, non-fiction, young adult literature, children's literature, poetry, and Australian history.
Expert judging panels have carefully considered entries for the awards to select the final shortlists, including:
Fiction
- Always Will Be: Stories of Goori sovereignty from the futures of the Tweed by Mykaela Saunders (University of Queensland Press)
- Highway 13 by Fiona McFarlane (Allen & Unwin)
- Juice by Tim Winton (Penguin Random House)
- Rapture by Emily Maguire (Allen & Unwin)
- Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser (Text Publishing)
Non-Fiction
- Cactus Pear for My Beloved by Samah Sabawi (Penguin Random House Australia)
- Deep Water by James Bradley (Penguin Random House)
- Fragile Creatures: A Memoir by Khin Myint (Black Inc.)
- Mean Streak by Rick Morton (HarperCollins Publishers)
- The Pulling by Adele Dumont (Scribe Publications)
Australian History
- Australia in 100 Words by Amanda Laugesen (NewSouth Publishing)
- Critical Care: Nurses on the frontline of Australia's AIDS crisis by Geraldine Fela (NewSouth Publishing)
- Näku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions by Clare Wright (Text Publishing)
- The Wild Reciter: Poetry and Popular Culture in Australia 1890-the Present by Peter Kirkpatrick (Melbourne University Publishing)
- Warra Warra Wai by Darren Rix and Craig Cormick (Scribner Australia, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Australia)
Poetry
- Companions, Ancestors, Inscriptions by Peter Boyle (Vagabond Press)
- Makarra by Barrina South (Recent Work Press)
- rock flight by Hasib Hourani (Giramondo Publishing)
- That Galloping Horse by Petra White (Shearsman Books)
- The Other Side of Daylight: New and Selected Poems by David Brooks (University of Queensland Press)
Children's Literature
- A Leaf Called Greaf by Kelly Canby (Fremantle Press)
- Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Tooth Fairy (And Some Things You Didn't) by Briony Stewart (Hachette Australia)
- Leo and Ralph by Peter Carnavas (University of Queensland Press)
- Raymaŋgirrbuy dhäwu When I was a little girl by Kylie Gatjawarrawuy Mununggurr (Magabala Books)
- We Live in a Bus by Dave Petzold (Thames & Hudson Australia)
Young Adult
- Anomaly by Emma Lord (Affirm Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Australia)
- My Family and Other Suspects by Kate Emery (Allen & Unwin)
- The Anti-Racism Kit by Sabina Patawaran and Jinyoung Kim (Hardie Grant Children's Publishing)
- The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland (Penguin Random House Australia)
- Thunderhead by Sophie Beer (Allen & Unwin)
The winners of the 2025 Prime Minister's Literary Awards will be announced on Monday 29 September at a prestigious ceremony held at the National Library of Australia in Canberra. Both the winners and the shortlisted authors will share in a tax-free prize pool of $600,000, making it the richest literary prize in Australia. Each shortlisted entry will receive $5,000 with the winner of each category receiving $80,000.
