2025 in Australian literature
This is a list of historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2025.
Events
- Text Publishing is acquired by Penguin Random House Australia.[1]
Major publications
Crime and mystery
- James Bradley – Landfall[2]
- Catherine Jinks – Panic[3]
- Dervla McTiernan – The Unquiet Grave[4]
Science fiction and Fantasy
- Angela Slatter – The Crimson Road[5]
Children's and young adult
- Lili Wilkinson – Unhallowed Halls[6]
Non-Fiction
- Robert Dessaix – Chameleon[7]
- Brenda Niall – Joan Lindsay[8]
Awards and honours
Note: these awards were presented in the year in question.
Lifetime achievement
| Award | Author |
|---|---|
| Patrick White Award | Not yet awarded |
Literary
| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALS Gold Medal[9] | Fiona McFarlane | Highway 13 | Allen & Unwin |
| Colin Roderick Award | Not yet awarded | ||
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year[10] | Robbie Arnott | Dusk | Picador |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[11] | Nam Le | 36 Ways to Write a Vietnamese Poem | Scribner |
| Stella Prize[12] | Michelle de Kretser | Theory & Practice | Text Publishing |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[13][14] | Wanda Gibson | Three Dresses | University of Queensland Press |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Not yet awarded |
Fiction
| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Age Book of the Year[15] | Rodney Hall | Vortex | Picador |
| ARA Historical Novel Prize | Not yet awarded | ||
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction[10] | Robbie Arnott | Dusk | Picador |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Debut Fiction[10] | Lauren Keegan | All the Bees in the Hollows | Affirm Press |
| Miles Franklin Award[16] | Siang Lu | Ghost Cities | University of Queensland Press |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Not yet awarded | ||
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[11] | Fiona McFarlane | Highway 13 | |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Not yet awarded | ||
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[13][14] | Fiona McFarlane | Highway 13 | Allen & Unwin |
| Voss Literary Prize | Not yet awarded | ||
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Not yet awarded |
Children and Young Adult
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARA Historical Novel Prize | Children and Young Adult | Not yet awarded | ||
| Children's Book of the Year Award[17] | 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[10] | 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 | Children's | Not yet awarded | ||
| Young Adult | Not yet awarded | |||
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[11] | Children's | Katrina Nannestad | All the Beautiful Things | HarperCollins |
| Young People's | Emma Lord | Anomaly | Affirm Press | |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Children's | Not yet awarded | ||
| Young Adult | Not yet awarded | |||
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[13][14] | Young Adult Fiction | Emma Lord | Anomaly | Affirm Press |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Children's | Not yet awarded | ||
| Young Adult | Not yet awarded |
Crime and Mystery
National
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davitt Award | Novel | Not yet awarded | ||
| Young adult novel | Not yet awarded | |||
| Children's novel | Not yet awarded | |||
| Non-fiction | Not yet awarded | |||
| Debut | Not yet awarded | |||
| Readers' choice | Not yet awarded | |||
| Ned Kelly Award | Novel | Not yet awarded | ||
| First novel | Not yet awarded | |||
| True crime | Not yet awarded |
Non-Fiction
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Age Book of the Year[15] | Non-Fiction | Lech Blaine | Australian Gospel | Black Inc. |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year[10] | 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[18] | Biography | Abbas El-Zein | Bullet, Paper, Rock: A Memoir of Words and Wars | Upswell Publishing |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Non-Fiction | Not yet awarded | ||
| Australian History | Not yet awarded | |||
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[11] | Non-Fiction | James Bradley | Deep Water | Hamish Hamilton |
| New South Wales Premier's History Awards | Australian History | Not yet awarded | ||
| Community and Regional History | Not yet awarded | |||
| General History | Not yet awarded | |||
| Queensland Literary Awards | Non-Fiction | Not yet awarded | ||
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[13][14] | Non-Fiction | Susan Hampton | Anything Can Happen | Puncher & Wattman |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Not yet awarded |
Poetry
| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anne Elder Award[19] | Izzy Roberts-Orr | Raw Salt | Vagabond |
| Mary Gilmore Award[20] | Hasib Hourani | Rock Flight | Giramondo |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Not yet awarded | ||
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[11] | Hasib Hourani | rock flight | Giramondo |
| Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection | Not yet awarded | ||
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[13][14] | Jeanine Leane | Gawimarra: Gathering | University of Queensland Press |
| Western Australian Premier's Book Awards | Not yet awarded |
Drama
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[11] | 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[13][14] | Nathan Maynard | 37 | Currency Press, with Melbourne Theatre Company |
Deaths
- 26 March — Kerry Greenwood, novelist and lawyer (born 1954)[21]
- 19 April — Damien Broderick, sf novelist (born 1944)[22]
- 5 May — Tracy Sorensen, novelist and academic (born 1963)[23]
- 10 June – Leanne Frahm, sf author (born 1946)[24]
- 6 August – David Dale, journalist and travel writer (born 1948)[25]
See also
- 2025 in Australia
- 2025 in literature
- 2025 in poetry
- List of years in Australian literature
- List of years in literature
References
- ^ ""Text Publishing joins Penguin Random House"". Text Publishing. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
- ^ "Landfall by James Bradley". Penguin Australia. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
- ^ "Panic by Catherine Jinks". Text Publishing. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
- ^ "The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan"". HarperCollins. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
- ^ "The Crimson Road by Angela Slatter". ISFDB. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
- ^ "Unhallowed Halls by Lili Wilkinson". .. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
- ^ "Chameleon by Robert Dessaix". Text Publishing. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
- ^ "Joan Lindsay by Brenda Nial". Text Publishing. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
- ^ "McFarlane wins 2025 ALS Gold Medal". Books+Publishing. 1 July 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
- ^ a b c d e ""Indie Book Awards - Winners 2025"". Australian Independent Booksellers. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f 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.
- ^ a b c d e f "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2025". The Wheeler Centre. 2025. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f 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.
- ^ a b ""A late-career marvel and an enriching memoir: The Age Book of the Year winners"". The Age, 8 May 2025. Retrieved 9 May 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.
- ^ "CBCA Book of the Year Award winners". Books+Publishing. 15 August 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
- ^ "El-Zein wins 2025 National Biography Award". Books+Publishing. 1 August 2025. Retrieved 6 August 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.
- ^ 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.
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