2026 in Australian literature
This is a list of historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2026.
Events
Major publications
Literary fiction
- Michael Mohammed Ahmad – Bugger[1]
- Yumna Kassab – Goodbye, My Love[2]
- Amanda Lohrey – Capture[3]
- Fiona Kelly McGregor – The Trap[4]
- Steve Toltz – A Rising of the Lights[5]
- Sarah Walker – The Water Takes[6]
- Chloe Wilson – The Thornbacks[7]
- Michael Winkler – Griefdogg[8]
- Fiona Wright – Kill Your Boomers[9]
Science fiction and fantasy
- John Morrissey – Bird Deity[10]
Poetry
- Beverley Farmer – For the Season : Haikus[11]
- Lulu Houdini – ma-li[12]
- Maria van Neerven – Two Tongues[13]
Non-Fiction
- Tyree Barnett – Stolen Man on Stolen Land[14]
- Bob Carr – Bring Back Yesterday[15]
- Charlotte Grieve – Duty to Warn[16]
- Susan Lever – A. D. Hope : A Life[17]
- Konrad Marshall – Run For Your Life[18]
- Alan Joyce — Alan Joyce: Riding the Jet Stream[19]
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 | Not yet awarded | ||
| Colin Roderick Award | Not yet awarded | ||
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year[20] | Charlotte McConaghy | Wild Dark Shore | Penguin |
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[21] | Clare Wright | Näku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions | Text Publishing |
| Stella Prize[22] | Lee Lai | Cannon | Giramondo |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[23] | Evelyn Araluen | The Rot | University of Queensland Press |
Fiction
| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Not awarded | ||
| The Age Book of the Year[24] | Moreno Giovannoni | The Immigrants | Black Inc. |
| ARA Historical Novel Prize | Not yet awarded | ||
| Barbara Jefferis Award | Not yet awarded | ||
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction[20] | Charlotte McConaghy | Wild Dark Shore | Penguin |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Debut Fiction[20] | Emma Pei Yin | When Sleeping Women Wake | Hachette Australia |
| Miles Franklin Award[25] | Omar Musa | Fierceland | Penguin Random House |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Not yet awarded | ||
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[21] | Moreno Giovannoni | The Immigrants | Black Inc. |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Not yet awarded | ||
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[23] | Omar Musa | Fierceland | Penguin |
| Voss Literary Prize | 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[26] | Older Readers | Barry Jonsberg | Darkest Night, Brightest Star | Allen & Unwin Children's |
| Younger Readers | Karen Wasson, illus. Jake A Minton | Inked | Figment Books | |
| Picture Book | Zeno Sworder | Once I Was a Giant | Thames and Hudson | |
| Early Childhood | Rae Tan | The Emperor's Egg | Lothian | |
| Eve Pownall Award for Information Books | Stephanie Owen Reeder | Peculiar Parents | National Library of Australia Publishing | |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year[20] | Children's | Jessica Townsend | Silverborn | Lothian |
| Young Adult | Amy Doak | Eleanor Jones Is Playing with Fire | Penguin | |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Children's | Not yet awarded | ||
| Young Adult | Not yet awarded | |||
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[21] | Children's | Michel Streich | Gone | Thames and Hudson |
| Young People's | Marly Wells and Linda Wells | Desert Tracks | Magabala Books | |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Children's | Not yet awarded | ||
| Young Adult | Not yet awarded | |||
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[23] | Children's | Zeno Sworder | Once I Was a Giant | Thames and Hudson |
| Young Adult | Margot McGovern | This Stays Between Us | Penguin |
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 | |||
Poetry
| Award | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Not awarded | ||
| Anne Elder Award | Not yet awarded | ||
| Mary Gilmore Award[27] | Liv Moriarty | Gravity and Gravel | No More Poetry |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Not yet awarded | ||
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[21] | Jill Jones | How to Emerge | Vagabond Books |
| Judith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection | Not yet awarded | ||
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[23] | Eunice Andrada | KONTRA | Giramondo Publishing |
Drama
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[21] | Script | Shaun Grant | The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Episode 4 | Curio Pictures, Screen Australia, Amazon MGM Studios |
| Play | Andrea James | The Black Woman of Gippsland | Melbourne Theatre Company/Currency Press | |
| Victorian Premier's Literary Awards[23] | Emilie Collyer | Super | Currency Press | |
| Patrick White Playwrights' Award | Award | Not yet awarded | ||
| Fellowship | Not yet awarded |
Non-Fiction
| Award | Category | Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature | Non-Fiction | Not awarded | ||
| The Age Book of the Year[24] | Non-Fiction | Kate Wild | The Red House | Allen & Unwin |
| Indie Book Awards Book of the Year[20] | Non-Fiction | Hannah Kent | Always Home, Always Homesick | Picador |
| Illustrated Non-Fiction | Tim Pilgrim | Wild by Design | Murdoch | |
| National Biography Award[28] | Biography | Helen Ennis | Max Dupain: A Portrait | 4th Estate |
| Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Not yet awarded | |||
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards[21] | Non-Fiction | Clare Wright | Näku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions | Text Publishing |
| 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[23] | Non-Fiction | Micaela Sahhar | Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An Encyclopaedia of a Palestinian Family | NewSouth Publishing |
Deaths
- 29 January – Heather Goodall, historian and biographer (born 1950)[29]
- 7 February – John Flanagan, fantasy author (born 1944)[30]
- 12 February – Lionel Fogarty, poet (born 1958)[31]
- 9 March – Patricia Clarke, historian, journalist and writer (born 1926)[32]
- 22 April – David Malouf, poet and novelist (born 1934)[33]
- 25 April – Annette Macarthur-Onslow, writer and book illustrator (born 1933)[34]
- 13 July – Barry Dickins, author and playwright (born 1949)[35]
See also
References
- ↑ "Bugger by Michael Mohammed Ahmad". Hachette Australia n. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "Goodbye, My Love by Yumna Kassab". Hardie Grant. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "Capture by Amanda Lohrey". Austlit. Retrieved 29 May 2026.
- ↑ "The Trap by Fiona Kelly McGregor". Pan Macmillan. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "A Rising of the Lights by Steve Toltz". Penguin Books. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "The Water Takes by Sarah Walker". Simon and Schuster. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "The Thornbacks by Chloe Wilson". Penguin Books. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "Griefdogg by Michael Winkler". Text Publishing. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "Kill Your Boomers by Fiona Wright". Hardie Grant. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "Bird Deity by John Morrissey". Text Publishing. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "For the Season : Haikus by Beverley Farmer". Giramondo Publishing. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "ma-li by Lulu Houdini". Hachette Australia. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "Two Tongues by Maria van Neerven". UQP. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "Stolen Man on Stolen Land by Tyree Barnett". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ ""Bring Back Yesterday by Bob Carr". Allen & Unwin. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "Duty to Warn by Charlotte Grieve". Hachette Australia. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "Austlit – A. D. Hope : A Life by Susan Lever". Austlit. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
- ↑ "Run For Your Life by Konrad Marshall". Hardie Grant. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ Hedgman, Andrew (24 October 2025). "Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to release candid memoir of Qantas years". The Australian. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 ""'Wild Dark Shore' wins Book of the Year at 2026 Indie Book Awards"". Bookseller+Publisher. Retrieved 24 March 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "NSW Literary Awards 2026 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 18 May 2026. Retrieved 18 May 2026.
- ↑ Cain, Sian (13 May 2026). "Stella prize 2026: Lee Lai becomes first non-binary person and first graphic novelist to win with Cannon". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nothover, Kylie (25 February 2026). "'So many stories to tell': First Nations poet wins prestigious literary prize". The Age. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- 1 2 ""A masterclass in fiction and a vivid exploration of race: The Age Book of the Year winners"". The Age. 7 May 2026. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
- ↑ Cain, Sian (5 August 2026). "Omar Musa wins Miles Franklin literary award for 'tour de force' novel Fierceland". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
- ↑ "CBCA 2026 Book of the Year Award winners". Books+Publishing. 21 August 2026. Retrieved 22 August 2026.
- ↑ "Mary Gilmore Award". ASAL - Association for the Study of Australian Literature. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
- ↑ "Max Dupain biography wins 2026 National Biography Award". Books+Publishing. 12 August 2026. Retrieved 12 August 2026.
- ↑ "Vale Emeritus Professor Heather Goodall AM FRSN FASSA". The Royal Society of NSW. 4 February 2026. Retrieved 4 February 2026.
- ↑ ""In Memory of John Flanagan (May 22, 1944 – February 7, 2026)"". InkWell Management. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
- ↑ "Austlit - Lionel Fogarty". Austlit. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
- ↑ "Clarke, Patricia". The Australian Women's Register. Retrieved 15 March 2026.
- ↑ ""Acclaimed writer David Malouf dies aged 92"". The Age. 23 April 2026. Retrieved 23 April 2026.
- ↑ "Annette Macarthur-Onslow Obituary". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 May 2026. Retrieved 3 May 2026.
- ↑ "Barry Dickens". Deaths and Funerals. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
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