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 – Book of the Year [15]	Alan Fyfe	G-d, Sleep, and Chaos	Gazebo

Fiction

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year [16]	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 [17]	Siang Lu	Ghost Cities	University of Queensland Press
Prime Minister's Literary Awards [18]	Michelle de Kretser	Theory & Practice	Text
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 [15]	Louise Wolhuter	Shadows of Winter Robins	Ultimo

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 [19]	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 [18]	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 [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 [15]	Children's	Kelly Canby	A Leaf Called Greaf	Fremantle
	Young Adult	Kate Emery	My Family and Other Suspects	Allen & Unwin

Crime and Mystery

National

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
Davitt Award [20]	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 [21]	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

Award	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
The Age Book of the Year [16]	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 [22]	Biography	Abbas El-Zein	Bullet, Paper, Rock: A Memoir of Words and Wars	Upswell Publishing
Prime Minister's Literary Awards [18]	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 [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 [15]	Non-Fiction	Gerard McCann	Anatomy of a Secret	Fremantle

Poetry

Award	Author	Title	Publisher
Anne Elder Award [23]	Izzy Roberts-Orr	Raw Salt	Vagabond
Mary Gilmore Award [24]	Hasib Hourani	rock flight	Giramondo
Prime Minister's Literary Awards [18]	David Brooks	The Other Side of Daylight: New and Selected Poems	University of Queensland Press
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 [15]	Alan Fyfe	G-d, Sleep, and Chaos	Gazebo

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) ^[25]
• 19 April — Damien Broderick, sf novelist (born 1944) ^[26]
• 5 May — Tracy Sorensen, novelist and academic (born 1963) ^[27]
• 10 June – Leanne Frahm, sf author (born 1946) ^[28]
• 6 August – David Dale, journalist and travel writer (born 1948) ^[29]
• 27 August – Charmaine Papertalk Green, poet and artist (born 1962) ^[30]

See also

• 2025 in Australia
• 2025 in literature
• 2025 in poetry
• List of years in Australian literature
• List of years in literature

References

1. ""Text Publishing joins Penguin Random House"". Text Publishing. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
2. "Landfall by James Bradley". Penguin Australia. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
3. "Panic by Catherine Jinks". Text Publishing. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
4. "The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan"". HarperCollins. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
5. "The Crimson Road by Angela Slatter". ISFDB. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
6. "Unhallowed Halls by Lili Wilkinson". .. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
7. "Chameleon by Robert Dessaix". Text Publishing. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
8. "Joan Lindsay by Brenda Nial". Text Publishing. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
9. "McFarlane wins 2025 ALS Gold Medal". Books+Publishing. 1 July 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
10. ""Indie Book Awards - Winners 2025"". Australian Independent Booksellers. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
11. Story, Hannah (19 May 2025). "Nam Le wins major literary award, 16 years after winning for The Boat". ABC News. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
12. ""'Serious consequences for Australian democracy': Author uses prize speech to warn against censorship"". The Age, 24 May 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
13. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2025". The Wheeler Centre. 2025. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
14. 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.
15. "Fyfe wins 'Book of the Year' at 2025 WA Premier's Book Awards". Books+Publishing. 1 September 2025. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
16. ""A late-career marvel and an enriching memoir: The Age Book of the Year winners"". The Age, 8 May 2025. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
17. "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.
18. "Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2025 winners announced". Books+Publishing. 29 September 2025. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
19. "CBCA Book of the Year Award winners". Books+Publishing. 15 August 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
20. ""Sisters in Crime's 25th Davitt Awards winners announced"". Sisters in Crime. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
21. "2025 Ned Kelly Awards winners". Books+Publishing. 25 September 2025. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
22. "El-Zein wins 2025 National Biography Award". Books+Publishing. 1 August 2025. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
23. "Roberts-Orr wins 2024 Anne Elder Award". Books+Publishing. 3 June 2025. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
24. "Hourani wins 2025 Mary Gilmore Prize". Books+Publishing. 1 July 2025. Retrieved 1 July 2025.
25. 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.
26. ""Damien Broderick (1944-2025)"". File770. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
27. Spencer, Neville (6 May 2025). "Vale Tracy Sorensen: Academic, author and all-round creative human". Green Left. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
28. "Austlit — Leanne Frahm (1946-2025)". Austlit. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
29. "David DALE Obituary (2025) – The Sydney Morning Herald". Legacy.com. 12 August 2025. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
30. Duffy, Piper (28 August 2025). "Indigenous community in mourning after celebrated artist's death". ABC News. Retrieved 1 September 2025.