The ARA Historical Novel Prize is the richest individual literary prize in Australia and New Zealand with prize monies of $150,000 across two categories. The winner of the Adult category receives $100,000 with the Children and Young Adult winner receiving $30,000. The two shortlisted authors in each category receive $5,000 each, while the winner of the Reader's Choice Award also receives $5,000. The prize is run by the Historical Novel Society Australasia in partnership with the sponsor, ARA Group.
The 2020 Prize only awarded novels in the Adult category. The Children and Young Adults category was introduced in 2021 and the Reader's Choice Award was first awarded in 2025 for longlisted novels in the Adult category. [1]
The Historical Novel Society Australasia explained the boundaries of the prize as follows: "The definition of the genre set by the Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) is a novel in which the majority of the narrative, ie more than 50% of the events described, has taken place at least 50 years before publication.
"Historical sub-genres considered to be historical fiction include historical mystery, historical romance, and historical fantasy and alternate history. Time-slip novels, multiple-time period novels, and parallel narrative novels are also considered historical fiction with flexibility to crossover between eras stretching from 50 years or more in the past until contemporary times provided more than 50% of the events described take place at least 50 years before publication." [2]
The longlists for the ARA Historical Novel Prize are announced in September, [3] the shortlists in early October and the winners later in the same month. [2]
| Year | Author | Title | Publisher | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | ||||
| Bernice Barry | The Names of a Hare | Fremantle Press | Shortlisted [4] | |
| Lauren Keenan | The Other Catherine | Penguin | ||
| Fiona Kelly McGregor | The Trap | Picador | ||
| Jeffery Buchanan | The Birds Began to Sing | Text Publishing | Longlisted [5] | |
| Lauren Keegan | The Woman in the Seal Skin | Affirm Press | ||
| Wayne Marshall | Henry Goes Bush | Picador | ||
| Heather Rose | A Great Act of Love | Allen & Unwin | ||
| A Rushby | Slashed Beauties | HQ Fiction | ||
| Francesca de Tores | Cast Away | Bloomsbury | ||
| 2025 | ||||
| Robbie Arnott | Dusk | Picador | Joint Winners [1] | |
| Tasma Walton | I Am Nannertgarrook | Bundyi | ||
| Malcolm Knox | The First Friend | Allen and Unwin | Shortlisted [6] | |
| Matthew Hooton | Everything Lost, Everything Found | Fourth Estate | Longlisted [7] | |
| Lauren Keegan | All the Bees in the Hollows | Affirm | ||
| Emily Maguire | Rapture | Allen and Unwin | ||
| Debra Oswald | One Hundred Years of Betty | Allen and Unwin | ||
| Jane Yang | The Lotus Shoes | Sphere | ||
| Emma Pei Yin | When Sleeping Women Wake | Hachette | ||
| 2024 | ||||
| Melissa Lucashenko | Edenglassie | University of Queensland Press | Winner [8] | |
| Lenny Bartulin | The Unearthed | Allen and Unwin | Shortlisted [9] | |
| Tony Birch | Women & Children | University of Queensland Press | Shortlisted [9] | |
| Lauren Chater | The Beauties | Simon & Schuster | Longlisted [10] | |
| Stephen Daisley | A Better Place | Text Publishing | Longlisted [10] | |
| Kate Grenville | Restless Dolly Maunder | Text Publishing | Longlisted [10] | |
| Jane Harrison | The Visitors | HarperCollins | Longlisted [10] | |
| Natasha Lester | The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard | Hachette Australia | Longlisted [10] | |
| Catherine McKinnon | To Sing of War | HarperCollins | Longlisted [10] | |
| 2023 | ||||
| Gail Jones | Salonika Burning | Text Publishing | Winner [11] | |
| Fiona Kelly McGregor | Iris | Pan Macmillan | Shortlisted [12] | |
| Jock Serong | The Settlement | Text Publishing | Shortlisted [12] | |
| Robbie Arnott | Limberlost | Text Publishing | Longlisted [13] | |
| Robyn Cadwallader | The Fire and the Rose | HarperCollins | Longlisted [13] | |
| Robert Drewe | Nimblefoot | Hamish Hamilton | Longlisted [13] | |
| Alison Goodman | The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies | HarperCollins | Longlisted [13] | |
| Fiona McFarlane | The Sun Walks Down | Allen and Unwin | Longlisted [13] | |
| Pip Williams | The Bookbinder of Jericho | Affirm Press | Longlisted [13] | |
| 2022 | ||||
| Tom Keneally | Corporal Hitler's Pistol | Penguin Books | Winner [14] | |
| Geraldine Brooks | Horse | Hachette Australia | Shortlisted [15] | |
| Robyn Mundy | Cold Coast | Ultimo Press | Shortlisted [15] | |
| Karen Brooks | The Good Wife of Bath | HarperCollins | Longlisted [16] | |
| Lauren Chater | The Winter Dress | Simon and Schuster | Longlisted [16] | |
| Steven Carroll | Goodnight, Vivienne, Goodnight | HarperCollins | Longlisted [16] | |
| Portland Jones | Only Bird Above | Fremantle Press | Longlisted [16] | |
| Kim Kelly | The Rat Catcher | Brio Books | Longlisted [16] | |
| David Whish-Wilson | Sawdust House | Fremantle Press | Longlisted [16] | |
| 2021 | ||||
| Jock Serong | The Burning Island | Text Publishing | Winner [17] | |
| Anita Heiss | Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray | Simon and Schuster | Shortlisted [18] | |
| Gail Jones | Our Shadows | Text Publishing | Shortlisted [18] | |
| Stephen Conte | The Tolstoy Estate | HarperCollins | Longlisted [19] | |
| Kate Grenville | A Room Made of Leaves | Text Publishing | Longlisted [19] | |
| Anthony Hall | The Last Convict | Penguin Books | Longlisted [19] | |
| Robert Horne | The Glass Harpoon | Ginninderra Press | Longlisted [19] | |
| Ian Reid | The Madwoman's Coat | Framework Press | Longlisted [19] | |
| Lyn Yeowart | The Silent Listener | Penguin Books | Longlisted [19] | |
| 2020 [20] | ||||
| Mirandi Riwoe | Stone Sky Gold Mountain | University of Queensland Press | Winner | |
| Sienna Brown | Master of My Fate | Penguin Books | Shortlisted | |
| Catherine Jinks | Shepherd | Text Publishing | Shortlisted | |
| Nigel Featherstone | Bodies of Men | Hachette Australia | Longlisted | |
| Dominic Smith | The Electric Hotel | Allen and Unwin | Longlisted | |
| Christos Tsiolkas | Damascus | Allen and Unwin | Longlisted | |
| Pip Williams | The Dictionary of Lost Words | Affirm Press | Longlisted | |
| Tara June Winch | The Yield | Penguin Books | Longlisted | |
| Year | Author | Title | Publisher | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | ||||
| Meg Caddy | A Flash in the Dust | University of Queensland Press | Shortlisted [4] | |
| Jackie French | Cleopatra: The Girl Who Would be King | HarperCollins | ||
| Claire Halifax | A House Divided | Walker Books | ||
| Maria Gill | A Flame in the Dark | One Tree House | Longlisted [5] | |
| Lucie Stevens | Nanny Tobbins and the Midnight Plan | HarperCollins | ||
| Sue Whiting | Hill End Gold | Walker Books | ||
| 2025 | ||||
| Suzanne Leal | The Year We Escaped | HarperCollins | Winner [1] | |
| Anna Ciddor | Moonboy | Allen and Unwin | Shortlisted [6] | |
| Judith Rossell | The Midwatch | HGCP | ||
| Helen Edwards | On Gallant Wings | Riveted | Longlisted [7] | |
| Sophie Masson | Our History: Bold Ben Hall | Walker Books | ||
| Catherine Norton | Hester Hitchins and the Falling Stars | HarperCollins | ||
| Lucie Stevens | RIP Nanny Tobbins | HarperCollins | ||
| Marly & Linda Wells | Desert Tracks | Magabala Books | ||
| 2024 | ||||
| Beverley McWilliams | Spies in the Sky | Pantera Press | Winner [8] | |
| Jackie French | Secret Sparrow | HarperCollins | Shortlisted [21] | |
| Rebecca Lim | Two Sparrowhawks in a Lonely Sky | Allen and Unwin | ||
| Nicki Greenburg | The Detective’s Guide to Paris | Affirm Press | Longlisted [22] | |
| Katrina Nannestad | Silver Linings | ABC Books | ||
| Catherine Norton | The Fortune Maker | HarperCollins | ||
| Jackie Randall | Only Two | Self-Published | ||
| 2023 | ||||
| Amelia Mellor | The Bookseller's Apprentice | Affirm Press | Winner [11] | |
| Suzanne Leal | Running with Ivan | HarperCollins | Shortlisted [23] | |
| Katrina Nannestad | Waiting for the Storks | ABC Books | ||
| Jackie French | The Great Gallipoli Escape | HarperCollins | Longlisted [24] | |
| Ellie Marney | The Killing Code | Allen and Unwin | ||
| Lystra Rose | The Upwelling | Hachette Australia | ||
| Pamela Rushby | The Mud Puddlers | Walker Books | ||
| Philippa Werry | Iris and Me | Ahoy! An Imprint of The Cuba Press | ||
| Sue Whiting | Tilda | Walker Books | ||
| 2022 | ||||
| Katrina Nannestad | Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief | HarperCollins | Winner [14] | |
| Brian Falkner | Katipo Joe: Wolf’s Lair | Scholastic New Zealand | Shortlisted [25] | |
| Claire Saxby | The Wearing of the Green | Walker Books | ||
| Felice Arena | The Unstoppable Flying Flanagan | Penguin Books | Longlisted [26] | |
| Meg Caddy | Slipping the Noose | Text Publishing | ||
| Chloe Gong | Our Violent Ends | Hachette New Zealand | ||
| Lauren Keenan | Amorangi and Millie’s Trip Through Time | Huia Publishing | ||
| David Metzenthen | Augustin and the Hot Air Balloon | Ford Street Publishing | ||
| Pamela Rushby | The Secret Battle | Eagle Books | ||
| 2021 | ||||
| Katrina Nannestad | We are Wolves | ABC Books | Winner [17] | |
| Amelia Mellor | The Grandest Bookshop in the World | Affirm Press | Shortlisted [27] | |
| Pamela Rushby | The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle | Walker Books | ||
| Anna Ciddor | The Boy Who Stepped Through Time | Allen and Unwin | Longlisted [28] | |
| Jackie French | Night Ride into Danger | HarperCollins | ||
| Suzanne Gervay | Heroes of the Secret Underground | HarperCollins | ||
| Nicki Greenberg | The Detective’s Guide to Ocean Travel | Affirm Press | ||
| Cameron Nunn | Echo in the Memory | Walker Books | ||
| Richard Yaxley | Harmony | Scholastic | ||