The State Library of NSW has announced the shortlisted works for the 2026 NSW Literary Awards. This year, a total of $320,000 will be awarded across 12 categories.
“For many years, the NSW Literary Awards has shone a light on writers who shape our national literary landscape. We hope today’s recognition sparks the next wave of outstanding literary talent and supports writers to continue their inspiring work,” said Minister for the Arts the Hon John Graham MLC.
“Behind every unforgettable story is a writer with extraordinary imagination and skill. With the support of our Government, the 2026 NSW Literary Awards celebrate these writers and the joy, insight and connection their books offer readers,” said State Librarian Dr Caroline Butler-Bowdon.
The NSW Literary Awards are administered by the State Library of NSW in association with Create NSW and are judged by an independent committee of writers, academics, critics, librarians and other sector professionals.
“This year’s shortlists are a testament to the depth and breadth of Australian writing. Exploring questions of identity, grief and loss, dispossession and displacement, and the ongoing trauma of colonisation, the shortlisted works speak to these often difficult truths with eloquence, clarity and courage, and offer a powerful reminder of the vital role writing and literature play in helping us make sense of the world around us,” said Senior Judge James Bradley OAM.
The inaugural NSW Literary Awards were first presented in 1979 by Premier Neville Wran (then known as the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards) and were the first Premier’s literary awards to be offered in Australia.
Past winners have included such notable writers as Peter Carey, David Malouf AO, Elizabeth Jolley, Thomas Keneally AO, Helen Garner, Michelle de Kretser, Peter Polites, Michael Mohammed Ahmad and Ellen van Neerven.
The winners of the NSW Literary Awards will be announced at the State Library of NSW at the start of the Sydney Writers’ Festival on on Monday 18 May 2026. For more information, visit: www.sl.nsw.gov.au for details.
Image: A selection of 2026 NSW Literary Awards titles (supplied)
The 2026 NSW Literary Awards shortlists:
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($40,000)
• Cure by Katherine Brabon (Ultimo Press)
• Arborescence by Rhett Davis (Hachette Australia)
• The Immigrants: Fabula Mirabilis, or A Wonderful Story by Moreno Giovannoni (Black Inc)
• The Passenger Seat by Vijay Khurana (Ultimo Press)
• Rapture by Emily Maguire (Allen & Unwin)
• Elegy, Southwest by Madeleine Watts (Ultimo Press)
Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction ($40,000)
• Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent (Picador Australia, an imprint of Pan Macmillan Australia)
• Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An encyclopaedia of a Palestinian family by Micaela Sahhar (NewSouth Publishing)
• Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath by S. Shakthidharan (Powerhouse Publishing)
• 58 Facets: On law, violence and revolution by Marika Sosnowski (Melbourne University Publishing)
• Clever Men: How worlds collided on the scientific expedition to Arnhem Land of 1948 by Martin Thomas (Allen & Unwin)
• Näku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions: How the people of Yirrkala changed the course of Australian democracy by Clare Wright (Text Publishing)
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry ($30,000)
• A Sonogrammar by Kay L Are (Puncher and Wattmann)
• Year of the Ox by Andrew Brooks (Cordite Publishing Inc)
• How To Emerge by Jill Jones (Vagabond Press)
• Bathypelagia by Debbie Lim (Cordite Publishing Inc)
• The Hum Hearers by Shey Marque (UWA Publishing)
• Past & Parallel Lives by Kaya Ortiz (UWA Publishing)
Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature ($30,000)
• Little Bones by Sandy Bigna (UQP)
• Into the Bewilderness by Gus Gordon (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
• The Year We Escaped by Suzanne Leal (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
• An Ant’s Guide to Being an Ant by Zoe Meagher and Julia Darling (Museums Victoria Publishing)
• A Gift from the Birds by Caroline Stills (Text Publishing)
• Gone by Michel Streich (Thames & Hudson Australia)
Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature ($30,000)
• A Good Kind of Trouble by Brooke Blurton and Melanie Saward (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
• How to Be Normal by Ange Crawford (Walker Books Australia)
• Darkest Night, Brightest Star by Barry Jonsberg (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
• Weaving Us Together by Lay Maloney (Lothian Children’s Books, and imprint of Hachette Australia)
• Golden by Jade Timms (Text Publishing)
• Desert Tracks by Marly Wells and Linda Wells (Magabala Books) Highly commended:
• Starlight by Solli Raphael (Puffin, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia)
Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting ($30,000)
• Song of First Desire by Andrew Bovell (Belvoir St Theatre/Currency Press)
• The Black Woman of Gippsland by Andrea James (Melbourne Theatre Company/Currency Press)
• SNAKEFACE by Aliyah Knight (Fruit Box Theatre and Belvoir 25A)
• Destiny by Kirsty Marillier (Melbourne Theatre Company)
• The Wrong Gods by S. Shakthidharan (Belvoir St Theatre/Melbourne Theatre Company/Currency Press)
• Troy by Tom Wright (Malthouse Theatre)
Highly commended:
• Koreaboo by Michelle Lim Davidson (Griffin Theatre Company)
• Nucleus by Alana Valentine (Griffin Theatre Company/Currency Press)
Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting ($30,000)
• Mystery Road: Origin, Season 2, Episode 2 by Jada Alberts (Bunya Productions, ABC)
• The Correspondent by Peter Duncan (Pop Family Entertainment)
• Fisk, Season 3, Episode 3 ‘I’m the Fisk’ by Penny Flanagan and Kitty Flanagan (ABC)
• Christy by Mirrah Foulkes and David Michôd (Black Bear)
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Episode 4 by Shaun Grant (Curio Pictures, Screen Australia, Amazon MGM Studios)
• Apple Cider Vinegar, Episode 1 by Samantha Strauss (See-Saw Films & Picking Scabs)
Indigenous Writers’ Prize ($30,000)
• Murriyang: Song of time by Stan Grant (Bundyi, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Australia)
• Apron-Sorrow / Sovereign-Tea by Natalie Harkin (Wakefield Press)
• On the Way to Yalanbara by Rärriwuy Gurramu Marika and Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs (Indigenous Literacy Foundation)
• Eclipse by Kirli Saunders (JOAN, an imprint of Allen & Unwin)
• Long Yarn Short: We Are Still Here by Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts (UQP)
• Old Days Imanka nurna laakinha nitjaarta by Marjorie Nunga Williams (Magabala Books)
Multicultural NSW Award ($30,000)
• Discipline by Randa Abdel-Fattah (UQP)
• Learned Behaviours by Zeynab Gamieldien (Ultimo Press)
• Murriyang: Song of time by Stan Grant (Bundyi, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Australia)
• How to Dodge Flying Sandals and Other Advice for Life by Daniel Nour (Affirm Press)
• Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An encyclopaedia of a Palestinian family by Micaela Sahhar (NewSouth Publishing)
• Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath by S. Shakthidharan (Powerhouse Publishing)
Highly commended:
• Shapeshifting, edited by Jeanine Leane and Ellen van Neerven (UQP)
• It’s a Sign by Ela Pinar (Guest House Publishing)
UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing ($10,000 — sponsored by University of Technology Sydney)
• How to Be Normal by Ange Crawford (Walker Books Australia)
• SNAKEFACE by Aliyah Knight (Fruit Box Theatre and Belvoir 25A)
• An Ant’s Guide to Being an Ant by Zoe Meagher and Julia Darling (Museums Victoria Publishing)
• Wait Here by Lucy Nelson (Summit Books Australia, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Australia)
• A Savage Turn by Luke Patterson (Magabala Books)
• Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An encyclopaedia of a Palestinian family by Micaela Sahhar (NewSouth Publishing)
• Long Yarn Short: We Are Still Here by Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts (UQP)
The University of Sydney People’s Choice Award ($10,000)
Voting has opened for The University of Sydney People’s Choice Award. The winner will be chosen by the public from the shortlists for the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction and Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry.