The Readings Prize, now in its 10th year, has been an important barometer of up-and-coming literary talent since 2014. We began with The Readings New Australian Fiction Prize and shortly thereafter extended it to include children’s fiction for ages 5–12 years and then young adult fiction for ages 12 and up. It’s a prize for debut and second novels, and it really does put writers on the map, giving them a much-needed boost (and financial support) for their career. Writers including Jennifer Down, Stephanie Bishop, Ceridwen Dovey, Zana Fraillon, Karen Foxlee and Trace Balla were awarded the Readings Prize early on in their careers, and now they are household names for book lovers. Many of these authors have also gone on to receive even more prestigious literary prizes for their books, which just goes to show that Readings booksellers have excellent taste!

For the last four years, our prize manager was Gab Williams, a well-known young adult author and long-term Readings staffer. She adjudicated the prize with much passion and know-how from both sides of the fence – bookseller and author. It was a terrible shock to us all when she passed away suddenly in January this year. It took many months before we could consider someone else stepping in to run the prize, and now as we inevitably must move forward with the prize process, we want to acknowledge her contribution to the Australian literary scene with a new prize in the genre of writing she was synonymous with – young adult literature. The prize winner will be announced a week after the main prizes and will be chosen from our shortlist by our esteemed Teen Advisory Board, who are all between 15–19 years old and are utterly passionate about reading. It will be known as The Gab Williams Prize and we hope that Gab would be pleased that we have paid homage to her invaluable contribution to the Australian literary scene and literature in this way.

Our three expert panels of passionate Readings’ booksellers have spent countless hours reading up to 60 novels during the year to bring you our shortlists. Please read on to discover our favourite up-and-coming Australian authors and their beautifully written books – which are also absolute page-turners! There really is something for everyone in these lists, no matter your age. Our winners will be announced in late October at a very special live event, but until then we are delighted to share and celebrate these wonderful books with you.

Explore The Readings Children’s Prize Shortlist for the best new contribution to Australian children’s literature.

Explore The Readings Young Adult Prize shortlist for the best new contribution to young adult literature.

Explore The Readings New Australian Fiction Prize shortlist for the best new contribution to Australian literature.