It's that time of year again! In just a week, we will be announcing who's made the shortlist for this year's Readings Prizes! The judges have been busy reading up a storm and we can't wait to tell you which books they've chosen!
First presented in 2014, The Readings Prize continues to support new and outstanding Australian voices. Take a look back at the previous eleven winners of The Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, and keep an eye out for the shortlist announcement, coming soon!
2024
Thanks for Having Me by Emma Darragh
This novel, written in interlocking stories, follows Mary Anne, Vivien and Evie, three generations of women from the same working-class family in Wollongong. Non-chronologically told, part of the joy of this book is piecing the women's story together. Emma Darragh is an exciting and unusual new voice in Australian literature with a sympathetic and darkly funny view of her characters’ successes and failures in motherhood and life.
'It’s hard to believe this is a debut. Emma Darragh’s fresh take on “bad mothers” is compassionate, sophisticated, surprising – and often laugh-out-loud funny. A gorgeous read, and bound to get you talking at your next book club.' - Melinda Houston, 2024 chair of judges.
The titles that made the 2024 shortlist: Ghost Cities by Siang Lu, No Church in the Wild by Murray Middleton, Salt River Road by Molly Schmidt, The Opposite of Success by Eleanor Elliott Thomas and But the Girl by Jessica Zhan Mei Yu.
2023
All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien
When Ky Tran’s brother is brutally murdered inside a restaurant in 1996, it seems impossible that no-one in the crowd saw anything. Yet the police are at a dead end when none of the witnesses will speak. Ky decides to take matters into her own hands and investigate, in this complex exploration of racial identity and the intricate bonds between friends and family.
'A powerful connection between writer and reader was evident across this new Australian writing, and nowhere more strongly than in the winning book, All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien.' Nicki Levy, 2023 chair of judges
The titles that made the 2023 shortlist: Search History by Amy Taylor, Hydra by Adriane Howell, Time and Tide in Sarajevo by Bronwyn Birdsall, Funny Ethnics by Shirley Le and A Country of Eternal Light by Paul Dalgarno.
2022
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
A daughter arranges to meet her mother in Japan; a reunion of sorts. As they travel through art galleries and temples, share meals and hotel rooms, it is clear that deeply held expectations are not being met. This is a powerful exploration of family, creation and regret that also plays with elements of time and perspective.
‘It was a difficult decision to choose one title from this list. The judging panel reflected on, rather than judged, how each title gave us a new insight into our humanity. To that end, Jessica Au’s quiet contemplative prose about a mother and a daughter traveling was considered the needed juxtaposition to the past year.’ The 2022 panel of judges.
The titles that made the 2022 shortlist: Hovering by Rhett Davis, Losing Face by George Haddad, Love and Virtue by Diana Reid, Loveland by Robert Lukins Sunbathing by Isobel Beech.
2021
Lucky's by Andrew Pippos
When Lucky moves to Australia in a flow of post-war migration, he takes over a Greek-Australian café – one of those iconic features of Australia’s mid-century dining landscape. As we get to know Lucky and the community around him, a picture emerges of family, love, survival and identity. Andrew Pippos brings these characters to life in a way few first-time authors could and has created a charming, familiar delight of a novel, full of hope, fortune and fate.
'There is humour and warmth in this story, as well as wisdom and madness. Pippos is never afraid to show a darker side to his characters; they can be unlikeable at times, but there is redemption too. He reminds us not to give up, to have hope, to trust.' Kate McIntosh, 2021 chair of judges.
The titles that made the 2021 shortlist: New Animal by Ella Baxter, She is Haunted by Paige Clark, Echolalia by Briohny Doyle, Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson and Born Into This by Adam Thompson.
2020
Smart Ovens for Lonely People by Elizabeth Tan
Conspiracies, memes, and therapies of various efficacy underpin this beguiling short story collection. With her unique wit and slicing social commentary, Elizabeth Tan’s short stories are as funny as they are insightful. This collection introduces her as one of Australia’s most inventive writers.
‘This is a truly exciting work; Tan’s stories push the form, and offer a quixotic but penetrating look into our contemporary life. Her collection stood out to the judges for its originality, its clear and concise writing, and its humour – Smart Ovens for Lonely People is laugh-out-loud funny.’ The 2020 panel of judges.
The titles that made the 2020 shortlist: The Animals In That Country by Laura Jean McKay, Dolores by Lauren Aimee Curtis, Lucky Ticket by Joey Bui, A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing by Jessie Tu and The House of Youssef by Yumna Kassab.
2019
The Glad Shout by Alice Robinson
After a catastrophic storm destroys Melbourne, Isobel flees to higher ground with her husband and young daughter. Food and supplies run low, panic sets in and still no help arrives. To protect her daughter, Isobel must take drastic action.
'There is just so much to admire in the writing of this novel. Its sense of character, time, and place is faultless. Robinson has a wonderful feel for the Australian vernacular in her dialogue: these are people we know, or might be already.' The 2019 panel of Judges.
The titles that made the 2019 shortlist: A Constant Hum by Alice Bishop, Inappropriation by Lexi Freiman, The Flight of Birds by Joshua Lobb, A Superior Spectre by Angela Meyer and This Taste for Silence by Amanda O'Callaghan.
2018
Pulse Points: Stories by Jennifer Down
There are fourteen short stories in Pulse Points. These stories are all very different to one another, but each deals in the moments of everyday life that sting. The characters live in small dusty towns, glittering exotic cities and slow droll suburbs; they are mourners, survivors and perpetrators.
'...a subtle, elegant and accomplished short story collection. It stood out to the judging panel for its emotional maturity and complexity. Down’s ability to make a reader feel what her characters are feeling is remarkable.' Ellen Cregan, 2018 judge.
The titles that made the 2018 shortlist: The Town by Shaun Prescott, Pink Mountain on Locust Island by Jamie Marina Lau, The Fireflies of Autumn by Moreno Giovannoni, Flames by Robbie Arnott and The Lucky Galah by Tracy Sorensen.
2017
The Windy Season by Sam Carmody
A young fisherman is missing from the crayfish boats in the West Australian town of Stark. There’s no trace at all of Elliot, there hasn’t been for some weeks and Paul, his younger brother, is the only one who seems to be active in the search. Taking Elliot’s place on the boat skippered by their troubled cousin, Paul soon learns how many opportunities there are to get lost in those many thousands of kilometres of lonely coastline.
'All at once a mystery, a family drama, and an examination of masculinity and violence, as well as a meditation on Australian coastal landscapes, The Windy Season demands attention and a place in our literary canon. The language is immersive, the pace relentless. It roars down and batters the senses. It is, in a word, unforgettable.' Gabrielle Williams, 2017 chair of judges.
The titles that made the 2017 shortlist: Australia Day by Melanie Cheng, Jean Harley was Here by Heather Taylor Johnson, The Good People by Hannah Kent, The Lost Pages by Marija Pericic and From the Wreck by Jane Rawson.
2016
Music and Freedom by Zoe Morrison
Alice Murray learns to play the piano aged three, on an orange orchard in rural Australia. Recognising her daughter’s gift, her mother sends Alice to boarding school in the bleak north of England. From there she goes to the Royal College of Music in London, and on a summer school in Oxford she meets Edward, an economics professor who sweeps her off her feet. But Alice soon finds that Edward is damaged, and she’s trapped – increasingly isolated, with only her music to cling to.
'Morrison writes about sound and music with a joy and poetry even the unmusical can appreciate – providing a stunning and heartfelt counter to the dark relationship that forms between the two main characters. Music and Freedom is challenging, stylistically sure, accomplished, and consistent. Above all though, it is simply a good story, beautifully written.’ Maxine Beneba Clarke, guest judge.
The titles that made the 2016 shortlist: Portable Curiosities by Julie Koh, The High Places by Fiona McFarlane, Wood Green by Sean Rabin, Ruins by Rajith Savanadasa, and Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar.
2015
The Other Side of the World by Stephanie Bishop
Cambridge, 1963: Charlotte is struggling. With motherhood, with the changes marriage and parenthood bring, with losing the time and the energy to paint. A brochure slipped through the letterbox gives him the answer: ‘Australia brings out the best in you.’ Before she has a chance to realise what it will mean, Charlotte is travelling to the other side of the world.
'Stephanie Bishop’s affinity for landscape is profound; her prose is elegant and viscerally evocative. Bishop has a rare gift for capturing the intangible – nostalgia, homesickness, ambivalence about identity and family, and more – and casting it anew.' Elke Power, 2015 chair of judges
The titles that made the 2015 shortlist: Last Day in the Dynamite Factory by Annah Faulkner, In the Quiet by Eliza Henry-Jones, Arms Race by Nic Low, Hot Little Hands by Abigail Ulman and Heat and Light by Ellen van Neerven.
2014
Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey
The souls of ten animals caught up in human conflicts over the last century tell their astonishing stories of life and death. In a trench on the Western Front a cat recalls her owner Colette’s theatrical antics in Paris. In Nazi Germany a dog seeks enlightenment. A Russian tortoise once owned by the Tolstoys drifts in space during the Cold War. In the siege of Sarajevo a bear starving to death tells a fairytale. And a dolphin sent to Iraq by the US Navy writes a letter to Sylvia Plath…
'Only the Animals is surely one of the boldest Australian short-story collections in recent years. Here is a rare beast – a work of fiction that is not only richly imaginative, but also intelligent, ambitious and universal in theme. Ceridwen Dovey has created a book that wears its literary antecedents – Kafka, Colette, Woolf, Coetzee – lightly, but with each story she proves that Only the Animals belongs in this sort of company.' The 2014 judges panel.
The titles that made the 2014 shortlist: The Tribe by Michael Mohammed Ahmad, An Elegant Young Man by Luke Carman, Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke, The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane and After Darkness by Christine Piper.
Discover more about the Readings Prize and all the previous winners here.
