The 2024 ABIA shortlists
The shortlists for the 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) have been announced! The ABIAs celebrate the best books of the year, as judged by Australian book industry members.
Below are the shortlisted titles from each category.
General fiction book of the year
- The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams
- Dark Mode by Ashley Kalagian-Blunt
- Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
- Green Dot by Madeleine Gray
- Homecoming by Kate Morton
- Mr Einstein’s Secretary by Matthew Reilly
General nonfiction book of the year
- Bright Shining by Julia Baird
- Crossing the Line by Nick McKenzie
- I Don’t by Clementine Ford
- It’s the Menopause: What you need to know in your 40s, 50s and beyond by Kaz Cooke
- Question 7 by Richard Flanagan
-
The Voice to Parliament Handbook by Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien
Biography book of the year
- Did I Ever Tell You This? by Sam Neill
- Heartbake by Charlotte Ree
- Love & Pain by Ben Gillies & Chris Joannou
- Showing Up by Nedd Brockmann
- Unfinished Woman by Robyn Davidson
- Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s invisible life by Anna Funder
Illustrated book of the year
- Australian Abstract by Amber Creswell Bell
- Fish Butchery by Josh Niland
- Getting to Know the Birds in Your Neighbourhood: A field guide by Darryl Jones
- Iwantja by Iwantja Artists
- The New Modernist House by Patricia Callan
- The Year I Met My Brain: A travel companion for adults who have just found out they have ADHD by Matilda Boseley, illus by Evie Hilliar
International book of the year
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
- Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
- Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
- Spare by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex
- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
- The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
Literary fiction book of the year
- The Hummingbird Effect by Kate Mildenhall
- The In-Between by Christos Tsiolkas
- Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton
- Prima Facie by Suzie Miller
- Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
- Women & Children by Tony Birch
Small publishers’ adult book of the year
- Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko
- Everyone and Everything by Nadine J Cohen
- I’d Rather Not by Robert Skinner
- Killing for Country: A family story by David Marr
- The Matilda Effect by Fiona Crawford
Social impact book of the year
- The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel exports the technology of occupation around the world by Antony Loewenstein
- The Queen Is Dead by Stan Grant
- The Voice to Parliament Handbook by Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien
- Welcome to Sex by Melissa Kang & Yumi Stynes, illus by Jenny Latham
- Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s invisible life by Anna Funder
- The Year I Met My Brain: A travel companion for adults who have just found out they have ADHD by Matilda Boseley, illus by Evie Hilliar
The Matt Richell award for new writer of the year
- At the Foot of the Cherry Tree by Alli Parker
- A Brilliant Life by Rachelle Unreich
- Everyone and Everything by Nadine J Cohen
- Green Dot by Madeleine Gray
- Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne
- Saltwater Boy by Bradley Christmas
CHILDREN'S AND YOUNG ADULT
Children’s picture book of the year (ages 0–6)
- Australian Animals: From beach to bush by Brentos
- Australia: Country of colour by Jess Racklyeft
- If I Was a Horse by Sophie Blackall
- A Life Song by Jane Godwin, illus by Anna Walker
- Nightsong by Sally Soweol Han
- What to Do When You’re Not Sure What to Do by Davina Bell, illus by Hilary Jean Tapper
Book of the year for older children (ages 13+)
- Eleanor Jones Is Not a Murderer by Amy Doak
- Isles of Gods by Amie Kaufman
- The Quiet and the Loud by Helena Fox
- Stuck Up and Stupid by Angourie Rice & Kate Rice
- This Book Thinks Ya Deadly by Corey Tutt
- Welcome to Sex by Melissa Kang & Yumi Stynes, illus by Jenny Latham
Book of the year for younger children (ages 7–12)
- The 169-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton
- Custodians: Wylah the Koorie Warrior 2 by Jordan Gould & Richard Pritchard
- Ember and the Island of Lost Creatures by Jason Pamment
- It’s the Sound of the Thing by Maxine Beneba Clarke
- Kimmi by Favel Parrett
- Songlines by Margo Neale & Lynne Kelly, illus by Blak Douglas
Small publishers’ children’s book of the year
- Artichoke to Zucchini: An alphabet of delicious things from around the world by Alice Oehr
- Gurawul the Whale: An ancient story for our time by Uncle Max Dulumunmun Harrison, illus by Laura La Rosa
- Let’s Never Speak of This Again by Megan Williams
- Listen by Nicole Godwin & Duncan Smith, illus by Jandamarra Cadd
- Meet Me at the Moon Tree by Shivaun Plozza
- Who’s Afraid of the Light? by Anna McGregor
