The winners of the 2025 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) have been announced, presented by Books + Publishing and the Australian Publishers Association. This year marks the ABIA's 25th year celebrating Australian authors and publishing!
There are fourteen categories recognised in the ABIA awards – discover a selection of the incredible winners below, or find the full list here.
ABIA Book of the Year, Biography Book of the Year & Audiobook of the Year
The Voice Inside
John Farnham, with Poppy Stockell
From a childhood in London and Melbourne through to pop stardom in the 1960s, the critical success enjoyed with the release of the highest-selling Australian album of all time, Whispering Jack, and a decades-long touring career, the John Farnham story is, at first glance, one filled with remarkable highlights.
It is, however, so much more than that. It is the story of the resilience John found as his stellar career stalled, record companies turned their backs, and he faced financial ruin. It is the story of triumph over adversity after a devastating diagnosis of mouth cancer in 2022, only months after the death of his long-time friend and manager, Glenn Wheatley.
The Voice Inside is like sitting down with an old friend sharing stories that are both deeply personal and wildly entertaining. Written alongside award-winning filmmaker Poppy Stockell, this is a captivating and powerfully honest insight into the man whose music is the soundtrack to so many of our lives.
Literary Fiction Book of the Year
Dusk
Robbie Arnott
In the distant highlands, a puma named Dusk is killing shepherds.
Down in the lowlands, twins Iris and Floyd are out of work, money and friends. When they hear that a bounty has been placed on Dusk, they reluctantly decide to join the hunt.
As they journey up into this wild, haunted country, they discover there's far more to the land and people of the highlands than they imagined. And as they close in on their prey, they're forced to reckon with conflicts both ancient and deeply personal.
General Fiction Book of the Year
What Happened to Nina?
Dervla McTiernan
Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his family's cabin in Vermont, and only Simon comes home.
What happened to Nina? Nobody knows. Simon's explanation about what happened in their last hours together doesn't add up. Nina's parents push the police for answers, and Simon's parents rush to protect him. They hire expensive lawyers and a PR firm that quickly ramps up a vicious, nothing-is-off-limits media campaign.
Soon, facts are lost in a swirl of accusation and counter-accusation. Everyone chooses a side, and the story goes viral, fuelled by armchair investigators and wild conspiracy theories, illustrated with pretty pictures taken from Nina's social media accounts. Journalists descend on their small Vermont town, followed by a few obsessive 'fans'.
Nina's family is under siege, but they never lose sight of the only thing that really matters - finding their daughter. Out-gunned by Simon's wealthy, powerful family, Nina's parents recognize that if playing by the rules won't get them anywhere, it's time to break them.
Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year
All I Ever Wanted Was to Be Hot
Lucinda 'Froomes' Price
Up until her twenty-fifth birthday, the number one priority in Lucinda Price's life was to look good. She nipped, tucked, cut, plucked, shaved, tanned, crunched, squatted and starved. Then, she broke down.
All I Ever Wanted Was To Be Hot is a funny, provocative retrospective on the last thirty years of Western beauty standards. From the Pussycat Dolls to Victoria's Secret, The Girls of the Playboy Mansion to Lara Bingle, the media of the 2000s was littered with high profile examples of hotness as the highest form of social currency. Is it any wonder a girl growing up in that era might believe "good looks" were as integral to womanhood as having a pulse?
A hilarious, insightful deep dive into self image, desirability, pop-culture and power. A sparkling debut by one of Australia's most beloved creators and comedians, Lucinda Price, aka Froomes.
General Non-fiction Book of the Year
The Chairman's Lounge
Joe Aston
From the must-read journalist on how power, money and influence work in this country, the full story of how one of the nation’s favourite brands brought itself to ground.
Joe Aston's incredible ability to break a story made his AFR column ‘Rear Window’ essential reading about how power, money and influence work in this country. Famously, he exposed the ethical failings of Qantas, resulting in the resignation of the airline's chairman and early retirement of its CEO, Alan Joyce.
With fresh interviews and revelations, written with Aston's trademark wit and insight, The Chairman's Lounge takes us behind the scenes as crisis after crisis hit the national carrier. The result is the definitive, compelling story of how Qantas was brought to ground – and who did it.
Social Impact Book of the Year
Brainstorm
Richard Scolyer
A dedicated doctor. A devastating diagnosis. A chance for a medical revolution.
Skin cancer is this country's most common cancer, and melanoma the deadliest form of it. Richard, together with his colleagues at Melanoma Institute Australia, has dedicated years to groundbreaking research and succeeded in transforming even the most advanced forms of melanoma into a largely curable disease, bringing hope and healing to many.
Then in 2023, at the peak of his life, Richard was diagnosed with brain cancer.
As an internationally respected leading clinician and researcher, Richard was never going to accept the status quo – a medical approach unchanged in nearly two decades and an expectation of little more than a year to live. He instead chose to undertake world-first experimental treatment based on melanoma science.
His brave decision could shorten his life or save it – the only certainty is that it will advance scientific understanding and ultimately help save the lives of others.
The John Marsden Book of the Year for Older Children
My Family and Other Suspects
Kate Emery
Ruth is not thrilled to be spending the weekend at the family farm visiting the ancient GG, her coolly distant step-grandmother. With no internet or phone coverage, Ruth occupies herself by re-reading old Agatha Christie novels, eavesdropping on the adults, and definitely not daydreaming about her sort-of-cousin Dylan.
But when GG dies under suspicious circumstances, Ruth's dull weekend turns into an enforced-family-holiday-slash-possible-murder-investigation – and she's not about to let the police get in the way of her chance to solve a real-life murder mystery. With Dylan as the Watson to her Holmes, Ruth soon discovers that plenty of people had reasons to be rid of GG, and her list of suspects grows to comprise everyone in the house. Including, in the interests of fairness, herself.
Book of the Year for Younger Children
Wurrtoo
Tylissa Elisara, illustrated by Dylan Finney
Described as an Indigenous Blinky Bill meets Winnie the Pooh, this heartwarming and beautifully illustrated middle-grade novel from 2021 black&write! fellow Tylissa Elisara, follows Wurrtoo the wombat on his quest to marry the love of his life, the sky.
Wurrtoo the wombat lives a quiet and solitary life in his burrow on Kangaroo Island, hoping to one day travel to the mainland and marry the sky. When Wurrtoo inadvertently saves Kuula the koala from a bushfire, he acquires the adventure companion he didn't know he needed.
With Kuula by his side, Wurrtoo leaves the safety of his burrow and sets out on an epic journey to cross the island, reach the mainland and climb to the top of tallest tree in the Forest of Dreaming. But it's fire season, and danger and strange creatures lurk behind every gum tree. To make it, the pair must face their fears together, learn the importance of friendship and discover the power of wombat wishes.
Children's Picture Book of the Year
The Truck Cat
Deborah Frenkel, illustrated by Danny Snell
Along with his human, Yacoub, Tinka travels roads wide and narrow, near and distant. But no matter how much they travel, home feels very far away – for both of them.
Yacoub drives his truck to make a living, learning the landscape of a new country along the way, and longing for connection. When Tinka and Yacoub are unexpectedly separated, they are determined to find their way back to each other – and, in doing so, might find more than they expected …
