The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) has announced the shortlist for the 2025 National Biography Award.
The National Biography Award was established in 1996 to encourage the highest standards of biography and autobiography writing and to promote public interest in these genres. Awarded annually, it is one of Australia’s richest prizes for biographical writing and memoir. The award has a total prize pool of $42,000. The overall winner will receive $25,000. The $5000 Michael Crouch Award will be awarded to the best debut biography or memoir, in honour of the late Library benefactor and former Award supporter. In addition, each shortlisted author will receive $2000.
This year, the judging panel, comprising Sylvia Martin (Chair), Lech Blaine and Eda Gunaydin, selected six works to shortlist (half of which are debuts) from 103 entries.
The shortlisted works are:
Bullet, Paper, Rock: A Memoir of Words and Wars by Abbas El-Zein
Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga by Sam Elkin
Bennelong & Phillip: A History Unravelled by Kate Fullagar
Frank Moorhouse: Strange Paths by Matthew Lamb
Madame Brussels: The Life and Times of Melbourne’s Most Notorious Woman by Barbara Minchinton, with Philip Bentley
John Berger and Me by Nikos Papastergiadis
Chair of judges Sylvia Martin said: 'The shortlist for the 2025 Award encompasses a fascinating range of approaches to life writing, including biography, memoir, and innovative hybrid forms. The books contribute in diverse ways to our knowledge and understanding of Australia’s evolving place in a troubled world against its own complex and contested history as a nation of Indigenous inhabitants and immigrants. Above all, they are testament to the transformative power of life writing, for both author and reader.'
Read more about the prize and the shortlist here. The winner will be announced at the end of this month.
