The shortlisted titles for the 2025 Prime Minister's Literary Awards have been announced! The Prime Minister's Literary Awards is an annual celebration of Australia's outstanding literary talent, and the richest literary prize in the country. These shortlists have been determined from 645 entries across six categories: fiction, non-fiction, young adult literature, children’s literature, poetry, and Australian history.
The winners for each category will be announced at a prestigious ceremony in Canberra on Monday 29 September. Discover the shortlisted titles below, and read more about the awards and judging process here.
The 2025 Fiction shortlist:
Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser
Rapture by Emily Maguire
Highway 13 by Fiona McFarlane
Always Will Be by Mykaela Saunders
Juice by Tim Winton
The 2025 Non-fiction shortlist:
Deep Water: The World in the Ocean by James Bradley
The Pulling by Adele Dumont
Mean Streak by Rick Morton
Fragile Creatures by Khin Myint
Cactus Pear For My Beloved by Samah Sabawi
The 2025 Australian history shortlist:
Critical Care by Geraldine Fela
The Wild Reciter by Peter Kirkpatrick
Australia in 100 Words by Amanda Laugesen
Warra Warra Wai by Darren Rix & Craig Cormick
Naku Dharuk: The Bark Petitions by Clare Wright
The 2025 Poetry shortlist:
Companions, Ancestors, Inscriptions by Peter Boyle
The Other Side of Daylight: New and Selected Poems by David Brooks
rock flight by Hasib Hourani
Makarra by Barinna South
That Galloping Horse by Petra White
The 2025 Young adult literature shortlist:
Thunderhead by Sophie Beer
My Family and Other Suspects by Kate Emery
Anti-Racism Kit: A Guide for High School Students by Jinyoung Kim & Sabina Patawaran, illustrated by Emma Ismawi
Anomaly by Emma Lord
The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland
The 2025 Children's literature shortlist:
A Leaf Called Greaf by Kelly Canby
Leo and Ralph by Peter Carnavas
Raymagirrbuy dhwu, When I was a little girl by Kylie Gatjawarrawuy Mununggurr
We Live in a Bus by Dave Petzold
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Tooth Fairy (and Some Things You Didn’t) by Briony Stewart
