It’s that time of year again! Our tireless Readings staff judges have read over 100 submissions, shortlisted 18 books and now it’s time to celebrate the winners!
Angela Crocombe, the Readings Prize coordinator, on the 2025 prizes:
First presented in 2014, The Readings Prize continues to support outstanding new Australian voices across three separate categories of fiction: Children’s, Young Adult and New Australian Fiction.
The Readings Prize is unique in the Australian literary landscape as the only prize currently run by an independent Melbourne bookshop, and specifically supporting emerging local voices.
Each year, the three prizes are awarded by teams of Readings staff and reflect our judgement of the works that have attained the highest literary merit in their category – and of course they’re always great reads, too! The Readings Prize offers $16,000 in prize money, which is distributed evenly to the winners of each category ($5,000 per category winner), plus $1,000 to the winner of The Gab Williams Prize, which is awarded in memory of our much-missed former colleague and chosen from the Young Adult Prize shortlist by The Readings Teen Advisory Board (TAB). The board members are all teens, and all read the books shortlisted for The Readings Young Adult Prize, after which they come together to choose their favourite as the winner of The Gab Williams Prize.
The Readings New Australian Fiction Prize winner
The Readings New Australian Fiction Prize for the best new contribution to Australian fiction.
I Want Everything
Dominic Amerena
Teddy Peak, chair of judges, on the winner:
The unnamed narrator of Dominic Amerena’s delightfully satirical I Want Everything is an ambitious writer, with the skills but without the story to write his novel. Everything changes for him when he meets the famous and mysterious author Brenda Shales, who hasn’t been heard from since the controversies that surrounded her cult feminist novels decades earlier. Through a lie (although only one of omission, as the narrator repeatedly reminds us!), the narrator breaks into her inner circle, mining her story for one of his own.
In this novel, Amerena is asking numerous questions, including: Who owns stories? What does it mean to tell them? What stories do we tell about ourselves? And what is the difference between a story and a lie? This is a story of literary fraud, yet it cannot help but remind us of the Australian nation – a nation in which people seek wealth through mining of and extraction from land that is not their own. What stories is so-called Australia invested in telling about itself?
Judging for The Readings New Australian Fiction Prize was incredibly challenging, and all the submissions were so fantastic, but it was I Want Everything’s reflections on Australian fiction itself that made it unforgettable. Funny, tense, and always dazzling, this book also has the honour of being the first fiction acquisition by Summit Books Australia, a new imprint from Simon & Schuster. We are so excited for readers to be blown away by the subtlety, campiness, tension, humour, and absolute fun of this book.
Our staff judges for 2025 are:
- Teddy Peak (chair of judges, Readings Carlton)
- Thomas Busse (Readings Doncaster)
- Chris Gordon (Readings Events)
- Pauline Hopkins (Readings Hawthorn)
Listen to Dominic Amerena in conversation with Readings' Teddy Peak on The Readings Podcast.
The Readings Children’s Prize winner
The Readings Children’s Prize for the best new contribution to Australian children’s literature.
How to Free a Jinn
Raidah Shah Idil
Tamuz Ellazam, chair of judges, on the winner:
While the 2025 judging panel has incredibly diverse tastes, it was clear from the beginning that the heartfelt and cinematic How to Free a Jinn was our undeniable winner. This joyful debut from Raidah Shah Idil felt like the perfect meal – full of variety and richness, both satisfying and refreshing. With lush descriptions of Malaysian food, landscape and culture, all told through the compelling voice of protagonist Insyirah, Shah Idil emerges as a fresh new perspective, blending modernity and tradition in culture and storytelling.
Insyirah loves her life in Sydney with her mum, but everything changes when they realise her nenek (grandmother) isn’t managing well on her own. Suddenly, Insyirah is moving countries and schools, and as if that wasn’t enough change, she’s started to notice that her nenek’s stories about jinn might not just be scary ghost stories, and their family’s connection to paranormal realms may be closer than she thinks – and certainly closer than her mum is comfortable with. As well as the new friends Insyirah is making at school, there’s a compelling spectre she just can’t stop thinking about, and both her mum and nenek are definitely not telling her the whole story. Full of faith, food, culture, family and fantastical worlds, How to Free a Jinn is a unique, thoughtful and deeply enjoyable read for ages 10+.
Our staff judges for 2025 are:
- Tamuz Ellazam (chair of judges, Readings Kids)
- Bernard Caleo (Readings Carlton)
- Kim Gruschow (senior children's book buyer)
- Celeste Perry (Readings Emporium)
Listen to Raidah Shah Idil in conversation with Readings' Tamuz Ellazam on The Readings Podcast.
The Readings Young Adult Prize winner
The Readings Young Adult Prize for the best new contribution to Australian young adult literature.
Aisle Nine
Ian X. Cho
Fiona Hardy, chair of judges, on the winner:
Teenagers are aware of everything in the world so much more than ever before, and we can’t control everything they see. But when it comes to books, it was such a relief for our judges to read through so many funny, thoughtful, thrilling, deep, and entertaining books by a wide variety of Australian authors, and to know that young adults are in good hands.
Our Young Adult winner – constantly described as ‘fun’ by all four prize judges – is the post-apocalyptic-in-a-retail-setting Aisle Nine by Ian X. Cho. It’s just before Black Friday, and Jasper can’t actually remember life before the portals appeared all over the world, brimming with demons barely held at bay by the soldier-lite Vanguard. Now, he wakes every day in his empty home, goes to work, avoids the horrors in aisle nine, and tries not to fall in love with Vanguard Kyle, who hates him. Jasper’s almost mundane existence falls apart when he gets a vision that the world is going to end – even more than it already has – and he’s got to step up.
While Aisle Nine is a take on consumerism, politics, control, and much more, it’s also a straight-up blast. There’s fighting, explosions, guns and a talking stuffed cat (Aisle Nine merchandise is coming when, HarperCollins?); there’s joy and fear and a whole lot of courage. This is a vibrant, imaginative read we can’t wait to share with our young adult readers – and beyond. For ages 12+.
Our staff judges for 2025 are:
- Fiona Hardy (chair of judges, Readings Doncaster)
- Lucie Dess (Readings Marketing)
- Miranda La Fleur (Readings St Kilda)
- Kate O’Mara (Readings Hawthorn)
Listen to Ian X. Cho in conversation with Readings' Fiona Hardy on The Readings Podcast.
The Gab Williams Prize winner
The Gab Williams Prize honours the contribution of Gabrielle Williams, a young adult author and past manager of The Readings Prize.
This Dream Will Devour Us
Emma Clancey
Annalisa Chen, chair of judges, on the winner:
Over the past few months, the TAB has had the absolute pleasure of reading six shortlisted novels that were all remarkable and fabulously different in their own ways. After much consideration, we are excited to announce that Emma Clancey’s debut novel This Dream Will Devour Us has clinched the prize!
This Dream Will Devour Us is a beautifully thought-out urban fantasy with a well-paced, intriguing plot that weaves together fantasy, mystery, romance, and action. From the start, it captures the attention and has a little something for everyone. The moments of realisation for the characters and us are absolutely delicious.
Our most beloved part of the book, however, must be the world itself. Through a unique and well-fleshed-out pharmacology-based magic system, Clancey explores how advantages, such as a miracle drug, shape society through the inevitable inequalities it produces. We particularly enjoyed the protagonist Nora, who is cleverly ambitious and gives sharp, perceptive social commentary, even when she becomes embroiled with the sinister world of the powerfully wealthy.
Nora is surrounded and supported by a diverse cast of characters who feel so alive in their emotions and complex, realistic relationships. The love-triangle romance underpinning the main plot further raises the stakes, and Clancey delivers a conclusion that left us enthralled and desperately wishing for more. For ages 14+.
The Readings Teen Advisory Board judges for 2025 are:
- Annalisa Chen (chair of judges)
- Jessie Buckley
- Henry Burgess
- Freddie Breen
- Kainaat Dhuna
- Grace Golder
- Elsie House
- Audrey Kwek
- Ashley Liu
- Tina Nguyen
- Lydia Pinchas
- Klara Schmidt
- Camryn Small
- Esther Thunig-McGregor
- Daniel Won
Listen to Emma Clancey in conversation with The Readings Teen Advisory Board on The Readings Podcast.
And a final shout-out to our highly recommended shortlisted books and authors!
The Readings New Australian Fiction Prize 2025 shortlist
The Readings Children's Prize 2025 shortlist
The Readings Young Adult Prize 2025 shortlist
