VPLAs People’s Choice AwardVote Now

VPLAs People’s Choice AwardVote Now

2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards

Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2025

Your definitive guide to Australia’s best writing.
Learn more about the shortlisted and highly commended works below.

FICTION

The Burrow

Melanie Cheng
Text Publishing

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The Echoes

Evie Wyld
Vintage

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Highway 13

Fiona McFarlane
Allen & Unwin

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Host City

David Owen Kelly
Puncher & Wattmann

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Theory & Practice

Michelle de Kretser
Text Publishing

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Woo Woo

Ella Baxter
Allen & Unwin

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NON-FICTION

Anything Can Happen

Susan Hampton
Puncher & Wattmann

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The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell

Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Allen & Unwin

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Monument

Bonny Cassidy
Giramondo Publishing

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Näku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of Australian Democracy

Clare Wright
Text Publishing

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A Very Secret Trade

Cassandra Pybus
Allen & Unwin

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HIGHLY COMMENDED

Cactus Pear for My Beloved

Samah Sabawi
Penguin Random House Australia

Peripathetic: Notes On (un)belonging

Cher Tan
NewSouth Publishing

INDIGENOUS WRITING

Afloat

Kirli Saunders & Freya Blackwood
Hardie Grant Children's Publishing

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Black Witness

Amy McQuire
University of Queensland Press

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I'm Not Really Here

Gary Lonesborough
Allen & Unwin

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Refugia

Elfie Shiosaki
Magabala Books

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HIGHLY COMMENDED

Always Will Be

Mykaela Saunders
University of Queensland Press

Makarra

Barrina South
Recent Work Press

This Is Where You Have To Go

Lynda Holden
Pantera Press

JOHN CLARKE PRIZE FOR HUMOUR WRITING

Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga

Sam Elkin
Upswell Publishing

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Ghost Cities

Siang Lu
University of Queensland Press

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I’d Rather Not

Robert Skinner
Black Inc.

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The Medusa Situation

Gabiann Marin
Clan Destine Press

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My Brother’s Ashes Are in a Sandwich Bag

Michelle Brasier
Ultimo Press

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CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

The 113th Assistant Librarian

Stuart Wilson
Penguin Random House Australia

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Listen, Hippo!

Gabriel Evans
Penguin Random House Australia

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The Midwatch

Judith Rossell
Hardie Grant Children's Publishing

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Three Dresses

Wanda Gibson
University of Queensland Press

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HIGHLY COMMENDED

How to Free a Jinn

Raidah Shah Idil
Allen & Unwin

Squishbook: Make comics with Squishface Studio and friends!

Edited by David Blumenstein, containing work by numerous cartoonists and Kensington Primary School students
Squishface Studios

DRAMA

37

Nathan Maynard
Currency Press & Melbourne Theatre Company

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Frame Narrative

Emily Sheehan
Produced by New Ghosts Theatre Company and staged at The Old Fitz Theatre

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Into the Shimmering World

Angus Cerini
Into the Shimmering World was commissioned and developed by Sydney Theatre Company

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POETRY

Gawimarra: Gathering

Jeanine Leane
University of Queensland Press

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Holocene Pointbreaks

Jake Goetz
Puncher & Wattmann

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rock flight

Hasib Hourani
Giramondo Publishing

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HIGHLY COMMENDED

G-d, Sleep, and Chaos

Alan Fyfe
Gazebo Books / Life Before Man

Naag Mountain

Manisha Anjali
Giramondo Publishing

WRITING FOR YOUNG ADULTS

Anomaly

Emma Lord
Affirm Press

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Liar's Test

Ambelin Kwaymullina
Text Publishing

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Smoke & Mirrors

Barry Jonsberg
Allen & Unwin

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HIGHLY COMMENDED

One by One They Disappear

Mike Lucas
Penguin Random House Australia

The Skin I’m In

Steph Tisdell
Pan Macmillan Australia

UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT

Every Stolen Moment

L.K. Williams

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Heavy Petting

Kat Capel

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I Made This Just for You

Chris Ames

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HIGHLY COMMENDED

Nina and Pearl

Fleur Glenn

Fiction

Jessica Au, Tali Lavi, Ronnie Scott, Elizabeth McCarthy (convenor)

Non-Fiction

Robyn Annear, Ben Brooker, Madison Griffiths, Jinghua Qian, Jonathan Green (convenor)

Indigenous Writing

Susie Anderson, Krystal De Napoli, Tristen Harwood (convenor)

John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing

Lorin Clarke, Patrick Lenton, Sami Shah (convenor)

Children's Literature

Bernard Caleo, Denise Chapman, Julianne Negri (convenor)

Drama

Dan Giovannoni, Vidya Rajan, Richard Watts (convenor)

Poetry

Evelyn Araluen, Micaela Sahhar, Emilie Collyer (convenor)

Writing for Young Adults

Alison Evans, Rebecca Lim, Cath Moore (convenor)

Unpublished Manuscript

Keshe Chow, Marina Sano, Adalya Nash Hussein (convenor)

People's Choice Awards

Voting for the People’s Choice Award is now open. The winner of the VPLA Reading book pack will be notified via email by 6pm Tuesday 4 March 2025.

vote now

The 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards are proudly supported by the Victorian Government through the Community Support Fund and Creative Victoria.