2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards
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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
NON-FICTION
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The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell
Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Allen & Unwin
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Näku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of Australian Democracy
Clare Wright
Text Publishing
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Cactus Pear for My Beloved
Samah Sabawi
Penguin Random House Australia
Peripathetic: Notes On (un)belonging
Cher Tan
NewSouth Publishing
INDIGENOUS WRITING
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
CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
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
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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
POETRY
HIGHLY COMMENDED
G-d, Sleep, and Chaos
Alan Fyfe
Gazebo Books / Life Before Man
Naag Mountain
Manisha Anjali
Giramondo Publishing
WRITING FOR YOUNG ADULTS
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UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT
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.
The 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards are proudly supported by the Victorian Government through the Community Support Fund and Creative Victoria.