National Biography Award 2025 shortlist announced

The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) has announced the shortlist for the $25,000 National Biography Award.

The shortlisted works, selected from 103 entries, are:

• Bullet, Paper, Rock: A Memoir of War and Words (Abbas El-Zein, Upswell)
• Detachable Penis: A Queer Legal Saga (Sam Elkin, Upswell)
• Bennelong and Phillip: A History Unravelled (Kate Fullagar, Scribner)
• Frank Moorhouse: Strange Paths (Matthew Lamb, Knopf)
• Madam Brussels: The Life and Times of Melbourne’s Most Notorious Woman (Barbara Minchinton, with Philip Bentley, Latrobe University Press)
• John Berger and Me (Nikos Papastergiadis, Giramondo).

The six shortlisted authors each receive $2000, while the $5000 Michael Crouch Award will be awarded to the best debut biography or memoir.

Chair of the judges Sylvia Martin said, ‘All these diverse projects contributed to our knowledge and understanding of Australia’s evolving place in the world against its complex and contested history as a nation of Indigenous inhabitants and immigrants. All were testament to the transformative power of life writing, for both author and reader.’

The judging panel comprised Martin, Eda Gunaydin and Lech Blaine. The winners of the overall award and the Michael Crouch Award will be announced later this month.

The 2024 National Biography Award winner was The Shape of Dust by Lamisse Hamouda with Hazem Hamouda (Pantera) and the Michael Crouch Award winner was Inner Song by Jillian Graham (MUP).

More information is available on the SLNSW website.

Category: Awards Local news