Australian Book Design Awards 2026 longlists announced

Best designed general fiction cover

• The Final Chapter (January Gilchrist, HQ), designed by Design by Committee
• Gravity Let Me Go (Trent Dalton, Fourth Estate), designed by Darren Holt
• Lonely Mouth (Jacqueline Maley, Fourth Estate), designed by Hazel Lam
• Mother Tongue (Naima Brown, Macmillan), designed by Alissa Dinallo
• Painting Portraits of Everyone I’ve Ever Dated (Joseph Earp, Pantera), designed by George Saad
• Sign of Damage (Diana Reid, Ultimo), designed by George Saad
• Stinkbug (Sinéad Stubbins, Affirm), designed by George Saad
• When Sleeping Women Wake (Emma Pei Yin, Hachette), designed by Hazel Lam
• The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done (Clare Stephens, A&U), designed by Christa Moffitt | Christabella Designs
• Your Friend and Mine (Jessica Dettman, A&U), designed by George Saad

Best designed literary fiction/poetry cover

• Chosen Family (Madeleine Gray, Summit), designed by Hazel Lam
• Eros (Zoe Terakes, Hachette), designed by Alex Ross
• The Furphy Anthology (Furphy Literary Awards, Hardie Grant), designed by Design by Committee
• Hollow Air (Verity Borthwick, Ultimo), designed by George Saad
• The Immigrants (Moreno Giovannoni, Black Inc.), designed by Mary Callahan
• I Want Everything (Dominic Amerena, Summit), designed by Sandy Cull
• Nightingale (Laura Elvery, UQP), designed by Design by Committee.
• Nock Loose (Patrick Marlborough, Fremantle), designed by Nathaneal Whale
• The Passenger Seat (Vijay Khurana, Ultimo), designed by George Saad
• The Slip (Miriam Webster, Aniko), designed by Duncan Blachford
• The Underworld (Sofie Laguna, Penguin), designed by Adam Laszczuk

Best designed nonfiction cover

• Bloomer (Carol Lefevre, Affirm), designed by Geoege Saad
• Conspiracy Nation (Ariel Bogle & Cam Wilson, Ultimo), designed by George Saad
• Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath (S. Shakthidharan, NewSouth), designed by Rekha Dhanaram (with internal design by Rekha Dhanaram & Susiman Nirmalavasan)
• The Gifts of Reading for the Next Generation (ed by Jennie Orchard, Scribe), designed by Guy Ivison
• Human/Nature (Jane Rawson, NewSouth), designed by Regina Abos.
• Hunger Like a Thirst (Besha Rodell, Hardie Grant), designed by George Saad
• Immortal Gestures (Damon Young, Scribe), designed by Laura Thomas
• No Filters (Christie Watson & Rowan Egberongbe, Chatto & Windus), designed by Hazel Lam
• The Red House (Kate Wild, A&U), designed by George Saad
• Torn (Nicole Madigan, Pantera), designed by Mika Tabata

Deb Brash emerging designer of the year

• Keely Mackinnon
• Celia Mance
• Eloise Myatt.

The longlists in all categories are available on the ABDA website.

In their 74rd year, the awards celebrate the “most original, beautiful and inspiring books published in Australia in 2025”.

The winners will be announced on 8 May in Melbourne.

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