Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize longlist announced
The Australian Book Review (ABR) has announced the longlist for the 2026 Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize.
The longlisted stories are:
- Ursula Brunetti for “Peach”
- Belinda Castles for “Connie”
- Sally Cunningham for “Pliable Bones”
- Laura Elvery for “C.Q.D.”
- Dean Gessie for “Brown Paper Bag”
- Olivia Heal for “Nature of Offence”
- Tina Huang for “Pale Blinking Life”
- Sam Keenan for “Backflip”
- Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan for “The Philosophies of Jean Paul Gaultier as Manifested in the Termites in a Chippendale Rental”
- Elizabeth Morton for “Something in the Way”
- Alison Richards for “Done”
- Kunal Sharma for “Without Condition”
- Jennifer Wawrzinek for “The Rental Ledger”.
Judges Delia Falconer, Jonathan Ricketson and Beejay Silcox said: “As always, the stories that stayed with us were the ones that took recurring themes and ideas somewhere wondrous and unexpected. They surprised us with their voice or their humour. They exhibited a willingness to look at the world a little sideways and have us tilt our heads too.
“As we read towards a winner, one image became a touchstone in our conversations: short stories as small doorways opening into much larger worlds. We found ourselves returning to tales where the smallness of the form was the source of its expansiveness, where the world of the story – with all its questions and possibilities – kept building in our minds long after we had finished reading.”
Three shortlisted stories will appear in the August issue and the overall winner will be announced at the end of July. The winner of the first prize receives $6,000, the second prize receives $4,000, and the third prize receives $2,500.
More information about the longlisted authors appears on the ABR website.
Category: Awards Local news
