ARA Historical Novel Prize shortlists announced
The Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) has announced the shortlists for the 2025 ARA Historical Novel Prize.
Chosen from longlists announced earlier this month, the shortlisted books in each category are:
Adult category
- Dusk (Robbie Arnott, Picador)
- The First Friend (Malcolm Knox, A&U)
- I Am Nannertgarrook (Tasma Walton, Bundyi)
Children and young adult category
- The Midwatch (Judith Rossell, HGCP)
- Moonboy (Anna Ciddor, A&U Children’s)
- The Year We Escaped (Suzanne Leal, HarperCollins).
HNSA chair Elisabeth Storrs said, ‘This year’s shortlists [are] a compelling mix of steampunk, time-slip, adventure, gritty realism, fantasy and black humour. These novels take us from colonial Australia all the way to the moon landing via the 1920s jazz age, WWII France and Stalin’s Russia.’
The winner of the adult category will receive $100,000, and the winner of the children and young adult category will receive $30,000. The two remaining shortlisted authors in each category will receive $5,000 each.
Winners are set to be announced on 16 October. The inaugural $5,000 Readers’ Choice Award – voted on by readers choosing their favourite longlisted adult title – will also be announced on this date.
The judging panel for the adult category includes Angelo Loukakis (chair), Jane Harrison, Rashida Murphy, Stephanie Parkyn and Scott Whitmont; and the children and young adult judging panel includes Mark Macleod (chair), Rebecca Lim and Belinda Murrell.
More information about the prize is available on the HNSA website.
Category: Awards Local news
