Indie Book Awards 2026 longlists announced
Tuesday, 9 December 2025 Books+Publishing @booksandpublishing
The longlist for the 2026 Indie Book Awards has been announced.
The longlisted titles in each category are:
Fiction
- Lyrebird (Jane Caro, A&U)
- Gravity Let Me Go (Trent Dalton, Fourth Estate)
- Arborescence (Rhett Davis, Hachette)
- Legacy (Chris Hammer, A&U)
- Mad Mabel (Sally Hepworth, Macmillan)
- Tenderfoot (Toni Jordan, Hachette)
- Wild Dark Shore (Charlotte McConaghy, Penguin)
- One Hundred Years of Betty (Debra Oswald, A&U)
- Where the Birds Call Her Name (Claire van Ryn, Penguin)
- I Am Nannertgarrook (Tasma Walton, Bundyi, S&S)
Nonfiction
- Australia: A History (Tony Abbott, HarperCollins)
- Memorial Days (Geraldine Brooks, Hachette)
- Defiance (Bob Brown, Black Inc.)
- The Mushroom Tapes (Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper & Sarah Krasnostein, Text)
- The Mushroom Murders (Greg Haddrick, A&U)
- Always Home, Always Homesick (Hannah Kent, Picador)
- Nature’s Last Dance (Natalie Kyriacou, Affirm)
- A Bunker in Kyiv (John Lyons, ABC Books)
- Destination Moon (Kate Reid, S&S)
- Borneo: The Last Campaign (Michael Veitch, Hachette)
Debut fiction
- The Butterfly Women (Madeleine Cleary, Affirm)
- Pissants (Brandon Jack, Summit Books)
- The Grapevine (Kate Kemp, Hachette)
- Very Impressive for Your Age (Eleanor Kirk, A&U)
- Daughters of Batavia (Stefanie Koens, HarperCollins)
- Melaleuca (Angie Faye Martin, HQ Fiction)
- The Wolf Tree (Laura McCluskey, HarperCollins)
- Stillwater (Tanya Scott, A&U)
- Eros: Myths for Lovers (Zoe Terakes, Hachette)
- When Sleeping Women Wake (Emma Pei Yin, Hachette)
Illustrated nonfiction
- The ADHD Brain Buddy (Matilda Boseley, Penguin)
- Planting for Native Birds, Bees and Butterflies (Jaclyn Crupi, Murdoch Books)
- Bush Modern (Jessica Lillico & Sean Fennessy, T&H)
- Handfuls of Sunshine (Tilly Pamment, Murdoch Books)
- Wild by Design (Tim Pilgrim, Murdoch Books)
- Funga Obscura (Alison Pouliot, NewSouth)
- She Shapes History (Sita Sargeant, HG Explore)
- W*nkernomics (James Schloeffel & Charles Firth, Hardie Grant)
- Muster Dogs (Melissa Spencer, Monica O’Brien & Brianna Peacock, ABC Books)
- THAI (Nat Thaipun, Hardie Grant)
Children’s
- If We Were Dogs (Sophie Blackall, Lothian Children’s)
- Dropbear (Philip Bunting, Walker Books)
- There’s a Prawn in Parliament House (Annabel Crabb, illus by First Dog on the Moon, A&U Children’s)
- Dear Broccoli (Jo Dabrowski, illus by Cate James, Affirm Kids)
- Ninja Girl (Anh Do, illus by James Hart, Scholastic)
- Harry and Gran Bake a Cake (Fiona McIntosh, illus by Sara Acton, Puffin)
- Runt and the Diabolical Dognapping (Craig Silvey, illus by Sara Acton, A&U Children’s)
- Once I Was a Giant (Zeno Sworder, T&H)
- Silverborn (Jessica Townsend, Lothian Children’s)
- Ningaloo (Tim Winton, illus by Cindy Lane, Fremantle)
YA
- Catch (Sarah Brill, A&U Children’s)
- Cruel Is the Light (Sophie Clark, Penguin)
- The Foal in the Wire (Robbie Coburn, Lothian Children’s)
- Eleanor Jones Is Playing with Fire (Amy Doak, Penguin)
- This Season’s Draft (Jason Gent, A&U Children’s)
- Drift (Pip Harry, Lothian Children’s)
- Darkest Night, Brightest Star (Barry Jonsberg, A&U Children’s)
- Wandering Wild (Lynette Noni, Penguin)
- Sonny & Tess (Nova Weetman, UQP)
- Unhallowed Halls (Lili Wilkinson, A&U Children’s).
The shortlists will be announced on 14 January 2026, with the category winners and the overall Book of the Year winner to be announced at a virtual awards event on Monday 23 March 2026.
More information is available on the award website.
Category: Awards Local news
