Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2026 shortlists announced

The Wheeler Centre has announced the shortlists for the 2026 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.

The shortlisted and highly commended works in each category are:

Fiction ($25,000)

• A Piece of Red Cloth (Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubb, Leonie Norrington, Djawa Burarrwanga & Djawundil Maymuru, A&U)
• Cannon (Lee Lai, Giramondo)
• Fierceland (Omar Musa, Penguin)
• The Gowkaran Tree in the Middle of Our Kitchen (Azar Shokoofeh, Europa Editions)
• The Immigrants: Fabula Mirabilis, or A Wonderful Story (Moreno Giovannoni, Black Inc.)
• The Sun was Electric Light (Rachel Morton, UQP)

Highly commended

• Discipline (Randa Abdel-Fattah, UQP)
• Desolation (Asgari Hossein, Ultimo)
• The Slip (Miriam Webster, Aniko Press)

Nonfiction ($25,000)

• Ankami (Debra Dank, Echo)
• Conspiracy Nation (Cam Wilson and Ariel Bogle, Ultimo)
• Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An encyclopaedia of a Palestinian family (Micaela Sahhar, NewSouth)
• Looking from the North: Australian history from the top down (Henry Reynolds, NewSouth)
• The Eagle and the Crow (JM Field, UQP)

Poetry ($25,000)

• KONTRA (Eunice Andrada, Giramondo)
• The Rot (Evelyn Araluen, UQP)
• Two Hundred Million Musketeers (Ender Başkan, Giramondo)

Highly commended

• Fivehundred Swimming Pools (Connor Weightman, Rabbit Poetry)
• The Dingo’s Noctuary (Judith Nangala Crispin, Puncher & Wattmann)

Drama ($25,000)

• Fly Girl (Genevieve Hegney, Ensemble Theatre Company & Lisa Mann Creative Management)
• Super (Emilie Collyer, Currency Press & Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre)
• The Black Woman of Gippsland (Andrea James, Currency Press & Melbourne Theatre Company)

Indigenous writing ($25,000)

• The Rot (Evelyn Araluen, UQP)
• The Eagle & the Crow (JM Field, UQP)
• The Art of Kaylene Whiskey: Do You Believe in Love (ed Natalie King and Iwantja Arts, T&H)
• Windows and Mirrors (Djon Mundine, Art Ink)

Highly commended

• A Savage Turn (Luke Patterson, Magabala)
• Old Days Imanka nurna laakinha nitjaarta (Marjorie ‘Nunga’ Williams, Magabala)
• Weaving Country (Aunty Kim Wandin and Christine Joy, Walker Books)

Children’s literature ($25,000)

• Once I Was a Giant (Zeno Sworder, T&H)
• Caution! This Book Contains Deadly Reptiles (Corey Tutt & Ben Williams, A&U Children‘s)
• Creature Clinic (Gavin Aung Than, HGCP)
• The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe (Karen Foxlee, A&U Children‘s)

Highly commended

• My Mum is a Bird (Angie Cui, UQP)
• Spirit of the Crocodile (Aaron Fa’aoso & Michelle Scott Tucker, with Lyn White, A&U Children‘s)

John Marsden Prize for Writing for Young Adults ($25,000)

• This Stays Between Us (Margo McGovern, Penguin)
• Moonlight and Dust (Jasmin McGaughey, A&U Children‘s)
• How to Be Normal (Ange Crawford, Walker Books)

Highly commended

• Weaving Us Together (Lay Maloney, Lothian Children’s)
• Strange Bedfellows (Ariel Ries, HarperCollins)

Unpublished manuscript ($15,000 and two-week residency at McCraith House)

• “Incognito” (Anatolij Lisov)
• “The Final Voyage of Charles Le Corre” (William Paine)
• “The Kookaburra” (Charlotte Guest)

Highly commended

• “Harmony” (Ethan Garraway)
• “More Real” (Ella Mittas).

The winners in each category, as well as the winner of the overall Victorian Prize for Literature (worth $100,000), will be announced at a ceremony in Melbourne and live-streamed on the Wheeler Centre website on Wednesday 25 February 2026.

Wheeler Centre CEO Erin Vincent said, “For more than 40 years, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards have reminded us of the power and possibility of great storytelling. These Awards celebrate literary excellence and more importantly they honour the writers who shape how we understand the world around us. As Melbourne’s home for Books, Writing and Ideas, The Wheeler Centre is proud to deliver the VPLAs on behalf of the Victorian Government, as these awards elevate the rich diversity of Australian storytelling.”

Voting is now open for the People’s Choice Award, with shortlisted and highly commended titles eligible for the $2000 prize. Readers across the country are invited to cast their votes via the Wheeler Centre website.

More information about the awards and judges’ comments are available on the Wheeler Centre website.

Category: Local news