Penguin Literary Prize 2026 shortlist announced

Penguin Random House Australia (PRH) has announced the shortlist for the 2026 Penguin Literary Prize.

The shortlisted manuscripts are:

• “An Allergy” by Sunil Badami (Sydney, NSW) – “‘An Allergy’ explores the uncertainties of identity, the fictions of history and the pleasures and regrets of desire.”
• “Driftwood” by Brooke Maddison (Brisbane, Qld) – “‘Driftwood’ explores how traumatic events reverberate throughout families and questions how society expects people to deal with childhood abuse.”
• “The Jars of Arwen Dalmatian” by Charlie Archbold (Adelaide, SA) – “An oyster farmer’s son grows up close to two sisters until a childhood tragedy tears them apart. Years later, he reunites with the younger sister.”
• “The Summer We Changed the Ending” by Katrina Hall (Melbourne, Vic) – “One long hot summer in the early 1980s, two young women navigate the unwritten rules of life in an Australian beach town. Mandy has an idea that might change everything, for everyone in their town.”
• “The Trailing Edge of Yesterday” by Barry Dean (Abercrombie, NSW) – “After her grandmother’s death, a young woman uncovers photographs that bind her to a famous photographer’s suicide and a woman’s fatal car crash.”
• “With All the Purpose of Bees” by Tee Linden (Sydney, NSW) – “Aiella, a naïve and lonely artificial human, lives in a remote lab run as part of the Prometheus Project. Aiella must decide what life and death is to someone who is not technically alive, and what limits she might push to preserve it.”

PRH publisher Meredith Curnow said, “While exploring Australian beach towns and islands, a trove of photographs, the autonomy of a robot, oyster farms and illnesses, the writers on our shortlist showed the staff across PRH AU new ways to see and feel about ourselves and the world. Congratulations to each of them. There are so many wonderful Australian novels looking for readers. With the other judges, I cannot wait to explore these stories.”

Launched in 2017, the Penguin Literary Prize was “established to discover, nurture and develop literary fiction writers, providing a platform for new and diverse voices to emerge”. It offers the winner $20,000 and the opportunity to publish with PRH.

Last year’s winner was Mary Colussi for Touch Grass, which is scheduled for publication in June 2026.

The winner of the 2026 prize will be announced on 11 June.

Category: Awards Local news