ABA 2026 Book of the Year Awards shortlists announced
Monday, 27 April 2026 Books+Publishing @booksandpublishing
The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA, formerly BookPeople) has announced the shortlists of its 2026 Book of the Year Awards.
These awards recognise “books that truly connected with readers and were championed by booksellers across the country”.
The shortlisted titles in each category are:
Adult fiction
- A Great Act of Love (Heather Rose, A&U)
- Lyrebird (Jane Caro, A&U)
- Mad Mabel (Sally Hepworth, Macmillan)
- Tenderfoot (Toni Jordan, Hachette)
- The Unquiet Grave (Dervla McTiernan, HarperCollins)
- Wild Dark Shore (Charlotte McConaghy, Penguin)
Adult nonfiction
- Always Home, Always Homesick (Hannah Kent, Picador)
- Defiance (Bob Brown, Black Inc.)
- Earthquake (Niki Savva, Scribe)
- Memorial Days (Geraldine Brooks, Hachette)
- The Mushroom Tapes (Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper & Sarah Krasnostein, Text)
- Unsettled (Kate Grenville, Black Inc.)
Children’s
- Dear Broccoli (Jo Dabrowski, illus Cate James, Affirm Kids)
- Here Come the Cousins (Maggie Hutchings, illus Sarah Zweck, T&H)
- Ningaloo (Tim Winton, illus Cindy Lane, Fremantle Press)
- Once I Was a Giant (Zeno Sworder, T&H)
- There’s a Prawn in Parliament House (Annabel Crabb, illus First Dog on the Moon, A&U Children’s)
- The Wicked Ship (Oceanforged #1) (Amelia Mellor, Affirm Kids).
Voting is open to ABA member booksellers until 11 May, with winners set to be announced at the organisation’s gala dinner and awards night on 14 June as part of the ABA conference in Canberra.
Last year’s winners were Dusk (Robbie Arnott, Picador), The Season (Helen Garner, Text) and The Midwatch (Judith Rossell, HGCP).
Category: Local news
