This is a list of historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2026.
Events
Major publications
Literary fiction Michael Mohammed Ahmad – Bugger Yumna Kassab – Goodbye, My Love Amanda Lohrey – Capture Fiona Kelly McGregor – The Trap Steve Toltz – A Rising of the Lights Sarah Walker – The Water Takes Chloe Wilson – The Thornbacks Michael Winkler – Griefdogg Fiona Wright – Kill Your Boomers
Science fiction and fantasy
John Morrissey – Bird Deity
Poetry
Beverley Farmer – For the Season : Haikus Lulu Houdini – ma-li Maria van Neerven – Two Tongues
Non-Fiction
Tyree Barnett – Stolen Man on Stolen Land Bob Carr – Bring Back Yesterday Charlotte Grieve – Duty to Warn Susan Lever – A. D. Hope : A Life Konrad Marshall – Run For Your Life Alan Joyce — Alan Joyce: Riding the Jet Stream
Awards and honours Note: these awards were presented in the year in question.
Lifetime achievement AwardAuthorPatrick White Award Not yet awarded
Literary
Award Author Title Publisher ALS Gold Medal Madeleine WattsElegy, SouthwestUltimo PressColin Roderick Award Not yet awarded Indie Book Awards Book of the Year Charlotte McConaghy Wild Dark Shore Penguin New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Clare WrightNäku Dhäruk The Bark PetitionsText PublishingStella Prize Lee LaiCannonGiramondo Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Evelyn Araluen The Rot University of Queensland Press
Fiction
AwardAuthorTitlePublisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Not awarded The Age Book of the Year Moreno Giovannoni The Immigrants Black Inc. ARA Historical Novel Prize Not yet awarded Barbara Jefferis Award Not yet awarded Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction Charlotte McConaghy Wild Dark Shore Penguin Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Debut Fiction Emma Pei Yin When Sleeping Women Wake Hachette AustraliaMiles Franklin Award Omar MusaFiercelandPenguin Random House Prime Minister's Literary Awards Leonie Norrington, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Djawa Burarrwanga & Djawundil MaymuruA Piece of Red ClothAllen & UnwinNew South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Moreno Giovannoni The Immigrants Black Inc.Queensland Literary Awards Not yet awarded Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Omar Musa Fierceland Penguin Voss Literary Prize Not yet awarded
Children and Young Adult AwardCategoryAuthorTitlePublisher ARA Historical Novel Prize Children and Young Adult Not yet awardedChildren's Book of the Year AwardOlder Readers Barry JonsbergDarkest Night, Brightest StarAllen & Unwin Children'sYounger Readers Karen Wasson, illus. Jake A MintonInkedFigment BooksPicture Book Zeno SworderOnce I Was a GiantThames and HudsonEarly Childhood Rae TanThe Emperor's EggLothianEve Pownall Award for Information Books Stephanie Owen ReederPeculiar ParentsNational Library of Australia PublishingIndie Book Awards Book of the Year Children's Jessica Townsend Silverborn Lothian Young Adult Amy Doak Eleanor Jones Is Playing with Fire PenguinPrime Minister's Literary AwardsChildren's Zana FraillonSong of a Thousand SeasUniversity of Queensland PressYoung Adult Pip Harry DriftLothian Children's BooksNew South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsChildren's Michel StreichGoneThames and HudsonYoung People's Marly Wells and Linda WellsDesert TracksMagabala BooksQueensland Literary AwardsChildren's Not yet awardedYoung Adult Not yet awardedVictorian Premier's Literary Awards Children's Zeno Sworder Once I Was a Giant Thames and Hudson Young Adult Margot McGovern This Stays Between Us Penguin
Crime and Mystery
National
Award Category Author Title PublisherDavitt Award Novel Joanna Jenkins The Bluff Allen & Unwin Young adult novel Amy Doak What Have They Done to Liza McLean? Penguin Children's novel Sarah Armstrong Run Hardie Grant Non-fiction Kate Wild The Red House Allen & Unwin Debut Angie Faye Martin Melaleuca HQ Fiction Readers' choice Sally Hepworth Mad Mabel Pan MacmillanNed Kelly Award Novel Sally HepworthMad MabelPan Macmillan First novel Liz AllanIn BloomSceptre True crime Charlotte GrieveDuty to WarnHachette Australia
Poetry AwardAuthorTitlePublisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Not awarded Anne Elder Award Ender BaskanTwo Hundred Million MusketeersGiramondoMary Gilmore Award Liv Moriarty Gravity and Gravel No More PoetryPrime Minister's Literary Awards Ender BaşkanTwo Hundred Million MusketeersGiramondoNew South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Jill JonesHow to EmergeVagabond BooksJudith Wright Calanthe Award for a Poetry Collection Not yet awardedVictorian Premier's Literary Awards Eunice Andrada KONTRA Giramondo Publishing
Drama AwardCategoryAuthorTitlePublisherNew South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsScript Shaun GrantThe Narrow Road to the Deep North, Episode 4Curio Pictures, Screen Australia, Amazon MGM Studios Play Andrea JamesThe Black Woman of GippslandMelbourne Theatre Company/Currency PressVictorian Premier's Literary Awards Emilie Collyer Super Currency PressPatrick White Playwrights' Award Award Not yet awarded Fellowship Not yet awarded
Non-Fiction AwardCategoryAuthorTitlePublisher Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Non-Fiction Not awarded The Age Book of the Year Non-Fiction Kate Wild The Red House Allen & UnwinIndie Book Awards Book of the Year Non-Fiction Hannah Kent Always Home, Always Homesick Picador Illustrated Non-Fiction Tim Pilgrim Wild by Design MurdochNational Biography AwardBiography Helen EnnisMax Dupain: A Portrait4th EstatePrime Minister's Literary Awards Non-FictionKate WildThe Red HouseAllen & Unwin New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Non-Fiction Clare WrightNäku Dhäruk The Bark PetitionsText PublishingNew South Wales Premier's History AwardsAustralian History Natalie HarkinApron-Sorrow / Sovereign-TeaWakefield PressCommunity and Regional History Mark SkelseyViews to Die ForTrafalgar PublishingGeneral History Patricia A. O'BrienErrol Flynn: The true story of Australia's Hollywood iconAllen & UnwinQueensland Literary AwardsNon-Fiction Not yet awardedVictorian Premier's Literary Awards Non-Fiction Micaela Sahhar Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An Encyclopaedia of a Palestinian Family NewSouth Publishing
Deaths
29 January – Heather Goodall, historian and biographer (born 1950) 7 February – John Flanagan, fantasy author (born 1944) 12 February – Lionel Fogarty, poet (born 1958) 9 March – Patricia Clarke, historian, journalist and writer (born 1926) 22 April – David Malouf, poet and novelist (born 1934) 25 April – Annette Macarthur-Onslow, writer and book illustrator (born 1933) 13 July – Barry Dickins, author and playwright (born 1949) 9 September – Blanche d'Alpuget, writer (b. 1944) 21 September – Terry Denton, children's writer and illustrator (born 1950) 1 October – Hilary McPhee, publisher and editor (born 1941) See also
2026 in Australia 2026 in literature 2026 in poetry List of years in Australian literature List of years in literature
References