The shortlist for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards has been revealed, with an extraordinary line-up of 36 talented Australian writers, playwrights, poets and storytellers who will go in the running for Australia’s most valuable literary award - the Victorian Prize for Literature.
Established by the Victorian Government and now celebrating its 40th year, this year the awards have been expanded to nine categories with the addition of the inaugural John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing – named in honour of the late, great satirist and actor who called Victoria home. This new biennial award will be presented this year alongside categories for fiction, non-fiction, drama, poetry, Indigenous writing, writing for young adults, children’s literature and unpublished manuscripts.
Victorian based writers are among the shortlist, including a gripping family story by fiction writer and two-time VPLA winner Melanie Cheng, whose first book Australia Day took out the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2016 and Award for Fiction in 2018; Gawimarra: Gathering by poet and academic Jeanine Leane and The 113th Assistant Librarian a tale of mystery and adventure by Stuart Wilson in the Children’s Literature category. Readers can also expect genre-bending fantasy for young adults, analysis and investigative non-fiction, compelling drama, comedic writing spanning memoir and fiction and much more.
The winners of the Fiction, Non-Fiction, Drama, Poetry, Award for Indigenous Writing, Children’s Literature, Writing for Young Adults and Humour Writing categories are each awarded $25,000.
The winner of the Award for an Unpublished Manuscript receives $15,000 in prize money and a two-week residency at McCraith House in Dromana, as part of a partnership between The Wheeler Centre and RMIT Culture. An additional $2,000 is also provided by The Wheeler Centre for the People's Choice Award.
The nine category winners then go on to compete for the country’s richest single literary prize, the Victorian Prize for Literature, which awards a further $100,000 in prize money.
Voting is now open for the People's Choice Award with shortlisted and highly commended titles eligible for the $2,000 prize provided by The Wheeler Centre. The general public can have their say now via The Wheeler Centre website.
Winners will be announced at a special ceremony in Melbourne and live-streamed on The Wheeler Centre website on Wednesday 19 March.
The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards are presented by The Wheeler Centre on behalf of the Victorian Government. Find out more about the titles and read the 2025 Judges reports here.
2025 VICTORIAN PREMIER’S LITERARY AWARDS SHORTLIST
Prize for Fiction
The Burrow by Melanie Cheng (Text Publishing)
The Echoes by Evie Wyld (Vintage)
Highway 13 by Fiona McFarlane (Allen & Unwin)
Host City by David Owen Kelly (Puncher & Wattmann)
Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser (Text Publishing)
Woo Woo by Ella Baxter (Allen & Unwin)
Prize for Non-Fiction
Anything Can Happen by Susan Hampton (Puncher & Wattmann)
A Very Secret Trade by Cassandra Pybus (Allen & Unwin)
The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell by Lucia Osborne-Crowley
(Allen & Unwin)
Monument by Bonny Cassidy (Giramondo Publishing)
Näku Dhäruk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of
Australian Democracy by Clare Wright (Text Publishing)
Prize for Poetry
Gawimarra: Gathering by Jeanine Leane (University of Queensland Press)
Holocene Pointbreaks by Jake Goetz (Puncher & Wattmann)
rock flight by Hasib Hourani (Giramondo Publishing)
Prize for Drama
37 by Nathan Maynard (Currency Press & Melbourne Theatre Company. 37 was
commissioned and developed through Melbourne Theatre Company’s NEXT STAGE
Writers’ Program and co-produced by Melbourne Theatre Company and Queensland
Theatre)
Frame Narrative by Emily Sheehan (Produced by New Ghosts Theatre Company and
staged at The Old Fitz Theatre)
Into the Shimmering World by Angus Cerini (Developed with and staged by Sydney Theatre
Company)
Prize for Indigenous Writing
Afloat by Kirli Saunders (Hardie Grant Children's Publishing)
Black Witness by Amy McQuire (University of Queensland Press)
I'm Not Really Here by Gary Lonesborough (Allen & Unwin)
Refugia by Eflie Shiosaki (Magabala Books)
Prize for Children’s Literature
The 113th Assistant Librarian by Stuart Wilson (Penguin Random House Australia)
Listen, Hippo! by Gabriel Evans (Penguin Random House Australia)
The Midwatch by Judith Rossell (Hardie Grant Children's Publishing)
Three Dresses by Wanda Gibson (University of Queensland Press)
Prize for Writing for Young Adults
Anomaly by Emma Lord (Affirm Press)
Liar's Test by Ambelin Kwaymullina (Text Publishing)
Smoke & Mirrors by Barry Jonsberg (Allen & Unwin)
John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing
Detachable Penis: a Queer Legal Saga by Sam Elkin (Upswell Publishing)
Ghost Cities by Siang Lu (University of Queensland Press)
I’d Rather Not by Robert Skinner (Black Inc.)
My Brother’s Ashes Are in a Sandwich Bag by Michelle Brasier (Ultimo Press)
The Medusa Situation by Gabiann Marin (Clan Destine Press)
Prize for Unpublished Manuscript
Every Stolen Moment by Lauren Williams
Heavy Petting by Kat Capel
I Made This Just for You by Chris Ames
HIGHLY COMMENDED WORKS
Prize for Non-Fiction
Cactus Pear for My Beloved by Samah Sabawi (Penguin Random House Australia)
Peripathetic: Notes On (un)belonging by Cher Tan (NewSouth Publishing)
Prize for Poetry
G-d, Sleep, and Chaos by Alan Fyfe (Gazebo Books / Life Before Man)
Naag Mountain by Manisha Anjali (Giramondo Publishing)
Prize for Indigenous Writing
Always Will Be by Mykaela Saunders (University of Queensland Press)
Makarra by Barrina South (Recent Work Press)
This Is Where You Have To Go by Lynda Holden (Pantera Press)
Prize for Children’s Literature
How to Free a Jinn by Raidah Shah Idil (Allen & Unwin)
Squishbook: Make comics with Squishface Studio and friends! Edited by David
Blumenstein,containing work by numerous cartoonists and Kensington Primary School
students (Squishface Studios)
Prize for Writing for Young Adults
One by One They Disappear by Mike Lucas (Penguin Random House Australia)
The Skin I’m In by Steph Tisdell (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Prize for Unpublished Manuscript
Nina and Pearl by Fleur Glenn