Spirit of the Crocodile: A Torres Strait Island Story by Aaron Fa’Aoso and Michelle Scott Tucker with Lyn White (Allen & Unwin) has been recognised on the 2026 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award Longlist!

According to the prize website; A longlist of 14 books of all kinds – including fiction, poetry, YA, children’s and memoir – has been announced for the $50 000 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award for 2026, from a field of more than 230 entries.

The Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award recognises the best original book, in the judges’ opinion, that has been published in Australia in the previous calendar year. Submissions must deal with any aspect of Australian life and can be in any field or genre of writing, verse or prose. The judges for this year are Dr Lachlan Brown, Dr Leigh Dale, Professor Emerita Susan Martin, Emeritus Professor Paul Salzman (FAHA) and Mary Vernon.

One of the country’s most esteemed and oldest literary prizes, the award is funded by a bequest that commemorates the founding professor of English at James Cook University, Professor Colin Roderick CBE, and his wife Margaret, who collaborated on his literary scholarship. Margaret Roderick oversaw the massive donation that funds the Award.

Now this year’s books have been whittled down to fourteen contenders, the judges have retired to their favourite winter reading spots to re-read all of the long-listed books, before deciding on the shortlist and winner.

About Spirit of the Crocodile, the judges said; ‘Worth reading, whatever your age, for the illuminating insights into TI culture and Ezra’s struggles to combine that with twenty-first century mainland culture.’

The shortlist will be announced in late July, and the winner in early September.

Congratulations to Aaron, Michelle and Lyn!