Creative Australia has announced the titles shortlisted for the 2025 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, and authors Clare Wright and Briony Stewart have been recognised!
The awards celebrate the exceptional talents of emerging and established Australian writers, illustrators, poets, and historians.
The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards acknowledge the contribution of Australian literature to the nation’s cultural and intellectual life. This marks the third year Creative Australia has delivered the awards, following the release of the Australian Government’s 2023 National Cultural Policy, Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place.
Newly appointed Director, Writing Australia Wenona Byrne said: “This year marks the first delivery of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards under Writing Australia. The Awards are a key part of our commitment to supporting the literature sector, and we are proud to celebrate these works as part of a new era in Australian writing.”
Creative Australia received a remarkable 645 entries across six literary categories: fiction, non-fiction, young adult literature, children’s literature, poetry, and Australian history.
We are thrilled that Clare Wright has been shortlisted in the Australian History category, for her phenomenal work; Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of Australian Democracy (Text Publishing)
And that Briony Stewart has been shortlisted in the Children’s Literature category, for the brilliant; Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Tooth Fairy (And Some Things You Didn’t) (Hachette Australia)
Congratulations to all.
The winners of the 2025 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards will be announced on Monday 29 September at a prestigious ceremony held at the National Library of Australia in Canberra. Both the winners and the shortlisted authors will share in a tax-free prize pool of $600,000, making it the richest literary prize in Australia. Each shortlisted entry will receive $5,000 with the winner of each category receiving $80,000.
