Writing Australia has tonight announced the winners of the 2026 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, celebrating six outstanding books that reflect the breadth, skill and vitality of Australian storytelling. The winners were revealed at a ceremony at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, on Thursday 10 September 2026.
The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards recognise the exceptional contribution Australian writers, illustrators, poets and historians make to Australia’s cultural and intellectual life.
2026 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards – Winners
Australian History
The Southern Frontier by Rohan Howitt (Melbourne University Publishing)
Children's Literature
Song of a Thousand Seas by Zana Fraillon (University of Queensland Press)
Fiction
A Piece of Red Cloth by Leonie Norrington, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Djawa Burarrwanga & Djawundil Maymuru (Allen & Unwin)
Non-fiction
The Red House by Kate Wild (Allen & Unwin)
Poetry
Two Hundred Million Musketeers by Ender Başkan (Giramondo Publishing)
Young adult literature
Drift by Pip Harry (Hachette Australia)
Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, said:
“Congratulations to all of this year’s winners, whose work demonstrates the depth and diversity of Australian literature.
“Our stories connect us across generations, cultures and communities, and allow the world to see Australia through Australian eyes.
“My Government is proud to support the writers, illustrators, poets and historians whose creativity makes such an important contribution to Australia.”
Minister for the Arts, The Hon Tony Burke MP, said:
“Australian writers have a remarkable breadth of talent. The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards highlights some of Australia’s best to the national stage."
Director of Writing Australia, Wenona Byrne, said:
“These remarkable books show Australian storytelling at its finest, illuminating our past, drawing us into lives beyond our own, and helping us imagine the world anew. Writing Australia is proud to celebrate the extraordinary craft and originality of this year’s winners.”
As Australia’s richest annual literary prize, the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards offers a total tax-free prize pool of $600,000. Winners receive $80,000 per category, and up to four shortlisted entries in each category receive $5,000 tax-free.
More information: Prime Minister’s Literary Awards
WINNER - Australian History
The Southern Frontier by Rohan Howitt
Antarctica looms large in the Australian psyche as a place of science, adventure and peril. The Southern Frontier traces Australia's Antarctic obsession from its origins in the nineteenth century to the creation of the Australian Antarctic Territory and a permanent national Antarctic program in the 1930s and 1940s. It shows how Australians came to imagine their nation as having a natural right, perhaps even a destiny, to explore, exploit and control the Antarctic: as one frontier of an Australian Empire.
Rohan Howitt is a lecturer in environmental history at Monash University. His research focuses on the interconnected histories of Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. His work has been published in leading scholarly journals such as Australian Historical Studies, History Compass, and The Journal of Global History. The Southern Frontier is his first book.
WINNER - Children's Literature
Song of a Thousand Seas by Zana Fraillon
A lyrical verse novel of homecoming and friendship, following Houdini, an octopus in an aquarium who longs for her home in the wild Sea. For a creature with nine brains, being unable to feel the sun on her skin or having visitors bang on her tank makes for a dull existence – until she meets someone who is different. Juno’s busy brain buzzes with so many questions and thoughts that Houdini’s skin tingles with wonder.
Zana Fraillon (she/they) is an internationally acclaimed, multi-award-winning author of books for children and young adults. Her work has been published in over fifteen countries and is in development for both stage and screen. She has a doctorate in creative writing, and degrees in 2026 Shortlist 4 history and teaching. Zana’s passion for empowering young people to find their voice is a feature of both her books and her work with writers of all ages.
WINNER - Fiction
A Piece of Red Cloth by Leonie Norrington, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Djawa Burarrwanga & Djawundil Maymuru
It is early in the wet season. A flock of crested terns sweeps into the bay and dives towards Batjani. The birds are saying the foreigners are coming, as they do every year, but why are they so full of menace? Batjani's beloved granddaughter Garritji is on the cusp of womanhood, about to go through the rituals preparing her for marriage. Batjani uses all means at her disposal to protect her granddaughter from the visiting Macassan trepang fishers, but she is betrayed. Can Garritji be saved? This powerful and unique novel is based on oral history and told through Yolngu eyes, with ancestors as the Yolngu remember them: proud, strong, resilient people in control of their world and interacting with foreigners on their own terms.
Leonie Norrington is a multi-award-winning north Australian author who grew up in the Barunga community in Arnhem Land. She writes for children and adults in both fiction and non-fiction. Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Djawa Burarrwanga and Djawundil Maymuru are Yolŋu cultural custodians. Merrkiyawuy and Djawundil are co-authors of Welcome to My Country and Songspirals.
WINNER – Non-Fiction
The Red House by Kate Wild
A young Aboriginal man and a white police officer face each other in a house in the desert. The violence that passes between them carries the pain and anger of generations of unfinished business. This is not simply a book about the fatal shooting of Kumanjayi Walker and the murder trial of Constable Zachary Rolfe; it is an exploration of the inseparable connections between this country's past, present and future, and the chance to change that story.
Kate Wild is an investigative journalist whose work with distinguished teams at the ABC has been recognised with three Walkley Awards and a Logie. Her reports from Darwin, where she lived from 2010 to 2016, laid the groundwork for a Four Corners story on juvenile detention that prompted the calling of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory. Her first book, Waiting for Elijah, was published in 2018.
WINNER - Poetry
Two Hundred Million Musketeers by Ender Başkan
Ender Başkan’s debut poetry collection depicts the intensity of life as a parent of young children. It maps the shifting trains of thought which go with the experience of being a new parent, when one’s attention is drawn in many different directions. The poet reflects on his own childhood, and his grandparents’ exile from Turkey, to which he returns several times over the course of the book with his own young family.
Ender Başkan is a Melbourne-based poet, novelist, small-press publisher and bookseller. The winner of the 2021 Overland Judith Wright Poetry Prize, his poems have been published in HEAT, Meanjin, Cordite, Unusual Work and Best of Australian Poems. He has also published a novel, A Portrait of Alice as a Young Man. He is the co-founder of Vre Books press, Agog poetry readings and Study experimental space.
WINNER - Young adult literature
Drift by Pip Harry
Fourteen-year-old Nate has just moved back to Australia and is finding it hard to navigate a new city, school and changed home life. His next-door neighbour, Luna, is dealing with her own issues: a viral video, friends who have dropped her, and a subsequent anxiety disorder. When a swarm of 20,000 bees unexpectedly settle in the walls of Nate's family's house, Nate and Luna come together to save the hive, befriending local beekeeper Tyler. Over the course of one summer, their loyalties will be tested and their lives will be forever changed.
Pip Harry is an Australian author, copywriter and journalist. Her verse novel The Little Wave was a 2020 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award winner. Her second, Are You There, Buddha?, was a 2022 CBCA Notable Book and was shortlisted for the 2022 NSW Premier's Literary Awards. Pip's novel August & Jones (2022), was shortlisted for the CBCA Awards, 2024 YABBA Awards, and won the CBCA Shadow Judging Book of the Year for Younger Readers. Pip has also written picture books: Over or Under? (a CBCA Notable and ABIA-shortlisted book), The Inside Dog, and verse novel Drift (a CBCA Notable book and shortlisted for the Indie Young Adult Book Award 2026).
For more information on the winners including judging panel comments, please visit: Prime Minister's Literary Awards on the Creative Australia website. Join the conversation by using thehashtag #PMLitAwards.
Available for download: the full list of winners and shortlisted authors, judges comments and biographies, including author photographs and biographies are available here.
Media contacts:
For interviews with finalists
Debbie McInnes OR Ineke Walker
Mobile: 0412 818 071 or 0412455977
Email: debbie@dmcpr.com.au ineke@dmcpr.com.au
For Creative Australia enquiries:
Brianna Roberts
Senior Media Manager
Public Affairs, Office of the CEO
T: +61 9215 9030 M: +61 498 123 541
brianna.roberts@creative.gov.au
More information:
About the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards
The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards were established in 2008 to recognise individual excellence and the contribution that Australian authors make to the nation's cultural and intellectual life in the categories of non-fiction and fiction. In 2010 the young adult and children's literature categories were introduced, followed by poetry in 2012 and the inclusion of the pre-existing Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History.
Previous winners of the award include Tara June Winch, Omar Sakr, Gerald Murnane, Nam Le, Judith Brett and Jessica Au.
About Creative Australia
Creative Australia is the Australian Government’s principal arts investment and advisory body. We invest in and champion Australian creativity
We invest in creative people and organisations and help build audiences and markets for Australian creative work, both in Australia and internationally. Our establishing legislation, the Creative Australia Act 2023, requires us to uphold and promote freedom of expression in the arts and to support Australian arts practice that reflects the diversity of Australia. As a result, we invest in artists and organisations that represent a range of voices, perspectives and stories.
Writing Australia, located within Creative Australia, provides direct support to the literature sector to grow local and international audiences for Australian books, planning for new investments and providing strategic advice.
Writing Australia was established by the Creative Australia Act 2023. This was the final piece of legislation in establishing all the functions of Creative Australia under the National Cultural Policy, Revive: A place for every story, a story for every place.
About the National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia holds the world’s largest collection of material relating to Australia and Australians. Its rich collection contains books, artworks, newspapers, maps, rare books, manuscripts, pictures, digital publications and more. The National Library’s vision is to inspire, connect, and empower everyone in the community by making the collection accessible to all.
The National Library offers engaging tours, a changing program of exhibitions, a dynamic array of events and public programs, and access to its Reading Rooms for those seeking knowledge, culture, or simply a place to connect. In addition to this, the National Library has a publishing arm that creates books that tell stories by and about Australians.
The National Library of the Australia is the exclusive presenting partner of Prime Minister’s Literary Awards.
