Creative Australia has announced the shortlists for the 2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, the richest literary prize in the nation. The awards celebrate the exceptional talents of emerging and established Australian writers, illustrators, poets, and historians.

In a statement, Creative Australia said 533 entries were received across the six award categories. The winners and shortlisted authors will share in a tax-free prize pool of $600,000. Each shortlisted author will receive $5000, with the winner of each category receiving $80,000.

The shortlisted titles for each category are:

Fiction

• Anam by André Dao
• Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville
• Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko
• The Carnal Fugues by Catherine McNamara
• Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

Nonfiction

• Close to the Subject: Selected Works by Daniel Browning
• Eventually Everything Connects by Sarah Firth
• Graft: Motherhood, Family and a Year on the Land by Maggie MacKellar
• A Kind of Confession by Alex Miller
• A Clear Flowing Yarra by Harry Saddler

Australian History

• Donald Horne: A Life in the Lucky Country by Ryan Cropp
• Bee Miles by Rose Ellis
• Bennelong and Phillip: A History Unravelled by Kate Fullagar
• Killing for Country: A Family Story by David Marr
• Courting: An Intimate History of Love and the Law by Alecia Simmonds

Poetry

• In the Photograph by Luke Beesley
• The Cyprian by Amy Crutchfield
• She Is the Earth by Ali Cobby Eckermann
• Golden Bridge: New Poems by Jennifer Maiden
• The Drama Student by Autumn Royal

Young Adult Literature

• Grace Notes by Karen Comer
• Welcome to Sex! by Melissa Kang & Yumi Stynes, illustrated by Jenny Latham
• We Could Be Something by Will Kostakis
• We Didn’t Think It Through by Gary Lonesborough
• A Hunger of Thorns by Lili Wilkinson

Children's Literature

• Etta and the Shadow Taboo by J.M. Field, illustrated by Jeremy Worrall
• Ghost Book by Remy Lai
• Two Sparrowhawks in a Lonely Sky by Rebecca Lim
• Millie Mak the Maker by Alice Pung, illustrated by Sher Rill Ng
• Tamarra: A Story of Termites on Gurindji Country by Violet Wadrill, Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal, Leah Leaman, Cecelia Edwards, Cassandra Algy, Felicity Meakins, Briony Barr & Gregory Crocetti

Winners of the 2024 Prime Minister's Literary Awards will be announced on Thursday 12 September at the National Library of Australia in Canberra. Read more about the award here.

The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards acknowledge the contribution of Australian literature to the nation’s cultural and intellectual life. This is the second year that the awards have been delivered by Creative Australia, following the release of the federal government’s 2023 Revive national cultural policy.