Exciting news! The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2025 shortlist has just been announced.
The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards were inaugurated by the Victorian Government in 1985 to honour literary achievement by Australian writers. The awards are administered by the Wheeler Centre on behalf of the Premier of Victoria. Discover the shortlists below!
Prize for fiction shortlist
The Burrow by Melanie Cheng
The Echoes by Evie Wyld
Highway 13 by Fiona McFarlane
Host City by David Owen Kelly
Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser
Woo Woo by Ella Baxter
Prize for nonfiction shortlist
Anything Can Happen by Susan Hampton
The Lasting Harm by Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Monument by Bonny Cassidy
Naku Dharuk: The Bark Petitions by Clare Wright
A Very Secret Trade by Cassandra Pybus
Highly recommended:
Cactus Pear For My Beloved by Samah Sabawi
Peripathetic by Cher Tan
Prize for Indigenous writing shortlist
Afloat by Kirli Saunders and Freya Blackwood (illus.)
Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media by Amy McQuire
I’m Not Really Here by Gary Lonesborough
Refugia by Elfie Shiosaki
Highly recommended:
Always Will Be by Mykaela Saunders
Makarra by Barinna South
This Is Where You Have to Go by Lynda Holden
John Clarke Prize for Humour Writing shortlist
Detachable Penis by Sam Elkin
Ghost Cities by Siang Lu
I’d Rather Not by Robert Skinner
The Medusa Situation by Gabiann Marin
My Brother’s Ashes Are in a Sandwich Bag by Michelle Brasier
Prize for children's Literature shortlist
The 113th Assistant Librarian by Stuart Wilson
Listen, Hippo! by Gabriel Evans
The Midwatch by Judith Rossell
Three Dresses by Wanda Gibson
Highly recommended:
How to Free a Jinn by Raidah Shah Idil
Squishbook by Ben Hutchings
Prize for writing for young adults shortlist
Anomaly by Emma Lord
Liar’s Test by Ambelin Kwaymullina
Smoke & Mirrors by Barry Jonsberg
Highly recommended:
One By One They Disappear by Mike Lucas
The Skin I’m In by Steph Tisdell
