‘Audacious, enthralling’: The Age Book of the Year shortlists announced
Twelve books have made the shortlists for this year’s entries in The Age Book of The Year awards.
The six books on the fiction shortlist have been described as particularly exciting in “eclecticism and range” by the judges, author and critic Bram Presser, and The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Canberra bureau chief Michelle Griffin.
Shortlisted books for the 2025 The Age Book of the Year.
The books on the fiction shortlist are:
- The Burrow by Melanie Cheng
- Depth of Field by Kirsty Iltners
- Vortex by Rodney Hall
- Highway 13 by Fiona McFarlane
- The Kingdom of Dust by David Dyer
- Ghost Cities by Siang Lu
From a suburban Melbourne home during the COVID lockdowns to the rocky surface of the moon, the books, said Presser and Griffin, “span time and place, delighting us with dashes of sublime beauty, familiar horror and pointed satire”.
The judges described Melanie Cheng’s book as “a restrained work of immense grace and compassion”; David Dyer’s Kingdom of Dust as an “exquisitely balanced psychological thriller”; Fiona McFarlane’s short stories as “audacious in concept and remarkable in execution”; Siang Lu’s Ghost Cities as a “tremendously inventive … bonkers satire”.
Melanie Cheng’s novel The Burrow was praised as “a restrained work of immense grace and compassion”.
They praised Rodney Hall’s Vortex as “expansive, generous, intelligent and utterly enthralling” and declared “few books this year could match the sheer beauty of Kirsty Iltners’ Depth of Field”.
The judges for the non-fiction section, author, reviewer and mission director of Caritas Australia, Michael McGirr, and author and director Lorin Clake, said the books on the non-fiction shortlist are all written out of deep and passionate engagement with their subject matter.
The non-fiction shortlisted books are:
- Cactus Pear For My Beloved by Samah Sabawi
- Crimes of the Cross by Anne Manne
- Australian Gospel by Lech Blaine
- Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions by Clare Wright
- Model Minority Gone Rogue by Qin Qin
- A Season of Death by Mark Raphael Baker
Each of these books, the judges said, were “driven by a strong conviction that there are issues which need time and space to fully explore”.
The late Mark Raphael Baker’s memoir was praised as “courageous and life-affirming”.
They praised Samah Sabawi’s book as “rich in culture and longing for peace”; Anne Manne’s Crimes of the Cross as “hard-headed, tender-hearted, meticulous and constructive” and Mark Raphael Baker’s memoir of his journey towards death as “courageous and life-affirming”.
They described Lech Blaine’s as a story that “resonates in a world where self-serving blindness is more destructive than ever”, Clare Wright’s Bark Petitions as “a living testament to the struggle of the Yolngu people to protect and celebrate their connection to country”, and Qin Qin’s Model Minority Gone Rogue as “a searing analysis of changing Asian stereotypes in the West”.
The 44th Age Book of the Year winners each receive $10,000, courtesy of the Copyright Agency’s cultural fund, and the winners will be announced by Age editor Patrick Elligett at The Athenaeum Theatre on May 8 as part of the opening night of this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival.
The Age is a festival partner.
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