Entries are open for The Australian Fiction Prize 2025

Entries are now open for the $35,000 The Australian Fiction Prize 2025 – sign up now.

The Australian Fiction Prize announcers Anna Valdinger, Caroline Overington and Catherine Milne. Picture: Jane Dempster The Australian.

Entries are open!

What am I talking about?

The Australian Fiction Prize!

We launched the competition last year, with the aim of finding the next great Australian novel. We opened to everyone, regardless of age, or experience.

We knew it would be popular … but we didn’t expect to get 500 entries!

That’s a magnificent response, and I know everyone says this, but it really was hard to decide on the shortlist, because so many of the manuscripts were so good.

We all agreed on the eventual – and inaugural! – winner, Tasmania’s Katherine Johnson, whose book is about a brave girl who has been raised on a remote Tasmanian island, who uncovers a few mysteries, with the help of wonderful strangers. It was so cleverly plotted, and atmospheric. I can’t wait for you to read it.

Katherine received a cheque for $35,000 which was obviously awesome, but that’s not the best part of the prize.

The best part is … publication!

Her book will be out with HarperCollins next year. They are already talking about cover designs and positioning in the marketplace, so fingers crossed for it.

In the meantime, we’re again open for entries.

Our chief judge will again be the head of fiction at HarperCollins, Catherine Milne, who has published some of Australia’s most astonishing novelists, among them Trent Dalton and Holly Ringland.

She says: “Reading the entries in The Australian Fiction Prize is a little like panning for gold – always that same rush of excitement when we find a manuscript that shines and we think ‘Eureka!’ It’s a bit addictive, honestly.

“Reading through the 500 entries last year was simultaneously exhausting, exhilarating and impressive, seeing the imaginative span and the breadth of talent, commitment and passion of so many Australian writers – and I can’t wait to do it again this year.”

Our Queensland judge, Samuel Bernard, who is both a literary agent and a critic, took time away from cyclone preparations to reflect on his experience as a first-time judge.

“It was a terrific honour to be asked,” he says. “To explore the labyrinth of Australian storytelling at its most raw and dazzling left little doubt in my mind that the future of our industry is in safe hands.

“One sentence, one page, one chapter, and one manuscript at a time, I was able to see the depth of character, knowledge, and talent in Australian authors.

“It was an unforgettable experience and a highlight of my career.”

He’s agreed to come back as a judge this year, which is such great news.

It was important to us to have a bookseller on board, and we were rapt when Letitia Davy agreed to take part. She is the manager and buyer at Gleebooks, Dulwich Hill; an avid reader; and a joyful person, to boot.

She says: “I am delighted to be invited back this year to judge the Australian Fiction Prize. As a bookseller and book buyer, the championing of Australian writers and Australian stories is hugely important to me. I certainly have a vested interest in helping unearth that next Australian novel that readers will really respond to!

“I was so impressed by the calibre of entries last year and I enthusiastically encourage authors to submit their work for the 2025 prize. Being part of the judging panel last year was a wonderful experience and I can attest to the care and consideration that went into selecting the winning entry. I’m very excited to see what 2025 brings.”

Me too!

So, polish up that manuscript, and get yourself entered. You will find more details here: 

Sharri Markson at International Women's Day.

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Three writers and a female rabbi walk into a morning tea … no, but seriously, I was so happy to be in the audience at an uplifting event for International Women’s Day last Sunday, featuring the founder of Mamamia, Mia Freedman (she is the author of Work, Strife, Balance, which became the inspiration for the hit Binge TV show, Strife); Sharri Markson, (picture courtesy Benjamin Ryan.who is a Sky News Australia TV host, and author of What Really Happened in Wuhan?); the founder of OzHarvest and author of A Repurposed Life, Ronni Kahn; and Emanuel Synagogue’s Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio. Theyhad the crowd in stitches as they celebrated their own and each other’s many achievements while in conversation with the most excellent moderator, Michaela Kalowski. The event was followed by a Nora’s Kitchen morning tea. I ate many scones, and I don’t regret even one of them. Thank you for having me.

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The program for The Sydney Writers’ Festival was revealed this week. As I’m sure you’re all aware, there has been some controversy: Kathy Shand, who had been a festival board member for more than a decade, has quit as chair, citing concerns about the festival’s reputation for balance.

I asked the artistic director, Ann Mossop, about the controversy and she said all the speakers had been chosen “for their work, not their politics”.

The program’s “essential events” include Stories of Palestine, featuring Sara Haddad, whose novel, The Sunbird, is about a Palestinian refugee; Hasib Hourani, whose latest work is about Palestinian displacement; and Samah Sabawi, who will be sharing “personal experiences as part of the Palestinian and Lebanese diaspora.”

The panel will be hosted by Micaela Sahhar, an Australian-Palestinian writer and educator. There will be a performance by Palestinian poet Plestia Alaqad, author of The Eyes of Gaza, hosted Bilal Hafda, who organises pro-Palestinian literary protests. Raja Shehadeh, a Palestinian lawyer, human rights activist and writer, will attend, as will the British lawyer who represented Palestine in the International Court of Juice, Philippe Sands, who will also speak on anti-Semitism.

Then there’s Jumaana Abdu, discussing her debut novel, Translations, which “explores Palestinian–First Nations solidarity” and Sara M. Saleh, whose book Songs for the Dead and the Living, is described as a “coming-of-age tale played out across generations and continents, from Palestine to Australia.”

Michael Mohammed Ahmad, a co-founder of Writers and Thinkers for Palestine, will also attend, as will Peter Beinart, whose book, Being Jewish After The Destruction of Gaza, “challenges readers to rethink history, belonging, and moral responsibility.”

Mossop said the Palestinian writers and poets made up just part of the program of 200 events. She said she had invited two Israeli writers to attend: Ittay Flescher, author of The Holy and the Broken, will appear by video link, and Yael van der Wouden, author of The Safekeep, who lives in Holland. The former editor of The Age, Michael Gawenda, will talk about his book, My Life as a Jew.

“We’re not putting on an academic symposium or some kind of political discussion designed to solve the conflict in the Middle East or represent every single point of view,” she said.

She hoped readers would flock to events featuring Samantha Harvey who will be talking about her Booker Prize winning novel, Orbital; crime writer Ian Rankin, and hugely popular Irish author Marian Keyes. You can find the full program online.