Australia’s independent booksellers have nominated their favourite Australian books of 2025, and the shortlist for the Indie Book Awards 2026 is now here.
Indie Book Awards 2026: quick links
These awards have recognised the finest Australian writing since 2008, and who better to nominate and judge these standout titles than indie booksellers? The Indie Book Awards honour booksellers’ essential role in supporting Australian storytellers and championing Australian literature well beyond the big names, thereby enriching the diversity of Australia’s reading culture.
The Indie Book Awards are now considered the forerunner of all subsequent major Australian book awards held later in the year, with many past Book of the Year winners going on to become bestsellers and win other major literary awards.
Previous winners include Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton (which went on to win Radio National’s inaugural Top 100 Books of the 21st Century, amongst other honours, and of course was also adapted into the globally popular Netflix series), The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (which was adapted into a successful touring production by State Theatre Company SA and Sydney Theatre Company), Jane Harper’s mystery thriller The Dry (adapted into the blockbuster film starring Eric Bana), and Richard Flanagan’s 2013 novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North (the miniseries adaptation of which came to our screens in 2025).
‘The 2026 Indie Book Awards Shortlist highlights the depth, creativity and diversity of Australian writing today. Selected by independent booksellers who champion Australian books every day, these standout titles represent the very best of Australian publishing this year,’ says Leanne Kadareanu, Head of Books at Leading Edge Retail and proud facilitator of the awards.
The Awards cover the best Australian books in six categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Debut Fiction, Illustrated Non-Fiction, Children’s books (up to 12 years old) and Young Adult (12+).
The Shortlist for the Indie Book Awards 2026:
Fiction
- Tenderfoot by Toni Jordan (Hachette Australia)
- Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Penguin Australia)
- One Hundred Years of Betty by Debra Oswald (Allen & Unwin)
- Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth (Macmillan Australia)
Non-Fiction
- Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks (Hachette Australia)
- The Mushroom Tapes by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper & Sarah Krasnostein (Text Publishing)
- Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent (Picador Australia)
- A Bunker in Kyiv by John Lyons (ABC Books, HarperCollins Australia)
Debut Fiction
- The Butterfly Women by Madeleine Cleary (Affirm Press)
- Daughters of Batavia by Stefanie Koens (HarperCollins Australia)
- Melaleuca by Angie Faye Martin (HQ Fiction)
- When Sleeping Women Wake by Emma Pei Yin (Hachette Australia)
Illustrated Non-Fiction
- The ADHD Brain Buddy by Matilda Boseley (Penguin Australia)
- Planting for Native Birds, Bees and Butterflies by Jaclyn Crupi (Murdoch Books)
- Wild by Design by Tim Pilgrim (Murdoch Books)
- THAI by Nat Thaipun (Hardie Grant Books)
Children’s
- There’s a Prawn in Parliament House: The Kids’ Guide to Australia’s Amazing Democracy by Annabel Crabb, illustrated by First Dog on the Moon (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
- Harry and Gran Bake a Cake by Fiona McIntosh, illustrated by Sara Acton (Puffin)
- Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Lothian Children’s Books)
Young Adult
- The Foal in the Wire by Robbie Coburn (Lothian Children’s Books)
- Eleanor Jones is Playing with Fire by Amy Doak (Penguin Australia)
- Drift by Pip Harry (Lothian Children’s Books)
- Wandering Wild by Lynette Noni (Penguin Australia)
The Indie Book Awards 2026 are sponsored by HarperCollins Publishers, Allen & Unwin, Melbourne University Press, Pan Macmillan Australia, Thames & Hudson, Hachette Australia and Penguin Random House.
The Category Winners and the Overall Book of the Year Winner will be announced at a virtual awards event on Monday 23 March 2026.
