Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA), in partnership with the ARA Group has announced the Longlists for the 2023 ARA Historical Novel Prize.
The ARA Historical Novel Prize is worth a total of $100,000 in prize monies. The Prize will award $50,000 to the Adult category winner, with an additional $5,000 to be awarded to each of the remaining two shortlisted authors. In the Children and Young Adult (CYA) category, the winner will receive $30,000, while the two shortlisted authors will receive $5,000 each.
Chair and Program Director of the Historical Novel Society Australasia, Elisabeth Storrs, said, ‘Drawing from an impressive range of eras and settings, the 2023 ARA Historical Novel Prize Longlists demonstrate the true depth of talent of historical fiction authors. The 18 longlisted novels transport us from sun-drenched Australian valleys to medieval England’s charged atmospheres, from the fervour of wartime Europe to the gritty Underworld of 1930s Sydney.’
The Shortlist will be announced on 27 September 2023. Winners will be announced on 19 October 2023. For more information please visit the HNSA website.
The Longlist – Adult Category:
- Limberlost – Robbie Arnott (Text Publishing)
- The Fire and the Rose – Robyn Cadwallader (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
- Nimblefoot – Robert Drewe (Hamish Hamilton, an imprint of Penguin Random House)
- The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies – Alison Goodman (HarperCollins Publishers)
- Salonika Burning – Gail Jones (Text Publishing)
- The Sun Walks Down – Fiona McFarlane (Allen & Unwin)
- Iris – Fiona Kelly McGregor (Pan Macmillan Australia)
- The Settlement – Jock Serong (Text Publishing)
- The Bookbinder of Jericho – Pip Williams (Affirm Press)
The Longlist – Children and Young Adult (CYA) Category:
- The Great Gallipoli Escape – Jackie French (HarperCollins Publishers)
- Running with Ivan – Suzanne Leal (HarperCollins Publishers)
- The Killing Code – Ellie Marnie (Allen & Unwin)
- The Bookseller’s Apprentice – Amelia Mellor (Affirm Press)
- Waiting for the Storks – Katrina Nannestad (ABC Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
- The Upwelling – Lystra Rose (Hatchette Australia)
- The Mud Puddlers – Pamela Rushby (Walker Books)
- Iris and Me – Phillipa Werry (Ahoy! An Imprint of The Cuba Press)
- Tilda – Sue Whiting (Walker Books)
