Australian independent booksellers have announced Dusk by Robbie Arnott as the best book from the last year, and the winner of the Indie Book Awards 2025 Book of the Year.
The Book of the Year is voted by independent Australian booksellers across the country from the six category winners.
On winning the Award, Robbie Arnott said:
‘Didn’t see this coming! What a world, hey. Can’t believe it. I’m thrilled and honoured that people who love books so much they sell them for a living found something worthwhile in this book. I’m off for a lager.’
The Awards recognise and celebrate indie booksellers as the number one supporters of Australian authors. What makes indie booksellers uniquely placed to judge and recommend the best Aussie books of the past year, is their incredible passion and knowledge, their contribution to the cultural diversity of the Australian reading public, by recommending beyond the big brands, and above all, their love of quality writing.
The individual category winners in Fiction, Debut Fiction, Non-Fiction, Illustrated Non-Fiction, Children’s and Young Adult were also announced. From these six category winners, the independent booksellers selected the best of the best – The 2025 Indie Book of the Year.
The Winners for the Indie Book Awards 2025 are:
BOOK OF THE YEAR
Dusk by Robbie Arnott
FICTION
Dusk by Robbie Arnott
NON-FICTION
Three Wild Dogs and the Truth by Markus Zusak
DEBUT FICTION
All The Bees in the Hollows by Lauren Keegan
ILLUSTRATED NON-FICTION
The Paintings of Criss Canning by Criss Canning
CHILDREN’S
All the Beautiful Things by Katrina Nannestad
YOUNG ADULT
My Family and Other Suspects by Kate Emery
Read an interview with the author
