Creative Australia has announced the winners of the 2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards at a special event at the National Library of Australia in Canberra.
Offering the most substantial literary prize in the nation, with a tax-free prize pool of $600,000, the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards recognise the outstanding literary talents of established and emerging Australian writers, illustrators, poets, and historians.
This year’s winning titles span genre and form, illuminating the complexities of our nation’s past, present and paving the way for future Australian stories.
FICTION
Anam by André Dao
NON-FICTION
Close to the Subject: Selected Works by Daniel Browning
YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
We Could Be Something by Will Kostakis
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Tamarra: A Story of Termites on Gurindji Country by Violet Wadrill; Topsy Dodd Ngarnjal; Leah Leaman; Cecelia Edwards; Cassandra Algy; Felicity Meakins; Briony Barr; Gregory Crocetti
POETRY
The Cyprian by Amy Crutchfield
AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
Donald Horne: A Life in the Lucky Country by Ryan Cropp
The winner of each category receives $80,000.
The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards acknowledge the importance of Australian literature and history. As set out in the National Cultural Policy — Revive a place for every story, a story for every place, this is the second year that the Awards have been managed by Creative Australia, in keeping with the core principle of arm’s length funding for artists and arts organisations and reflecting the Australian Government’s commitment to supporting Australian literature and the role it plays in connecting Australians to our culture, history, and values.
The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards were established in 2008 to recognise individual excellence, and the contribution Australian authors make to the nation’s cultural and intellectual life. Initially with two categories of non-fiction and fiction, in 2010 the young adult and children’s literature categories were introduced, with the addition of the Poetry category in 2012 and the incorporation of the pre-existing Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History.
The award short listees, previously announced, will each receive a prize of $5,000.
