ABA Annual Awards
Through our annual awards the Australian Booksellers Association celebrates the work of Australian booksellers and the books they love to sell. The annual ABA Bookseller Awards recognise the unique role played by booksellers in distributing learning, ideas, and literature and the positive role they continue to play in their communities.
The ABA Book of the Year Awards recognise the Australian new release books our booksellers have selected as their favourite hand-sells as part of their ongoing commitment to bring writers and readers together.
The ABA will announce the 2026 award winners at the Conference Gala Dinner and Awards Night in Canberra on Sunday 14 June.
2025 Book of the Year Awards winners
The ABA Book of the Year Awards recognise the Australian books published in 2024 that our booksellers have selected as their favourite books to personally recommend as part of their ongoing commitment to bring writers and readers together. These awards celebrate the unique role played by booksellers in sharing their knowledge and passion with communities across the country.
Previous winners include Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko, The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams, Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton, Reckoning: A Memoir by Magda Szubanski, Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder, and The 52-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton.
ABA BookData
Adult Fiction Book of the Year
2026 shortlist:
Lyrebird by Jane Caro (Allen & Unwin)
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth (Macmillan Australia)
Tenderfoot by Toni Jordan (Hachette Australia)
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Penguin Random House Australia)
The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
A Great Act of Love by Heather Rose (Allen & Unwin)
ABA BookData
Adult Non-Fiction Book of the Year
2026 shortlist:
Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks (Hachette Australia)
Defiance by Bob Brown (Black Inc.)
The Mushroom Tapes by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper & Sarah Krasnostein (The Text Publishing Company)
Unsettled by Kate Grenville (Black Inc.)
Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent (Picador Australia)
Earthquake by Niki Savva (Scribe Publications)
ABA Kids’ Reading Guide
Children’s Book of the Year
2026 shortlist:
There’s a Prawn in Parliament House: The Kids’ Guide to Australia’s Amazing Democracy by Annabel Crabb & First Dog on the Moon (Allen & Unwin)
Dear Broccoli by Jo Dabrowski & Cate James (Affirm Kids)
Here Come the Cousins by Maggie Hutchings & Sarah Zweck (Thames & Hudson Australia)
Oceanforged 1: The Wicked Ship by Amelia Mellor (Affirm Kids)
Once I was a Giant by Zeno Sworder (Thames & Hudson Australia)
Ningaloo by Tim Winton & Cindy Lane (Fremantle Press)
2026 Bookseller of the Year Awards
For more information visit:
Lifetime Achievement in Bookselling Award
ABA Text Publishing 2026 Bookseller of the Year Award
ABA PRH 2026 Young Bookseller of the Year Award
ABA Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing 2026 Children’s Bookseller of the Year Award