Shortlists announced for 2023 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards
1/3/2023

Outstanding works by leading and emerging Australian writers have been shortlisted for the 2023 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, the State Library of NSW announced
today. This year a total of $350,000 will be offered across 12 prize categories, with the $30,000 Indigenous Writers’ Prize now being offered annually and the prize money
for the Multicultural NSW Award recently boosted from $20,000 to $30,000.

In addition, $5,000 prize money will be awarded for the University of Sydney People’s Choice Award for the first time since the award’s establishment in 2009.

According to NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet:

“The Government’s support for Australian writers is stronger than ever. I’m proud of how the Premier’s Literary
Awards, the longest running and richest state literary awards, have helped to foster such a rich and diverse literary culture.”
“I congratulate all of the shortlisted authors. I’d also like to thank the 35 esteemed judges who had the difficult task of selecting this strong shortlist from a record 856 entries.”

According to State Librarian John Vallance:

“We read and we write because we can. It’s hugely important that our government is prepared to defend the right to read and the right to write in such open-ended ways. Start exploring this year’s shortlists and see the value of their range and breadth.”

2023 Senior Judge, Jane McCredie, commented:

“Whether writing children’s books or screenplays, the shortlisted writers inspire, move and provoke us, bringing insight and skill to the rich array of stories they tell. It’s exciting to see so many first-time authors represented this year, a testament to the strength and diversity of our literary culture.”

The shortlists for the 2023 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards:

(arranged in alphabetical order by author surname)

Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($40,000)

• Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au (Giramondo Publishing)
• Every Version of You by Grace Chan (Affirm Press)
• Women I Know by Katerina Gibson (Scribner an imprint of Simon &
Schuster Australia • Iris by Fiona Kelly McGregor (Pan Macmillan Australia)
• Bad Art Mother by Edwina Preston (Wakefield Press)
• Grimmish by Michael Winkler (Puncher & Wattmann)
Please note, Grimmish by Michael Winkler has been withdrawn from the 2023 NSW
Premier’s Literary Awards by Puncher and Wattmann.
Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction ($40,000)
• Mothertongues by Ceridwen Dovey and Eliza Bell (Penguin Random House
Australia)
• We Come With This Place by Debra Dank (Echo Publishing)
• How to End a Story: Diaries 1995–1998 by Helen Garner (Text Publishing)
• Bedtime Story by Chloe Hooper (Simon & Schuster Australia)
• Crimes Against Nature: capitalism and global heating by Jeff Sparrow
(Scribe Publications)
• Another Day in the Colony by Chelsea Watego (University of Queensland
Press)

Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry ($30,000)

• Revenants by Adam Aitken (Giramondo Publishing)
• The Singer and Other Poems by Kim Cheng Boey (Cordite Books)
• Stasis Shuffle by Pam Brown (Hunter Publishers Australia)
• Mirabilia by Lisa Gorton (Giramondo Publishing)
• The Jaguar by Sarah Holland-Batt (University of Queensland Press)
• And to Ecstasy by Marjon Mossammaparast (Upswell Publishing)
Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature ($30,000)
• Wanderer by Victor Kelleher (Christmas Press)
• Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief by Katrina Nannestad (HarperCollins
Publishers)
• Amma’s Sari by Sandhya Parappukkaran and Michelle Pereira (Hardie
Grant Children’s Publishing)
• Rita’s Revenge by Lian Tanner (Allen & Unwin)
• The First Scientists: Deadly Inventions and Innovations from Australia’s
First Peoples by Corey Tutt and Blak Douglas (Hardie Grant Explore)
• Zadie Ma and the Dog Who Chased the Moon by Gabrielle Wang (Penguin
Random House Australia)
Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature ($30,000)
• Completely Normal (and Other Lies) by Biffy James (Hardie Grant Children’s
Publishing)
• A Little Spark by Barry Jonsberg (Allen & Unwin)
• Sugar by Carly Nugent (Text Publishing the Upwelling by Lystra Rose (Hachette Australia)
• The Brink by Holden Sheppard (Text Publishing)
• Where You Left Us by Rhiannon Wilde (University of Queensland Press)

Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting ($30,000)

• Chalkface by Angela Betzien (State Theatre Company South Australia and
Sydney Theatre Company)
• Son of Byblos by James Elazzi (25A @ Belvoir St Theatre/ Playlab Theatre)
• The End of Winter by Noëlle Janaczewska (Siren Theatre Company)
• Cathedral by Caleb Lewis (State Theatre Company South Australia/ Country
Arts South Australia/ Currency Press)
• Golden Blood by Merlynn Tong (Griffin Theatre Company/ Currency Press)
• Whitefella Yella Tree by Dylan Van Den Berg (Griffin Theatre Company/
Currency Press)
Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting ($30,000)
• Mystery Road: Origin, Episode One, ‘The Whipping Tree’ by Blake Ayshford
(Bunya Productions)
• Blaze by Del Kathryn Barton and Huna Amweero (Causeway Films)
• Heartbreak High, Season 1 Episode 8, ‘Three of Swords’ by Hannah Carroll
Chapman (Fremantle Media Australia/ Netflix ANZ)
• The Australian Wars by Jacob Hickey, Rachel Perkins and Don Watson
(Blackfella Films)
• Heartbreak High, Season 1 Episode 5, ‘Bin Chicken’
by Thomas Wilson-White (Fremantle Media Australia/ Netflix ANZ)
• The Stranger by Thomas M Wright (See-Saw Films)
Multicultural NSW Award ($30,000 increased from $20,000 in 2022)
• 11 Words for Love by Randa Abdel-Fattah and Maxine Beneba Clarke
(Hachette Australia)
• The Eulogy by Jackie Bailey (Hardie Grant Books)
• Scary Monsters by Michelle de Kretser (Allen & Unwin)
• The Whitewash by Siang Lu (University of Queensland Press)
• The Bonesetter’s Fee and other stories by Rashida Murphy (Spineless
Wonders)
• When Granny Came to Stay by Alice Pung and Sally Soweol Han (Pan
Macmillan Australia)

Indigenous Writers’ Prize

($30,000 — now an annual award, previously biennial)

• We Come With This Place by Debra Dank (Echo Publishing)
• Harvest Lingo by Lionel Fogarty (Giramondo Publishing)
• Open Your Heart to Country by Jasmine Seymour (Magabala Books)

• The Dunggiirr Brothers and the Caring Song of the Whale by Aunty Shaa
Smith, Neeyan Smith, Uncle Bud Marshall, with Yandaarra including Sarah
Wright, Lara Daley and Paul Hodge (Allen & Unwin)
• The First Scientists: Deadly Inventions and Innovations from Australia’s
First Peoples by Corey Tutt and Blak Douglas (Hardie Grant Explore)
• Another Day in the Colony by Chelsea Watego (University of Queensland
Press)
NSW Premier’s Translation Prize ($30,000 — biennial award)
• Deadly Quiet City: Stories From Wuhan, COVID Ground Zero by Murong
Xuecun, translator Anonymous (Hardie Grant Books)
• Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Alison Croggon
(Newport Street Books)
• The Membranes by Chi Ta-wei, translated by Ari Larissa Heinrich (Columbia
University Press)
• The Assommoir by Émile Zola, translated by Brian Nelson (Oxford
University Press)
• On the Line by Joseph Ponthus, translated by Stephanie Smee (Black Inc.)
• People from Bloomington by Budi Darma, translated by Tiffany Tsao
(Penguin Classics)
UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing ($5,000 — sponsored by the
University of Technology, Sydney)
• The Eulogy by Jackie Bailey (Hardie Grant Books)
• Blaze by Del Kathryn Barton and Huna Amweero (Causeway Films)
• We Come With This Place by Debra Dank (Echo Publishing)
• At the Altar of Touch by Gavin Yuan Gao (University of Queensland Press)
• Women I Know by Katerina Gibson (Scribner an imprint of Simon &
Schuster Australia)
• The Rat-Catcher’s Apprentice by Maggie Jankuloska (NewSouth Books)
• The Upwelling by Lystra Rose (Hachette Australia)
• Hush by Ciella Williams (New Ghosts Theatre Company/ Playlab Theatre)

The winners of the Premier’s Literary Awards will be announced on the eve of the Sydney Writers’ Festival on Monday 22 May 2023.

People’s Choice Award

Voting opens today for the University of Sydney People’s Choice Award. The winner will be chosen by the public from the shortlist for the 2023 Christina
Stead Prize for Fiction and Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction. Vote today via the State Library of NSW website

The winner will be announced at the presentation of the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards at the State Library of NSW on 22 May 2023.

Background notes

• Works nominated for the 2023 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards must have been first published, performed or screened between 1 October 2021 and 30
September 2022. This period does not apply to the NSW Premier’s Translation Prize.
• Writers and illustrators whose works are nominated must be living Australian citizens or persons holding permanent resident status.
• The Awards are judged by an independent committee of writers, academics, critics and other sector professionals who have been appointed by the
Premier or the Minister for the Arts or their delegates.
• The inaugural NSW Premier’s Literary Awards were presented in 1979 by Premier Neville Wran and were the first Premier’s literary awards to be
offered in Australia.
• A Book of the Year may be chosen by the judging panel from among the winners of the individual prizes, and the Government may, at its discretion,
make an additional payment of $10,000 prize money to the writer of the work so designated.
• Previous Book of the Year winners include: Safdar Ahmed for Still Alive (2022) Ellen van Neerven for Throat (2021), Tara June Winch for The Yield (2020),
Billy Griffiths for Deep Time Dreaming (2019), Kim Scott for Taboo (2018),
Leah Purcell for The Drover’s Wife (2017), Bruce Pascoe for Dark Emu (2016),
Don Watson for The Bush (2015) and Michelle de Kretser for Questions of
Travel (2014).

The NSW Premier’s Literary Awards are administered by the State Library of NSW in association with Create NSW. The State Library of NSW acknowledges the
sponsorship of Multicultural NSW, the University of Technology Sydney and the University of Sydney.

For more information please contact: The Senior Project Officer, Awards, State Library of NSW (02) 9273 1582 or [email protected]

Shortlists announced for 2023 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards