The ABIA Shortlists are here!

The Australian Book Industry Awards is an annual event celebrating the achievements of Australian authors, publishers, and booksellers. Every year, the quest to find the Book of the Year for a range of categories is taken on by the ABIA Academy (made up of over 200 industry professionals), and then by a special Judging Panel.

Today, the ABIA Book of the Year shortlists were announced – see which lucky books made it below!

General fiction book of the year

• The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland
• Scrublands by Chris Hammer
• The Nowhere Child by Christian White
• The Rúin by Dervla McTiernan
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Literary fiction book of the year

• Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
• Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak
• Shell by Kristina Olsson
• The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton
• Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko

General nonfiction book of the year

• Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales
• Boys Will Be Boys by Clementine Ford
• Dear Santa by Samuel Johnson
• No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani (translated by Omid Tofighian)
• Welcome to Country: A Travel Guide to Indigenous Australia by Marcia Langton

Biography book of the year

• Back, After the Break by Osher Günsberg
• Challenge Accepted! by Celeste Barber
• Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee
• Johnathan Thurston: The Autobiography by Johnathan Thurston with James Phelps
• Teacher by Gabbie Stroud

Book of the year for older children (ages 13+)

• Amelia Westlake by Erin Gough
• Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina & Ezekiel Kwaymullina
• Hive by A.J. Betts
• Jane Doe and the Cradle of All Worlds by Jeremy Lachlan
• Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein

Book of the year for younger children (ages 7-12)

• Lenny’s Book of Everything by Karen Foxlee
• Real Pigeons Fight Crime by Andrew McDonald & Ben Wood
• The 104-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton
• The Bad Guys Episode 7: Do-You-Think-He-Saurus?! by Aaron Blabey
• Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

Children’s picture book of the year (ages 0-6)

• All the Ways to be Smart by Davina Bell & Allison Colpoys
• Cicada by Shaun Tan
• Claris: The Chicest Mouse in Paris by Megan Hess
• Macca the Alpaca by Matt Cosgrove
• Pig the Grub by Aaron Blabey

Illustrated book of the year

• A Painted Landscape: Across Australia from Bush to Coast by Amber Creswell Bell
• Family: New Vegetable Classics to Comfort and Nourish by Hetty McKinnon
• Mirka & Georges by Lesley Harding & Kendrah Morgan
• Special Guest by Annabel Crabb & Wendy Sharpe
• The Cook’s Apprentice by Stephanie Alexander

International book of the year

• Becoming by Michelle Obama
• Circe by Madeline Miller
• Less by Andrew Sean Greer
• Lost Connections by Johann Hari
• Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi

Small publishers’ adult book of the year

• A Superior Spectre by Angela Meyer
• Blakwork by Alison Whittaker
• Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia edited by Anita Heiss
• The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman
• The Geography of Friendship by Sally Piper

Small publishers’ children’s book of the year

• Black Cockatoo by Carl Merrison & Hakea Hustler
• I Had Such Friends by Meg Gatland-Veness
• Rhyme Cordial by Antonia Pesenti
• The Extremely Weird Thing that Happened in Huggabie Falls by Adam Cece (illustrated by Andrew Weldon)
• Whisper by Lynette Noni

The Matt Richell award for new writer of the year

• Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
• The Nowhere Child by Christian White
• Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee
• The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

ABIA 2018 Audiobook Award Shortlist

• Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton, narrated by Stig Wemyss
• Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia edited by Anita Heiss, narrated by Gregory J Fryer et al
• The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton, narrated by Joanne Froggatt
• The Lost Man by Jane Harper, narrated by Steve Shanahan
• The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein, narrated by Rachael Tidd

The ABIA winners will be announced on 2nd May – stay tuned!

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Olivia Fricot

Olivia Fricot (she/her) is Booktopia's Senior Content Producer and editor of the Booktopian blog. She has too many plants and not enough bookshelves, and you can usually find her reading, baking, or talking to said plants. She is pro-Oxford comma.

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