The 2021 ABIAs longlist is here!

The 2021 ABIAs longlist has just been revealed!

The Australian Book Industy Awards are an annual celebration of all of the amazing books that have made an impact on the Australian publishing and bookselling landscape over the previous year. The 2021 ABIAs longlist includes many of Booktopia favourite authors (hello FAB Award winner Nat’s What I Reckon!), which means that there’s plenty to love about this year’s list of nominees.

The big awards ceremony will take place on Wednesday 28 April at Carriageworks, as part of the Sydney Writers’ Festival – this year, for the very first time, tickets will be available to members of the public and not just to industry insiders. If you want to snap up a ticket, sign up to the ABIAs mailing list here to be the first to know when they’re available.

Scroll down to see all of the incredible books on the 2021 ABIAs longlist (and look out for the shortlist on Monday, 12 April)!

Biography Book of the Year

A Bigger Picture by Malcolm Turnbull (Hardie Grant)
A Repurposed Life by Ronni Kahn with Jessica Chapnik Kahn (Murdoch Books)
Boy on Fire: The Young Nick Cave by Mark Mordue (HarperCollins)
Fourteen by Shannon Molloy (Simon & Schuster)
Paul Kelly by Stuart Coupe (Hachette)
Soar: A Life Freed by Dance by David McAllister with Amanda Dunn (Thames & Hudson)
The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku (Pan Macmillan)
Truganini by Cassandra Pybus (Allen & Unwin)

Book of the Year for Older Children (ages 13+)

Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Allen & Unwin)
Future Girl by Asphyxia (Allen & Unwin)
Jane Doe and the Key of All Souls by Jeremy Lachlan (Hardie Grant)
Please Don’t Hug Me by Kay Kerr (Text Publishing)
The End of the World is Bigger than Love by Davina Bell (Text Publishing)
The F Team by Rawah Arja (Giramondo Publishing)
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin)
This One is Ours by Kate O’Donnell (UQP)

Book of the Year for Younger Children (ages 7-12)

Finding Our Heart by Thomas Mayor; Illustrated by Blak Douglas (Hardie Grant)
Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Hachette)
The Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Mellor (Affirm Press)
The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals by Sami Bayly (Hachette)
The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks (Hachette)
Took The Children Away by Archie Roach; Illustrated by Ruby Hunter (Simon & Schuster)
We Are Wolves by Katrina Nannestad (HarperCollins)
When Rain Turns to Snow by Jane Godwin (Hachette)

Children’s Picture Book of the Year (ages 0-6)

Aunty’s Wedding by Miranda Tapsell, Joshua Tyler and Samantha Fry (Allen & Unwin)
Bluey: The Creek by Bluey (Penguin Random House)
Our Home, Our Heartbeat by Adam Briggs, Kate Moon and Rachael Sarra (Hardie Grant)
Respect by Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson; Illustrated by Lisa Kennedy (Magabala Books)
Sing Me the Summer by Jane Godwin and Alison Lester (Affirm Press)
The Fire Wombat by Jackie French and Danny Snell (HarperCollins)
When We Say Black Lives Matter by Maxine Beneba Clarke (Hachette)
Windows by Jonathan Bentley; Illustrated by Patrick Guest (Hardie Grant)

General Fiction Book of the Year

The Bluffs by Kyle Perry (Penguin Random House)
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Affirm Press)
The Godmothers by Monica McInerney (Penguin Random House)
The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan (HarperCollins)
The Morbids by Ewa Ramsey (Allen & Unwin)
The Mother Fault by Kate Mildenhall (Simon & Schuster)
The Survivors by Jane Harper (Pan Macmillan)
Trust by Chris Hammer (Allen & Unwin)

General Non-fiction Book of the Year

Fire Country by Victor Steffensen (Hardie Grant)
My Tidda, My Sister by Marlee Silva; Illustrated by Rachael Sarra (Hardie Grant)
One Day I’ll Remember This: Diaries 1987–1995 by Helen Garner (Text Publishing)
Phosphorescence by Julia Baird (HarperCollins)
The Golden Maze: A biography of Prague by Richard Fidler (HarperCollins)
The Space Between by Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald (Penguin Random House)
Un-cook Yourself: A Ratbag’s Rules for Life by Nat’s What I Reckon (Penguin Random House)
Women and Leadership by Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Penguin Random House)

Illustrated Book of the Year

A Year of Simple Family Food by Julia Busuttil Nishimura (Pan Macmillan)
Beatrix Bakes by Natalie Paull (Hardie Grant)
In Praise of Veg by Alice Zaslavsky (Murdoch Books)
Loving Country by Bruce Pascoe and Vicky Shukuroglou (Hardie Grant)
Places We Swim Sydney by Caroline Clements and Dillon Seitchik-Reardon (Hardie Grant)
Plantopedia by Lauren Camilleri and Sophia Kaplan (Smith Street Books)
Sam Bloom: Heartache & Birdsong by Samantha Bloom, Cameron Bloom & Bradley Trevor Greive (HarperCollins)
To Asia, With Love by Hetty McKinnon (Pan Macmillan)

International Book of the Year

A Life On Our Planet by David Attenborough (Penguin Random House)
A Promised Land by Barack Obama (Penguin Random House)
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey (Hachette)
Ottolenghi FLAVOUR by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage (Penguin Random House)
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (Pan Macmillan)
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (Bloomsbury)
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (Hachette)
Women Don’t Owe You Pretty by Florence Given (Hachette)

Literary Fiction Book of the Year

A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing by Jessie Tu (Allen & Unwin)
A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville (Text Publishing)
All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton (HarperCollins)
Honeybee by Craig Silvey (Allen & Unwin)
Infinite Splendours by Sofie Laguna (Allen & Unwin)
Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson (Hachette)
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason (HarperCollins)
The Last Migration by Charlotte McConaghy (Penguin Random House)

Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year

Glimpses of Utopia: Real ideas for a fairer world by Jess Scully (Pantera Press)
Living on Stolen Land by Ambelin Kwaymullina (Magabala Books)
Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe (UQP)
The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay (Scribe Publications)
The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott (Text Publishing)
What Is To Be Done by Barry Jones (Scribe Publications)
Where the Fruit Falls by Karen Wyld (UWA Publishing)
Yornadaiyn Woolagoodja by Yornadaiyn Woolagoodja (Magabala Books)

Small Publishers’ Children’s Book of the Year

Anemone is not the Enemy by Anna McGregor (Scribe Publications)
Bindi by Kirli Saunders; Illustrated by Dub Leffler (Magabala Books)
Claudette by Helene Magisson (Red Paper Kite)
Family by Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson; Illustrated by Jasmine Seymour (Magabala Books)
Found by Bruce Pascoe and Charmaine Ledden-Lewis (Magabala Books)
Howl by Kat Patrick; Illustrated by Evie Barrow (Scribe Publications)
Metal Fish, Falling Snow by Cath Moore (Text Publishing)
My Shadow is Pink by Scott Stuart (Larrikin House Publishing)

The Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year

A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing by Jessie Tu (Allen & Unwin)
Lucky’s by Andrew Pippos (Pan Macmillan)
My Tidda, My Sister by Marlee Silva; Illustrated by Rachael Sarra (Hardie Grant)
Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson (Hachette)
The Coconut Children by Vivian Pham (Penguin Random House)
The Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Mellor (Affirm Press)
The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku (Pan Macmillan)
The Morbids by Ewa Ramsey (Allen & Unwin)

Congratulations to all of the authors on the 2021 ABIAs longlist!

Find out more about the Australian Book Industry Awards here.

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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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