ABR subscribers can read all previous prize-winning and shortlisted stories to the Jolley Prize. If you aren't a subscriber, digital subscriptions begin at only $10 per month. Click here to become an ABR subscriber.

 2024

Jill Van Epps: ‘Pornwald’

Jill Van Epps from New York was the winner of the 2024 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Pornwald’. Judges Patrick Flanery, Melinda Harvey and Susan Midalia chose Van Epps’s story ‘Pornwald’ from an international field of about 1,310 stories, 413 of which were from overseas. Perth-based writer Kerry Greer was placed second for her story ‘First Snow’; and Shelley Stenhouse, another New Yorker, was placed third for ‘M.’. All three shortlisted stories were published in the August 2024 issue.

2023

Rowan Heath: ‘The Mannequin’

Rowan Heath was the winner of the 2023 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for their story ‘The Mannequin’. They received $6,000. This year’s prize received 1,200 entries from thirty-eight different countries. Uzma Aslam Khan placed second and receives $4,000 for her story ‘Our Own Fantastic’ , and Winter Bel placed third and received $2,500 for her story ‘Black Wax’ The 2023 Jolley Prize was judged by Gregory Day, Jennifer Mills, and Maria Takolander. The shortlisted stories were published in the 2023 August issue.

2022

Tracy Ellis: ‘Natural Wonder’

Tracy Ellis was the winner of the 2022 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Natural Wonder’. She received $6,000. This year’s prize received 1,338 entries from thirty-six different countries. Nina Cullen placed second and received $4,000 for her story ‘Dog Park’, and C.J. Garrow placed third and received $2,500 for his story ‘Whale Fall’. The 2022 Jolley Prize was judged by Amy Baillieu, Melinda Harvey, and John Kinsella. Each of the shortlisted stories were published in the 2022 August issue.

2021

Camilla Chaudhary: ‘The Enemy, Asyndeton’

Camilla Chaudhary was the winner of the 2021 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for their story ‘The Enemy, Asyndeton’. She received $6,000. This year’s prize received 1,428 entries from thirty-six different countries. Lauren Sarazen placed second and received $4,000 for her story ‘There Are No Stars Here, Either’, and John Richards placed third and received $2,500 for his story ‘A Fall from Grace’. The 2021 Jolley Prize was judged by Gregory Day, Melinda Harvey, and Elizabeth Tan. Each of the shortlisted stories are published in the 2021 August issue.

2020

Mykaela Saunders: ‘River Story’

Mykaela Saunders was the winner of the 2020 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘River Story’. Mykaela Saunders received $6,000. C.J. Garrow was placed second for his story ‘Egg Timer’, and Simone Hollander was placed third for her story ‘Hieroglyph’. This year the Jolley Prize attracted almost 1,450 entries from 34 different countries. The judges were Gregory Day, Josephine Rowe, and Ellen van Neerven. The three shortlisted stories appear in our August Fiction issue.

2019

Sonja Dechian: ‘The Point-Blank Murder’

Sonja Dechian was the winner of the 2019 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘The Point-Blank Murder’. She received $5,000. Raaza Jamshed was placed second for her story ‘Miracle Windows’, and Morgan Nunan was placed third for his story ‘Rubble Boy’. The judges were Maxine Beneba Clarke, John  Kinsella and Beejay Silcox. Subscribers can read all three stories in the 2019 Fiction issue. 

2018

Madelaine Lucas: ‘Ruins’

Madelaine Lucas was named the winner of the 2018 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Ruins’. Madelaine Lucas receives $7,000. Sharmini Aphrodite was placed second for her story ‘Between the Mountain and the Sea’ and Claire Aman placed third for her story 'Vasco'. The judges were Patrick Allington, Michelle Cahill, and Beejay Silcox. Subscribers can read all three shortlisted stories in the August 2018 Fiction issue. The judges also commended three other stories: ‘Joan Mercer’s Fertile Head’ by S.J. Finn, ‘Hardflip’ by Mirandi Riwoe, and ‘Break Character’ by Chloe Wilson.

2017

Eliza Robertson: ‘Pheidippides’

Eliza Robertson was named the winner of the 2017 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Pheidippides’. Author David Malouf announced Eliza Robertson as the overall winner at a ceremony at Potts Point Bookshop, Sydney. She received $7,000 for her story. Dominic Amerena placed second for his story ‘The Leaching Layer’ and Lauren Aimee Curtis came third for her story ‘Butter’. The 2017 Jolley Prize was judged by ABR Deputy Editor Amy Baillieu, and authors Chris Flynn and Ellen van Neerven. Subscribers can read all three shortlisted stories in the August 2017 Fiction issue. The judges also commended three stories – ‘Contributory Negligence’ by Stevi-Lee Alver, ‘The Man I Should Have Married’ by Catherine Chidgey, and ‘The Fog Harvester’ by Marie Gethins. 

2016

Josephine Rowe: ‘Glisk’

Josephine Rowe (Australia) was named the winner of the 2016 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Glisk’ at a ceremony during the Melbourne Writers Festival. She received $7,000 for her story which was chosen from a field of nearly 1400 entries from thirty-eight countries. Anthony Lawrence (Australia) placed second for his story ‘Ash’ and Jonathan Tel (UK) came third for his story ‘The Water Calligrapher's Women’.  The 2016 Jolley Prize was judged by ABR Deputy Editor Amy Baillieu, and authors Maxine Beneba Clarke and David Whish-Wilson. Subscribers can read all three shortlisted stories in the August 2016 Fiction issue. The judges also commended three stories – ‘Help Me Harden My Heart’ by Dom Amerena, ‘Window’ by Cate Kennedy, and ‘Slut Trouble’ by Beejay Silcox.

2015

Rob Magnuson Smith: ‘The Elector of Nossnearly’

Rob Magnuson Smith (UK/US) was named the winner of the 2015 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for his story ‘The Elector of Nossnearly’ by Steven Carroll at an event at the 2015 Brisbane Writers Festival. He received $5,000 for his story which was chosen from a field of over 1,200 entries sent in from thirty-one different countries. Michelle Cahill placed second for her story ‘Borges and I’ and Harriet McKnight (Australia) came third for her story ‘Crest’. The judges on this occasion were ABR Deputy Editor Amy Baillieu, poet and academic Sarah Holland-Batt and author Paddy O'Reilly.  Subscribers can read all three shortlisted stories in the September 2015 Fiction issue.

2014

Jennifer Down: ‘Aokigahara’

Jennifer Down was named the winner of the 2014 Jolley Prize by Ian Dickson at an event on Saturday 30 August during the Melbourne Writers Festival. She received a total of $5,000 for her winning short story, ‘Aokigahara’. Faith Oxenbridge (New Zealand) came second with her story ‘The Art of Life’, winning $2,000, and Cate Kennedy came third with ‘Doisneau's Kiss’, winning $1,000. The judges on this occasion were author–academics Patrick Allington and Cassandra Atherton and ABR Deputy Editor Amy Baillieu. This was the first year that the Jolley Prize was open to international entrants.

2013

Michelle Michau-Crawford: ‘Leaving Elvis’

In October 2013 at a lively ceremony held at Gleebooks, David Malouf named Michelle Michau-Crawford’s ‘Leaving Elvis’ as the overall winner of the 2013 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. The first prize is worth $5000. The judges – Tony Birch, Maria Takolander, and Terri-ann White – could not split the other two shortlisted stories, Rebekah Clarkson’s ‘The Five Truths of Manhood’ and Kim Mahood’s ‘The Accident’; each author receives $1500.

In 2013, ABR also held a Readers’ Choice Award. Readers were invited to choose their favourite out of the three shortlisted stories. They voted Rebekah Clarkson’s ‘The Five Truths of Manhood’ as their favourite.

2012

Sue Hurley: ‘Patterns in Nature’

Sue Hurley won the 2012 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Patterns in Nature’. Hurley received $5000 for her winning story, which was drawn from a large field of more than 1300 entries. Jack Cox was placed second with ‘Gorgeous Perambulator’, and Ngiare Elliot third with ‘Tended by Foxes’. They received $2000 and $1000, respectively. ABR and the judges congratulate all three authors for their outstanding contributions. The judges on this occasion were Peter Rose, Gregory Day (a winner of the 2011 Jolley Prize), and Maria Takolander (winner in 2010).

2011

Carrie Tiffany: ‘Before He Left the Family’

Gregory Day: ‘The Neighbour’s Beans’

Carrie Tiffany (‘Before He Left the Family’) and Gregory Day (‘The Neighbour's Beans’) were the joint winners of the 2011 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. They shared a first prize of $5000. Four stories were shortlisted, and Claire Aman (‘Milk Tray’) and Gaylene Carbis (‘What’s Richard Ford Got to Do With It?’) both received $1000. The judges on this occasion were Tony Birch (author of Blood), Mark Gomes (then-Deputy Editor of ABR), and Terri-ann White (Director of UWA Publishing). All four stories were published in the special Fiction-themed October 2011 issue of ABR.

Four stories were commended in the 2011 Jolley Prize. They were: ‘Russell Drysdale's Trousers’ by Catherine Moffat, ‘Nitrogen’ by Meg Mundell, ‘Bad Luck’ by Rose Lane, and ‘A Body of Water’ by Else Fitzgerald.

2010

Maria Takolander: ‘A Roānkin Philosophy of Poetry’

Maria Takolander won the inaugural Australian Book Review Short Story Competition. She received $2000. The judges – Chris Flynn and Peter Rose (Editor of ABR) – were impressed, and amused, by ‘A Roānkin Philosophy of Poetry’, an artful take on academic intrigue and absurdism. Maria Takolander’s story appeared in the December 2010–January 2011 issue of ABR. Placed second was Cate Kennedy for ‘Sleepers’ ($500 prize).

In 2010, ABR also held a Readers’ Choice Award. Readers were invited to choose their favourite out of the seven stories shortlisted. They voted Josephine Rowe's ‘Suitable for a Lampshade’ as their favourite, which was published in the February 2011 issue. The other shortlisted stories were: ‘The Virus - Travel Notes’ by David Cohen, ‘Angus's Playground’ by S.J. Finn, ‘Honey’ by Erin Gough, and ‘The Body’ by Joan Phillip.

Anthony Lawrence is the winner of the 2022 Peter Porter Poetry Prize worth a total of $10,000. This was announced at an online ceremony on January 19.

Anthony receives $6,000 for his winning poem, 'In the Shadows of Our Heads', while the four other shortlisted poets – Chris Arnold, Dan Disney, Michael Farrell, and Debbie Lim – each receive $1,000. The full shortlist, including the winning poem, is available to read online and is published in the January–February issue of ABR. 

This year’s judges – Sarah Holland-Batt, Jaya Savige, and Anders Villani – shortlisted five poems from 1,328 entries, from 34 countries.

Congratulations to Anthony Lawrence and to all the poets shortlisted and longlisted in the 2022 Peter Porter Poetry Prize!

In their report the judges noted:

Brimming with surprise, supple, pitch-perfect imagery, linguistic energy and wit, ‘In the Shadows of Our Heads’ is a stunningly vibrant poem by a masterful technician at the top of his game. This unusual love poem revels in the unpredictability of those connections, intellectual and physical, forged between simpatico minds and damaged bodies across space and time. A vivid, potent reminder of love’s dance of proximity and distance – at a time when these fundamental bases of human intimacy have been thrown into fraught relief – it is a work deftly attuned to our present moment.

In the Shadows of Our Heads
by Anthony Lawrence

I’d called the Humane Society to report the neglect
of a neighbour’s dogs. A woman assured me there
would be an investigation, took my details, then asked
if I needed more assistance. I mentioned the flightless

swans of Malta, and she said Imagine, ten thousand years,
then added They were the size of the pygmy elephants
that also roamed the island. To test her liability
to respond in a capering manner, I described the pattern

of my sleep and how, after drinking Akvavit, my cells
become part of the dust of the Horse Head Nebula.
Your astral projection is world class, she said. I could
see a swivel chair, the noise-cancelling headset, a light

blue blouse embroidered with a hook or claw symbol,
the windows of light on her shoes. Are your projections
always so peregrinatory? I’m curious, as I sense I’m far
too fond of the regional. Satisfied, I felt compelled to ask

if Spring, in the mountains, had ever crossed her radar
as a good season and reason for marriage, but chose
instead to invite her for a drink. I don’t date, but we
could drive, as long as you’re partial to Elgar’s

‘Nimrod’, anything by Wagner, and my minder, Karl,
who, depending on his mood, likes to follow at a clip
or respectful distance in his Beamer. I laughed. Alright,
she said, His name is Bob, he’s either a serial tail-gater,

or he moves like a tortoise in his Triumph Mayflower.
On Sunday morning, her music darkening the speakers,
we passed the wreckage of housing estates, then onto
a road lined with trees that cast flickering lines

of light and shade like a view through the arrow-slit
of a zoetrope. We opened the past and found things
worth sharing. As a child she’d been orphaned when,
escaping a forest fire, the family car had come adrift

in smoke and driven off a bridge. She had lost an eye
and her spine had been broken. The monocular vision
and limp had ended her ribbon-floor exercise routine.
When we met, she had approached like someone

leaning into wind. I told her I’d stolen meteor samples
from an observatory on a school excursion. This had led
to frequent stealing, and when I said kleptomania,
I lowered my voice and concluded the confession

with the words illness, serial, and the eight-point-turn
of psychopharmacological. When we stopped for lunch,
I sat across from her by a river whose patchwork surface
she described as snake skins sewn haphazardly together.

I saw the glass eye, and she said Ocular. Three perfect
syllables, then they ruined everything with Prosthesis.
Her hand hovered briefly over mine before moving on.
I said nothing and she took a long time to answer it.

We discussed rescue dogs and how certain bats would
make good pets if only their bites weren’t potentially
lethal, causing fever and delirium. At fifteen, she had
run away to live in a trilogy of Mervyn Peake novels.

I suggested we return via a pub where the Guinness
is collared velvet, the music live. As we stood, the flame
of a kingfisher fluttered on like a pilot light and went out
in the shadows of our heads.

_____________

Anthony Lawrence has published sixteen books of poems, the most recent being Ken (Life Before Man, 2020). His books and individual poems have won a number of awards, including the Peter Porter Poetry Prize, the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry, the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal, and the Blake Poetry Prize. A new book of poems, Ordinary Time, a collaboration with the poet Audrey Molloy, is to be published in 2022. He teaches Creative Writing at Griffith University, Queensland, and lives on Moreton Bay.

Further information

The Peter Porter Poetry Prize is one of Australia’s most prestigious poetry awards.

Subscribe to ABR to gain access to this issue online, plus the ABR archive.

Click here for more information about past winners.

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Morag Fraser AM and Andrew Taylor AM.

Dan Disney was named the overall winner of the 2023 Peter Porter Poetry Prize at an online ceremony on 19 January 2023 for his poem ‘periferal, fantasmal’.

The Porter Prize – Australia’s most prestigious poetry competition – is worth a total of $10,000. This year’s judges – Sarah Holland-Batt, Des Cowley and James Jiang – shortlisted five poems by Chris Andrews (NSW ), Chris Arnold (WA), Michelle Cahill (NSW ), Dan Disney (South Korea/Australia), and Raisa Tolchinsky (USA). The shortlisted poems were selected from 1,132 entries sent from thirty-four countries. They appear in the January–February issue of ABR.

Congratulations to Dan Disney and to all the poets shortlisted and longlisted in the 2023 Peter Porter Poetry Prize!

In their report the judges noted:

‘A tour de force of linguistic estrangements, “periferal, fantasmal” excavates the colonial history sedimented in the names that litter the landscape of the Gippsland region in Victoria. Through its comic neologisms and deft calibrations of lyric temporality, the poem replays the sanction for mineral extraction provided by exonymic nomination, reminding us of the scotch-soaked nightmare from which we are still trying to awake'.

On learning of his win, Dan Disney commented:

‘Peter Porter opens his poem “Landscape with Orpheus” with an epigraph from The Magic Flute – “You only live once, let that be enough for you!”. Poems like Porter’s generate not only wonder but also awed awareness (and, for me, a shift thereafter towards ethical, experimental rhetoric). I am dazzled to be in the bright reality of a moment like this. It is an incredible honour to receive a prize bearing the name of such a prodigiously enlivening, humanising poet'.

periferal, fantasmal

by Dan Disney

Residents in the high country town of Benambra are cautiously optimistic it could be on the brink of another mining boom.

The Weekly Times, 4 August 2022

Angus McMillan is lost (again), bushwhacked
in the eucalypt fastnesses of Yaimathang
space, lolling in the dry wainscots
of a thirsting imaginarium, highlander pre-thief
expeditioneering through the land-folds
of community 100 generations deep
(at least) & parlously drunk (again), wandering
pointy guns through the sun-bright climes
later declaimed as alpine, o Angus, you’re lairy
& hair-triggered as a proto-laird, scratching
exonyms into future
placeholders as effacement, chimeless
as your Caledonia Australis (yeah, pipped at the post
by ‘Gipps Land,’ that howling
strzeleckification), & in the fire-crazed hills
Benambra slouches, heat-struck
descendants squinting beside the vanished
(again) Lake Omeo, where ghosts flop
or palely wade, cascading
generations generating cascading generations
as if contagion, feral as syntax reasserting the mere
bunyipdoms of itself, & I read today
a zinc mining crowd
is bee-lining for the outskirts of town
where the brown farms end, & locals already
yipping in full chant, ANOTHER CHANCE FOR
DOOMSAYERS TO DO
EVERYTHING TO THWART ALL CHANCE
OF THIS MINE RE-OPENING, &
McMillan (dumbfounded, non-finding
founder) is out there, still, looping
in stumbles like a repetition
compulsion through the unheimlich
antipodean sublime, syphilitically
occupied in louche preoccupations (namely,
naming the already-named, the-there-&-known,
uttering under white gums in bullet & bulletin
the Quackmungees of his idylling) & while
Benambra’s locals apply next layers
of sunscreen to the books they’re calling history,
hallooing through firestorm, STAND UP
FOR OUR HERITAGE, in the big wet of his oblivions
McMillan is flat out like a bataluk drinking
amid the squatters & Vandemonians,
Iguana Creek, 1865, it is moments before death
& he’s raising one more scotch
(again) in our direction, scowls into the clamouring
sweep of an existential curtain, falling
(as he is, into the old land’s burr,
the only time you’ll hear him speaking here)
BIODH FIOS AGAIBH AIR UR
N-EACHDRAIDH FHÈIN, A BHURRAIDHEAN.¹

¹ As per Peter Gardner’s book: ‘historians have tended to recognize the priority of McMillan and posterity has left us with all the names that McMillan conferred on the countryside except one – Strzelecki’s “Gipps Land” instead of McMillan’s “Caledonia Australis”.’ See Our Founding Murdering Father: Angus McMillan and the Kurnai Tribe of Gippsland 1839-1865, page 19. Exonymic renaming is one dimension of colonial effacement; in the generations after British annexation, a polyphony of invading languages systematically intersected the colonies’ landscapes, including McMillian’s Scottish Gaelic. The last lines in this text translate from that language, approximately, as ‘idiots, learn your damned history.’ Elsewhere, other capitalised lines are drawn verbatim from the Facebook group ‘Anyone who has lived in Omeo, Benambra, Swifts Creek or Ensay’. ‘Quackmungee’ is the name of one of the vast areas of land controlled by McMillan, who is recorded in the Colony of Victoria’s 1856 census as owning 150,000 acres. In the Gurnaikurnai language, ‘bataluk’ translates to English as ‘lizard’; so total is the genocidal erasure of Indigenous culture that no record exists for the Yaimathang language group’s word for ‘lizard’. In 1865, McMillan died in Gilleo’s Hotel, Iguana Creek.

Further information

The Peter Porter Poetry Prize is one of Australia’s most prestigious poetry awards.

Subscribe to ABR to gain access to this issue online, plus the ABR archive.

Click here for more information about past winners.

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Morag Fraser AM and Andrew Taylor AM and support in memory of Kate Boyce.

ABR subscribers can read all previous prize-winning and shortlisted essays to the Calibre Essay Prize. If you aren't a subscriber, digital subscriptions begin at only $10 per month. Click here to become an ABR subscriber.

2024

Tracey Slaughter ‘why your hair is long & your stories short’

Tracey Slaughter won the eighteenth Calibre Essay Prize, worth a total of $10,000. Slaughter received $5,000 for her essay ‘why your hair is long & your stories short’, while the runner-up, Natasha Sholl received $3,000 for her essay, ‘Hold Your Nerve’, and Nicole Hasham received $2,000 for her essay ‘Bloodstone’.

The judges – Amy Baillieu, Shannon Burns, and Beejay Silcox – chose ‘why your hair is long & your stories short’ from a field of 567 entries from twenty-eight countries.

2023

Tracy Ellis ‘Flow States’

Writer and editor Tracy Ellis has won the seventeenth Calibre Essay Prize, worth a total of $7,500. Ellis receives $5,000 for her essay ‘Flow States’, while the runner-up, Bridget Vincent receives $2,500 for her essay, ‘Child Adjacent’.

The judges – Yves Rees (past winner of the Calibre Prize), Peter Rose (Editor of ABR), and Beejay Silcox (critic and artistic director of the Canberra Writers Festival) – chose ‘Flow States’ from a field of 397 entries. They came from twenty-four different countries – a bustling, global field.

2022

Simon Tedeschi: ‘This Woman My Grandmother’

Distinguished classical musician Simon Tedeschi has won the sixteenth Calibre Essay Prize, worth a total of $7,500. Tedeschi receives $5,000 for his essay ‘This Woman My Grandmother’, while the runner-up, Sarah Gory receives $2,500 for her essay, ‘Ghosts, Ghosts Everywhere’. 

The judges – Declan Fry, Beejay Silcox and Peter Rose, Editor of ABR – selected a shortlist of twelve essays from a field of 569 entries from seventeen different countries.

2021

Theodore Ell: 'Façades of Lebanon'

Theodore Ell is the winner of the 2021 Calibre Essay Prize, worth a total of $7,500, for his essay ‘Façades of Lebanon’. The judges wrote that the essay is ‘a gripping piece of reportage and a powerful meditation on the bonds of community in a time of turmoil and upheaval. It builds slowly, ominously, from the eerie quiet of Beirut during lockdown towards the catastrophic port explosion on 4 August 2020’. Ell receives $5,000.

Anita Punton was named runner-up for ‘May Day’, a poignant memoir about piecing together her Olympic gymnast father’s life after his death. Anita receives $2,500.

ABR Editor Peter Rose judged the prize with Sheila Fitzpatrick and Billy Griffiths. They chose Theodore Ell's winning essay from 638 entries from twenty-eight different countries.

2020

Yves Rees: 'Reading the Mess Backwards'

Yves Rees is the winner of the 2020 Calibre Essay Prize, worth a total of $7,500, for their essay ‘Reading the Mess Backwards’. As Rees writes, the essay is ‘a story of trans becoming that digs into the messiness of bodies, gender and identity’. Yves Rees receives $5,000.

Kate Middleton was named runner-up for ‘The Dolorimeter’, a highly personal account of the author’s experience with illness. She receives $2,500.

ABR Editor Peter Rose judged the Prize with J.M. Coetzee (Nobel Laureate) and Lisa Gorton, (poet, novelist, and essayist). They chose Yves Rees's winning essay from almost 600 entries from twenty-nine different countries, a record field.

‘Reading the Mess Backwards’ appears in the June-July 2020 issue. 

2019

Grace Karskens: 'Nah Doongh's Song'

Grace Karskens is the winner of the thirteenth Calibre Essay Prize. The judges – J.M. Coetzee, author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003, Anna Funder, author of the international bestseller Stasiland and the Miles Franklin Award-winning novel All That I Am, and ABR Editor Peter Rose – selected Grace's essay ‘Nah Doongh's Song’ from a field of over 450 essays submitted from twenty-two countries. Grace receives $5,000, and her essay appears in the August Indigenous issue of Australian Book Review.

‘Nah Doongh's Song’ examines the unusually long life of one of the first Aboriginal children who grew up in conquered land. Born around 1800, Nah Doongh lived until 1898. Her losses, her peregrinations, her strong, dignified character are the subjects of this questing essay, in which the author states: ‘Biography is not a finite business; it’s a process, a journey. I have been researching, writing, and thinking about Nah Doongh … for over a decade now.’ The discoveries she makes along the way – the portrait she finally tracks down – are very stirring.

This winner of the second prize, worth $2,500, is Sarah Walker. Her essay, entitled ‘Floundering’, appears in the June–July 2019 issue.

2018

Lucas Grainger-Brown: 'We Three Hundred'

Lucas Grainger-Brown is the winner of the twelfth Calibre Essay Prize. The judges – novelist Andrea Goldsmith, NewSouth Executive Publisher Phillipa McGuinness, and ABR Editor Peter Rose – chose Lucas’s essay ‘We Three Hundred’ from a field of over 200 essays submitted from thirteen countries. Lucas receives $5,000, and his essay appears in the April 400th issue of Australian Book Review.

‘We Three Hundred’ is a candid and unsentimental account of life as a cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra for a bookish, idealistic adolescent straight out of high school.

This winner of the second prize, worth $2,500, is Kirsten Tranter. Her essay, entitled ‘Once Again’, appears in the May 2018 issue.

2017

Michael Adams: 'Salt Blood'

Michael Adams is the winner of the eleventh Calibre Essay Prize, worth $5,000. The judges – award-winning author and historian Sheila Fitzpatrick, ABR Editor Peter Rose, and Picador Publisher Geordie Williamson – chose Michael Adams’s essay ‘Salt Blood’ from a field of almost 200 essays submitted from fourteen countries.

‘Salt Blood’ is a remarkable and highly original meditation on freediving and mortality. 

This year ABR has added a second prize, worth $2,500. The winner is Darius Sepehri, a researcher and PhD student at the University of Sydney. His essay – entitled ‘To Speak of Sorrow’ (published in the August issue) – is about the many kinds of grief and their different expressions in writing and culture, as lament, testimony, or ritual.

Michael Adams's winning essay was published in the June-July 2017 issue of ABR.

2016

Michael Winkler: 'The Great Red Whale'

Michael Winkler was the winner of the tenth Calibre Prize, worth $5,000. The judges – Sophie Cunningham and ABR Editor and CEO Peter Rose – chose Winkler’s essay from a large field.

‘The Great Red Whale’ is an essay about fractures, overlaying the ruptures within the author's psyche with the fissure between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, something he believes keeps us 'heartsore as a nation'. This excoriating yet remarkably subtle meditation is also a tribute to consolations: landscape, specifically the desert of Central Australia, and literature, notably Moby-Dick.

Michael Winkler’s winning essay was published in the June–July 2016 issue of ABR.

2015

Sophie Cunningham: 'Staying with the trouble'

Sophie Cunningham was the winner of the ninth Calibre Prize, worth $5000. The judges – Delia Falconer and ABR Editor and CEO Peter Rose – chose Cunningham’s essay from a large field.

‘Staying with the trouble’ describes an epic walk up Broadway in New York, and others like it. The tone is self-deprecating, conversational, and ‘gloriously social’, but all sorts of themes arise along the way: Alzheimer’s, Horseshoe Crabs, history, writers, violence against women, racism, Selma, and climate change. It is a celebration of ‘randomness’, but also testifies to Sophie Cunningham’s belief in the importance of ‘staying with the trouble’.

Sophie Cunningham’s winning essay is published in the May 2015 issue of ABR

2014

Christine Piper: 'Unearthing the Past'

Christine Piper was the winner of the eighth Calibre Prize, worth $5,000. The judges – Morag Fraser and ABR Editor and CEO Peter Rose – chose Piper’s essay from a large field.

In her essay, ‘Unearthing the Past’, Christine Piper writes about biological weapons and experiments on living human beings in pre-war and wartime Japan. The remains of just some of the victims (the overall death toll is estimated at 250,000 to 300,000) were discovered in Tokyo twenty-five years ago. They have never been identified. The story takes Dr Piper to Japan, where she interviews key lawyers and activists who are seeking answers. We also meet the unspeakable Shiro Ishii, dubbed the Josef Mengele of Japan. Ishii, who masterminded Japan’s biological warfare program, escaped prosecution through an immunity deal with the United States. He died at home in 1959.

Christine Piper's winning essay is published in the April 2014 issue of ABR. The eighth Calibre Prize was supported by ABR Patron Mr Colin Golvan QC.

2013

Martin Thomas: '"Because it's your country": Bringing Back the Bones to West Arnhem Land'

Martin Thomas was the winner of the seventh Calibre Prize, worth $5,000. The judges – Morag Fraser and Editor and CEO Peter Rose – chose his essay from a field of about 150 entries.

Dr Thomas’s essay, ‘“Because it’s your country”: Bringing Back the Bones to West Arnhem Land’ stood out in a strong field. The topic – the violation and restitution of Aboriginal remains – is a pressing one, and the author examines it with empathy and considerable knowledge of the personalities and sensitivities involved.

The essay was published in our April 2013 issue. The seventh Calibre Prize was supported by ABR Patron Mr Colin Golvan QC.

2012

Matt Rubinstein: 'Body and Soul: Copyright and Law Enforcement in the Age of the Electronic Book'

Australian Book Review and Copyright Agency awarded the sixth Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay to Matt Rubinstein who receives $7,000. The judges – Professor Ian Donaldson and ABR Editor Peter Rose – chose Rubinstein’s essay from a large field of entries. The second prize of $2,000 was awarded to Colin Nettelbeck, for his essay ‘Now They’ve Gone’.

Matt Rubinstein's essay appeared in the September 2012 issue of ABR. The essay, entitled ‘Body and Soul: Copyright Law and Enforcement in the Age of the Electronic Book’,  could not be more timely – a probing, meticulously researched survey of inherited notions of intellectual copyright and of new, accelerating challenges to such in the face of electronic publishing, the rapid swing to e-books, and ever more laissez-faire attitudes towards authorial rights. 

2011

Dean Biron: 'The Death of the Writer' and Moira McKinnon: 'Who Killed Matilda?'

Australian Book Review awarded the fifth Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay to Dean Biron and Moira McKinnon. Each essayist received $5,000. The judges were Jane Goodall (a winner of the Calibre Prize in 2009) and Peter Rose (Editor of ABR). Biron’s essay appeared in the May 2011 issue of ABR, and McKinnon’s in the July–August 2011 issue. Copyright Agency Limited supported the Prize again in this year.

Moira McKinnon is a public health physician who has worked in northern Australia and northern Canada. Her essay, ‘Who Killed Matilda?’, is based on her years as the main adviser on communicable diseases for the Australian Department of Health and Ageing.

Dean Biron lives in Brisbane and has a PhD from the University of New England. A former police detective, Dr Biron is currently employed as a senior analyst with the Queensland Children’s Commission. In his essay, ‘The Death of the Writer’ – more polemical than most Calibre entries – Dr Biron opposes a culture that inflames literary ambition and self-identification.

2010

Lorna Hallahan: 'On being Odd' and David Hansen: 'Seeing Truganini'

Lorna Hallahan and David Hansen were the joint winners of the 2010 Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay, the fourth to be presented by ABR, in association with Copyright Agency Limited’s Cultural Fund. Both authors received $5,000. The judges were critic James Ley and ABR Editor Peter Rose. Hallahan and Hansen’s essays appeared in the May 2010 issue of ABR.

David Hansen’s essay ‘Death Dance’ was commended in the inaugural prize, in 2007. In ‘Seeing Truganini’, he has forthright things to say about the recent abortive sale of Benjamin Law’s busts of Truganini and Woureddy, and about the controversy surrounding the promulgation of historical artefacts. Dr Hansen deplores the stigma surrounding such works, and is critical of academic and curatorial timidity and silence.

In ‘On Being Odd’, Lorna Hallahan, who teaches at Flinders University, writes about a different form of stigmatisation: the marginalisation of the different, the disabled, the supposedly ‘odd’ or ‘grotesque’.

Click here to download the media release.

2009

Kevin Brophy: ‘“What’re yer looking at yer fuckin’ dog”: Violence and Fear in Žižek’s Post-political Neighbourhood’ and Jane Goodall: 'Footprints'

The 2009 Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay was shared by Kevin Brophy and Jane Goodall. The judges were Gay Bilson, Peter Rose (Editor of ABR), and Rebecca Starford (then-Deputy Editor of ABR). The Prize – a joint initiative of ABR and Copyright Agency Limited's Cultural Fund – was worth $10,000 in this year, and both authors received $5,000. Their essays were published in the April 2009 issue of ABR.

Jane Goodall’s theme, like her succinct title (‘Footprints’), has a kind of suaveness and urgency as she explores ideas about ecology and personal responsibility with reference to Kate Grenville, Mrs Aeneas Gunn, Nevil Shute, and a sublime short story by Leo Tolstoy.

Kevin Brophy’s title, ‘What’re yer lookin’ at yer fuckin’ dog?’, introduces an amazing tale of domestic mayhem and incivility in present-day inner Melbourne. Kevin Brophy’s tormentors may have been the neighbours from hell, but what a tale it is. To make sense of this five-year drama, Kevin Brophy draws on the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek and his theory that violence – ubiquitous violence, as he sees it – is the very basis of late capitalist ‘post-political’ life.

2008

Rachel Robertson: 'Reaching One Thousand' and Mark Tredinnick: 'A Storm and a Teacup'

The 2008 Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay was won by Rachel Robertson and Mark Tredinnick. This was the first time that the Calibre Prize – a joint initiative of ABR and Copyright Agency Limited's Cultural Fund – was shared. The judges were Kerryn Goldsworthy (a former Editor of ABR), Paul Hetherington (Associate Professor of Writing at the University of Canberra), and Peter Rose (Editor of ABR). The Prize was worth $10,000 in this year. Their essays were published in the February 2008 issue of ABR.

The title of Rachel Robertson’s essay is ‘Reaching One Thousand’. This is an impressively subtle study of autism and of its consequences for the child and for the parents alike. With dry wit it also introduces readers to an eccentric world of professional and amateur mathematicians. Ms Robertson’s adroit depiction of a family recognising and responding to autism is as impressive as her anxious care for her son ‘Ben’ (all names in this essay have been changed).

The title of Mark Tredinnick's essay is ‘A Storm and a Teacup’. It begins in a deluge, as it were: the heavy rains that flooded parts of southeast Australia in June 2007. These falls and the general inundation fail to alleviate Dr Tredinnick’s concerns about ‘the driest continent’ and the need for a profound reassessment of how many resources we all need individually to live equably and sustainably. Tea and its harmonising ceremonies and literature provide the key in this elegant, succinct essay, which also deals with the literary life in the twenty-first century.

2007

Elisabeth Holdsworth: 'An die Nachgeborenen: For Those Who Come After'

Elisabeth Holdsworth was the winner of the inaugural Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay, a joint initiative of Australian Book Review (ABR) and Copyright Agency Limited's Cultural Fund. She received $10,000. Her essay was published in the February 2007 issue of ABR. The judges were Peter Rose (Editor of ABR), Kerryn Goldsworthy (a former Editor of ABR), and Imre Salusinszky (Editor of The Oxford Book of Australian Essays, 1997).

The title of her stirring and luminous essay is ‘An die Nachgeborenen: For Those Who Come After’, from the poem of the same name by Bertolt Brecht. Ms Holdsworth was born in the Netherlands soon after World War II. Her essay describes her recent return to the Netherlands and her family’s vicissitudes and suffering during the war.

'I would like to thank everyone involved in the Calibre Prize. I am deeply honoured to be the inaugural winner. That this essay has gained some attention in this year celebrating four hundred years of Dutch-Australian contact is fantastic.' – Elisabeth Holdsworth.

Elisabeth Holdsworth's second essay, 'Missing from my own life' was published in the October 2008 issue of ABR.  

Calibre Essay Prize

Australia’s leading award for an original essay is intended to foster new insights into culture, society, and the human condition. All non-fiction subjects are eligible for submission. The prize is worth a total of $10,000, and is supported by Peter McLennan and Mary-Ruth Sindrey.

Peter Porter Poetry Prize

ABR’s prestigious international poetry prize is named in honour of the late Australian poet Peter Porter. The prize is worth a total of AU$10,000. The Peter Porter Poetry is funded by the ABR Patrons, including support in memory of Kate Boyce.

ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize

ABR’s annual international short fiction prize is named in honour of the late author Elizabeth Jolley, and is worth a total of AU$12,500. The Prize is supported by ABR Patron Ian Dickson.

2014 winner

The Calibre Prize, created in 2007, has quickly established itself as Australia’s major prize for an original essay, generating brilliant new essays and fresh insights into culture, society, and the human condition. Click here for more information about past Calibre Prize winners.

Australian Book Review has much pleasure in announcing the winner of the 2014 Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay. Christine Piper receives $5000 for her essay ‘Unearthing the Past’. The judges – Morag Fraser and ABR Editor Peter Rose – chose Piper’s essay from a large field. We congratulate all of them, especially the winner and shortlisted essayists.

Peter Rose said, ‘Christine Piper’s inspired essay complements Calibre’s long record of highlighting essays of real quality and moment. Readers will not easily forget this bracing and important essay.’

Christine Piper writes about biological weapons and experiments on living human beings in pre-war and wartime Japan. The remains of just some of the victims (the overall death toll is estimated at 250,000 to 300,000) were discovered in Tokyo twenty-five years ago. They have never been identified. The story takes Dr Piper to Japan, where she interviews key lawyers and activists who are seeking answers. We also meet the unspeakable Shiro Ishii, dubbed the Josef Mengele of Japan. Ishii, who masterminded Japan’s biological warfare program, escaped prosecution through an immunity deal with the United States. He died at home in 1959.

CHRISTINE PIPER is a freelance writer and editor. Born in South Korea to a Japanese mother and Australian father, she moved to Australia when she was one. She has previously taught English and studied Japanese in Japan, and currently lives in New York with her husband. See: www.christinepiper.com

On learning that she had won the Calibre Prize, Christine Piper commented: ‘I am honoured to be chosen as the winner, and delighted that my essay will have a wide audience thanks to Australian Book Review and Colin Golvan. I’d like to dedicate the award to the activists who have spent years campaigning and raising awareness about this dark chapter of Japan’s past.’

Christine Piper's winning essay is published in the April 2014 issue of ABR. 

Click here to download the media release.

Click here to read Christine Piper's essay: 'Unearthing the Past'.

Purchase the April 2014 print edition.

Subscribe to ABR Online to gain access to this issue online, plus the ABR archive (containing all Calibre Prize essays published from 2011).

Shortlisted essays

• Ruth Balint: ‘The Paradox of Weimar: Hitlerism and Goethe’
• Martin Edmond: ‘Five Towns’
• Rebecca Giggs: ‘Open Ground: Trespassing on the Pilbara’s Mining Boom’
• Ann-Marie Priest: ‘“Something very difficult and unusual”: The Love Song of Henry and Olga’
• Stephen Wright: ‘Blows upon a Bruise’

ABR gratefully acknowledges the support of Mr Colin Golvan SC.

 Jessica L. Wilkinson wins 2014 Porter Prize

 Australian Book Review is delighted to announce that Jessica L. Wilkinson has won the 2014 ABR Peter Porter Poetry Prize for her poem ‘Arrival Platform Humlet’. Jessica receives $4,000 for her winning poem, which was drawn from a field of just under 700 entries.

Elizabeth Allen, Nathan Curnow, and Paul Kane were also shortlisted, with each poet receiving $833 for their shortlisted poems (‘Absence’, ‘Scenes from the Olivet Discourse’ and ‘VFGA.’ respectively).

The judges were Lisa Gorton and Felicity Plunkett.

 ‘I am truly honoured that my poem ‘‘Arrival Platform Humlet’’ was recognised in this way and very privileged to be associated with the good name of Peter Porter.’

Jessica L. Wilkinson

Judges' report

‘Judging this prize was difficult, if rewarding, because the number of poems that demanded serious consideration. The judges longlisted more than thirty. After much consideration, we shortlisted four of them. They showed a thoughtful and inventive approach to the traditions that they were drawing on, and achieved a distinctive and memorable poetic vision.’

Lisa Gorton and Felicity Plunkett

ABR gratefully acknowledges the support of Morag Fraser AM

Jennifer Down was named the winner of the 2014 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize in front of a packed house at Melbourne Writers Festival on Saturday, 30 August. Ms Down, a Victorian writer, received $5,000 for her story entitled ‘Aokigahara’.

Jennifer Down at the announcement ceremony (photograph by Torunn Momtazi)

The Jolley Prize – one of Australia’s most lucrative and visible awards for short fiction – attracted about 1,200 entries. The judges – Patrick Allington, Cassandra Atherton, and Amy Baillieu – shortlisted three stories:

Jennifer Down – ‘Aokigahara’                        First place: $5,000
Faith Oxenbridge – ‘Doisneau’s Kiss’          Second place: $2,000
Cate Kennedy – ‘The Art of Life’                    Third place: $1,000

All three stories appear in full in our September Fiction issue.

The judges also highly commended two stories which we will publish in coming months: Gregory Day’s ‘The 900s Have Moved’ and ‘The Great Dying’ by American writer Larry O’Connor.

We will begin seeking entries in the sixth Jolley Prize in December 2014.

Readers’ Choice Award

To celebrate the Jolley Prize (and to find out which of the three shortlisted stories our readers like most), we are also presenting the Readers’ Choice Award. You have until October 20 to nominate your favourite story. To do so, simply email us with the title of the story you wish to nominate, along with your full name, address, and telephone number: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We have some special prizes for three lucky voters. One will receive twenty-five Text Classics, courtesy of Text Publishing. Two other voters will receive two-year complimentary subscriptions to ABR Online.

‘ABR has also contributed to elevating the status of the short story with its annual Jolley Prize.’  – Blanche Clark, Herald Sun

You may be interested in reading the shortlisted stories from previous years.

More information about all our past winners is available here.

We also recommend you read our list of Frequently Asked Questions before contacting us with a question about the Jolley Prize.

Entries for the 2015 Jolley Prize will officially open in December. Keep up to date with the latest developments on the prize, as well as other interesting ABR news and giveaways, by signing up to our newsletters.

Australian Book Review Fellowships are intended to reward outstanding Australian writers, to enhance ABR through the publication of long-form journalism, and to advance the magazine’s commitment to ideas and critical debate. Some Fellowships are themed - others are not.

ABR Fellowships are funded by the magazine's Patrons and in some cases by philanthropic foundations.

We look for stylish and enjoyable journalism that will appeal to our broad international readership.

All published Australian authors are eligible to apply for the Fellowships. When we advertise them, we seek proposals for a substantial article. The Fellowship program offers the successful applicant a chance to produce an extended collaborative non-fiction essay in consultation with ABR. Unlike the Calibre Essay Prize, the Fellowship program is not for finished essays or articles.

Applicants are expected to demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of Australian Book Review - its style, its content, its mission. The Fellowships are not aimed at those who are unfamiliar with ABR. If you do not currently read the magazine, you should purchase copies or subscribe before applying for a Fellowship.

Click here to find out more about published ABR Fellowships

Please read our list of Frequently Asked Questions before contacting us with a question about the ABR Fellowship program.

ABR thanks all of its Patrons who support the magazine through tax-deductible donations of $250 or more. Without this support, the Fellowship program would not exist in its present form.

'My year as an ABR Fellow has been the most rewarding of my writing life. This year I've not only been encouraged, but supported, to press my ear against our culture's chest and listen to its heartbeat. I'm indebted to the ABR team, and its warm and generous community of readers and donors, for giving me the chance to grow into my profession.'

‘The ABR Patrons’ Fellowship is a laudable initiative, and I am grateful and fortunate to have been the inaugural fellow.’

Patrick Allington, ABR Fellow (2010)

‘Making your way as a young Australian writer or literary critic is tough. Funding is limited and opportunities are few. The ABR Fellowship enabled me to do what so many Australian writers can’t: spend extended time on a single piece of work under the guidance of a distinguished editor.’

James McNamara, ABR Fellow (2014)

Patrick Allington was the recipient of the inaugural ABR Patrons’ Fellowship, worth $5000. His novel, Figurehead (Black Inc. 2009) was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. His short fiction and book criticism appears in Australian newspapers, magazines, and journals, including ABR.

The June 2011 issue of Australian Book Review includes Allington's major critique of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, ‘What is Australia Anyway?: The Glorious Limitations of the Miles Franklin Literary Award’.  This long, nuanced article examines the controversy surrounding the Award’s dual terms: ‘awarded for the Novel of the year which is of the highest literary merit and which must present Australian Life in any of its phases.’

Allington spent several weeks reflecting on the Award's history, strengths, quirks, and past controversies. Drawing on extensive research, including interviews with key writers and judges involved in the Award’s fifty-four year history, Allington challenges notions of what makes a book sufficiently ‘Australian’ to fulfil the Award’s criteria, and discovers that the ‘line between ineligible and eligible is increasingly nebulous and subject to case-by-case examination’.

‘To be a true believer in 2011, I believe, involves recognising how diverse Australian literature has become, but not in a way that avoids or simplifies the debate about what our best books are ...’

READ ‘What is Australia Anyway?: The Glorious Limitations of the Miles Franklin Literary Award’

PURCHASE THE JUNE 2011 ISSUE

Some of the writers interviewed

Some of the novels examined

Christopher Koch’s The Year of Living Dangerously (1979), Frank Moorhouse’s Grand Days (1994), Elizabeth Jolley’s The Georges’ Wife (1994), Delia Falconer’s The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers (2006), Peter Carey’s Parrot and Olivier in America (2010), Steven Amsterdam’sThings We Didn’t See Coming (2010), and Jon Bauer’s Rocks in the Belly (2011).

About the ABR Patrons' Fellowship

The Fellowship scheme is intended to reward outstanding Australian writers, to enhance ABR through the publication of major works of literary journalism, and to advance the magazine’s commitment to critical debates and literary values.

The ABR Patrons’ Fellowship is funded by our Patrons. We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of our Patrons, who have supported the magazine through tax-deductible donations of $250 or more.

These donations are vital for the magazine’s future.

‘The best journal of words and ideas. Supporters can be proud of their judgement.’
John Bryson, author and ABR Patron

Winner of the 2009 ABR Reviewing Competition

Only in America

Kathleen Steele

Roger’s World: Toward a New Understanding of Animals

by Charles Siebert

Scribe Publications

$29.95 pb, 224 pp, 9781921372865

Ostensibly, Roger’s World is an account of Charles Siebert’s whistle-stop tour of primate retirement homes in America. By the author’s reckoning, there are approximately two to three thousand chimpanzees in America, as well as a substantial number of their primate cousins. He travels across the country, visiting captive chimpanzees on an ‘impromptu farewell tour of our own kidnapped and caged primal selves’, until he encounters Roger, with whom he feels a profound connection.

If one is inclined to accept the disturbing idea of retirement homes for chimpanzees as only possible in America, Siebert’s final night with Roger, at the Center for Great Apes, in Wauchope, Florida, forces a reassessment of such easy presumptions. The hours of silence between man and ape lead to an exploration of the broader context of humanity’s relationship with animals. Siebert laments a wildlife ‘endgame’ in which he insists hundreds of animals are damaged and diseased in the name of research, and entire species exposed to nervous distress due to human activities. This leads him to the discomfiting conclusion that if we ever figure out how to talk to the animals, there may be none (bar those we have already captured and irreparably damaged) left to answer.

The latent damage caused by human–animal interactions is brought home during the nocturnal stare-downs between Roger and Siebert, in which Siebert contemplates Maurice Temerlin’s book Lucy: Growing Up Human (1976), a harrowing account of Temerlin’s ‘psycho-anthropological’ experiment to raise Lucy, the chimpanzee, as a human child. Lucy lived in the Temerlin home as part of the family. She learnt sign-language, raised a pet cat and entertained visitors. After living with the Temerlins for ten years, Lucy’s ‘parents’ decided to release her into the wild. They spent three days with her at a holding compound in Africa before returning to America. Fortunately their babysitter, Janis Carter, took it upon herself to stay for the six years it took Lucy to adapt to life in the wild. A photograph of Carter’s reunion with Lucy six months after she left her to fend for herself is an extremely distressing image. Lucy’s breeder said her release was the ‘most cruel damn thing that could have been done’. One can only agree wholeheartedly and hope that similar experiments will never be permitted again.

Siebert’s subtle meanderings between Roger’s and Lucy’s stories help throw the twin potentialities of destruction and recuperation within the human empathetic impulse into sharp relief. While the Temerlins’ abandonment of Lucy was unquestionably reprehensible, Carter had no way of knowing if her actions were ultimately helpful or harmful. Nor can Siebert, as he holds Roger’s gaze, be sure how his actions will affect Roger. He hesitates to offer Roger’s hand, as doing so could have dire consequences for the emotionally damaged chimpanzee, yet in spite of his reservations he does finally reach out and touch Roger. The result is positive, but Siebert had no way of knowing such before making the gesture.

Woven throughout Siebert’s seamless digressions about human–animal relationships is a broader evolution–Creation debate, in which Siebert displays particular prejudice against Creationists and individuals who continue to breed and use chimpanzees for entertainment purposes. His encounters with both groups are peppered with words like ‘scary’, ‘suspicious’, and ‘nefarious’, and he asserts: ‘the exotic-animals trade is, by and large, licensed and legal, and, like the right to bear arms in the United States, just as staunchly defended.’

Siebert’s passion is admirable, and he offers excellent insights into the blinkering effect of entrenched language choices, but while one can understand his frustration with people who enjoy all of the benefits of science yet deny one of its foundation theories, it is harder to sympathise with his negative opinion of the breeders he encounters in his travels. No doubt there are ignorant and ‘nefarious’ breeders, but the ones he interviews appear to care deeply for their chimpanzees. His use of negative language and his alignment of exotic animal breeders with groups that provoke emotive reactions introduce a discordant note into an otherwise effortless style.

Roger’s World is enjoyable, and contains some fascinating asides into ‘humanzee’ lore and the strange history of animal trials in human courts of law. It is not, however, a feel-good account of human largesse toward animals that have outlived their usefulness. Current social and economic problems make it easy to overlook the many animals that are voiceless victims of increased consumption and inequality; victims with ‘minds enough to lose and histories that can only hasten the process’. Siebert’s timely narrative suggests that it is time for deeper consideration of our relationship to animals; time perhaps, to reappraise the gap between our ethical and moral obligations to animals and our actions.

Kathleen Steele lives in Sydney and has recently undertaken a Creative PhD with a focus on Australian Literature at Macquarie University. Her work has been published in Zinewest 2008 and Skive, and online at The Australian Ejournal of Theology and Southern Ocean Review.

Second place in the 2009 ABR Reviewing Competition

Ransoming humanity

John Clanchy

Ransom

by David Malouf

Knopf

$29.95 hb, 224 pp, 97817416683

In 1939, with the invasion of Paris imminent, the French writer and activist Simone Weil fled to the South. Among the papers and notebooks she took with her was an as-yet-unpublished essay, L’Iliade ou le Poème de la Force. Understandably, Weil read Homer’s martial epic through the prism of her own circumstances and time, seeing in the imminent sack of Troy, and the wholesale slaughter and enslavement of its population, a prophetic metaphor for what was about to engulf her native city and Europe. ‘The true hero, the real subject, the core of the Iliad,’ she wrote, ‘is force.’

Weil is right. The Iliad is the ultimate poem of ‘force’, of violence and its celebration. Each of the twenty-four books of the poem is steeped in a violence of the bloodiest and most anatomically precise kind. Swords cleave brains, genitals are hacked, buttocks pierced with arrows. A Trojan charioteer is ‘fished’ out over the rail of his chariot on the end of a spear which has been driven through his right jawbone, its blunt flanges locking behind his teeth. Yet Weil’s essay is also only partly right, her Iliad missing both ‘the wild joy … of archaic warfare’ (George Steiner) and the countervailing Homeric values of honour, piety, compassion and right conduct.

Not so Ransom, David Malouf’s brilliant recent reprise of this ancient tale. Malouf holds the crucial balance between elements fundamental to the Homeric world: ecstatic violence, the proper celebration of martial honour, and the sacred bonds to gods and to family. In Part One, for example, Malouf presents a scene of hubristic bestiality in which an insane Achilles drags the butchered corpse of Hector, Troy’s defender, behind his chariot, while Priam and Hecuba look down from the ramparts wailing at the dishonour being done to their son’s body. In Part Two, Malouf sets against this a scene of great tenderness, even domesticity, between Priam and Hecuba, Priam’s queen and lifelong companion, as they discuss ways to ransom Hector’s body, their fears for their city, for their family and for the savage, separate fates which they know lie ahead for each of them.

Malouf reads both sides of this ancient coin. Achilles, he demonstrates, also acts from within a hell of his own, caught in a self-consuming rage so deep and blind that no gesture of revenge, no act of despoliation heaped on Hector’s corpse, can be enough to expunge his own suffering (this over the death of Patroclus, his lifelong companion). In fact only one agent can set him free from this spell of mad despair – and that, in Malouf’s dramatic irony, is Priam himself, his sworn enemy. It is Priam, of all people, who opens up for Achilles the possibility of recovering his lost humanity.

Malouf has Priam coming by night to the Achean camp, accompanied by a humble carter, to beg for the return of his son’s body. His plea is couched in the simplest and most affecting terms. First, he reminds Achilles of his own son, Neoptolemus, growing up fatherless in far-off Scyros and then begs him ‘as a father, and as one poor mortal to another – to accept the ransom I bring and give me back the body of my son’. In adopting such common, unkingly language, Priam reveals the double irony that Malouf has been playing with all along: the fact that Priam himself, by this act of supplication, has been freed from the iron shackles of royal stasis. In the risk he has taken, in opening his life up to Chance through this act of submission to a hated enemy, Priam ransoms his own cramped humanity.

Malouf’s novel is studded with these inventive and elaborate ironies, conveyed in a language that is by turns lyrical, sinewy, and glitteringly simple and moving. Nowhere is this more evident than in the climatic scene, in which Priam appears in the smoky darkness of the Greek hut where Achilles is seated at table. In Malouf’s thrilling (Shakespearean) inversion, Achilles looks up and sees not Priam but his own father, Peleus:

‘Father,’ he says again, aloud this time, overcome with tenderness for this old man and his trembling frailty. ‘Peleus! Father!’ great Achilles, eyes aswarm, is weeping. With a cry he falls on one knee, and leans out to clasp his father’s robe.

The illusion doesn’t last, of course, but it has done its work. The identification is so strong – the paternal-filial bond so powerfully invoked – that Achilles must answer to it, and grant Priam’s wish.

According to his afterword, David Malouf has taken nearly sixty years to find the way to write this minor miracle of a novel. We should be grateful for the brief intermission. Every page has been worth the wait.

See also Peter Rose’s review of Ransom, which appeared in the May 2009 edition, in ABR's online archive: HERE

ABR Behrouz Boochani Fellowship

Hessom Razavi was the recipient of the 2020 ABR Behrouz Boochani Fellowship. The Fellowship, worth $10,000, honoured the artistry, courage, and moral leadership of Behrouz Boochani, the award-winning author of No Friend But the Mountains (2018). Dr Razavi made a significant contribution to the magazine in 2020 with a series of three substantial articles on refugees, statelessness, and human rights.

ABR Patrons Fellowship

Felicity Plunkett is the recipient of the 2019 ABR Patrons’ Fellowship, worth $10,000. Felicity has been a frequent contributor to the magazine since 2010 and was a past Fellow (2015). A poet, critic, teacher, and editor, Felicity was chosen from a large field and will contribute several articles to ABR over the course of the year.

ABR Fortieth Birthday Fellowship

Beejay Silcox is the recipient of the ABR Fortieth Birthday Fellowship worth $10,000. Beejay, who first wrote for us in 2016, has quickly become a regular in our pages, and elsewhere. She will contribute several articles and review essays in 2018, commencing with a survey of magazine culture in our 400th issue (April).

ABR Gender Fellowship

Author and academic Marguerite Johnson is the 2017 ABR Gender Fellow. Her Fellowship essay ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock fifty years on’ looks at Joan Lindsay's 1967 novel Picnic at Hanging Rock, drawing on studies of gender and sexuality, Australian art, and Classics. The ABR Gender Fellowship is worth $7,500. Her essay appeared in the December 2017 issue of ABR. The Fellowship is funded by ABR Patron Emeritus Professor Anne Edwards.

ABR RAFT Fellowship

Elisabeth Holdsworth is the 2017 ABR RAFT Fellow. Her essay 'If This Is a Jew' explores the nature of Progressive Judaism as practised in Australia, Israel, and the United States. Her essay appeared in the November 2017 Arts issue of ABR. The Fellowship is supported by the Religious Advancement Foundation Trust.

ABR Eucalypt Fellowship

Adelaide novelist and essayist Stephen Orr is the 2017 ABR Eucalypt Fellow. Stephen Orr’s essay 'Ambassadors from Another Time' explores the way the eucalypt 'flourishes from Tasmania to the Philippines, how it has colonised poor soils, provided food for the First Australians, images for May Gibbs’s garden sketches, but also informed a sense of isolation about lost children, and terror in the burnt-out cars left in the wake of Ash Friday.' Stephen Orr's Fellowship essay appeared in the 2017 October Environment issue of ABR. The Eucalypt Fellowship is supported by Eucalypt Australia and the ABR Patrons.

ABR Patrons' Fellowship

Philip Jones is the ABR Patrons’ Fellow. His essay titled ‘Beyond Songlines’ is revisionist article of considerable importance examining the Bruce Chatwin phenomenon thirty years on – Jones is widely regarded as one of the country’s leading ethnographers and anthropologists. The essay was published in the September 2017 issue of Australian Book Review. We are able to fund this Fellowship with support from our many supporters. We thank all our Patrons.

ABR RAFT Fellowship

Alan Atkinson, one of Australia's most distinguished and lauded historians, is the recipient of the inaugural ABR RAFT Fellowship. The Fellowship is funded by the Religious Advancement Foundation Trust and is intended to consider the role and significance of religion in society and culture. Alan Atkinson's essay, 'How Do We Live With Ourselves? The Australian National Conscience', was published in the September 2016 issue of Australian Book Review.

ABR Laureate's Fellowship

Sydney poet Michael Aiken was the inaugural ABR Laureate's Fellow, chosen by ABR Laureate David Malouf. Michael Aiken used his Fellowship to write an extended narrative poem in the epic tradition. Entitled 'Satan Repentant', this is a book-length poem about revenge, resentment, and remorse. ABR published a long extract from the poem in its August 2016 issue. Michael Aiken's first collection, A Vicious Example (Grand Parade 2014), was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize. His poetry and prose have appeared in journals in Australia and overseas. This Fellowship is possible because of the generosity of ABR Patrons.

ABR Dahl Trust Fellowship

Award-winning author Ashley Hay is the 2015 ABR Dahl Trust Fellow. Her long article, ‘The Forest at the Edge of Time’ examines ‘what our mongrel trees tell us about our past, the present, and the future’. It appears in this year’s Environment issue. Ashley Hay has published several books, including Gum: The Story of Eucalypts and Their Champions (2002), The Railwayman’s Wife (2013), which won the Colin Roderick Award, and (as editor) Best Australian Science Writing 2014. This is the second ABR Fellowship to be funded by the Bjarne K. Dahl Trust.

ABR Patrons’ Fellowship

The third ABR Patrons’ Fellowship was for a substantial article on any topic. Shannon Burns was appointed in November 2014. His article, entitled ‘The Scientist of his own experience: A profile of Gerald Murnane’, in the August 2015 issue, combines investigative journalism, critical analysis, and literary and historical research to profile award-winning novelist Gerald Murnane.

ABR Ian Potter Foundation Fellowship

The third ABR Ian Potter Foundation Fellowship was for a substantial article on any topic. James McNamara was appointed in November 2014. His essay, entitled ‘The Golden Age of Television?’, considers the ascendancy of television drama and its cultural significance. The article was the main feature in our inaugural Film and Television issue in April 2015.

 ABR Dahl Trust Fellowship

Australian Book Review congratulates the recipient of the ABR Dahl Trust Fellowship, Danielle Clode, for her essay: ‘Seeing the Wood for the Trees’. Clode’s essay examines the representation of eucalypt forests in Australian culture and the implications this has for debates over forest resources. This is the first ABR Fellowship to be funded by the Bjarne K. Dahl Trust. 

ABR Ian Potter Foundation Fellowship

The second ABR Ian Potter Foundation Fellowship was for a substantial article on any aspect of the performing arts. Andrew Fuhrmann was appointed in May 2013 and his article ‘Patrick White: A theatre of his own’ was published in our November 2013 issue. In it Fuhrmann examines the plays of Patrick White and his influence on contemporary theatre.

ABR George Hicks Foundation Fellowship

The ABR George Hicks Foundation Fellowship was for a substantial article with a focus on the visual arts. Helen Ennis was the seventh fellow and her article (‘Olive Cotton at Spring Forest’) was the main feature of the 2013 July-August Art issue. In her article Ennis offers a fascinating reading of the great modernist photographer's second marriage and gradual re-emergence as a photographer in the latter decades of her life.

ABR Ian Potter Foundation Fellowship

The ABR Ian Potter Foundation Fellowship was for a substantial article with a literary studies focus. Kerryn Goldsworthy was the sixth Fellow. Goldsworthy is a former Editor of ABR and one of Australia’s most prolific and respected critics. In her article, titled ‘Everyone’s a Critic’, Goldsworthy examines the current state of book reviewing in Australia, online and off. ABR published the article in May 2013.

ABR Patrons’ Fellowship

The second ABR Patrons’ Fellowship was for a substantial article with a film, media, or TV focus. Ruth Starke was the fifth Fellow. Starke’s project, titled ‘Media Don’, focuses on the resilient and charismatic South Australian politician Don Dunstan, a long-serving premier who skilfully used the media to fashion his persona and perpetuate his influence, but who in the end was brought down by it. Starke, who used the extensive resources of the Don Dunstan Collection held by the Flinders University Library Special Collections, also sheds light on the private man. Her article is published in the March 2013 issue of ABR.

ABR Copyright Agency Fellowship

The ABR Copyright Agency Fellowship was part of ABR’s Asian project, with the generous support of Copyright Agency through its Cultural Fund. Jennifer Lindsay was the fourth Fellow. Lindsay wrote a profile of the Indonesian writer Goenawan Mohamad – activist, journalist, editor, essayist, poet, commentator, theatre director, and playwright – whose essays she has been translating for two decades. The profile, 'Man on the Margins', in the October 2012 issue of ABR, focuses on the man and his work, but provides an understanding of the context in which Goenawan Mohamad writes and of the complexities of Indonesia.

ABR Sidney Myer Fund Fellowship

This ABR Sidney Myer Fund Fellowship was for a substantial article with an Indigenous focus. Felicity Plunkett was the third Fellow. Her project was titled ‘Sound Bridges: A Profile of Gurrumul’, a profile of this internationally acclaimed Indigenous artist and his reception. Her essay is published in the June-July 2015 issue of ABR.

Plunkett is a freelance writer, critic, and lecturer. She has a BA (Hons) and PhD (Sydney) in Literature. She is the current Poetry Editor of the University of Queensland Press, which recently published her anthology, Thirty Australian Poets. She has taught in several Australian universities and has often written for ABR.

ABR Sidney Myer Fund Fellowship

This ABR Sidney Myer Fund Fellowship was for a substantial article with a literary studies focus. Rachel Buchanan was the second Fellow. She is a lecturer in Journalism at La Trobe University, Melbourne, holds a Phd in History from Monash University, and has worked as a journalist for The Age. She is the author of The Parihaka Album: Lest We Forget (2009).

Rachel's long article on archival uses of private papers appears in the December 2011– January 2012 issue of the magazine. In ‘Sweeping up the Ashes’, she investigates the politics and purposes of collecting personal papers at a time when writers, collectors, and institutions are caught between the mystique and permanence of material made by hand and the banality and fragility of machine-made works.

ABR Patrons’ Fellowship 

The first ABR Patrons’ Fellowship was for a substantial article with a literary studies focus. Patrick Allington was the inaugural Fellow. Allington’s project was a critique of the Miles Franklin (‘What is Australia Anyway?: The Glorious Limitations of the Miles Franklin Literary Award’). In an article in the June 2011 issue of ABR, he reflects on the Award’s history, strengths, quirks, and past controversies, and fascinatingly, elicits comments from some of the major authors whose works have been excluded from consideration because they don’t ‘present Australian Life in any of its phases’.

The ABR Inglis Fellowship

The ABR Inglis Fellowship – funded though donations – honours the remarkable Ken and Amirah Inglis, whose writings and participation in Australia’s cultural and social life enriched this country. The Inglises were generous in encouraging young writers and providing them with rare opportunities. This Fellowship seeks to acknowledge that legacy.

What will the ABR Inglis Fellow contribute?

‍The chosen Fellow will contribute three review essays and/or commentaries in the field of Australia history and culture. ABR will publish these articles in print and online. Each article will be 1500 to 2000 words long. The articles will be staggered over twelve months. The Fellow will be available for media interviews and at least one event.

What will the ABR Inglis Fellow receive?

‍The Fellow will receive a total of $5,000, in three instalments, and will work closely with the ABR Editor, Georgina Arnott.

Who can apply?

‍Any writer aged thirty-five and under is eligible to apply: scholars, academics, journalists, commentators, creative writers, etc. Applicants must be Australian citizens or have permanent resident status in Australia. ABR staff and board members are ineligible. Contributors to the magazine are encouraged to apply. We welcome applications from First Nations writers and those with diverse backgrounds.

How to apply?

Applicants are strongly encouraged to refer to the Frequently Asked Questions section on our website. Applicants may wish to discuss their proposals with the Editor before finalising them: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

- their interest in the magazine and its direction;
- how their contributions will advance ABR and attract new readers;
- the likely nature/scope/genre of the three articles. (We are mindful that the Fellowship may evolve throughout the year.)

Applicants should also attach two examples of their literary journalism. Applications must be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 5 pm on 1 July 2024 (AEDT). There is no application fee.

Who‍ were the Inglises?

Amirah Inglis (née Gutstadt) was a librarian, teacher, and carer for her family who wrote two pioneering studies of Papuan colonial history, the ground-breaking Australians in the Spanish Civil War, and two acclaimed volumes of autobiography. ‍Historian Ken Inglis is best remembered for The Stuart Case, The Australian Colonists, two volumes on the history of the ABC, his monumental Sacred Places: War memorials in the Anzac landscape, Australians: A historical library, and his late work on the Dunera internees.

Familiarity with ABR

Applicants must demonstrate considerable familiarity with ABR – its style, its content, its direction. Visit our website to subscribe to print and/or digital. 

Selection process

The Fellow will be chosen by a panel including ABR Editor Georgina Arnott. We expect to name the Fellow within four weeks of closure. No correspondence will be entered into once the decision has been announced. ABR reserves the right not to award a Fellowship in a particular round.

How can I find out about past ABR Fellowships?

Information about the previous Fellowships is available here.

The ABR Inglis Fellowship is generously funded through donations.

The ABR Science Fellowship

Judging is now underway for the 2025 ABR Science Fellowship. ABR hopes to announce the fellow in the July issue.

The ABR Science Fellowship offers a unique opportunity to make a substantial contribution to the magazine in the area of science writing. The fellowship is intended to advance the careers of science writers and to augment ABR’s coverage of science and the history of science. The chosen Fellow will be able communicate sophisticated ideas in lucid and engaging language for a general audience.

What will the ABR Science Fellow contribute?

‍The Fellow will contribute three reviews essays or commentaries over twelve months in the field of science and/or the history of science. We expect that the Fellowship will become a regular program, complementing the ABR Fellowships, of which we have offered about 25 since 2001.

What will the ABR Science Fellow receive?

‍‍The Fellow will receive a total of $5,000, in three instalments, and will work closely with the ABR Editor, Georgina Arnott.

Who can apply?

Any writer is eligible to apply: scientists, scholars, academics, journalists, commentators, creative writers, etc. Applicants must be Australian citizens or have permanent resident status in Australia. ABR staff and board members are ineligible. Contributors to the magazine are encouraged to apply. We welcome applications from First Nations writers and those with diverse backgrounds.

How to apply?

Applicants are strongly encouraged to refer to the Frequently Asked Questions on our website. Applicants may wish to discuss their proposals with the Editor before finalising them: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

- their interest in the magazine and its direction;
- how their contributions will advance ABR and attract new readers;
- the likely nature/scope/genre of the three articles. (We are mindful that the Fellowship may evolve throughout the year.)

Applicants should also attach two examples of their literary journalism. Applications must be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 5 pm on 20 January 2025 (AEDT). There is no application fee.

Familiarity with ABR

Applicants must demonstrate considerable familiarity with ABR – its style, its content, its direction. Visit our website to subscribe to print and/or digital. 

Selection process

ABR Editor Georgina Arnott will choose the Fellow with legendary science broadcaster Robyn Williams, who has hosted The Science Show on ABC Radio National since 1975. We expect to name the Fellow within four weeks of closure. No correspondence will be entered into once the decision has been announced. ABR reserves the right not to award a Fellowship in a particular round.

How can I find out about past ABR Fellowships?

Information about the previous Fellowships is available here.The ABR Science Fellowship is supported by a bequest from Dr Ann Moyal AM (1926-2019), a historian noted for her work in the history of science.

Michael AdamsMichael Adams is the winner of the eleventh Calibre Essay Prize. The judges – award-winning author and historian Sheila Fitzpatrick, ABR Editor Peter Rose, and Picador Publisher Geordie Williamson – chose Michael Adams’s essay ‘Salt Blood’ from a field of almost 200 essays submitted from fourteen countries. Michael Adams receives $5,000, and his essay appears in the June–July issue of Australian Book Review.

‘Salt Blood’ is a remarkable and highly original meditation on freediving and mortality. On learning that he had won the Calibre Essay Prize, Michael Adams commented: ‘Winning the Calibre Essay Prize is an incredible honour, and a total surprise. I have followed ABR and Calibre for many years, and drawn much inspiration and insight from previous winners. I hope my essay highlights some hard issues: I take Rebecca Solnit’s position that we write the stories that we can’t tell anyone.’

Darius Sepehri (photograph by Elena Carletti)This year ABR has added a second prize, worth $2,500. The winner is Darius Sepehri, a researcher and PhD student at the University of Sydney. His essay – entitled ‘To Speak of Sorrow’ (to be published in the August issue) – is about the many kinds of grief and their different expressions in writing and culture, as lament, testimony, or ritual.

The judges have commended two other essays: ‘Change, We, Art’ by Meng Jin (USA/UK), and ‘Making Things’ by Sara Dowse’ (Australia), which will be published in coming issues.

Michael Adams’s winning essay is published in the June–July 2017 issue of ABR.

Click here to download the media release to learn more about Michael Adams and the Calibre Essay Prize

Subscribe to ABR Online to gain access to this issue online, plus the ABR archive (containing all Calibre Prize essays published from 2011).

Click here for more information about past winners.

Click here for more information about the judges.

We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of Mr Colin Golvan QC.

The Calibre Essay Prize is one of the world’s leading prizes for a new essay and it is now worth a total of $10,000. The Calibre Prize was first presented in 2007 to Elisabeth Holdsworth for her essay 'An die Nachgeborenen: For Those Who Come After' as part of a joint initiative between ABR and Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund. It is now generously funded by ABR Patrons.

Entries are now closed for the 2025 Calibre Essay Prize.

More information about past winners and their winning essays can be found here.

Please read our Frequently Asked Questions and Terms of Conditions before contacting us with queries about the Calibre Essay Prize.

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Peter McLennan and Mary-Ruth Sindrey.

Lucas Grainger-Brown is the winner of the twelfth Calibre Essay Prize – Australia’s most prestigious essay prize. The judges – novelist Andrea Goldsmith, NewSouth Executive Publisher Phillipa McGuinness, and ABR Editor Peter Rose – chose Lucas’s essay ‘We Three Hundred’ from a field of over 200 essays submitted from thirteen countries. Lucas receives $5,000, and his essay appears in the April 400th issue of Australian Book Review.

This winner of the second prize, worth $2,500, is Kirsten Tranter. Her essay, entitled ‘Once Again’, will be published in an upcoming issue.

About Lucas Grainger Brown
Lucas Grainger-Brown joined the Australian Defence Force as a high school student. Subsequently he worked as a management consultant. He is a researcher, tutor, and doctoral candidate at The University of Melbourne. Philosophy and politics are his enduring passions. He has published commentary, essays, and fiction across numerous media. He first wrote for ABR in 2016.

About Kirsten Tranter
Kirsten Tranter lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of three novels, including Hold (2016), longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. She completed a PhD in English Literature at Rutgers University in 2008, and publishes essays, journalism, and literary criticism. She is a founder of the Stella Prize for Australian women’s writing.

Longlisted entries

Judith Bishop (VIC)
‘O Brave New World, That Has Such Data In’t (Love and Self-Understanding in an Algorithmic Age)’

Sally Kerry Fox (UK)
‘The Lives We Leave Behind’

David M. A. Francis (VIC)
‘Between Joy and Sorrow: A Journey of the Hands’

Karen Holmberg (US)
‘The Very Worst Ache Is Not Knowing Why: Remembering Mme. Cluny’

Jack Jeweller (NSW)
‘Wings with Words’

Daryl Li (Singapore)
‘Metamorphoses’

Lea Zusmanovicha (VIC)
‘The Tails of Blankets’

Click here for more information about past winners and to read their essays.

We look forward to offering the Calibre Essay Prize again in 2019. 

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Mr Colin Golvan QC and the ABR Patrons.

The winner of the 2020 Calibre Essay Prize is Yves Rees for their essay 'Reading the Mess Backwards' which appears in our June-July 2020 issue. The runner up is Kate Middleton for her essay 'The Dolorimeter' which will appear in the August 2020 issue.

For more information about Yves Rees and Kate Middleton and the results of the 2020 Calibre Essay Prize click here.

The Calibre Essay Prize is open to all essayists writing in English. We seek essays of between 2,000 and 5,000 words on any subject. We welcome essays of all kinds: personal or political, literary or speculative, traditional or experimental. Founded in 2007, the Calibre Prize is one of the world’s leading prizes for a new non-fiction essay. We look forward to running the Calibre Essay Prize again in 2021.

Click the link for more information about past winners and to read their essays.

Please read our Frequently Asked Questions before contacting us with queries about the Calibre Prize.

Before entering the Calibre Essay Prize, all entrants must read the Terms and Conditions.

Exclusivity

Entries may be offered elsewhere during the judging of the Calibre Prize. If an entrant is longlisted and has their essay offered elsewhere, the entrant will have 24 hours to decide if they would like to withdraw their essay on offer elsewhere or from the Calibre Prize. Exclusivity is essential for longlisted essays. The overall winning essay will be published in the magazine in the May 2020 with the runner-up to be published later in the year.

Entry fees

Online entry (current ABR subscriber) - $15
Online entry (full-time student) - $15
Online entry (standard/non subscriber) - $25*

*Non-subscribers will receive the digital edition of ABR free of charge for four months. Eligible entrants will be emailed with details when this complimentary subscription has been activated within the month following entry.

Special online entry + subscription bundles:
Subsequent entries may be submitted at the subscriber rate

Online entry + Digital subscription - $65
Online entry + Print subscription (Australia) - $100
Online entry + Print subscription (NZ and Asia) - $165
Online entry + Print subscription (Rest of World) - $180

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Colin Golvan AM QC, and Peter McLennan and Mary-Ruth Sindrey.

Entries have now closed for the 2022 Calibre Essay Prize. We thank everyone who entered. Judging is now underway. We will name the winners in the May 2022 issue.

Status: Closed for entries

Prize money: $7,500

Open until: 17 January 2022, 11:59 pm 

Judges: Declan Fry, Peter Rose, and Beejay Silcox  

Past winners

Click the link for more information about past winners and to read their essays.

FAQs and Terms and Conditions

Please read our Frequently Asked Questions before contacting us with queries about the Calibre Prize.

Before entering the Calibre Essay Prize, all entrants must read the Terms and Conditions.

Exclusivity

Entries may be offered elsewhere during the judging of the Calibre Prize. If an entrant is longlisted and has their essay offered elsewhere, the entrant will have 24 hours to decide if they would like to withdraw their essay on offer elsewhere or from the Calibre Prize. Exclusivity is essential for longlisted essays. The overall winning essay will be published in the magazine in the May 2022 issue with the runner-up to be published later in the year.

Entry fees

Current ABR subscribers: $15
Standard/non subscribers: $25*

*All non-subscribers will automatically receive four-month digital access to ABR free of charge.

Entry + subscription bundles

Entry + 1-year digital subscription: $80
Entry + 1-year print subscription (Australia): $100
Entry + 1-year print subscription (NZ and Asia): $190
Entry + 1-year print subscription (Rest of World): $210

Those who purchase a subscription while entering will be able to submit subsequent entries at the subscriber rate ($15).

ABR warmly acknowledges the generous support of ABR Patrons Mary-Ruth Sindrey and Peter McLennan.

The winner of the 2023 Calibre Essay Prize is Tracy Ellis for her essay 'Flow States' which appears in our May 2023 issue. The runner up is Bridget Vincent for her essay 'Child Adjacent' which will appear in a future issue. 

For more information about Tracy Ellis, Bridget Vincent and the results of the 2023 Calibre Essay Prize click here.

The shortlist for the 2023 Calibre Essay Prize was announced on 11 April 2023. 

Status: Winner, runner-up and shortlist announced

Prize money: $7,500

Dates: 14 October 2022 – 15 January 2023, 11:59 pm 

Judges: Yves Rees, Peter Rose and Beejay Silcox

The winning essay will be published in the May issue of ABR.

Past winners

Click the link for more information about past winners and to read their essays.

FAQs and Terms and Conditions

Please read our Frequently Asked Questions before contacting us with queries about the Calibre Prize.

Before entering the Calibre Essay Prize, all entrants must read the Terms and Conditions.

Exclusivity

Entries may be offered elsewhere during the judging of the Calibre Prize. If an entrant is longlisted and has their essay offered elsewhere, the entrant will have 24 hours to decide if they would like to withdraw their essay on offer elsewhere or from the Calibre Prize. Exclusivity is essential for longlisted essays. The overall winning essay will be published in the April 2023 issue, followed by the runner-up.

Entry fees

Current ABR subscribers: $20
Standard/non subscribers: $30*

*All non-subscribers will automatically receive four-month digital access to ABR free of charge.

Entry + subscription bundles

Entry + 1-year digital subscription: $90
Entry + 1-year print subscription (Australia): $110
Entry + 1-year print subscription (NZ and Asia): $190
Entry + 1-year print subscription (Rest of World): $210

Those who purchase a subscription while entering will be able to submit subsequent entries at the subscriber rate ($20).

ABR warmly acknowledges the generous support of ABR Patrons Mary-Ruth Sindrey and Peter McLennan.

ABR is delighted to announce that Tracey Slaughter – from Aotearoa New Zealand – is the winner of the 2024 Calibre Essay Prize. Slaughter becomes the first overseas writer to claim the Calibre Prize. Judges Amy Baillieu, Shannon Burns, and Beejay Silcox chose ‘why your hair is long & your stories short’, published in the May issue of ABR, from a field of 567 entries from twenty-eight countries. Copies of the May issue can be purchased here.

This year’s runner-up is ‘Hold Your Nerve’, by Melbourne writer Natasha Sholl, and third prize goes to Canberra-based journalist Nicole Hasham for ‘Bloodstone’. These essays will be published in ABR in 2024. Tracey Slaughter receives $5,000, Natasha Sholl receives $3,000, and Nicole Hasham receives $2,000. Founded in 2007, the Calibre Prize is one of the world’s leading prizes for a new non-fiction essay.

Status: Closed for entries, winner announced

Prize money: $10,000

Dates: 23 October 2023 – 22 January 2024, 11:59 pm 

Judges: Amy Baillieu, Shannon Burns, and Beejay Silcox

The judges said this of the overall field in 2024:

We were delighted to encounter works that took unusual approaches to the form ... Among them were essays exploring the ethics of AI and the repercussions of war, reflections on loss, climate change, and family, musings on lesser-known aspects of history and thoughtful approaches to political and personal subjects.

The judges said this about Slaughter’s winning essay:

In Tracey Slaughter’s “why your hair is long & your stories short”, a beauty salon becomes a refracting point for the dark complexities of womanhood ... Written in snips and snippets – the literary equivalent of a haircut – this piece is as sharp as good scissors, as evocative as it is incisive.’

The shortlist for the 2024 Calibre Prize was as follows (in alphabetical order by author surname):

Stuart Cooke (QLD) | Sounds of the Tip, or: learning to listen to the Oxley Creek Common
Else Fitzgerald (NSW) | The Things We Don’t Say Live in My Body
Chris Fleming (NSW) | Everything, Then Nothing, Just Like That
Nicole Hasham (ACT) | Bloodstone
Jeni Hunter (QLD) | Views from the Floodplain
Sang-Hwa Lee (UK) | Looking Away
Natasha Roberts (NSW) | Guide to losing your house in a bushfire
Natasha Sholl (Vic) | Hold Your Nerve
Tracey Slaughter (NZ) | why your hair is long & your stories short
David Sornig (Vic) | Os Sacrum
Carrie Tiffany (Vic) | Seven snakes

More information about the shortlisted authors can be found below.

The 2024 Calibre Prize shortlist

‘Sounds of the Tip, or: learning to listen to the Oxley Creek Common’ by Stuart Cooke

Stuart Cooke is a poet, essayist, and translator, and Associate Professor of Creative Writing and Literary Studies at Griffith University. His latest book is the poetry collection The grass is greener over your grave (Puncher & Wattmann, 2023).Stuart’s current projects include a non-fiction work about the late pop icon Michael Jackson, and a collection of essays about biology, ecology, and poetry. He lives in Brisbane, on Turrbal and Yuggera Country.

‘The Things We Don’t Say Live in My Body’ by Else Fitzgerald

Else Fitzgerald’s writing has appeared in publications including Australian Book Review, Meanjin, The Suburban Review, The Guardian, and Award Winning Australian Writing. Her collection of short speculative fiction, Everything Feels Like the End of the World, won the 2019 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers and was published by Allen & Unwin in 2022. Everything Feels Like the End of the World was shortlisted for the 2022 Aurealis Awards and the 2023 University of Southern Queensland Steele Rudd Award.

‘Everything, Then Nothing, Just Like That’ by Chris Fleming

Chris Fleming is an Australian writer and translator whose work has appeared in both the scholarly and popular media. He is the author or editor of ten books, including the acclaimed memoir On Drugs (Giramondo, 2019). As well as theoretical work and translations, his fiction, essays, poetry, and graphic work have appeared in places such as The LA Review of Books, Island, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Literary Hub, and Westerly. He is Associate Professor in Humanities and a Member of the Writing and Society Research Centre at Western Sydney University.

‘Bloodstone’ by Nicole Hasham

Nicole Hasham is a writer, journalist, and editor based in Canberra (Ngunnawal and Ngambri country). Her work has appeared in Griffith Review, The Monthly, The Guardian, the Sydney Morning Herald, and The Age, as well as the 2021 Best Australian Science Writing anthology. In 2010, she won a Walkley Award for journalism. Nicole was shortlisted for the UNSW Press Bragg Prize for Science Writing in 2021 and was awarded the Mick Dark Fellowship for Environmental Writing at Varuna, the national writer’s house, in 2023. Her first book, a work of narrative non-fiction, will be published by Black Inc. in 2025.

‘Views from the Floodplain’ by Jeni Hunter

Jeni Hunter was born on Whadjuk Nyoongar country (Perth) and is currently living in Meanjin (Brisbane). She is an early career writer who is completing a Bachelor of Arts with Majors in Writing and English Literature. As a dedicated reader, with an appreciation for evidence, nuance, and empathy, Jeni enjoys the immersive writing experience, and exploring the fragile balance between comfort and the unknown.

‘Looking Away’ by Sang-Hwa Lee

Sang-Hwa Lee is an educator and policy researcher specialising in geopolitics. She moved with her family from South Korea to the United Kingdom at the age of five, and is currently based in London. In her spare time, she enjoys writing essays and creative non-fiction on a wide variety of topics, including culture, history, philosophy, and politics. Raised by a Baptist pastor, she has since lost her faith but continues to indulge in her love of choral evensong.

‘Guide to losing your house in a bushfire’ by Natasha Roberts

Natasha Roberts has been writing professionally in the field of data protection and information law for many years, in both government and the private sector. In her spare time, she writes stories and is working on a novel with the support of her wonderful writing group. She lives with her partner and children in the Bega Valley/Yuin Country, in New South Wales.

‘Hold Your Nerve’ by Natasha Sholl

Natasha Sholl is a writer and lapsed lawyer based in Melbourne. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Good Weekend, SBS Voices, Kill Your Darlings, and Mamamia . In 2020, she completed the KYD Mentors Program. She was shortlisted for a Varuna Fellowship in 2020 and attended a supported residency in 2022. Her first book, Found, Wanting, was published by Ultimo Press in 2022.

‘why your hair is long & your stories short’ by Tracey SlaughterPhoto by Joel Hinton

Tracey Slaughter is a poet, fiction writer, and essayist from Aotearoa New Zealand. Her work has received numerous awards including the Manchester Poetry Prize 2023, the Fish Short Story Prize 2020, and the Bridport Prize 2014. In 2018 her poem ‘breather’ came runner-up in ABR’s Peter Porter Poetry Prize. She teaches at the University of Waikato, where she edits the journals Mayhem and Poetry Aotearoa. Her recent books are Devil’s Trumpet (2021) and Conventional Weapons (2019), from Te Herenga Waka Press, and her latest collection the girls in the red house are singing comes out in August 2024.

‘Os Sacrum’ by David Sornig

David Sornig is the author of two books, the novel Spiel (UWAP, 2009) and Blue Lake (Scribe, 2018), a psychogeographic history of the long-forgotten swamplands and shanty town of West Melbourne, which won a Judges’ Special Prize in the 2019 Victorian Community History Awards. David has twice been a finalist in the Melbourne Prize for Literature Writer’s Prize for the essays ‘Jubilee’ (2015), about the Bendigo-born Afro-Caribbean singer Elsie Williams, and ‘Thirteen Men at the Sack of Troy’ (2021), about the industrial conquest of Melbourne’s west.

‘Seven snakes’ by Carrie Tiffany

Carrie Tiffany was born in West Yorkshire and grew up in Western Australia. She spent her early twenties working as a park ranger in Central Australia and now lives and works in Naarm/Melbourne. Her novels, Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living, Mateship with Birds and Exploded View, have been published internationally and are widely acclaimed. She is the editor of the Victorian Landcare Magazine and teaches Creative Writing at the Faber Academy and La Trobe University.

Past winners

Click the link for more information about past winners and to read their essays.

FAQs and Terms and Conditions

Please read our Frequently Asked Questions before contacting us with queries about the Calibre Prize.

Before entering the Calibre Essay Prize, all entrants must read the Terms and Conditions.

Please sign up to our free ‘Prizes and Programs’ newsletter for more information about the 2024 Calibre Essay Prize.

ABR thanks founding Patrons Mary-Ruth Sindrey and Peter McLennan for their continuing support for the Calibre Essay Prize. 

 Status: Closed for entries, winner announced.

Total Prize money: $10,000

Dates: 28 October 2024 – 28 January 2025, 11:59 pm AEST

Judges: Georgina Arnott, Theodore Ell, and Geordie Williamson

Australian Book Review is delighted to announce that Jeanette Mrozinski has won the 2025 Calibre Essay Prize for her essay, ‘Eucharist’, becoming the first American writer to win the prestigious award. Now in its nineteenth year, the Calibre Essay Prize is well established as one of the world’s leading prizes for an unpublished essay. Judges Georgina Arnott (new Editor and CEO of ABR), Theodore Ell (2021 Calibre winner), and Geordie Williamson (Deputy Chair of ABR) chose ‘Eucharist’ from a field of 648 entries from 26 countries. This year’s runner-up is ‘The Chirp/The Scream’, by Melbourne writer Natasha Sholl (who was also runner-up in 2024), and third prize goes to South Australia-based writer Robin Boord for ‘Consolation of Clouds’. Andra Putnis was commended for her essay ‘The Art and Atrocity of Disaster Scenarios’. The winning essay is published today in the May issue of ABR, and the second and third-prize-winning essays will appear in the subsequent two issues.

The judges said this about Mrozinski’s winning essay:

‘Eucharist’, an essay of breathtaking emotional power and moral force, conveys a woman’s quest to obtain an anti-viral drug within seventy two hours of being raped to avert the risk of contracting HIV. As the crucial minutes tick away and our protagonist rushes to yet another pharmacy, we observe the grim realities of America’s health system for those facing hard choices around unaffordable, unattainable pharmaceuticals. The essay depicts ordinary, everyday distress in today’s America.

On winning the Calibre Essay Prize, Jeanette Mrozinski said:

Often, the working-class stories that make it into our literature are treated as outsider art, their value appraised by their shocking degrees of desperation and humiliation that, for millions, is simply the chronic dramatic tension of everyday survival. Our world is increasingly ruled by autocrats and oligarchs. We face interconnected democratic, economic, and environmental crises that transcend international borders, threatening to make life harder for us all. In this desperate hour, I am truly honoured to be selected as the first American to win the Calibre Essay Prize, and so deeply heartened to know that ABR readers are engaging with this story of individual and collective action.

The judges said this of the other prize-winning and commended essays:

Runner-up

‘The Chirp / The Scream’ by Natasha Sholl from Victoria is a controlled study of violence and its chaotic aftermath. In the way a film-maker might rewind and edit a scene, ‘The Chirp / The Scream’ performs the brilliant technical feat of replaying and revising a single experience, questioning every detail, realising what must and must not be true at every repetition, and gradually substituting the relevant facts one detail at a time – even while an unconscious insistence on the wrong version impinges on the conscious mind and the apparently correct version. All at once, this essay describes a vicious crime, recounts how the criminal was pursued, reflects on the ripples of the event decades later, and creates a dramatic tension between fact, memory and feeling.

Third place

‘Consolation of Clouds’ by Robin Boord from South Australia conveys the mystery surrounding the death of woman’s father, a pilot in the Korean War who died unexpectedly at home after a mechanical failure on a training flight. Boord writes in poetic prose that creates narrative movement through a gradual succession of images connected by the recurring motif of sliding, strange, penetrable clouds. ‘Nice cloud,’ observes an aunt as they watch a slide show of the pilot’s images. The essay hints at the troubling prospect that more happened to him than was officially recorded, but also, with great evocative skill, implies the depth of loss beneath family scenes that seem at first a picture of stoicism and good humour. Boord’s descriptions of a household of relatives cooking and catering their way out of poverty, and enjoying cloud photography on the kitchen wall, are especially poignant.

Commended

The judges commended ‘The Art and Atrocity of Disaster Scenarios – A Family Tale’ by Andra Putnis from the Australian Capital Territory. This essay contemplates the real possibility that as the climate changes and international tensions rise, even in the Australian refuge of suburbia we may soon no longer presume ourselves safe. The essay recounts a conversation between the protagonist and her partner about how their family might survive a catastrophe, a playful thought experiment that quickly darkens. Uniquely, this essay subordinates the sense of menace to a trustful dialogue in which challenges are posed lovingly and met thoughtfully, suggesting that for all that is wrong in the world, much else remains right.

Of the overall field, the judges said:

Memoirs were strongly represented this year. The judges observed an impulse to distil baffling and traumatic change in the political and social spheres – climate change, war, imperilled democracies, the rise of right-wing populism – into terms that might reconcile overpowering historical forces with events and feelings closer to personal experience. Personal misfortune and its often-traumatic effects were present in compelling essays about illness, loss, grief, accident, and betrayal. Even in the darkest situations and the bleakest arguments, there lingered an implicit belief that in personal expression there was hope.

The personal dimension was intrinsic even to those essays in which personal experience was not a principal subject. Seldom did authors seek extreme objectivity and exclude themselves from their arguments. The essay at its best moves seamlessly between the public and private realms, between the larger world and felt experience. The essays that reached the shortlist involved their authors and invited the reader to observe the complex dance between thinking and feeling that makes good writing.

The shortlist for the 2025 Calibre Essay Prize is as follows (in alphabetical order by essayist):

Anneke Bender (USA) | ‘Tracing Threads’

Robin Boord (SA) | ‘Consolation of Clouds’ (Third)

Chris Ellinger (Vic) | ‘Inner World Supertramp’

Kate Fullagar (ACT) | ‘The Painting’

Adam Gottschalk (ACT) | ‘Empty Chairs at Full Tables’

Taralyn Honson (UK) | ‘Sick Enough’ 

Kelly Ana Morey (NZ) | ‘Biography’

Jeanette Mrozinski (USA) | ‘Eucharist’ (Winner)

Andra Putnis (ACT) | ‘The Art and Atrocity of Disaster Scenarios’ (Commended)

Natasha Sholl (Vic) | ‘The Chirp/The Scream’ (Second)

Sarah Walker (Vic) | ‘Piscine’

Dominic Warshaw (USA) | ‘Grafting Figs’

Past winners

Click the link for more information about past winners and to read their essays.

FAQs and Terms and Conditions

Please read our Frequently Asked Questions before contacting us with queries about the Calibre Prize.

Before entering the Calibre Essay Prize, all entrants must read the Terms and Conditions.

Exclusivity

Entries may be submitted elsewhere during the judging of the Calibre Prize. If the essay(s) are longlisted by ABR, the entrant will have 24 hours to decide if they wish to withdraw their essay elsewhere or from the Calibre Prize. Exclusivity is essential for longlisted essays, and we require confirmation of such for all longlisted essays.

The overall winning essay will be published in the first half of 2025, followed by the runners-up.

Entry fees

Current ABR subscribers: $20
Standard/non subscribers: $30*

*All non-subscribers will automatically receive four-month digital access to ABR free of charge.

Entry + subscription bundles

Entry + 1-year digital subscription: $100
Entry + 1-year print subscription (Australia): $130
Entry + 1-year print subscription (NZ and Asia): $220
Entry + 1-year print subscription (Rest of World): $240

Those who purchase a subscription while entering will be able to submit subsequent entries at the subscriber rate ($20).

ABR thanks founding Patrons Mary-Ruth Sindrey and Peter McLennan for their continuing support for the Calibre Essay Prize. 

I don’t live in Australia and I am not an Australian citizen. Can I still enter?
Yes, you can. Anyone can enter the Jolley Prize. But all stories must be written in English.

I’m interested in the Jolley Prize but don’t know much about it. How can I familiarise myself with the competition?
This is the fifteenth time that Australian Book Review has presented a short story prize. Past issues containing the shortlisted and winning stories are available for subscribers to read online in our online archive or to purchase in hard-copy from our online store.

Click here for more information about past winners.

What is the entry period for the 2025 Jolley Prize?
Entries for the 2025 Jolley Prize are open from 10 February 2025 to 5 May 2025. The three shortlisted stories will be published in the August or September 2025 issue and the winner will be announced later in the month of publication.

Is there a set theme or topic for the Jolley Prize?
No, stories can be on any subject and in any style.

What is the word limit for the Jolley Prize?
Stories must be between 2,000 and 5,000 words in length.

Can I submit a non-fiction story?
No, the Jolley Prize is for fiction, although entries can be inspired by real life. ABR also presents the annual Calibre Essay Prize, which is intended for non-fiction essays.

Can I enter multiple stories in one entry?
No. Separate entries must be made, and transactions paid, for each story entered into the Jolley Prize. This is to ensure that a record is kept of each story entered, and also to ensure that payment is successfully made for each.

Is there a limit to the number of stories I can enter?
No, but as stated above, each story must be entered and paid for separately, as individual entries.

Can I enter my story using a pseudonym?
Works must be entered under a real name. Internally, ABR ensures that names are not associated with essays for the judging process. Essays are strictly blind judged. Should your work be shortlisted and named, pseudonyms will not be acceptable. For publicity reasons, all shortlisted authors must be publicly named.

I have written a story with someone else. Are we eligible to enter the Jolley Prize?

No, stories entered in the Jolley must be written by one individual author.

My friend/relative has written a story, can I enter it on their behalf?
No, stories must be entered by their authors.

Are translated stories eligible for entry in the Jolley Prize?
No.

To be eligible for entry in the Jolley Prize stories must not have been previously published, what constitutes ‘publication’?
Publication includes, but is not limited to, publication in print and online (for example in a journal/magazine/anthology or on a website). Publication on a personal blog/website constitutes publication. If a story has been written and assessed as part of a writing course but has not been distributed further, that does not constitute publication.

My story was shortlisted/commended for another prize, can I enter it in the Jolley Prize?
If your story was shortlisted/commended for another prize but was not published, then it can be entered in the Jolley. Please contact us if you are unsure about eligibility.

Can I submit the work I have entered in the Jolley Prize elsewhere while I await notification?
Initially, stories may be entered in other prizes or submitted to other publications. However, if your story is longlisted in the Jolley Prize you must confirm eligibility and exclusivity – i.e. you must either withdraw it from the other outlets/prizes or withdraw it from the Jolley Prize.

When will longlisted authors be contacted?
Notification will take place in July or early August 2025. Longlisted authors who are not shortlisted will be notified in July/August and can then offer their stories elsewhere. See our Terms and Conditions for more information.

When will non-longlisted authors be notified?
Notification will take place in July or early August 2025.

When and where will the shortlisted stories be published?
The three shortlisted stories will be published in the August or September 2025 issue of ABR and on the ABR website.

What is the prize money for the 2025 Jolley Prize?
The Jolley Prize is worth a total of $12,500 (AUD). This will be split between the three shortlisted authors in the following way:

First Prize: $6,000
Second Prize: $4,000
Third Prize: $2,500

Can I pay the discounted entry fee?
Current print subscribers and yearly digital subscribers may pay the discounted entry fee of AU$20 per entry. Non-subscribers pay AU$30 per entry. If you would like a print and/or digital subscription to ABR, click here.

Alternatively you can purchase a yearly digital subscription to ABR with your entry for the combined price of AU$100. Your sign-in details will be automatically sent to you by email, and you will be entitled to enter any additional stories at the discounted rate. We also offered combined print subscriptions and Jolley Prize entry packages. A full list of entry rates appears below:

Online entry (current ABR subscriber) - $20
Online entry (standard/non subscriber) - $30*
Online entry + 1-year digital subscription - $100
Online entry + 1-year print & digital subscription (Australia) - $130
Online entry + 1-year print & digital subscription (NZ and Asia) - $220
Online entry + 1-year print & digital subscription (Rest of World) - $240

Note: Print subscribers must provide their subscriber number to be eligible for the discounted rate (this can be found on the flysheet sent out with the magazine, or on renewal notices – alternatively, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will provide you with your subscriber number). Likewise, yearly digital subscribers must provide the email address with which they registered the online subscription.

Can I pay with PayPal?
At this time we are accepting credit card payments only – Visa and MasterCard. We do not accept Amex.

Will I receive confirmation of payment?
Yes, once you have submitted your online entry and payment form, you will receive a confirmation email at the email address you supplied in the form. Keep a copy for your records. If you cannot find the confirmation email, be sure to check that it has not gone to your spam or junk folders.

Can I enter by post?
No, entries must be submitted online.

Who are the judges this year?
The 2025 judges are Julie Janson, John Kinsella and Maria Takolander.

Will you give me feedback about my story?
Unfortunately, we don’t have the time or resources to comment on individual stories.

How should I format my story?
Entries should be presented in 12 pt font size. The pages of stories should be numbered. (Please note, if you realise that you have submitted your story without the preferred formatting this will not disqualify it from the Prize.) The author’s name must not appear in the body of the entry or in the name of the digital file. 

What file type is acceptable?
We accept Word documents only.

Where can I find the complete Terms and Conditions of entry?
These can be found here.

How can I stay in touch with news about the Jolley Prize?
If you have provided us with a current email address we will contact you with news about the Jolley Prize. Another way to stay up-to-date with news about the Jolley Prize and other ABR prizes and events is to sign up to our online newsletters. Alternatively you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

My question isn't answered here, what should I do?
If you have a question about the Jolley Prize that isn't answered here, or in the entry guidelines, please contact us via the comments facility below and we will respond when we can.

Do I have to be a paid ABR subscriber to enter?

No, you do not have to be a paid ABR subscriber to enter our prizes. However, you will need to sign in to an existing account or create a new one in order to enter. 

Why do I need to sign in?

Non-subscribers who enter an ABR prize receive a free four-month digital subscription. If you are a non-subscriber, simply create a new account as part of your entry.

Current subscribers who sign in will gain access to the discounted entry rate. If you are not a current subscriber but your email is associated with an old account, signing in enables us to automatically process your complimentary digital access or bundled subscription. 

If you have previously entered an ABR prize, you will have received a free four-month digital subscription. This means your details exist in our system and you will need to sign in to enter. See below if you have forgotten your sign-in details.

I have forgotten my Username/Password

If you do not know your sign-in details, visit Forgot Username or Forgot Password to update them. If you have any problems, please contact us by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by calling the ABR office on (03) 9699 8822 during work hours.

I don’t live in Australia and I am not an Australian citizen. Can I still enter?

Yes, you can. Anyone can enter the Porter Prize. But all poems must be written in English.

I’m interested in the Porter Prize but don’t know much about it. How can I familiarise myself with the competition?

This is the twenty-second time Australian Book Review has presented a poetry prize. Past issues containing the shortlisted and winning poems are available for subscribers to read online in our online archive, or to purchase in hard-copy from our online store.

Click here for more information about past winners.

How can I find out more about Australian Book Review?

ABR is a literary and cultural magazine that appears in print and online eleven times a year. You can purchase print and/or digital subscriptions here, with digital subscriptions starting from just $10 per month. You can also order individual copies of the print edition.

Who was Peter Porter?

Peter Porter – born in Queensland and based in London for almost all his adult life – was one of Australia’s greatest poets. His vast body of poetry was gathered in two Collected Poems, and his poems appear in any serious anthology of Australian or British verse. They are well represented in Copyright Agency’s Australian Poetry Library. His most famous poetry collection is The Cost of Seriousness (1978). Porter edited several anthologies, including The Oxford Book of Modern Australian Verse (1996). He wrote thousands of reviews, essays, lectures, and introductions. His work appeared in Australian Book Review from 1985 to 2010. His fellow poet–critic Peter Steele, who wrote a monograph on Porter, published this tribute in ABR following Peter Porter’s death on 23 April 2010. ABR’s poetry prize was renamed in his honour following his death.

When will the 2026 Porter Prize close?

Entries close at midnight, 13 October 2025 AEST. 

Is there a set theme or topic for the Porter Prize?

No, poems can be on any subject and in any style.

How do I know if my poem is an eligible length to enter the Porter Prize?

Entries can be up to 60 lines long. The following are not included in the 60-line limit: the title of the poem, epigraph, stanza breaks, any footnotes, and internal numbers.

To be eligible for entry in the Porter Prize, poems must not have been previously published. What constitutes ‘publication’?

Publication includes, but is not limited to, publication in print and online (for example in a journal/magazine/anthology or on a website). Publication on a personal blog/website/social media constitutes publication. If a poem has been written and assessed as part of a writing course but has not been distributed further, this does not constitute publication.

My poem was shortlisted/commended for another prize, may I enter it in the Porter Prize?

If your poem was shortlisted/commended for another prize but was not published, then it may be entered in the Porter Prize. Please contact us if you are unsure about eligibility.

Can I submit or publish the work I have entered in the Prize elsewhere while I await notification?

Entries may be offered elsewhere during the judging of the Porter Prize. If an entrant is longlisted and has their poem offered elsewhere, the entrant will have 24 hours to decide if they would like to withdraw their poem on offer elsewhere or from the Porter Prize. Exclusivity is essential for longlisted poems.

Can I enter multiple poems in one entry?

No. Separate entries must be made, and entry fees paid, for each poem entered into the Porter Prize. This is to ensure that a record is kept of each poem entered, and also to ensure that payment is successfully made for each. If multiple poems are submitted as part of one entry, only the first poem will be considered.

Is there a limit to the number of poems I can enter?

No, but as stated above, each poem must be entered and paid for separately, as individual entries.

Can I enter my poem using a pseudonym?
Works must be entered under a real name. Internally, ABR ensures that names are not associated with poems for the judging process. Poems are strictly blind judged. Should your work be shortlisted and named, pseudonyms will not be acceptable. For publicity reasons, all shortlisted authors must be publicly named.

I have written a poem with a friend, are we eligible to enter the Porter Prize?

No, poems entered into the Porter Prize must be written by one individual author.

Are translated poems eligible for entry in the Porter Prize?

No.

What are the prizes on offer in the 2026 Porter Prize?

The Porter Prize is now worth a total of $10,000. The shortlisted poems will be published in the January–February 2026 issue. The winner will receive $6,000. The other four shortlisted poets will each receive $1,000.

Can I pay the discounted entry fee?

Current print and digital subscribers may pay the discounted entry fee of AU$20 per entry. Non-subscribers pay AU$30 per entry. If you would like to subscribe to Australian Book Review in print or digital, click here. 

Alternatively you can purchase a yearly digital subscription to ABR with your entry for the combined price of AU$100. You will be entitled to enter any additional poems at the discounted rate. We also offered combined print subscriptions and Porter entry packages. A full list of these rates appears below:

Porter Entry (Subscriber): $20
Porter Entry (Non-Subscriber)*: $30
Porter Entry + ABR one-year digital subscription: $100
Porter Entry + ABR one-year print subscription (within Australia): $120
Porter Entry + ABR one-year print subscription (within New Zealand/Asia): $200
Porter Entry + ABR one-year print subscription (ROW): $220

* Entrants who choose not to subscribe when entering the Porter Prize, and who are not already current ABR subscribers, will be provided with digital access to ABR, free of charge, for four months. Eligible entrants will be contacted when their complimentary subscription has been activated.

Can I pay with PayPal?

At this time we are accepting credit card payments ONLY – Visa and MasterCard. We regret that we cannot accept AMEX at this time.

Will I receive confirmation of payment?

Yes, once you have submitted your online entry and payment form, you will receive a confirmation email at the email address you supplied in the form. Keep a copy for your records. If you cannot find the confirmation email, be sure to check that it has not gone to your spam or junk folders.

Can I enter by post?

No, entries must be submitted online.

Who are the judges this year?

The 2026 judges are Judith Bishop, Felicity Plunkett, and Anders Villani.

Will you give me feedback about my poem?

We don’t have the time or resources to comment on individual poems.

How should I format my poem?

Entries should be presented with 1.5 line spacing and in 12 pt font size. The pages of poems should be numbered. The author’s name must not appear on the manuscript or in the name of the digital file.

How can I stay in touch with news about the Porter Prize?

If you have provided us with a current email address we will contact you with news about the Prize. Another way to stay up to date with news about the Prize and other ABR prizes and events is to sign up to our free monthly e-News. You can also follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook.

Where can I find the complete terms and conditions of entry?

These can be found here.

My question isn't answered here, what should I do?

If you have a question about the Porter Prize that isn't answered here, or in the entry guidelines, please contact us via the comments facility below and we will respond when we can.

I don’t live in Australia and I am not an Australian citizen. Can I still enter the Calibre Essay Prize?
Yes. Anyone can enter the Calibre Essay Prize. But all essays must be written in English.

I’m interested in the Calibre Essay Prize but don’t know much about it. How can I familiarise myself with the competition?
This is the nineteenth time that ABR has presented this prize. Click here for more information about past winners. Subscribers can access all past winning stories, available to read in our online archive or to purchase in hard-copy from our online store. To learn more about becoming a subscriber, click here.

How can I find out more about ABR?
ABR is a cultural magazine that appears in print and online eleven times a year. You can subscribe to the magazine by clicking here, or you can purchase single issues here. Digital subscriptions start from as little as $10 per month.

What are the opening dates for the 2025 Calibre Essay Prize?
Entries opened 28 October 2024 and will close at 11:59pm (AEST) on 28 January 2025.

What are the prizes for the 2025 Calibre Essay Prize
The 2025 Calibre Essay Prize is worth a total of $10,000. The winner will receive $5,000. The second prize is worth $3,000, the third prize, $2,000. All three winning essays will appear in Australian Book Review in 2025 (print and online).

Is there a set theme or topic for the Calibre Essay Prize?
No, we welcome non-fiction essays of all kinds: personal or political, literary or speculative, traditional or experimental.

What is the word limit for the Calibre Essay Prize?
Essays must be between 2,000 and 5,000 words.

Should endnotes be included in the word count?
Yes. The maximum number of words is 5,000. While not rejecting endnotes, we discourage the inclusion of many.

Is ABR an academic journal? Are you looking for academic articles?
ABR is not an academic journal, though our interests are sophisticated and we publish many academics. We are looking for general non-fiction essays that will make brilliant literary journalism.

Are images acceptable?
Yes. You may illustrate your essay, but the total file size should not exceed 3 MB.

Can I enter multiple essays as one entry?
No. Separate entries must be made, and fees paid, for each essay entered into the Calibre Essay Prize. This is to ensure that a record is kept of each essay entered, and also to ensure that payment is successfully made for each. If you purchase a subscription to ABR, subsequent entries can be made at the subscriber rate of AU$20.

Is there a limit to the number of essays I can enter?
No, but as stated above, each essay must be entered and paid for separately as individual entries. If you purchase a subscription to ABR, subsequent entries can be made at the subscriber rate of AU$20 per entry.

Can I submit or publish the work I have entered in the Prize elsewhere while I await notification?
Yes, entries may be offered elsewhere during the judging of the Calibre Prize. If an entrant is longlisted and has their essay offered elsewhere, the entrant will have 24 hours to decide if they would like to withdraw their essay on offer elsewhere or from the Calibre Prize.

I have written an essay with a colleague. Are we eligible to enter the Calibre Essay Prize?
No, entries must be single-authored.

Are translated essays eligible for entry in the Calibre Essay Prize?
No.

To be eligible for entry in the Calibre Essay Prize, essays must not have been previously published. What constitutes ‘publication’?
Publication includes, but is not limited to, publication in print and online (for example in a journal/magazine/anthology or on a website). Publication on a personal blog/website/social media constitutes publication. If an essay has been written and assessed as part of a writing course but has not been distributed further, that does not constitute publication. Please contact us if you are unsure about eligibility at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or on (03) 9699 8822.

My essay was shortlisted/longlisted/commended for another prize. May I enter it in the Calibre Essay Prize?
If your essay was shortlisted/commended for another prize but was not published, then it can be entered in the Calibre Essay Prize. Please contact us if you are unsure about eligibility at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or on (03) 9699 8822.

My essay was shortlisted/longlisted/commended for a previous Calibre Essay Prize. May I enter it in this year’s Calibre Essay Prize?
Essays that were publicly shortlisted, longlisted or commended in a previous Calibre Essay Prize are ineligible.

Can I enter my story using a pseudonym?
Works must be entered under a real name. Internally, ABR ensures that names are not associated with essays for the judging process. Essays are strictly blind judged. Should your work be shortlisted and named, pseudonyms will not be acceptable. For publicity reasons, all shortlisted authors must be publicly named.

Can I enter by post?
No, entries must be submitted online.

How should I format my essay?
Entries should be presented with 1.5 line spacing and in 12 pt font size. The pages should be numbered. Your name must not appear in the manuscript or in the title of the digital file as judging is conducted blind. 

What file type is acceptable?
We accept Word documents only. PDFs are not allowed.

Who is eligible to pay the discounted entry fee?
Current print and/or digital subscribers are able to pay the discounted entry fee of AU$20 per entry. Non-subscribers pay AU$30 per entry. If you would like to subscribe to ABR, click here.

Alternatively, you can purchase a print and/or digital subscription with your entry. We have a variety of options, each listed below. Upon successful payment, your subscription will be automatically ready to use. You will receive an email with your details. After signing in to the website with the Username and Password you have chosen, you will be able to enter any additional essays at the discounted rate.

Current ABR subscribers: $20
Standard/non-subscribers: $30*
Entry + 1-year digital subscription: $100
Entry + 1-year print subscription (Australia): $130
Entry + 1-year print subscription (NZ and Asia): $220
Entry + 1-year print subscription (Rest of World): $240

Note: Print subscribers must provide their subscriber number to be eligible for the discounted rate (this can be found on the flysheet sent out with the magazine, or on renewal notices – alternatively, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will provide you with your subscriber number).

Can I pay with PayPal?
No. At this time we are accepting credit card payments only – Visa and MasterCard.

Will I receive confirmation of payment?
Yes, once you have submitted your online entry and payment form, you will receive a confirmation email at the email address you supplied in the form. Keep a copy for your records. If you cannot find the confirmation email, be sure to check that it has not gone to your spam or junk folders.

Who are the judges this year?
The 2025 judges are Georgina Arnott, Theodore Ell, and Geordie Williamson.

Will you give me feedback about my essay?
Unfortunately we don’t have the time or resources to comment on individual essays.

How can I stay in touch with news about the Calibre Essay Prize?
If you have provided us with a current email address we will contact you with news about the Calibre Essay Prize. Another way to stay up-to-date with news about the Prize and other ABR prizes and events is to sign up to our newsletters. You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Where can I find the complete Terms and Conditions of entry?
These can be found here.

My question isn’t answered here, what should I do?
If you have a question about the Calibre Essay Prize that isn't answered here, or in the Terms & Conditions, please contact us via the comments facility below and we will respond when we can (your queries will not be posted publicly). Alternatively, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or on (03) 9699 8822.

 Australian Book Review is delighted to announce that Jessica L. Wilkinson has won the 2014 ABR Peter Porter Poetry Prize for her poem ‘Arrival Platform Humlet’. Jessica receives $4,000 for her winning poem, which was drawn from a field of just under 700 entries. The judges were Lisa Gorton and Felicity Plunkett.

‘I am truly honoured that my poem ‘‘Arrival Platform Humlet’’ was recognised in this way and very privileged to be associated with the good name of Peter Porter.’

Jessica L. Wilkinson

Australian Book Review is delighted to announce that Judith Beveridge has won the 2015 Peter Porter Poetry Prize for her poem ‘As Wasps Fly Upwards’. Morag Fraser named Judith as the overall winner at a ceremony at Collected Works Bookshop in Melbourne. Judith receives $5,000 for her poem, which was selected from a field of around 600 poems.

The other shortlisted poets were Eileen Chong, Toby Fitch, John Kinsella, Kate Middleton, and Alex Skovron, who won the Prize in 2007. Each of them receives $500.

Judith Beveridge’s latest poetry publications are Devadatta’s Poems and Hook and Eye, which has just been published by George Braziller for the US market. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Sydney.

The judges were Lisa Gorton, Paul Kane, and Peter Rose.

‘I am deeply honoured to have won the Peter Porter Poetry Prize, not only because of the high regard I have for Peter Porter’s poetry and for Australian Book Review, but also because of the very strong 2015 shortlist. I loved all the poems and was truly surprised to hear I’d won. My sincere thanks to ABR for continuing this prestigious prize, which is a great support for poets.’ Judith Beveridge                                                                                                    

Subscribers can read all six shortlisted poems here

The Porter Prize is one of Australia’s most lucrative and respected awards for poetry. It honours the life and work of the great Australian poet Peter Porter (1929–2010), an honoured contributor to ABR for many years.

Please read our Frequently Asked Questions page before contacting us with queries about the Porter Prize.

 Click here for more information about past winners.

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Ms Morag Fraser AM.

The Peter Porter Poetry Prize is one of Australia’s most prestigious prizes for a new poem. The Prize – open to all poets writing in English – is named after the great Australian poet Peter Porter (1929–2010). The Prize was first awarded in 2005 (Stephen Edgar) and was renamed in 2011, following Peter Porter’s death. Past winners include Tracy Ryan, Judith Bishop, and Anthony Lawrence.

Entries for the 2026 Peter Porter Poetry Prize are now open. It is the twenty-second Porter Prize.

Please read our Frequently Asked Questions page before contacting us with queries about the Porter Prize.

Click here for more information about past winners and to read their poems.

The Peter Porter Poetry is funded by the ABR Patrons, including support in memory of Kate Boyce.

On March 23, before a big audience at Collected Works Bookshop in Melbourne, Morag Fraser announced the two winners of the 2017 Peter Porter Poetry Prize (worth $7,500). The winners, chosen from a field of nearly 1000 entries from twenty-two countries, are Louis Klee (Vic) for his poem ‘Sentence to Lilacs’ and Damen O’Brien (Qld) for ‘pH’. The winners each receive $2,500.

2017 Porter Prize winners Louis Klee and Damen O'Brien

The other five shortlisted poets – Ronald Dzerigian (USA), Anthony Lawrence (NSW), Michael Lee Phillips (USA), Jen Saunders (NSW), and Jessie Tu (NSW) – each receive $500. The seven shortlisted poems appear in ABR’s March 2017 issue.

The judges were Ali Alizadeh, Jill Jones, and Felicity Plunkett. 

ABR Editor Peter Rose commented: ‘The Porter Prize – now in its twelfth  year – is dear to our hearts at ABR. Year after year it goes on generating hundreds of new poems around the world. This year’s field was by far the largest to date. We thank everyone who entered and heartily congratulate our two winners and the other five shortlisted poets.’

About the winners

Louis Klee lives in Melbourne and is currently studying in Cambridge. He has studied playwriting at NIDA and is an MFA writing candidate at the VCA. He earned a Bachelor of Philosophy at the ANU. His poetry has appeared in Meanjin, Cordite, and Gargouille, among other places, and his plays have been shortlisted for prizes such as The Silvergull Award. He is currently working on his first full-length collection of poems.

Damen O’Brien is a Queensland poet. His work has been published in Cordite and The Courier Mail, and has won or been highly commended in the WB Yeats Poetry Prize, the Nillumbik Ekphrasis Poetry Award, the Philip Bacon Ekphrasis Prize, the Ipswich Poetry Feast, and the FAW Tasmania Poetry Prize.

Please read our Frequently Asked Questions page before contacting us with queries about the Porter Prize.

Click here for more information about past winners and to read their poems.

Click here for more information about the 2017 judges.

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Ms Morag Fraser AM, and the support of ABR Patrons. The print is donated by Mr Ivan Durrant in honour of Georges Mora.

John Hawke, Morag Fraser, Nicholas Wong, and Peter RoseNicholas Wong is the winner of the 2018 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, now worth a total of $8,500. This is Australia’s premier prize for an original poem. Louis Klee, the 2017 winner, made the announcement at a special event at fortyfivedownstairs on Monday, 19 March. Nicholas Wong, who flew from Hong Kong to attend the Porter ceremony, receives $5,000. His winning poem is titled ‘101, Taipei’.

This year’s judges – John Hawke, Bill Manhire, Jen Webb – shortlisted poems by five poets – Eileen Chong, Katherine Healy, LK Holt, Tracey Slaughter, and Nicholas Wong. They were chosen from a record field of almost 1,000 poems. Tracey Slaughter’s poem ‘breather’ was placed second. She receives $2,000 – the other three shortlisted poets $500 each.

The shortlisted poems were published in the March issue of Australian Book Review.

About the shortlisted poets

Nicholas Wong (Winner) is the author of Crevasse (Kaya Press, 2015), winner of the Lambda Literary Award in Gay Poetry. He is also the recipient of the Hong Kong Young Artist Award in Literary Arts in 2017. Wong has contributed writing to the radio composition project ‘One of the Two Stories, Or Both’ at Manchester International Festival 2017, and the final exhibition of Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, which will open in May 2018. He is the Vice President of PEN Hong Kong, and teaches at the Education University of Hong Kong.

Tracey Slaughter (Runner up) is a poet and short story writer from Cambridge, New Zealand. Her work has received numerous awards, including the international Bridport Prize (2014), shortlistings for the Manchester Prize in both Poetry (2014) and Fiction (2015), and two Katherine Mansfield Awards. Her latest work, the short story collection deleted scenes for lovers (Victoria University Press) was published to critical acclaim in 2016, and was longlisted for the Ockham NZ Book Awards. She is currently putting the finishing touches to a poetry collection entitled ‘conventional weapons’. She teaches at the University of Waikato, where she edits the literary journal Mayhem.

Eileen Chong is a Sydney poet who was born in Singapore of Chinese descent. She speaks English, Singlish, Mandarin, and Hokkien, but only writes in English. Chong took a Master of Letters at the University of Sydney and was a recipient of an Australian Postgraduate Award for a Doctorate in Creative Arts at Western Sydney University. She eventually left her academic studies to write poetry full-time. Her poetry collections are Burning Rice (2012), Peony (2014), and Painting Red Orchids (2016), all from Pitt Street Poetry.

Katherine Healy is a writer living in the Adelaide Hills. She has worked in education, community health promotion, and counselling. Katherine has published creative non-fiction, short fiction, and poetry. She gained her Master of Letters in Creative Writing from Central Queensland University and credits the rural city of Rockhampton for reawakening her poetic impulse. Katherine is a member of Writers’ SA. She has a poetry collection and a novel as a works-in-progress.

LK Holt lives in Melbourne, where she was born in 1982. Her first collection of poems, Man Wolf Man, won the 2009 Kenneth Slessor Prize in the NSW Premier’s Awards. Patience, Mutiny shared the 2011 Grace Leven Prize for Poetry. Her most recent collection Keeps was longlisted for the 2015 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal. Her forthcoming collection, System Garden, will be published by Vagabond Press later this year.

Click here for more information about past winners and to read their poems.

We look forward to offering the Porter Prize again in 2019.

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Ms Morag Fraser AM, and the support of ABR Patrons. The print is donated by Mr Ivan Durrant in honour of Georges Mora.

Andy Kissane and Belle Ling, joint winners of the 2019 Peter Porter Poetry Prize.Andy Kissane and Belle Ling are the joint winners of the 2019 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, worth a total of $8,500. This is Australia’s premier prize for an original poem. Andy Kissane's winning poem is titled 'Searching the Dead', and Belle Ling's winning poem is titled '63 Temple Street, Mong Kok'.

The winners were named at a ceremony at fortyfivedownstairs in Melbourne on 18 March 2019. 

This year’s judges – Judith Bishop, John Kawke, Paul Kane – shortlisted five poems from almost 900 entries, from 28 countries. The shortlisted poets were John Foulcher (ACT), Ross Gillett (Vic.), Andy Kissane (NSW), Belle Ling (QLD/Hong Kong), and Mark Tredinnick (NSW). 

Porter Prize judge Judith Bishop (representing the judges) commented:

‘In Belle Ling’s “63 Temple St, Mong Kok”, other voices are rendered equally as vividly as the speaker’s own. Together they create the generous and gentle texture of this exceptionally resonant work.’

‘Andy Kissane’s “Searching the Dead” recounts a moment in Australian history – our soldiers’ involvement in the Vietnam War – that has not been captured before in this way. This dense, strongly physical and evocative poem grips the reader’s mind and body, and that imprint remains long after reading.’

About the shortlisted poets:

John Foulcher has written eleven books of poetry, most recently 101 Poems (Pitt Street Poetry 2015), a selection from his previous books, and A Casual Penance (Pitt Street Poetry 2017). His work has appeared in Australian magazines and anthologies for more than thirty-five years, and he has received and been shortlisted for many awards. He divides his time between Canberra and an old Catholic church which he is renovating near the town of Braidwood in New South Wales.

Ross Gillett is a Melbourne-born poet who now lives in Daylesford. In 2010 he published a chapbook of old and new poems – Wundawax and other poems – with Mark Time Books. His next book will be published by Puncher & Wattmann later in 2019. He has won numerous Australian poetry awards, including the Broadway Poetry Prize, the FAW John Shaw Neilson Award (twice), and, most recently, the 2018 Newcastle Poetry Prize.  He has been twice shortlisted for the Blake Poetry Prize. Ross’s previous career was with the Victorian Public Service, finishing as a project manager for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning in Ballarat and Daylesford, where he specialised in the implementation of native title agreements.

Andy Kissane has published a novel, a book of short stories, The Swarm, and four books of poetry. Awards for his poetry include the Fish International Poetry Prize, the Australian Poetry Journal’s Poem of the Year and the Tom Collins Poetry Prize. Radiance (Puncher & Wattmann, 2014) was shortlisted for the Victorian and Western Australian Premier’s Prizes for Poetry and the Adelaide Festival Awards. He recently co-edited a book of criticism on Australian poetry, Feeding the Ghost. His fifth poetry collection, The Tomb of the Unknown Artist will be published in June 2019. He teaches English and lives in Sydney.

Belle Ling is a PhD student in Creative Writing at The University of Queensland. Her poetry manuscript, Rabbit-Light, was awarded Highly Commended in the 2018 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize. Her first poetry collection, A Seed and a Plant, was shortlisted for The HKU International Poetry Prize 2010. Her poem, ‘That Space’, was placed second in the ESL category of the International Poetry Competition organized by the Oxford Brookes University in October 2016. She was awarded a Merit Scholarship at the New York State Summer Writers Institute in 2017.

Mark Tredinnick is a poet, essayist, and teacher. He is the author of The Blue Plateau: A Landscape Memoir, which won the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award), and Fire Diary, a book of poetry that won the WA Premier’s Book Prize. Beyond these, Mark is author of nine other acclaimed works of poetry and prose. Mark has also written several books on writing itself. He was co-winner of the 2008 Calibre Prize for his essay ‘A Storm and a Teacup’, and he won the Montreal Poetry Prize in 2011 and the Cardiff Poetry Prize in 2012.

Click here for more information about past winners and to read their poems.

We look forward to offering the Porter Prize again in 2020.

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Morag Fraser AM, and the support of ABR Patrons. The print is donated by Ivan Durrant in honour of Georges Mora.

ABR subscribers can read all previous prize-winning and shortlisted poems to the Porter Prize. If you aren't a subscriber, digital subscriptions begin at only $10 per month. Click here to become an ABR subscriber.

2025

Meredith Stricker: ‘The Vastness of What Poetry Can Do’

Meredith Stricker is the winner of the 2025 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, worth a total of $10,000. The winner was named at a ceremony held at Readings Carlton on 18 February 2025.

Meredith Stricker’s winning poem is titled ‘The Vastness of What Poetry Can Do’, for which she received $6,000. The other four shortlisted poets each receive $1,000. The full shortlist, including the winning poem, is available to read online.

This year’s judges – Sarah Holland-Batt, Paul Kane, and Peter Rose – shortlisted five poems from 1,171 entries. The shortlisted poets were Sarah Day (Tas), Jennifer Harrison (Vic), Audrey Molloy (NSW), Claire Potter (NSW), and Meredith Stricker (USA).

2024

Dan Hogan: ‘Workarounds’

Dan Hogan is the winner of the 2024 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, worth a total of $10,000. The winner was named at a virtual ceremony on 23 January 2024.

Dan Hogan’s winning poem is titled ‘Workarounds’, for which they receive $6,000. The other four shortlisted poets each receive $1,000. The full shortlist, including the winning poem, is available to read online.

This year’s judges – Lachlan Brown, Dan Disney, and Felicity Plunkett – shortlisted five poems from 1,066 entries. The shortlisted poets were Judith Nangala Crispin (NSW), Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon (WA), Dan Hogan (NSW), Meredi Ortega (Scotland/UK), and Dženana Vucic (Germany).

2023

Dan Disney: 'periferal, fantasmal’

Dan Disney is the winner of the 2023 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, worth a total of $10,000. The winner was named at a virtual ceremony on 19 January 2023.

Dan Disney's winning poem is titled 'periferal, fantasmal', for which he receives $6,000. The other four shortlisted poets each receive $1,000. The full shortlist, including the winning poem, is available to read online.

This year’s judges – Sarah Holland-Batt, James Jiang, and Des Cowley – shortlisted five poems from 1,132 entries. The shortlisted poets were Chris Andrews (Australia), Chris Arnold (Australia), Michelle Cahill (Australia), Dan Disney (South Korea), and Raisa Tolchinsky (United States).

2022

Anthony Lawrence: 'In the Shadows of Our Heads'

Anthony Lawrence is the winner of the 2022 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, worth a total of $10,000. The winner was named at a virtual ceremony on 19 January 2022. 

Anthony Lawrence's winning poem is titled 'In the Shadows of Our Heads', for which he receives $6,000. The other four shortlisted poets each receive $1,000. The full shortlist, including the winning poem, is available to read online.

This year’s judges – Sarah Holland-Batt, Jaya Savige, and Anders Villani – shortlisted five poems from 1,328 entries, from 34 countries. The shortlisted poets were Chris Arnold (WA), Dan Disney (South Korea), Michael Farrell (Vic), Anthony Lawrence (Qld), and Debbie Lim (NSW).

2021

Sara M. Saleh: 'A Poetics of Fo(u)rgetting'

Sara M. Saleh is the winner of the 2021 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, worth a total of $10,000. The winner was named at a virtual ceremony on 27 January 2021. 

Sara M. Saleh's winning poem is titled 'A Poetics of Fo(u)rgetting', for which she receives $6,000. The other four shortlisted poets each receive $1,000. The full shortlist, including the winning poem, is available to read online.

This year’s judges – John Hawke, Lachlan Brown, A. Frances Johnson, and John Kinsella – shortlisted five poems from 1,329 entries, from 33 countries. The shortlisted poets were Danielle Blau (USA), Y.S. Lee (Canada), Jazz Money (NSW), Sara M. Saleh (NSW), and Raisa Tolchinsky (USA).

2020

A. Frances Johnson: 'My Father's Thesaurus'

A. Frances Johnson is the winner of the 2020 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, worth a total of $9,000. The winner was named at a ceremony at the Boyd Hub Community Center in Melbourne on January 16. 

A. Frances Johnson's winning poem is titled 'My Father's Thesaurus'. She receives $7,000. The other four shortlisted poets each receive $500. The full shortlist, including the winning poem, is available to read online and is published in the January–February issue of ABR. 

This year’s judges – John Hawke, Bronwyn Lea, and Philip Mead – shortlisted five poems from almost 1,050 entries, from 30 countries. The shortlisted poets were Lachlan Brown (NSW), Claire G. Coleman (Vic.), Ross Gillett (Vic.), A. Frances Johnson (Vic. ), and Julie Manning (QLD).

2019

Andy Kissane: 'Searching the Dead'

Belle Ling: '63 Temple Street, Mong Kok'

Andy Kissane and Belle Ling are the joint winners of the 2019 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, worth a total of $8,500. The winners were named at a ceremony at fortyfivedownstairs in Melbourne on 18 March 2019.

This year’s judges – Judith Bishop, John Hawke, Paul Kane – shortlisted five poems from almost 900 entries, from 28 countries. The shortlisted poets were John Foulcher (ACT), Ross Gillett (Vic.), Andy Kissane (NSW), Belle Ling (QLD/Hong Kong), and Mark Tredinnick (NSW).

Porter Prize judge Judith Bishop (representing the judges) commented:

In Belle Ling’s '63 Temple St, Mong Kok', other voices are rendered equally as vividly as the speaker’s own. Together they create the generous and gentle texture of this exceptionally resonant work.

‘Andy Kissane’s 'Searching the Dead' recounts a moment in Australian history – our soldiers’ involvement in the Vietnam War – that has not been captured before in this way. This dense, strongly physical and evocative poem grips the reader’s mind and body, and that imprint remains long after reading.

The shortlisted poems were: '63 Temple St, Mong Kok' by Belle Ling (joint winner, Qld/Hong Kong), 'Searching the Dead' by Andy Kissane (joint winner), 'Dancing with Stephen Hawking' by John Foulcher, 'The Mirror Hurlers' by Ross Gillett, and 'Raven' by Mark Tredinnick.

2018

Nicholas Wong: '101, Taipei'

Nicholas Wong is the winner of the 2018 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, now worth a total of $8,500. Louis Klee, the 2017 winner, made the announcement at a special event at fortyfivedownstairs on Monday, 19 March. Nicholas Wong, who flew from Hong Kong to attend the Porter ceremony, receives $5,000. His winning poem, published in the March 2018 issue of Australian Book Review is titled ‘101, Taipei’.

Nicholas Wong, on winning the Prize, said: ‘I’m honoured and humbled to be the winner, especially with a poem whose subject matter may seem foreign. Winning the Porter Prize also allows me to reach out to Australian readers.’

This year’s judges – John Hawke, Bill Manhire, Jen Webb – shortlisted poems by five poets. They were chosen from a record field of almost 1,000 poems. Tracey Slaughter’s poem ‘breather’ was placed second. She receives $2,000 – the other three shortlisted poets $500 each.

The shortlisted poems were: 'Compass' by Eileen Chong, 'Decoding Paul Klee’s Mit Grünen Strümpfen (With Green Stockings) 1939' by Katherine Healy, 'The Abstract Blue Background' by LK Holt, 'breather' by Tracey Slaughter (second place, New Zealand), and '101, Taipei' by Nicholas Wong (winner, Hong Kong). 

2017

Louis Klee: 'Sentence to Lilacs'

Damen O'Brien: 'pH'

2017 Porter Prize winnersLouis Klee and Damen O'Brien are the joint winners of the 2017 Peter Porter Poetry Prize for their poems 'Sentence to Lilacs' and 'pH'. Morag Fraser named them as the winners at a ceremony at Collected Works Bookshop in Melbourne on March 23. The winners each receive $2,500 for their poems which were selected from almost 1000 entries, the Porter Prize's largest field to date.

The judges were Ali Alizadeh, Jill Jones, and Felicity Plunkett.

The shortlisted poems were: 'Sentence to Lilacs' by Louis Klee (joint winner), 'pH' by Damen O'Brien (joint winner), 'Four Egrets' by Ronald Dzerigian (USA), 'Laika' by Anthony Lawrence, 'Drone'  by Michael Lee Phillips (USA), 'The Snow Lies Deep' by Jen Saunders, and 'and it is what it is' by Jessie Tu.  The shortlisted poets receive $500 each. The seven shortlisted poems appear in ABR’s March 2017 issue. 

2016

Amanda Joy: 'Tailings'

Amanda Joy is the winner of the 2016 Peter Porter Poetry Prize for her poem ‘Tailings’. Morag Fraser named Amanda as the overall winner at a ceremony at Boyd Community Hub in Melbourne. Amanda receives $5,000 for her poem, which was selected from a field of around 730 poems. She also receives Arthur Boyd’s etching and aquatint The unicorn and the angel, 1975 from the series The lady and the unicorn, 1975, donated by Ivan Durrant in memory of Georges Mora.

The judges were Luke Davies, Lisa Gorton, and Kate Middleton. They commented:‘“Tailings” is a poem remarkable for its close-woven language, everywhere charged with vivid details; and, at the same time, remarkable for its open and wide-ranging attentiveness. In “Tailings” the poet nowhere sets place at an aesthetic distance but everywhere attends to its mess and profligacy, a mode of perception alive to the hunger of animals.’

The shortlisted poems were: 'Tailings' by Amanda Joy (winner),  '... a passing shower?' by Dan Disney, 'Prelude to a Voiice' by Anne Elvey, 'Rage to Order' by Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet (USA), and 'Lament for "Cape" Kennedy' by Campbell Thomson. The shortlisted poets receive $625 each.

2015

Judith Beveridge: 'As Wasps Fly Upwards'

Judith Beveridge is the winner of the 2015 Peter Porter Poetry Prize for her poem ‘As Wasps Fly Upwards’. Morag Fraser named Judith as the overall winner at a ceremony at Collected Works Bookshop in Melbourne. Judith receives $5,000 for her poem, which was selected from a field of around 600 poems. She reflected: ‘I am deeply honoured to have won the Peter Porter Poetry Prize, not only because of the high regard I have for Peter Porter’s poetry and for Australian Book Review, but also because of the very strong 2015 shortlist. I loved all the poems and was truly surprised to hear I’d won. My sincere thanks to ABR for continuing this prestigious prize, which is a great support for poets.’

The shortlisted poems were: 'As Wasps Fly Upward' by Judith Beveridge (winner), 'Vantage' by Eileen Chong, 'Janus' by Toby Fitch, 'Floribunda' by John Kinsella, 'When/Was' by Kate Middleton, and 'Pitch and Yaw' by Alex Skovron. The shortlisted poets receive $500 each. All six shortlisted poems can be read here.

The judges were Lisa Gorton, Paul Kane, and Peter Rose.

2014

Jessica L. Wilkinson: 'Arrival Platform Humlet' 

Jessica L. Wilkinson was the winner of the tenth Peter Porter Poetry Prize for her poem ‘Arrival Platform Humlet’, about Percy Grainger. She reflected: ‘For anyone in attendance, my shock at winning the prize was apparent. I entered a state of speechlessness! But I am truly honoured that my poem was recognised in this way and immensely grateful to the judges, Lisa Gorton and Felicity Plunkett.’

The shortlisted poems were: 'VFGA' by Paul Kane (USA), 'Absence' by Elizabeth Allen, 'Scenes from the Olivet Discourse' by Nathan Curnow, and 'Arrival Platform Humlet' by Jessica L. Wilkinson (winner). This was the first time that the Porter Prize was open to international entrants. They appeared in the May 2014 issue.

2013

John A. Scott: 'Four Sonnets'

At a function at Boyd, John A. Scott was named the winner of the 2013 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, worth $4,000. Remarkably, his winning entry, ‘Four Sonnets’, is his first new poem in a quarter of a century. Not that Mr Scott has been idle during this time. He is the author of sixteen books to date. His novel What I Have Written won a Victorian Premier’s Prize in 1994, and his novels Before I Wake (1996) and The Architect (2002) were shortlisted for several awards, including the Miles Franklin Award. He has a new book coming out this year with Brandl & Schlesinger, the experimental novel N. On winning the prize, John A. Scott told us: ‘I’m honoured to have won the Peter Porter Poetry Prize with my first new poem in nearly twenty-five years. Doubly honoured in fact, having long regarded Peter Porter as Australia’s finest poet.’

The judges were Peter Rose, David McCooey, and Bronwyn Lea. The shortlisted poems were: 'Prophecy' by Nathan Curnow, 'Big Wig' by A. Frances Johnson, 'Four Sonnets' by John A. Scott (winner), 'procedures in aesthetics' by Dan Disney, and 'Bushfire Approaching' by John Kinsella. They appeared in the March 2013 issue.

2012

Michael Farrell: 'Beautiful Mother'

Michael Farrell is the winner of the 2012 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, worth $4,000. Our judges, Judith Beveridge and David McCooey, selected his poem, ‘Beautiful Mother’, from almost 800 entries. On learning of his success, Mr Farrell told us: 'It’s exciting to have won the Peter Porter Poetry Prize, especially from such a large field. It’s an honour to be linked with Peter Porter, whom I was lucky enough to meet on several charming occasions. The poem itself betrays several hauntings: not least a scene from television that’s stayed with me since I was probably four or five, of Kimba the white lion swimming back to the jungle, a vision of his mother in the sky encouraging him.'

The shortlisted poems were: 'Provenance' by Gareth Robinson, 'Bayside Suburban' by Anne Elvey, 'Beautiful Mother' by Michael Farrell (winner), 'After Devotion' by Annamaria Weldon, and 'Oscillations' by Toby Fitch. They appeared in the March 2012 issue.

2011

Judith Bishop: 'Openings'

Tony Lintermans: 'Self-portrait at Sixty'

For the first time, two poets have shared our Poetry Prize. The judges – Morag Fraser and Peter Rose – couldn’t separate Judith Bishop (‘Openings’) and Tony Lintermans (‘Self-portrait at Sixty’). Each poet receives $2000. Almost five hundred poems were entered this year.

Judith Bishop – who becomes the first person to win ABR’s Poetry Prize twice – told us: ‘To win a prize dedicated to the memory of a poet of Peter Porter’s calibre, range, and emotional depth is deeply humbling.’

Tony Lintermans likewise reflected on Peter Porter’s legacy, and humanity: ‘What a joy to share the Peter Porter Poetry Prize. The only time I met Peter Porter, at an Adelaide Festival years ago, he was typically generous and thoughtful in his comments. I think of this poem as a small and sadly belated answer to his kindness.’

The shortlisted poems were: 'Self-Portrait at Sixty' by Tony Lintermans (joint winner), 'Dreams and Artefacts' by Lisa Gorton, 'Moonlight Sculptures' by Stephen Edgar, 'Openings' by Judith Bishop (joint winner), and 'Humility' by Alex Skovron. They appeared in the March 2011 issue.

2010

Anthony Lawrence: 'Domestic Emergencies'

Australian Book Review has much pleasure in announcing the winner of the sixth annual Australian Book Review Poetry Prize. Anthony Lawrence received $4,000 for his poem ‘Domestic Emergencies’. The judges – Ian Donaldson, Morag Fraser, and Peter Rose – chose the poem from a field of just under 400 poems.

On winning the prize, Anthony said: ‘I’m thrilled to have won the Australian Book Review’s poetry prize. I’ve been reading the Australian Book Review for many years and the fact that it gives serious space and consideration to poetry, both in its reviews and the publishing of individual poems, is to be celebrated.’

The shortlisted poems were: 'Taken as Required' by Ynez Sanz, 'The Hummingbird Suite' by Diane Fahey, 'Here Come the Missionaries' by Philip Salom, 'Estuary' by Jillian Pattinson, and 'Domestic Emergencies' by Anthony Lawrence (winner). They appeared in the April 2010 issue.

2009

Tracy Ryan: 'Lost Property' 

Australian Book Review has much pleasure in announcing the winner of the fifth annual Australian Book Review Poetry Prize. Tracy Ryan received $4,000 for her poem ‘Lost Property’. The judges – Paul Hetherington, Morag Fraser, and Peter Rose – chose the poem from a field of approximately 500 poems.

On being told of her success, Tracy said: ‘I’m honoured, delighted, and very surprised. I’m a keen reader of the ABR but have never published a poem in it before. This is a pleasant way to start! And the poem belongs to an unpublished manuscript of new work, tentatively called The Argument. It feels as if the award somehow helps bring that new book into being.’

The shortlisted poems were: 'Yellow Jacket: Vespula maculifrons' by Rose Lucas, Lost Porperty by Tracy Ryan (winner), 'The Dark Zone' by Kathryn Lomer, 'The Storm Glass' by Lisa Gorton, 'The Reed Pen' by Angela Mahone, and 'The Aquarium' by Judith Beveridge. They appeared in the March 2009 issue.

2008

Ross Clark: 'Danger: Lantana'

Ross Clark was the winner of the fourth ABR Poetry Prize for his poem ‘Danger: Lantana’. His poem 'Full-Bucket Moon' was shortlisted for the third ABR Poetry Prize. 

Reacting to his win, Clark commented: ‘Both shortlisted poems created memories within rural settings; the former’s fictionality is more obvious, but both poems are songs made from the sweepings of my mind, both begin in the rag-and-bone shop of history and locality. I’m thrilled to have won, and hope the readers of ABR will hear the creek flowing again in these words.’

The judges were Peter Rose, Lisa Gorton and Paul Hetherington. The shortlisted poems were: '(for the siblings)' by Kevin Gillam, 'T/here' by Judith Bishop, 'a full stop reaches the end of its sentence' by Nathan Shepherdson, 'Danger: Lantana' by Ross Clark (winner), and 'The Window' by Brenda Walker. They appeared in the March 2008 issue. 

2007

Alex Skovron: 'Sanctum'

Alex Skovron was the winner of the third ABR Poetry Prize for his poem ‘Sanctum’. His poem ‘Boy’ was shortlisted for the second ABR Poetry Prize.

The judges were Peter Rose, Morag Fraser and Paul Hetherington. On receiving the judges’ congratulations for his dark, evocative poem, Alex Skovron commented: ‘I’m delighted and honoured to be this year’s recipient of the prize. I wrote the first version of ‘‘Sanctum’’ in July 2004. It’s an oblique, shadowy piece, an offbeat portrait framed within a telling that’s imbued with at least some of the delirium of its protagonist. The other protagonist is, of course, language.’

The shortlisted poems were: 'Sanctum' by Alex Skovron (winner), 'Full-Bucket Moon' by Ross Clark, 'The Fledglings' by Robert Adamson, 'The Fencer and His Mate' by Kathryn Lomer, 'The Red Sea' by Stephen Edgar, and 'Guidance and Knowledge' by Anthony Lawrence. They appeared in the March 2007 issue.

2006

Judith Bishop: 'Still Life with Cockles and Shells'

Judith Bishop was the winner of the the 2007 ABR Poetry Prize. The judges - Peter Rose, Morag Fraser, and Craig Sherborne - described her winning poem ‘Still Life with Cockles and Shells’ as ‘unfailingly poised and suggestive’.

The shortlisted poems were: 'Mallee' by Lisa Gorton, 'Braid' by J.S. Harry, 'Boy' by Alex Skovron, 'Still Life with Cockles and Shells' by Judith Bishop (winner), 'Back Roads, Local Roads' by Brendan Ryan, and 'Spiders' by Keith Harrison. They appeared in the March 2006 issue.

2005

Stephen Edgar: 'Man on the Moon'

Stephen Edgar won the inaugural ABR Poetry Prize with his poem ‘Man on the Moon’.

The three judges, Morag Fraser, Peter Rose, and Peter Steele, were impressed by the overall quality of the entries and were pleased to be able to choose from such a strong shortlist, but the final decision was quick and unanimous because of the formal and imaginative qualities of Stephen Edgar’s poem. 

The shortlisted poems were: 'Ventriloquist's Dummy' by Jennifer Harrison, 'Man on the Moon' by Stephen Edgar (winner), 'Ubirr Rock' by Mark Tredinnick, 'Storm' by Maria Takolander, 'Headgear (a review)' by Sandra Hill, and 'Low at the Edge of the Sands' by Kevin Gillam. They appeared in the March 2005 issue.

Four Sonnets

The Drowning of Charles Kruger, Fireman
(St Valentine’s Day, 1908)

Comes a fire into Canal Street:
its rows of clapboard tenements rotting back
to marsh. He knows it too well, the ‘furniture
district’. This time, a fire built on picture frames.
Charles Kruger drops onto what he thought
a cellar floor, finding instead his New World to be
eight feet of seepage bound by stone. He kicks
back to smoky air. From above come voices.
Lanterns play upon the shifting surface, sending
wobblings of light across the walls (ectoplasm
of his own trembling device) – the ghost of him
seeking release. He gives it up. Warbles out
his love. He takes the eager water: a brief
consummation made of thrashing arms.

Gustav Mahler in New York (1908)

It is the bass drum which has summoned him.
The dull collisions of felted wool against calf­
skin. The end of everything, he knows, these
muted thuds.
The Mahlers have taken an
eleventh-floor suite (there are two grand pianos),
at the Hotel Majesticon Central Park West.
He joins Alma at the window. Directly below,
is the halted cortège of Charles Kruger.
Once more, the tufted mallet meets the drum­
head. He sees the tight-packed waves speed
upwards, rattle through the window and collide
with his chest. He recoils. Curves his body at
the waist. A bow (conductor to his audience),
only contorted thus, gasping for air.

Mahler at Toblach (1910)

Madness, seize me and destroy me,
he scrawls across the staves. To the movement
(purgatorio)he adds a final, isolated note. Marks
it thus – ‘completely muffled drum’. At which
the four-paned windows of the häuschen burst
apart and the room fills with grey feathers.
He rises, choking. A storm of plumaged air
beating at his face. Then gone. He gathers up
the sketches from the floor. The young architect
has declared his love – (misaddressing it, he
claims, to Herr Direktor Mahler). My Almschili
he scrawls, You are not ashamed, it is I who am.
Alas, I still love you.Who finds his mouth
crammed full with soaked grey feathers.

Epilogue (1911)

Back in New York the throat infection re-
occurs. He conducts Busoni’s Berceuse
Élégiaque and returns to Europe.
Bacteria now gather at the lesioned heart.
‘My Almachi’, he cries again (again). At some
point the kidneys fail. Black water seeps into
his lungs. He drowns by tiny increments –
the death mask imparts a serenity
not on display during his final hours.

He has entrusted his sketches of the
Tenth to Alma. In the salon she tears
the most damning scrawl from the manuscript.
Carries it to the fire. Sets it to flame.

Luke Davies is a poet, novelist, and screenplay writer. His first collection, Four Plots for Magnets, appeared in 1982, when he was twenty. His novel Candy (1997) was successfully filmed in 2006. He has won many awards, including the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry, the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal, the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards Judith Wright Prize, and the Age Book of the Year. His book Interferon Psalms won the inaugural Prime Minister’s Literary Award for poetry in 2012.

Lisa Gorton, who lives in Melbourne, became ABR’s Poetry Editor in October 2013. She studied at the Universities of Melbourne and Oxford. A Rhodes Scholar, she completed a Masters in Renaissance Literature and a Doctorate on John Donne at Oxford University. Her first poetry collection, Press Release (2007), won the Victorian Premier’s Prize for Poetry. Her 2013 poetry collection Hotel Hyperion (also Giramondo) was shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards. She was editor of The Best Australian Poems 2013 (Black Inc.). Her latest novel, The Life of Houses, was published in 2015.

Kate Middleton is an Australian writer. She is the author of the poetry collections Fire Season (Giramondo, 2009), awarded the Western Australian Premier’s Award for Poetry in 2009 and Ephemeral Waters (Giramondo, 2013), shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s award in 2014. From September 2011-September 2012 she was the inaugural Sydney City Poet.

Sophie Cunningham has been a writer and publisher in Australia for thirty years. A former publisher and editor, she is the author of two novels, Geography (2004) and Bird (2008). For the City Series, she wrote Melbourne (2011). Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy, her most recent book, was published by Text Publishing in 2014 and was long-listed for both a Walkley Award and the Kibble Prize. She is a former Editor of Meanjin, and until recently was Chair of the Literature Board of the Australia Council. She is a founding and current board member of The Stella Prize, a prize for Australian women’s writing. She lived in Brooklyn, New York, in 2014 and is now based in San Francisco, California. She is currently writing a novel called This Devastating Fever, about Leonard Woolf’s time in Ceylon in the early 1900s, and a collection of linked essays, tentatively entitled 50. She won the 2015 Calibre Prize for her essay 'Staying with the trouble'.

Peter Rose has been the Editor of Australian Book Review since 2001. Previously he was a publisher at Oxford University Press throughout the 1990s. Rose has published several books of poetry, a family memoir, Rose Boys (2003, now a Text Classic), and two novels, the most recent being Roddy Parr (Fourth Estate, 2010). His essays have appeared in The Best Australian Essays, and he edited the 2007 and 2008 editions of The Best Australian Poems (Black Inc.). Peter Rose’s long experience in publishing and the literary world complement the magazine’s history of central involvement in Australian letters.

Ali Alizadeh's collection of poetry, Ashes in the Air (UQP, 2011) was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Award. His latest book, Transactions (UQP, 2013), was described as 'twisted', 'vicious' and 'remarkable'. His new book, The Last Days of Jeanne d'Arc, will be published in 2017 by Giramondo Publishing. He lectures at Monash University.

Jill Jones has published nine full-length books of poetry, including Breaking the Days (2015), The Beautiful Anxiety (2014), which won the 2015 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Poetry, and Ash is Here, So are Stars (2012). Her work is represented in major anthologies, including the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature (2009) and The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry (2009). Her poetry was included in the 2016 ABR States of Poetry anthology for South Australia. She is a member of the J.M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice, University of Adelaide.

Felicity Plunkett is a poet and critic, and has a PhD from the University of Sydney. Her first collection of poetry Vanishing Point won the Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Prize and was shortlisted for several other awards. Felicity’s chapbook Seastrands was published in Vagabond Press’s Rare Objects series in 2011, and she is the editor of Thirty Australian Poets (UQP, 2011). She is Poetry Editor with University of Queensland Press and a widely published reviewer. 

Sheila Fitzpatrick, a professor at the University of Sydney specialising in the history of modern Russia, is one of the world’s most influential Soviet historians. She is the author of two memoirs, My Father’s Daughter (2010) and A Spy in the Archives (2013). Her most recent book, On Stalin’s Team: The years of living dangerously in Soviet politics (2015), shared the 2016 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for non-fiction. Her essays and reviews appear in Australian Book Review and the London Review of Books.

Peter Rose has been the Editor of Australian Book Review since 2001. Previously he was a publisher at Oxford University Press throughout the 1990s. Rose has published several books of poetry, two novels, a family memoir, Rose Boys (2003, now a Text Classic). He published The Oxford Book of Australian Essays (1997), and his own essays have appeared in past editions of The Best Australian Essays.

Geordie Williamson was for several years chief literary critic of The Australian. He is now the Publisher at Picador Australia. Geordie Williamson, who published his first review in ABR in 2001, won the 2011 Pascall Prize for Criticism. He edited the 2015 and 2016 editions of The Best Australian Essays (Black Inc.). He is the author of The Burning Library: Our great novelists lost and found (2011).

John Hawke is a Senior Lecturer, specialising in poetry, at Monash University. His books include Australian Literature and the Symbolist Movement, Poetry and the Trace (co-edited with Ann Vickery), and the volume of poetry Aurelia, which received the 2015 Anne Elder award.

Bill Manhire was New Zealand’s inaugural Poet Laureate. He founded the well-known creative writing programme at Victoria University of Wellington. His most recent books are a poetry collection, Some Things to Place in a Coffin (VUP, 2017), and a collection of short fiction, The Stories of Bill Manhire (VUP, 2015). He has also been writing songs with the jazz musician Norman Meehan.

Jen Webb is Distinguished Professor of Creative Practice at the University of Canberra, and Director of the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research in the Faculty of Arts and Design. Her recent work includes the scholarly volumes Researching Creative Writing (Frontinus Press, 2015) and Art and Human Rights: Contemporary Asian Contexts (with Caroline Turner; Manchester UP, 2016), and the poetry volumes Watching the World (with Paul Hetherington; Blemish Books, 2015), Stolen Stories, Borrowed Lines (Mark Time, 2015) and Sentences from the Archive (Recent Work Press, 2016).

Andrea Goldsmith is a Melbourne-based novelist, reviewer and essayist. Her literary essays have appeared in Heat, Meanjin, Australian Book Review, Best Australian Essays, as well as numerous anthologies. Her most recent novel, The Memory Trap, won the Melbourne Prize for best literary work in 2015. Her new novel, The Science of Departures is due out in 2018.

Phillipa McGuinness is Executive Publisher at NewSouth Publishing. She edited the book Copyfight (2015) and is writing a history of the year 2001, to be published by Random House in 2018.

Peter Rose is the Editor and CEO of Australian Book Review. His books include a family memoir, Rose Boys (2001), which won the National Biography Award in 2003. He has published two novels and six poetry collections, most recently The Subject of Feeling (UWA Publishing, 2015). Essays of his have appeared in Best Australian Essays and other publications.

Judith Bishop is Director of Linguistic Services at a multinational language technology company. Her poems have won many awards, including the Peter Porter Poetry Prize (2006, 2011). Her first book, Event (Salt, 2007), won the FAW Anne Elder award and was shortlisted for the CJ Dennis Prize, the Judith Wright Calanthe Award, and the ASAL Mary Gilmore Prize. She has recently published a second collection, Interval (UQP, 2018).

John Hawke is a Senior Lecturer, specialising in poetry, at Monash University. His books include Australian Literature and the Symbolist Movement, Poetry and the Trace (co-edited with Ann Vickery), and the volume of poetry Aurelia, which received the 2015 Anne Elder award. He is ABR's Poetry Editor.

Paul Kane is poetry editor of Antipodes and artistic director of the Mildura Writers Festival. His most recent books are Renga: 100 Poems (with John Kinsella) and A Passing Bell: Ghazals for Tina. He teaches at Vassar College, as Professor of English, and divides his time between New York and rural Victoria.

J.M. Coetzee was born in South Africa and educated in South Africa and the United States. He has published nineteen works of fiction, as well as criticism and translations. Among awards he has won are the Booker Prize (twice) and, in 2003, the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is currently Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide. 

Lisa Gorton, who lives in Melbourne, is a poet, novelist, and critic, and a former Poetry Editor of ABR. She studied at the Universities of Melbourne and Oxford. A Rhodes Scholar, she completed a Masters in Renaissance Literature and a Doctorate on John Donne at Oxford University. Her review essays and poetry have appeared in ABR since 2002. Her first poetry collection, Press Release (2007), won the Victorian Premier’s Prize for Poetry. She has also been awarded the Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize and the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal. Lisa’s novel The Life of Houses (2015) shared the 2016 Prime Minister’s Award for fiction and received the NSW Premier’s People’s Choice Award. Her third poetry collection Empirical appeared with Giramondo in 2019.

Peter Rose has been Editor of Australian Book Review since 2001. Previously he was a publisher at Oxford University Press. His reviews and essays have appeared mostly in ABR. He has published six books of poetry, two novels, and a family memoir, Rose Boys (Text Publishing), which won the 2003 National Biography Award. He edited the 2007 and 2008 editions of The Best Australian Poems (Black Inc.). His most recent publication is a volume of poems, The Subject of Feeling (UWA Publishing, 2015).

Announcing the 2014 Jolley Prize winner

Jennifer Down was named the winner of the 2014 Jolley Prize by Ian Dickson at The Cube, ACMI on Saturday 30 August. She received a total of $5,000 for her winning short story, ‘Aokigahara’. Faith Oxenbridge came second place with her story 'The Art of Life', winning $2,000, and Cate Kennedy came third with 'Doisneau's Kiss', winning $1,000. We would like to congratulate all shortlisted entrants and thank all those who entered their stories.

Jennifer Down at the announcement ceremony (photograph by Torunn Momtazi)

The ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is one of the country’s most prestigious awards for short fiction. This year it attracted about 1200 entries, most of them newly written for this competition. They kept busy our three judges: Cassandra Atherton, Amy Baillieu, and Patrick Allington.

Announcing the 2015 Jolley Prize winner

Australian Book Review is delighted to announce that Rob Magnuson Smith has won the 2015 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for his story 'The Elector of Nossnearly'. Award-winning author Steven Carroll announced Rob as the overall winner at the 2015 Brisbane Writers Festival. Michelle Cahill placed second for her story 'Borges and I' and Harriet McKnight came third for her story 'Crest'. Subscribers can read all three shortlisted stories in the September 2015 Fiction issue. We would like to congratulate all shortlisted entrants and thank all those who entered their stories.

Rob Magnuson Smith reads from his story 'The Elector of Nossnearly' at the 2015 Jolley Prize ceremony at the Brisbane Writers Festival

The ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is one of the country’s most prestigious awards for short fiction. This year the Jolley Prize attracted over 1200 entries from over thirty-one different countries, most of stories were newly written for this competition. They kept busy our three judges: Amy Baillieu, Sarah Holland-Batt, and Paddy O'Reilly.

About Rob Magnuson Smith

Rob Magnuson Smith's début novel, The Gravedigger, appeared in 2010 after winning the Pirate’s Alley William Faulkner Award. He has written many articles of investigative journalism for Playboy, where  he is contributing editor. His second novel is Scorper (Granta Books, 2015). A graduate of University of East Anglia’s MA in Creative Writing and Bath Spa University’s PhD in Creative Writing, Rob is currently a lecturer at Exeter University and lives in Cornwall. Subscribers can read his winning story 'The Elector of Nossnearly' in the September 2015 Fiction issue.

Announcing the 2016 Jolley Prize winner

Australian Book Review is delighted to announce that Josephine Rowe has won the 2016 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story 'Glisk'. Ian Dickson announced Josephine as the overall winner at the 2016 Melbourne Writers Festival. Anthony Lawrence placed second for his story 'Ash' and Jonathan Tel came third for his story 'The Water Calligrapher's Women'. Subscribers can read all three shortlisted stories in the August 2016 Fiction issue. We would like to congratulate all three shortlisted entrants and thank all those who entered their stories

Josephine Rowe reads from her winning story 'Glisk' at the 2016 Jolley Prize ceremony at the Melbourne Writers Festival

The ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is one of the country’s most prestigious awards for short fiction. This year the Jolley Prize attracted almost 1400 entries from thirty-eight different countries. The 2016 Jolley Prize was judged by ABR Deputy Editor Amy Baillieu, and authors Maxine Beneba Clarke and David Whish-Wilson.

About Josephine Rowe

Josephine Rowe is the author of two short story collections and the novel A Loving, Faithful Animal (2016). Her fiction and essays have appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Best Australian Stories, The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, and elsewhere. She is a recent recipient of a Stegner Fellowship in fiction from Stanford University. Her story ‘Suitable for a Lampshade’ won the Reader’s Choice Award in the 2010 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. Read her winning story 'Glisk'.

Announcing the 2017 Jolley Prize winner

Australian Book Review is delighted to announce that Eliza Robertson has won the 2017 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story 'Pheidippides'. Ian Dickson announced Ms Robertson as the overall winner at a ceremony at the Potts Point Bookshop on 10 August 2017. Dominic Amerena placed second for his story 'The Leaching Layer' and Lauren Aimee Curtis came third for her story 'Butter'. Subscribers can read all three shortlisted stories in the August 2017 Fiction issue. We would like to congratulate all three shortlisted entrants and thank all those who entered their stories.

On learning of her win, Eliza Robertson commented:
'I am overjoyed to win this year's ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. My very first publication came from a magazine contest, so I know first hand the opportunities they provide to new writers. Eight years later, this prize coincides with the publishing of my first novel, Demi-Gods, and I am incredibly grateful to the ABR and judges for choosing my story and helping me to connect with Australian readers.' 

The ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is one of the country’s most prestigious awards for short fiction. This year the Jolley Prize attracted almost 1,200 entries from forty-two different countries. The 2017 Jolley Prize was judged by ABR Deputy Editor Amy Baillieu, and authors Ellen van Neerven and Chris Flynn.

About Eliza Robertson

Eliza Robertson Eliza Robertson (UK/Canada) studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia, where she received the Man Booker Scholarship. In 2013, she won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and was shortlisted for the Journey Prize and CBC Short Story Prize. Her début story collection, Wallflowers, was shortlisted for the East Anglia Book Award and selected as a New York Times editor’s choice. Her first novel, Demi-Gods, comes out with Penguin Canada and Bloomsbury in late 2017. Read her winning story 'Pheidippides'.

Announcing the 2018 Jolley Prize winner

ABR is delighted to announce Madelaine Lucas as the overall winner of the 2018 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Ruins’. Madelaine Lucas receives $7,000. Sharmini Aphrodite was placed second for her story 'Between the Mountain and the Sea' and Claire Aman placed third for her story 'Vasco'.  We would like to congratulate all three shortlisted entrants and thank all those who entered their stories in the Jolley Prize.

The ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is one of the country’s most prestigious awards for short fiction. This year the Jolley Prize attracted almost 1,200 entries from forty-two different countries. The judges were Patrick Allington, Michelle Cahill, and Beejay Silcox. The three shortlisted stories appear in our August 2018 issue.

About Madelaine Lucas

Madelaine Lucas is an Australian writer and musician based in Brooklyn,New York. She is the senior editor of NOON literary annual and a teaching fellow at Columbia University, where she is completing her MFA in fiction. She has been the winner of the Overland/Victoria University Short Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the Griffith University Josephine Ulrick Literature Prize. She is currently at work on her first novel. Read her winning story 'Ruins'.

Listen below to Madelaine Lucas reading an extract from 'Ruins'.

2019 Jolley Prize Winner: Sonja Dechian

ABR is delighted to announce that Sonja Dechian is the overall winner of the 2019 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘The Point-Blank Murder’. Sonja Dechian receives $5,000. Raaza Jamshed was placed second for her story 'Miracle Windows', and Morgan Nunan was placed third for his story 'Rubble Boy'. We would like to congratulate all three shortlisted entrants and thank all those who entered their stories in the Jolley Prize.

The ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is one of the country’s most prestigious awards for short fiction. This year the Jolley Prize attracted almost 1,400 entries from 35 different countries. The judges were Maxine Beneba Clarke, John Kinsella, and Beejay Silcox. The three shortlisted stories appear in our September Fiction 2018 issue.

About Sonja Dechian

Sonja Dechian (photograph supplied)

Sonja Dechian is the author of the short story collection An Astronaut’s Life, which won the 2016 UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing and was shortlisted for the Steele Rudd Award the same year. Her writing has previously appeared in The Best Australian Stories, New Australian Stories 2, and elsewhere. She has co-edited two books of children’s writing about the Australian refugee experience, No Place Like Home and Dark Dreams.

Australian Book Review is delighted to announce Rob Magnuson Smith has won the 2015 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for his story 'The Elector of Nossnearly'. Steven Carroll announced Rob as the overall winner at the 2015 Brisbane Writers Festival. Michelle Cahill placed second for her story 'Borges and I' and Harriet McKnight came third for her story 'Crest'. Subscribers can read all three shortlisted stories in the September 2015 Fiction issue. 

This year the Jolley Prize – one of Australia’s most lucrative and prestigious awards for short fiction – attracted about 1,200 entries. The Jolley Prize was judged by ABR Deputy Editor Amy Baillieu, poet and academic Sarah Holland-Batt, and author Paddy O’Reilly. The Jolley Prize is worth $8,000 with a first prize of $5,000 and supplementary prizes of $2,000 and $1,000.

About the 2015 Jolley Prize shortlisted authors

Rob Magnuson Smith’s début novel, The Gravedigger, appeared in 2010 after winning the Pirate’s Alley William Faulkner Award. He has written many articles of investigative journalism for Playboy, where  he is contributing editor. His second novel is Scorper (Granta Books, 2015). A graduate of University of East Anglia’s MA in Creative Writing and Bath Spa University’s PhD in Creative Writing, Rob is currently a lecturer at Exeter University and lives in Cornwall. Subscribers can read his winning story 'The Elector of Nossnearly' in the September 2015 Fiction issue.

Michelle Cahill lives in Sydney. Her fiction has appeared in Meanjin, Etchings, and Southerly. She won the Kingston Writing School Hilary Mantel International Short Story Prize. She is a Doctoral Candidate in Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong. Her first short story collection, Letter to Pessoa, is forthcoming from Giramondo. Subscribers can read her story 'Borges and I' in the September 2015 Fiction issue.

Harriet McKnight currently lives in Melbourne. In 2014, her work was shortlisted for the Overland Victoria University Short Story Prize, and published in The Lifted Brow: Digital Edition. In May 2015, she featured as the writer in residence for The Suburban Review. Harriet has worked since 2012 as the deputy editor of The Canary Press. Subscribers can read her story 'Crest' in the September 2015 Fiction issue.

Please read our list of Frequently Asked Questions before contacting us with a question about the Jolley Prize.

You may be interested in reading the shortlisted stories from previous years. More information about all our past winners is available here, along with links to their stories.

'To win the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is a delicious honour.'
Gregory Day, joint winner, 2011

'ABR has also contributed to elevating the status of the short story with its annual Jolley Prize.'
Blanche Clark, Herald Sun

ABR gratefully acknowledges Mr Ian Dickson's generous support for the Jolley Prize.

Australian Book Review is delighted to announce that Josephine Rowe has won the 2016 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story 'Glisk'. Ian Dickson announced Josephine as the overall winner at the 2016 Melbourne Writers Festival. Anthony Lawrence placed second for his story 'Ash' and Jonathan Tel came third for his story 'The Water Calligrapher's Women'. Subscribers can read all three shortlisted stories in the August 2016 Fiction issue. We would like to congratulate all three shortlisted entrants and thank all those who entered their stories

This year the prestigious ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize Prize attracted almost 1,400 entries from thirty-eight countries. The 2016 Jolley Prize is worth a total of $12,500, with a first prize of $7,000 and supplementary prizes of $2,000 and $1,000.

The judges also commended three stories – ‘Help Me Harden My Heart’ by Dom Amerena, 'Window’ by Cate Kennedy, and ‘Slut Trouble’ by Beejay Silcox. The commended authors each receive $750 and their stories will be published by ABR.

The 2016 Jolley Prize was judged by ABR Deputy Editor Amy Baillieu, and authors Maxine Beneba Clarke and David Whish-Wilson. Click here for more information about the judges.

About the 2016 Jolley Prize shortlisted authors

Anthony Lawrence has published sixteen books of poems and a novel. His most recent collection is Headwaters (Pitt Street Poetry, 2016). His books and poems have won a number of awards, including the Peter Porter Poetry Prize (for 'Domestic Emergencies' in 2010) and the NSW Premier's Award. He lives on the far north coast of New South Wales. Read his shortlisted story 'Ash'

Josephine Rowe is the author of two short story collections and the novel A Loving, Faithful Animal (2016). Her fiction and essays have appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Best Australian Stories, The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, and elsewhere. She is a recent recipient of a Stegner Fellowship in fiction from Stanford University. Her story ‘Suitable for a Lampshade’ won the Reader’s Choice Award in the 2010 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. Read her winning story 'Glisk'.

Jonathan Tel’s stories have won the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Prize 2016, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2015, and the VS. Pritchett Prize from the Royal Society of Literature 2015. His story ‘Year of the Panda’ was commended in the 2015 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. He has lived in Tokyo, Jerusalem, Berlin, London, New York and San Francisco. Read his shortlisted story 'The Water Calligrapher's Women'

The 2016 Jolley Prize longlist

'Help Me Harden My Heart' by Dom Amerena (Vic) - Commended
'Like Family' by Glendaliz Camacho (US)
'Material Remains' by Stephanie Buckle (NSW)
'Batons and Ropes' by SJ Finn (Vic)
'Blue Monsters' by Anthony Howcroft (US)
'Window' by Cate Kennedy (Vic) – Commended
'Ash' by Anthony Lawrence (NSW) - Shortlisted
'First Regret' by Jessica Lim (QLD)
'The other girl' by Beth McMullan (WA)
'Shearwater' by Astrid O'Neill (ACT)
'Honeysuckled' by Elisabeth Passmore (NSW)
'Dignity' by Mirandi Riwoe (QLD)
'Glisk' by Josephine Rowe (Vic) – Winner
'Perfect' by Kate Ryan (Vic)
'Slut Trouble' by Beejay Silcox (ACT) – Commended
'Will it leave a scar?' by Elizabeth Smyth (QLD)
'The Water Calligrapher's Women' by Jonathan Tel (UK) – Shortlisted
'Black Soil' by Jessica White (QLD)
'Mothership' by Michelle Wright (Vic)

Please read our list of Frequently Asked Questions before contacting us with a question about the Jolley Prize.

You may be interested in reading the shortlisted stories from previous years.
More information about all our past winners is available here, along with links to their stories.

Australian Book Review is delighted to announce that Eliza Robertson has won the 2017 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Pheidippides’. Author David Malouf announced Eliza Robertson as the overall winner at a ceremony at Potts Point Bookshop, Sydney. Dominic Amerena placed second for his story ‘The Leaching Layer’ and Lauren Aimee Curtis came third for her story ‘Butter’. Subscribers can read all three shortlisted stories in the August 2017 Fiction issue. We would like to congratulate all three shortlisted entrants and thank all those who entered their stories

This year the prestigious ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize attracted almost 1,200 entries from forty-two countries. The 2017 Jolley Prize is worth a total of $12,500, with a first prize of $7,000 and supplementary prizes of $2,000 and $1,000.

The judges also commended three stories – ‘Contributory Negligence’ by Stevi-Lee Alver (New South Wales), ‘The Man I Should Have Married’ by Catherine Chidgey (New Zealand), and ‘The Fog Harvester’ by Marie Gethins (Ireland). The commended authors each receive $850 and their stories will appear in ABR in coming months.

The 2017 Jolley Prize was judged by ABR Deputy Editor Amy Baillieu, and authors Ellen van Neerven and Chris Flynn. Click here for more information about the judges.

About the 2017 Jolley Prize shortlisted authors

Eliza Robertson studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia, where she received the Man Booker Scholarship. In 2013, she won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and was shortlisted for the Journey Prize and CBC Short Story Prize. Her début story collection, Wallflowers, was shortlisted for the East Anglia Book Award and selected as a New York Times editor’s choice. Her first novel, Demi-Gods, comes out with Penguin Canada and Bloomsbury in late 2017.

Dominic Amerena is a writer, editor, and researcher from Melbourne. His work has appeared in The Australian, The Age, Overland, The Lifted Brow, Meanjin, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian, and Vice. His short story ‘Help Me Harden My Heart’ was commended in the 2016 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize.

Lauren Aimee Curtis lives in Sydney where she is a PhD candidate at the University of Technology. Her work has appeared in Catapult, The Atlas Review, The Lifted Brow, Cordite Poetry Review, The Canary Press, and elsewhere. In 2014, she was runner-up in the Overland Story Wine Prize. She is currently writing a novella.

The 2017 Jolley Prize longlist

‘Contributory Negligence’ by Stevi-Lee Alver (NSW) - Commended
‘The Leaching Layer’ by Dominic Amerena (Vic.) - Shortlisted
‘Dreams of a Common Language’ by Jessica Au (Vic.)
‘A Real Man’ by Kate Blandford (US)
‘The Man I Should Have Married’ by Catherine Chidgey (NZ) - Commended
‘Thin Girls’ by Diana Clarke (US)
‘Butter’ by Lauren Aimee Curtis (NSW) - Shortlisted
‘Treading Water’ by Julie Galvin (NSW)
‘The Fog Harvester’ by Marie Gethins (Ireland) - Commended
‘A New Life’ by Anthony Lawrence (Vic.)
‘The Dark Road Home’ by Gabrielle Leago (Vic.)
‘Starry Night’ by Cara Marks (UK)
‘The Dark Ages’ by Margaret Mulvihill (UK)
‘Hinterhaus’ by S.J Norman (NSW)
‘Clementine of the Future’ by Emily O'Grady (Qld)
‘Pheidippides’ by Eliza Robertson (UK) - Winner
‘The Cry Room’ by Gaele Sobott (NSW)
‘Depths Exceeded’ by Jessica White (Qld)

Please read our list of Frequently Asked Questions before contacting us with a question about the Jolley Prize.

You may be interested in reading the shortlisted stories from previous years. More information about all our past winners is available here, along with links to their stories.

ABR gratefully acknowledges Mr Ian Dickson's generous support for the Jolley Prize.

ABR is delighted to announce Madelaine Lucas as the overall winner of the 2018 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Ruins’. Madelaine Lucas receives $7,000.

Sharmini Aphrodite was placed second for her story 'Between the Mountain and the Sea' and Claire Aman placed third for her story 'Vasco'.  We would like to congratulate all three shortlisted entrants and thank all those who entered their stories in the Jolley Prize.

Media release

This year the prestigious ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize Prize attracted almost 1,200 entries from around the world. The 2018 Jolley Prize is worth a total of $12,500, with a first prize of $7,000 and supplementary prizes of $2,000 and $1,000. The judges were Patrick Allington, Michelle Cahill, and Beejay Silcox. The three shortlisted stories appear in our August issue.

The judges also commended three other stories: ‘Joan Mercer’s Fertile Head’ by S.J. Finn (Vic.), ‘Hardflip’ by Mirandi Riwoe (QLD), and ‘Break Character’ by Chloe Wilson (Vic.). The commended authors each receive $850.

About the 2018 Jolley Prize shortlisted authors

Claire Aman (photograph by Ravi Watt-Nersesian), Sharmini Aphrodite (photograph by Verkur), Madelaine Lucas

Claire Aman grew up in Melbourne and settled in Grafton, New South Wales.Text published her short story collection, Bird Country, in 2017. Her stories have been published in Australian journals and anthologies and have won the E.J. Brady, Wet Ink and Hal Porter prizes. In 2011 her story ‘Milk Tray’ was shortlisted for the Jolley Prize. Her early writing life was nurtured by Varuna.

Sharmini Aphrodite was born in Borneo in 1995 and grew up in the sister cities of Singapore and Johor Bahru. Previously published in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal and Smokelong Quarterly, she was runner-up for her art criticism in Frieze Magazine’s Art Writing Prize, as well as in the Golden Point Awards.

Madelaine Lucas is an Australian writer and musician based in Brooklyn,New York. She is the senior editor of NOON literary annual and a teaching fellow at Columbia University, where she is completing her MFA in fiction. She has been the winner of the Overland/Victoria University Short Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the Griffith University Josephine Ulrick Literature Prize. She is currently at work on her first novel.

The 2018 Jolley Prize longlist

‘Hoofman’ by Tiffany Allan (New Zealand)
‘Vasco’ by Claire Aman (NSW) – Shortlisted
‘Between the Mountain and the Sea’ Sharmini Aphrodite (Singapore) – Shortlisted
‘La selva obscura’ by Faye Brinsmead (ACT)
‘The Great Explorer has never seen anything equal to this land in his life’ by Craig Cormick (ACT)
‘Katterzems’ by Joel Ephraims (NSW)
‘Joan Mercer's Fertile Head’ by S.J. Finn (Vic.) – Commended
‘Zohira’ by Michelle Hamadache (NSW)
‘Ruins’ by Madelaine Lucas (NSW/USA) – Winner
‘The Art of Waving’ by Andrea Macleod (QLD)
‘Hardflip’ by Mirandi Riwoe (QLD) – Commended
‘Find Me This Place’ by Ben Walter (Tas.)
‘Break Character’ by Chloe Wilson (Vic.) – Commended
‘All We Need to See’ by Michelle Wright (Vic.)

Please read the Frequently Asked Questions page before contacting us with queries about the Jolley Prize.

Click here for more information about past winners and to read their stories

ABR gratefully acknowledges Mr Ian Dickson's generous support for the Jolley Prize.

2019 Jolley Prize Winner: Sonja Dechian

ABR is delighted to announce that Sonja Dechian is the overall winner of the 2019 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘The Point-Blank Murder’. Sonja Dechian receives $5,000. Raaza Jamshed was placed second for her story 'Miracle Windows', and Morgan Nunan was placed third for his story 'Rubble Boy'. We would like to congratulate all three shortlisted entrants and thank all those who entered their stories in the Jolley Prize.

The ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is one of the country’s most prestigious awards for short fiction. This year the Jolley Prize attracted almost 1,400 entries from 35 different countries. The judges were Maxine Beneba Clarke, John Kinsella, and Beejay Silcox. The three shortlisted stories appear in our September Fiction 2018 issue.

The judges have also commended three stories: 'Hero Manifest' by Bill Collopy, 'Lizard Boy' by Brendan Sargeant, and 'Supermarket Love' by Elleke Boehmer. The commended stories will appear online in due course. The shortlisted and commended stories were selected from a longlist of ten stories, all listed below.

About the 2019 Jolley Prize finalists:

WINNER
Sonja Dechian is the author of the short story collection An Astronaut’s Life, which won the 2016 UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing and was shortlisted for the Steele Rudd Award the same year. Her writing has previously appeared in The Best Australian Stories, New Australian Stories 2, and elsewhere. She has co-edited two books of children’s writing about the Australian refugee experience, No Place Like Home and Dark Dreams.

SECOND
Raaza Jamshed is a writer and researcher drawn to the poetics of gender, language, and identity. She is a Doctor of Creative Arts candidate at Western Sydney University and is currently compiling her short fiction in a collection. Two of her recent stories have been published in Meanjin. Raaza has lived in four different continents in the last decade; she currently resides in the historic town of Richmond, New South Wales, with her husband, two children and a small band of Arab horses. 

THIRD
Morgan Nunan is an emerging Australian writer based in Melbourne. He currently studies creative writing at RMIT University. His short fiction has been published in a number of Australian literary magazines, most recently appearing in Gargouille Literary Journal. As a practising media lawyer, Morgan is an adviser to several large media and technology organisations. He holds a BA (English) and LLB from La Trobe University.

The 2019 Jolley Prize longlist

Commended: 'Supermarket Love' by Elleke Boehmer (United Kingdom)
Commended: 'Hero Manifest' by Bill Collopy (Victoria)
'The Manque' by Steph Cornish (New South Wales) 
Winner: 'The Point-Blank Murder' by Sonja Dechian (Victoria)
'The Net' by D.J. Huppatz (Victoria)
Second: 'Miracle Windows' by Raaza Jamshed (New South Wales)
'Rewilding' by Jennifer Mills (South Australia)
Third: 'Rubble Boy' by Morgan Nunan (Victoria)
Commended: 'Lizard Boy' by Brendan Sargeant (ACT)
'Holding the Torch' by Tracey Slaughter (New Zealand)

Please read the Frequently Asked Questions page before contacting us with queries about the Jolley Prize.

Click here for more information about past winners and to read their stories

ABR gratefully acknowledges Mr Ian Dickson's generous support for the Jolley Prize.

Amy Baillieu completed a Masters of Publishing and Communications at the University of Melbourne in 2011 and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the same university with majors in English Literature and French. She also attended the Sorbonne in Paris, where she completed a Cours de Langue et Civilisation Français in 2007. Amy has been Deputy Editor of Australian Book Review since 2012.

Chris Flynn is an author, editor and critic from Belfast, now based in Melbourne. His two novels are A Tiger in Eden (2012) and The Glass Kingdom (2014). His work has appeared in The Age, The Australian, Griffith Review, Meanjin, The Saturday Paper, Smith Journal, The Big Issue, The Paris Review Daily, McSweeney’s and many other publications. He is a regular presenter at literary festivals across Australia.

Ellen van Neerven is a Yugambeh woman from South-East Queensland. She is the author of the poetry volume Comfort Food (UQP, 2016) and the fiction collection Heat and Light (UQP, 2014) which won numerous awards including the 2013 David Unaipon Award, the 2015 Dobbie Award, and the 2016 NSW Premiers Literary Awards Indigenous Writers’ Prize. Ellen van Neerven is currently the Nakata Brophy writer-in-resident at Trinity College, University of Melbourne.

Patrick Allington was the recipient of the inaugural ABR Patrons’ Fellowship. His novel, Figurehead (Black Inc. 2009), was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. His short fiction and book criticism appears in Australian newspapers, magazines, and journals, including regularly in ABR. Patrick Allington was one of the judges of the 2014 Jolley Prize. He is a Lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Flinders University.

Michelle Cahill's short story collection Letter to Pessoa won the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for New Writing and was shortlisted in the Steele Rudd Award. She won the Hilary Mantel International Short Story Prize and her story  'Borges and I' placed second in the 2015 Jolley Prize. Her poetry and essays appear in the Forward Book of Poetry, 2018 and The Australian Face: Essays from the Sydney Review of Books. She edits Mascara Literary Review.

Beejay Silcox is an Australian writer and literary critic. She recently completed her MFA in the United States, and is currently working on her first collection of short stories. Her award-winning short fiction has been published at home and internationally, including in Meanjin, The Masters Review, The Southeast Review and ABR. Her story ‘Slut Trouble’ was commended in the 2016 Jolley Prize and republished in The Best Australian Stories 2017.

Maxine Beneba Clarke is a widely published Australian writer of Afro-Caribbean descent. Clarke's short fiction, non-fiction and poetry have been published in numerous publications including Overland, The Age, Meanjin, The Saturday Paper and The Big Issue. Her critically acclaimed short fiction collection Foreign Soil won the ABIA for Literary Fiction Book of the Year 2015 and the 2015 Indie Book Award for Début Fiction, and was shortlisted for the 2015 Stella Prize. She was one of the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Novelists for 2015. Clarke has published three poetry collections including Carrying the World, which won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Poetry 2017 and was shortlisted for the Colin Roderick Award. The Hate Race, a memoir about growing up black in Australia won the NSW Premier's Literary Award Multicultural NSW Award 2017 and was shortlisted for an ABIA, an Indie Award, the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and Stella Prize. The Patchwork Bike, her first picture book with Van T. Rudd was a CBCA Honour Book for 2017. 

John Kinsella is the author of over forty books. His most recent publications include the novel Lucida Intervalla (UWA Publishing 2018), Open Door (UWA Publishing, 2018); On the Outskirts (UQP, 2017), and Drowning in Wheat: Selected poems (Picador, 2016). His poetry collections have won a variety of awards, including the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Poetry and the Christopher Brennan Award for Poetry. His volumes of stories include In the Shade of the Shady Tree (Ohio University Press, 2012), Crow’s Breath (Transit Lounge, 2015), and Old Growth (Transit Lounge, 2017). His volumes of criticism include Activist Poetics: Anarchy in the Avon Valley (Liverpool University Press, 2010) and Polysituatedness (Manchester University Press, 2017). He is a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University, and Professor of Literature and Environment at Curtin University. With Tracy Ryan he is the co-editor of The Fremantle Press Anthology of The Western Australian Poetry (2017). He lives with his family in the Western Australian wheatbelt.

Beejay Silcox is an Australian writer, literary critic and cultural commentator, and the recipient of ABR’s Fortieth Birthday Fellowship. Her award-winning short fiction has been published at home and internationally and recently anthologised in Meanjin A-Z: Fine Fiction 1980 to Now, and Best Summer Stories 2018. Her story ‘Slut Trouble’ was commended in the 2016 Jolley Prize and republished in Best Australian Stories 2017. She is currently based in Cairo - writing from a house in the middle of an island, in the middle of the Nile. 

Gregory Day is a novelist, poet, and composer from the Eastern Otways region of southwest Victoria, Australia. His latest novel A Sand Archive was shortlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award and his essay 'Summer on The Painkalac' was also shortlisted for the 2019 Nature Conservancy Nature Writing Prize. Day is a winner of the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal and was joint winner of the 2011 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for 'The Neighbour's Beans'. 

Josephine Rowe is the author of three story collections and a novel, A Loving, Faithful Animal (2016). She is a fellow of the Wallace Stegner Program at Stanford University, and her writing has appeared in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Meanjin, Literary Hub, The Monthly, Granta, and elsewhere. Rowe's short story ‘Glisk’ won the 2016 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. Her new story collection, Here Until August, is published by Black Inc.

Ellen van Neerven (born in Meanjin (Brisbane) in 1990) is an award-winning writer and editor of Mununjali Yugambeh (South East Queensland) and Dutch heritage. Ellen’s first book, Heat and Light, was the recipient of the David Unaipon Award, the Dobbie Literary Award and the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Indigenous Writers Prize. Ellen’s second book, a collection of poetry, Comfort Food, was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Kenneth Slessor Prize and highly commended for the 2016 Wesley Michel Wright Prize. Throat is Ellen’s second poetry collection, a May 2020 release.

Gregory Day is a novelist, poet, and musician from the Eastern Otways region of southwest Victoria, Australia. His latest novel, A Sand Archive, was shortlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award. Day is a winner of the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal and was joint winner of the 2011 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for 'The Neighbour's Beans'. In 2020, Day was awarded the Patrick White Prize for his ongoing body of work.

Melinda Harvey is a book critic who has written for a wide variety of publications, including Australian Book Review, since 2004. She is on the judging panel of the Miles Franklin Literary Award (2017-present) and works on the Stella Count, which assesses the extent of gender bias in Australia’s book pages annually (2014-present). She currently holds a JUNCTURE Fellowship for Mid-Career and Established Critics at the Sydney Review of Books and is Lecturer in English at Monash University.

(photograph by Leah Jing McIntosh)Elizabeth Tan is a writer from Perth. She is the author of two books: Rubik (2017), a novel-in-stories, and Smart Ovens for Lonely People (2020), a short story collection which won the 2020 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction.

Amy Baillieu is Deputy Editor of Australian Book Review. She completed a Masters of Publishing and Communications at the University of Melbourne in 2011 and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the same university. Prior to becoming Deputy Editor of ABR in 2012, she worked in other editorial roles at the magazine and was Philanthropy Manager from 2011–12. She regularly reviews fiction for ABR and also works as a freelance editor. 

Melinda Harvey is a book critic who has written for a wide variety of publications, including ABR, since 2004. She is on the judging panel of the Miles Franklin Literary Award (2017-present) and works on the Stella Count. She currently holds a JUNCTURE Fellowship for Mid-Career and Established Critics at the Sydney Review of Books and is Lecturer in English at Monash University.

John Kinsella is the author of over forty books. His most recent publications include the short story collection Pushing Back (Transit Lounge, 2021) and the poetry collection Supervivid Depastoralism (Vagabond, 2021). The first volume of his Collected Poems, The Ascension of Sheep, is due out shortly with UWAP (2022). He is a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University, and Emeritus Professor at Curtin University. With Tracy Ryan he is the co-editor of The Fremantle Press Anthology of The Western Australian Poetry (2017). He lives with his family in the Western Australian wheatbelt.

Gregory Day lives on Wadawurrung tabayl in south-west Victoria, Australia. His work has won many awards, including the 2006 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal, the 2011 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story prize, the 2020 Patrick White Award and the 2021 Nature Conservancy Nature Writing Award. Day's novel, A Sand Archive, was shortlisted for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award. He has a new novel, The Bell of the World, out in 2023.

Jennifer Mills is an author, editor and critic living in Kaurna Yerta (Adelaide). Her novel Dyschronia was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin, Aurealis, and Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature in 2019. Mills’s latest book is The Airways, a queer ghost story set in Sydney and Beijing, published in 2021 by Picador.

Maria Takolander is a Finnish-Australian writer, reviewer, interviewer, and independent scholar. She is the author of four books of poetry, the most recent of which, Trigger Warning (UQP, 2021), won a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. Maria was also the inaugural winner of the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Competition and is the author of The Double (And Other Stories) (Text, 2013), which was shortlisted for a Melbourne Prize for Literature. Her website is mariatakolander.com.

Julie Janson is a Burruberongal woman of Darug Aboriginal nation and a novelist, playwright, and poet. Her novels are Madukka the River Serpent (UWA Publishing, 2022), which was longlisted for Miles Franklin Award 2023; Benevolence (Magabala, 2020), which was shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis Award in 2022 and nominated for the NIB Literary Award in 2020 and the Voss Literary Award in 2020, and Compassion (Magabala, 2024).

John Kinsella’s most recent books of stories are Pushing Back (Transit Lounge, 2021) and Beam of Light (Transit Lounge, 2024). The three volumes of his collected poems are The Ascension of Sheep (UWAP, 2022), Harsh Hakea (UWAP, 2023) and Spirals (UWAP, 2025). His novels include Lucida Intervalla (UWAP, 2018), Hollow Earth (Transit Lounge, 2019), and The Mahler Erasures (Dalkey Archive, 2024).

Maria Takolander won the inaugural Australian Book Review Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. Her subsequent short-story collection, The Double (Text, 2013), was a finalist in the Melbourne Prize for Literature Best New Writing Award. She is also a poet, whose most recent poetry collection, Trigger Warning (UQP, 2021), won a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award.

Sarah Holland-Batt is an award-winning poet, editor and critic. Her books have received a number of Australia’s leading literary awards, including the Stella Prize for her most recent book, The Jaguar, and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry for her second volume, The Hazards. She is also the author of a book of essays on contemporary Australian poetry, Fishing for Lightning, collecting her poetry columns written for The Australian. She is presently Professor of Creative Writing at QUT.

Paul Kane is Professor Emeritus at Vassar College. He has published eight collections of poems and a dozen other books. His awards include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Bogliasco Foundation. He holds an honorary doctorate from La Trobe University and was awarded the Order of Australia in 2022. He divides his time between upstate New York and rural Victoria.

Peter Rose has been Editor and CEO of Australian Book Review since 2001. His first poetry collection was The House of Vitriol (1990). Crimson Crop (2012) won a Queensland Award (Judith Wright Calanthe Award) and was shortlisted in the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. In March 2025, Pitt Street Poetry will publish his seventh collection, Attention Please!

Judith Bishop

Judith Bishop is the author of three award-winning poetry collections, Event (Salt, 2007), Interval (UQP, 2018), and Circadia (2024), as well as three limited edition chapbooks, including Here Hear (Life Before Man, 2022). Judith’s awards include the Kenneth Slessor Poetry Prize for Interval and the Peter Porter Poetry Prize (2006, 2011). Her poems have been used as lyrics for compositions including Jane Stanley’s ‘14 Weeks’ for the Glasgow School of Art Choir (2023), ‘The Indifferent’ for the Hermes Experiment (2024), Andrew Ford’s ‘Isolation Hymn’ (2021), and Mastaneh Nazarian’s ‘Aubade’ (2019). Judith lives in Melbourne, Australia, and has studied in the United States and Britain. She is the 2024-2026 Tracey Banivanua Mar Fellow at La Trobe University and is writing a book about AI and human data.

Felicity Plunkett

Felicity Plunkett is a poet and critic. Her books are A Kinder Sea (UQP), Vanishing Point (UQP) and the chapbook Seastrands (Vagabond). Felicity was Poetry Editor for University of Queensland Press for nine years and edited the collection Thirty Australian Poets (UQP). She has a PhD from the University of Sydney and her reviews and essays have been published in places such as Sydney Review of Books, Australian Review of Books and The Irish Times. 

Anders Villani

Anders Villani is the author of Aril Wire (Five Islands Press, 2018) and Totality (Recent Work Press, 2022). 

Applications for the 2019 ABR Patrons’ Fellowship have now closed. An announcement will be made in early 2019.

My year as an ABR fellow has been the most rewarding of my writing life. This year I've not only been encouraged, but supported, to press my ear against our culture's chest and listen to its heartbeat. I'm indebted to the ABR team, and its warm and generous community of readers and donors, for giving me the chance to grow into my profession.'

                                                                Beejay Silcox, ABR Fortieth Birthday Fellow (2018)

Australian Book Review is pleased to advertise the 2019 ABR Patrons’ Fellowship. Funded by ABR Patrons, the Fellowship is worth $10,000. The Fellow will make a broad contribution to the magazine throughout the year, with a series of four substantial articles.

ABR welcomes proposals from Australian creative writers, freelance reviewers, journalists, commentators and scholars. The Fellow’s articles will appear in the print magazine and ABR Online. Contributors to the magazine and previous Fellows and Fellowship applicants are strongly encouraged to apply.

Applications for the 2019 ABR Patrons' Fellowship closed at 5pm on 10 December 2018.

2019 ABR Patrons' Fellowship Application Guidelines

What is the Australian Book Review Patrons’ Fellowship?

This Fellowship – funded by Australian Book Review’s generous Patrons – will be a highlight of our 2019 publishing year. The Fellow will make a broad contribution to the magazine throughout the year, with a series of four substantial articles. ABR welcomes proposals from Australian creative writers, freelance reviewers, journalists, commentators, and scholars.

Who can apply?

Any writer with a publication record (books, creative writing, essays, or journalism) is eligible. Applicants must be Australian citizens or have permanent resident status in Australia. ABR staff and Board members are ineligible. Contributors to the magazine and previous Fellows and Fellowship applicants are strongly encouraged to apply.

What is ABR offering?

The Fellow will receive a total of $10,000, payable thus – $2,500 on announcement of the Fellowship and three further payments of $2,500 on publication of the final three contributions to the magazine. The Fellow will work closely with the Editor of ABR throughout the year.

Expected outcomes

ABR is seeking a suite of brilliant literary journalism from a highly engaged and professional writer. During the course of the Fellowship, the Fellow will produce four substantial articles for publication in the magazine in 2019. These can be review essays, commentaries, or interviews – or a combination of all three genres. Each contribution will be 2,000 words or longer. The features (agreed on with the ABR Editor) will be staggered throughout the year. The articles will appear in the print and online editions of ABR. The Fellow will be available for media coverage and at least one literary/promotional event. NB the Fellow is not expected to complete the Fellowship onsite.

Familiarity with Australian Book Review

ABR looks for support and engagement from its senior/regular contributors. Applicants must demonstrate considerable familiarity with ABR – its style, its content, its direction. Those totally new to or unfamiliar with the magazine or should not apply.

Selection process

The Fellow will be chosen by a panel including ABR Editor Peter Rose. We will announce the decision in early 2019. No correspondence will be entered into once the decision has been announced. ABR reserves the right not to award a Fellowship in a particular round.

How to apply?

Applicants are strongly encouraged to refer to the Frequently Asked Questions section on our website. Applicants may are also encouraged to discuss their proposals with the Editor before submitting them: (03) 9699 8822 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The application should comprise a proposal of 2-3 pages plus a short CV. Applicants should summarise the following: their interest in the magazine and its direction; why they believe their contributions will advance ABR and win us new readers; and the likely nature/scope/genre of the four proposed contributions. (We are mindful that the Fellowship will evolve throughout the year.) Applicants should also attach two examples of their literary journalism.

Applications must be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 5pm on 10 December 2018.

There is no application fee.

ABR gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the ABR Patrons.

The ABR Fellowships are intended to reward fine Australian writers and to advance the magazine's commitment to critical debate and long-form journalism. All published Australian writers are eligible to apply.

Click here to find out more about the ABR Fellowship program.

Click here to find out more about current Fellowships..

Click here to find out more about published Fellowships.

Please read our list of Frequently Asked Questions before contacting us with a question about the ABR Fellowship program.

Comments from previous Editorial Cadets/Interns 

‘With its editorial mentorship, rich array of programs, and diverse roster of contributors, ABR provides one of the most rigorous and rewarding environments for any budding editor or publisher. I cannot think of a better place to have started my career in journalism.’

James Jiang 
ABR Editorial Cadet (2021-22)

‘The opportunity to work for an international magazine of prestige and intellectual rigour has greatly shaped my editorial skillset and knowledge of Australia’s literary and cultural landscape.’

Jack Callil
Digital Editor (2019-22)
ABR Editorial Intern (2018-19)

'I am extremely grateful to have been offered an editorial internship, and to eventually work in a more senior capacity, at Australian Book Review. I feel a tremendous sense of pride to have worked for a prestigious literary and arts journal that upholds exemplary editorial standards while fostering emerging talent. I am excited by the potential of ABR to grow further and continue to be the gold standard of Australian arts and literary journalism.'

Dilan Gunawardana
ABR Deputy Editor (Digital) 2017-2018
ABR Editorial Intern 2016–17

'ABR’s editorial internship is something very rare and valuable: an opportunity for a recent graduate to take the skills they have been taught and develop them in the rigorous editorial environment of a high calibre literary and arts magazine. By requiring you to be active across all aspects of the production of the magazine, from commissioning reviews, to copyediting and proofreading, to introducing new features to the magazine, through to digitising the issue each month for ABR Online, it prepares you for the widest range of possible roles in the publishing industry.'

Luke Horton
ABR Editorial Intern 2015–16

‘What I valued most about the internship was the diversity and range of the position. I was able to explore and work in all aspects of the magazine’s production, from formatting, editing, advertising, designing, paging, and researching, to digitising the entire magazine online. I feel that the skills and knowledge that I acquired throughout the internship will place me in good stead to tackle any new position in the publication sphere with confidence, knowledge, and editorial acumen.’

Sam Zifchak
ABR Editorial Intern 2014

‘My time spent at ABR enabled me to engage with virtually every aspect of the magazine’s production in a way that is scarcely possible in other internships. The variety of the position is invaluable to any aspiring editor, as is the close contact you have in the role with the work of some of Australia’s finest writers. I certainly have ABR to thank for my subsequent employment as a magazine editor overseas.’

Sara Savage
ABR Patrons’ Editorial Intern, 2013

‘Being on the staff of a magazine of the calibre of Australian Book Review, with its long history in Australian letters and fine editorial standards, is a singular experience, and it has no doubt been the defining event of my professional life thus far. I look forward to drawing on what I have learned at ABR in other areas of my career and my own writing.’

Milly Main
ABR Ian Potter Foundation Editorial Intern, 2012

‘I am very proud of the contribution I was able to make at ABR, in particular through the development of ABR Online, which has already demonstrated its worth. I am also proud of the wide range of skills I have been able to develop, touching all aspects of the magazine’s development, editorial, and production.’

Tim Brewer
ABR Sidney Myer Fund Editorial Intern, 2011

‘As the recipient of an internship at Australian Book Review in 2009, I know the benefits of such a program firsthand. My internship was an unqualified success, and resulted not only in an increase in my editing knowledge and skills, but also in full-time employment.’

Mark Gomes
ABR Australian Publishers Association Editorial Intern, 2009

Sophie Cunningham‘Staying with the trouble’ covers very different terrain from that of Martin Thomas’s and Christine Piper’s celebrated Calibre-winning essays: ‘“Because it’s your country”: Bringing Back the Bones to West Arnhem Land’ (2013) and ‘Unearthing the Past’ (2014), which dealt with historical wrongs and biological horrors, respectively. In her essay, Sophie Cunningham describes an epic walk up Broadway in New York, and others like it. The tone is self-deprecating, conversational, and ‘gloriously social’, but all sorts of themes arise along the way: Alzheimer’s, Horseshoe Crabs, history, writers, violence against women, racism, Selma, and climate change. It is a celebration of ‘randomness’, but also testifies to Sophie Cunningham’s belief in the importance of ‘staying with the trouble’.

On learning that she had won the Calibre Prize, Sophie Cunningham, who recently moved from Brooklyn to San Francisco, told Advances: 'I wrote this essay with no expectations, from a concern with how one narrates the personal and fragmented while chronicling issues as broad as climate change and mass extinction. I had become obsessed with walking and needed a deadline. The Calibre Prize has rewarded a rich variety of writers who have tackled an extraordinary range of topics. Each year I’ve read the winner and been inspired. I feel incredibly honoured to now be among these winners’ number.’ 

This is the ninth time that ABR has offered the Calibre Prize, which is intended to advance the essay form in this country. We look forward to offering Calibre again in 2016.

Sophie Cunningham’s winning essay is published in the May 2015 issue of ABR.

Click here to download the media release.

Purchase the May 2015 print edition.

Subscribe to ABR Online to gain access to this issue online, plus the ABR archive (containing all Calibre Prize essays published from 2011).

Click here for more information about past winners.

Click here for more information about the judges.

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Mr Colin Golvan QC.

The Australian Book Review Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is one of Australia's leading prizes for an original short story. It honours the work of the great Australian writer Elizabeth Jolley (1923–2007). Maria Takolander won the inaugural Australian Book Review Short Story Competition in 2010. In 2011 the prize was renamed the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize.

Past Jolley Prize winners

2010: Maria Takolander
2011: Carrie Tiffany and Gregory Day
2012: Sue Hurley
2013: Michelle Michau-Crawford
2014: Jennifer Down
2015: Rob Magnuson Smith (UK). Magnuson Smith was the first international winner of the Jolley Prize.
2016: Josephine Rowe
2017: Eliza Robertson (Canada)
2018: Madelaine Lucas (USA/Australia)
2019: Sonja Dechian
2020: Mykaela Saunders
2021: Camilla Chaudhary (UK)
2022: Tracy Ellis
2023: Rowan Heath
2024: Jill Van Epps (USA)

Click here for more information about past winners of the Jolley Prize and to read their stories.

ABR gratefully acknowledges the support of Ian Dickson.

'To win the Jolley Prize is a surreal and wonderful feeling. At this stage of my writing life, when I am working on my first book, to receive this vote of confidence from such a respected literary establishment as Australian Book Review is incredibly meaningful. Most of all, this encouragement has given me new motivation to focus on my work and continue down this path.'

Madelaine Lucas, 2018 winner

‘My very first publication came from a magazine contest, so I know first hand the opportunities they provide to new writers. I am incredibly grateful to ABR and the judges for choosing my story and helping me to connect with Australian readers.’
Eliza Robertson (Canada), 2017 winner

Winning the Jolley Prize after being overseas for several years was an immensely bolstering welcome back – all the more so for the honour it pays to one of the most influential and tenacious forces in Australian literature.’
Josephine Rowe, 2016 winner

'I am thrilled to be this year's winner of the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. This important prize encourages all international writers of fiction who want their work to be judged as it should be – on its own merits and strictly anonymously. I am very grateful to Australian Book Review and the judges.'
Rob Magnuson Smith (UK), 2015  Winner

'To win the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is a delicious honour.'
Gregory Day,  2011 joint winner

Australian Book Review is delighted to announce that Amanda Joy has won the 2016 Peter Porter Poetry Prize for her poem 'Tailings'. Morag Fraser named Amanda Joy as the overall winner at a ceremony in the ABR office at Boyd Community Hub. She receives $5,000 for her poem, which was selected from a field of around 730 poems. She also receives Arthur Boyd's etching and aquatint 'The unicorn and the angel', 1975 from the series The lady and the unicorn, 1975, donated by Ivan Durrant in memory of Georges Mora.

Amanda Joy is a poet and visual artist living in Fremantle, Western Australia. She has written two poetry chapbooks, Orchid Poems (Mulla Mulla Press) and Not Enough to Fold (Verve Bath Press, USA) Her poems have been included in journals and anthologies, including The Best of Australian Poems, Regime, and Toronto Quarterly. She is a selector for Creatrix Haiku Journal.

The other shortlisted poets were Dan Disney, Anne Elvey, Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet, and Campbell Thomson. Each of them receives $625.

The judges were Luke Davies, Lisa Gorton, and Kate Middleton.

From the judges’ report:

‘“Tailings” is a poem remarkable for its close-woven language, everywhere charged with vivid details; and, at the same time, remarkable for its open and wide-ranging attentiveness. In “Tailings” the poet nowhere sets place at an aesthetic distance but everywhere attends to its mess and profligacy, a mode of perception alive to the hunger of animals.’

Click here to download the media release.

Click here for more information about past winners.

Click here for more information about the judges.

Click here to read the Peter Porter Poetry Prize Judges' Report 2016

ABR gratefully acknowledges the support of Ms Morag Fraser AM and Mr Ivan Durrant.

More than 700 poets entered this year's Peter Porter Poetry Prize; just over 200 of these entries came from overseas. The judges were Luke Davies, Lisa Gorton and Kate Middleton. They completed their judgement without knowing the name, gender, background or nationality of any entrant.

This prize honours Peter Porter and its judges seek to honour him not only in name but in principle: by valuing various approaches to poetry, and by a serious commitment to the judging process. The judges read all entries over the summer and together compiled a varied and impressive longlist of nearly seventy poems, which they read over for several weeks. Over a day in Sydney, they discussed these poems and created a shortlist of five poems: poems which had stayed in their minds all summer and which, on each rereading, kept the power to surprise, impress and move them. In the judges' view, any of these shortlisted poems would have made a worthy winner of this year's Peter Porter Poetry Prize. The five shortlisted poems are '... a passing shower? (18 aphorisms verging on a narrative)', 'Lament for "Cape" Kennedy', 'Prelude to a Voice', 'Rage to Order' and 'Tailings'.

By turns lyrical, jerky, sardonic, funny and facetious, '... a passing shower? (18 aphorisms verging on a narrative)' charges the spaces between its aphorisms with imaginative energy: it builds a sort of electric tension between opposing voices, registers and ways of noticing the world. The poem works with an hallucinatory cognitive dissonance, which challenges settled poetic modes.

'Lament for "Cape" Kennedy' is an elegy of unshowy craft and emotional heft. Keeping its conversational tone, it ranges easily over details, personal memories and stories of injustice and dispossession. The intimacy of its details and the immediacy of its speaking voice enhance and enrich the sorrow and anger of this powerful lament.

'Prelude to a Voice' works at the same time with local detail and mythic depth: 'to keep/ an eye out for snakes/ while carrying the burden/ of water in a steel flask,/ as if bearing the urn/ of all our deaths'. Images open out of images, new forms out of white spaces: the whole page works like a phantasmagorical landscape, in which each part forms its own centre. This is a poem that captures how the mind shimmers in and outside language and its feeling for place.

'Rage to Order' is a poem of vertiginous self-consciousness: its extremity of feeling countervailed by the pressure of silence it makes felt. Like Gerard Manley Hopkins in 'No worst, there is none', this poet brings experience to a pitch in language at once pared back and wild with its play of repeating words and sounds.

'Tailings' is a poem remarkable for its close-woven language, everywhere charged with vivid details; and, at the same time, remarkable for its open and wide-ranging attentiveness. In 'Tailings' the poet nowhere sets place at an aesthetic distance but everywhere attends to its mess and profligacy, a mode of perception alive to the hunger of animals.

We love hearing from readers as to what they like about Australian Book Review – whom they enjoy reading; what they would like to see more (or less) of. We have a bright, engaged readership, and we always welcome your comments. Please complete our reader survey and help us to go on improving the magazine.

ABR is a fast-changing and adaptive arts organisation. Here are some of the programs we have introduced in recent years: writers' fellowships now worth $7,500; three lucrative international prizes; podcasts; States of Poetry; ABR Online; an improved website; fully paid one-year editorial internships, etc.

We will continue to improve the magazine and offer new programs, but before we do it will be good to hear from ABR readers of all kinds (subscribers, non-subscribers, website browsers, devotees, occasional readers) as to how they rate the magazine and what they would like to see in it.

The survey takes about five minutes to complete. Feel free to skip any questions that don't interest you. The survey is totally anonymous – unless you want to be in the running for one of two five-year complimentary subscriptions to ABR Online (in which case we will need your name and email address).

With best wishes

Peter Rose
Editor

Michael Winkler (photograph by Chris Riordan)Michael Winkler is the winner of the 2016 Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay. The judges – Sophie Cunningham (winner of the 2015 Calibre Prize) and Peter Rose – chose Mr Winkler's essay 'The Great Red Whale' from a field of almost 200 entries submitted from thirteen different countries. Michael Winkler receives $5,000 and his essay appears in the June–July 2016 issue of ABR.

'The Great Red Whale' is an essay about fractures, overlaying the ruptures within the author's psyche with the fissure between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, something he believes keeps us 'heartsore as a nation'. This excoriating yet remarkably subtle meditation is also a tribute to consolations: landscape, specifically the desert of Central Australia, and literature, notably Moby-Dick.

On learning that he had won the Calibre Prize, Michael Winkler – a Melbourne author – told Advances: 'Reading ABR every month gives me access to sophisticated and important ideas in accessible form. The Calibre Prize essays are not only an annual ABR highlight but notable events in our national life. I remember reading the first Calibre Prize-winning essay by Elisabeth Holdsworth (2007), her pungent masterwork about memory and return. I never see the name Slavoj Žižek without thinking of Kevin Brophy's astonishing account (2009) of living near an abusive neighbour. When I worked with children with autism, I sought insights from rereading Rachel Robertson's 'Reaching One Thousand' (2008). I feel simultaneously completely unworthy and utterly overjoyed to have any proximity to this stellar list of past winners.'

The judges have commended two other essays: Joshua Barnes's 'Terra Australis Incognita' and Sarah Viren's 'Dear Julie'.

This is the tenth Calibre Prize, which is intended to advance the essay form. We look forward to offering Calibre again in 2017.

Michael Winklers’s winning essay is published in the June–July 2016 issue of ABR.

Click here to download the media release

Subscribe to ABR Online to gain access to this issue online, plus the ABR archive (containing all Calibre Prize essays published from 2011).

Click here for more information about past winners.

Click here for more information about the judges.

We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of Mr Colin Golvan QC.

What is the ABR Fellowship program?
ABR Fellowships are intended to reward outstanding Australian writers, to enhance ABR through the publication of long-form journalism, and to advance the magazine’s commitment to ideas and critical debate. The Fellow will work closely with the Editor of ABR. ‍The chosen Fellow will contribute three review essays and/or commentaries in the field of Australia history and culture. ABR will publish these articles in print and online. Each article will run from 1500 to 2000 words. The articles (agreed on with the ABR Editor) will be staggered over twelve months. 

Who can apply for an Inglis Fellowship?
Any writer aged thirty-five and under is eligible to apply: scholars, academics, journalists, commentators, creative writers, etc. Applicants must be Australian citizens or have permanent resident status in Australia. ABR staff and board members are ineligible. Contributors to the magazine are encouraged to apply. We welcome applications from First Nations writers and those with diverse backgrounds.

Who can apply for a Science Fellowship?
Any writer is eligible to apply: scientists, scholars, academics, journalists, commentators, creative writers, etc. Applicants must be Australian citizens or have permanent resident status in Australia. ABR staff and board members are ineligible. Contributors to the magazine are encouraged to apply. We welcome applications from First Nations writers and those with diverse backgrounds.

How much are the Fellowships worth?
The Fellow will receive a total of $5,000.

I don’t know anything about ABR. May I still apply?
Applicants must demonstrate real familiarity with the magazine and convince the panel that their article would complement other writings in ABR and win us new readers. Applications that do not refer to the magazine, or demonstrate any awareness of ABR’s own needs and directions, are unlikely to be successful.

Are the Fellowships themed?
The ABR Inglis Fellow will contribute articles in the field of Australia history and culture. The ABR Science Fellow will contribute three reviews essays or commentaries over twelve months in the field of science and/or the history of science.  This reflects the breadth of ABR’s interests and content.

Is it possible to write the article with a friend or colleague?
No. Single-author works only.

Is ABR looking for academic papers?
No. ABR is not an academic journal. We seek engaging literary journalism of the kind you will find in The New Yorker or the London Review of Books. Links to essays by past Fellows can be found here.

Are you looking for finished articles from applicants?
No. We seek cogent proposals for articles to be developed over the course of the Fellowship, in collaboration with the Editor. Unlike the Calibre Essay Prize, the Fellowship program is not for finished works.

How do I apply?
Applicants must read the guidelines of the Fellowship for which they are interested in applying and send us a succinct but comprehensive proposal (two pages maximum), plus a CV of no more than two pages. Note that we are looking for proposals – not finished articles or chapters. Applications must be received by the closing date of the relevant Fellowship. There is no application fee. Applicants are strongly encouraged to discuss their proposals with the Editor before submitting them: (03) 9699 8822 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

How are Fellows selected?
The Fellowship will be awarded by Australian Book Review on the advice of a committee including the Editor of ABR. No correspondence will be entered into once the decision has been announced. ABR reserves the right not to award a Fellowship during a particular round.

Are the ABR Fellows expected to complete their projects at the ABR office in Melbourne?
No. Most of the editorial contact is via email or the telephone. Some meetings may be desirable during the course of the Fellowship. These are important collaborative partnerships between the magazine and the Fellows.

What kind of editorial support do Fellows enjoy?
We edit promptly, closely, and respectfully. ABR is committed to presenting the Fellow’s work in the best-possible form. The Editor is always available to discuss the project, to respond to ideas, and to read drafts. Peter Rose edits the articles in consultation with the Fellows, and each article is then proofread by at least three editors.

Where are the Fellowship articles published?
In the print and digital editions of ABR.

Would I be required to take part in the promotion of the published article?
Yes.

What is the ABR Fellowship program?
ABR Fellowships are intended to reward outstanding Australian writers, to enhance ABR through the publication of long-form journalism, and to advance the magazine’s commitment to ideas and critical debate. The Fellow will work closely with the Editor of ABR. ‍The chosen Fellow will contribute three review essays and/or commentaries in the field of Australia history and culture. ABR will publish these articles in print and online. Each article will run from 1500 to 2000 words. The articles (agreed on with the ABR Editor) will be staggered over twelve months. 

Who can apply for an Inglis Fellowship?
Any writer aged thirty-five and under is eligible to apply: scholars, academics, journalists, commentators, creative writers, etc. Applicants must be Australian citizens or have permanent resident status in Australia. ABR staff and board members are ineligible. Contributors to the magazine are encouraged to apply. We welcome applications from First Nations writers and those with diverse backgrounds.

Who can apply for a Science Fellowship?
Any writer is eligible to apply: scientists, scholars, academics, journalists, commentators, creative writers, etc. Applicants must be Australian citizens or have permanent resident status in Australia. ABR staff and board members are ineligible. Contributors to the magazine are encouraged to apply. We welcome applications from First Nations writers and those with diverse backgrounds.

How much are the Fellowships worth?
The Fellow will receive a total of $5,000.

I don’t know anything about ABR. May I still apply?
Applicants must demonstrate real familiarity with the magazine and convince the panel that their article would complement other writings in ABR and win us new readers. Applications that do not refer to the magazine, or demonstrate any awareness of ABR’s own needs and directions, are unlikely to be successful.

Are the Fellowships themed?
The ABR Inglis Fellow will contribute articles in the field of Australia history and culture. The ABR Science Fellow will contribute three reviews essays or commentaries over twelve months in the field of science and/or the history of science.  This reflects the breadth of ABR’s interests and content.

Is it possible to write the article with a friend or colleague?
No. Single-author works only.

Is ABR looking for academic papers?
No. ABR is not an academic journal. We seek engaging literary journalism of the kind you will find in The New Yorker or the London Review of Books. Links to essays by past Fellows can be found here.

Are you looking for finished articles from applicants?
No. We seek cogent proposals for articles to be developed over the course of the Fellowship, in collaboration with the Editor. Unlike the Calibre Essay Prize, the Fellowship program is not for finished works.

How do I apply?
Applicants must read the guidelines of the Fellowship for which they are interested in applying and send us a succinct but comprehensive proposal (two pages maximum), plus a CV of no more than two pages. Note that we are looking for proposals – not finished articles or chapters. Applications must be received by the closing date of the relevant Fellowship. There is no application fee. Applicants are strongly encouraged to discuss their proposals with the Editor before submitting them: (03) 9699 8822 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

How are Fellows selected?
The Fellowship will be awarded by Australian Book Review on the advice of a committee including the Editor of ABR. No correspondence will be entered into once the decision has been announced. ABR reserves the right not to award a Fellowship during a particular round.

Are the ABR Fellows expected to complete their projects at the ABR office in Melbourne?
No. Most of the editorial contact is via email or the telephone. Some meetings may be desirable during the course of the Fellowship. These are important collaborative partnerships between the magazine and the Fellows.

What kind of editorial support do Fellows enjoy?
We edit promptly, closely, and respectfully. ABR is committed to presenting the Fellow’s work in the best-possible form. The Editor is always available to discuss the project, to respond to ideas, and to read drafts. Georgina Arnott edits the articles in consultation with the Fellows, and each article is then proofread by at least three editors.

Where are the Fellowship articles published?
In the print and digital editions of ABR.

Would I be required to take part in the promotion of the published article?
Yes.

John Hawke, Morag Fraser, Nicholas Wong, and Peter RoseNicholas Wong is the winner of the 2018 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, now worth a total of $8,500. This is Australia’s premier prize for an original poem. Louis Klee, the 2017 winner, made the announcement at a special event at fortyfivedownstairs on Monday, 19 March. Nicholas Wong, who flew from Hong Kong to attend the Porter ceremony, receives $5,000.

His winning poem is titled ‘101, Taipei’.

This year’s judges – John Hawke, Bill Manhire, Jen Webb – shortlisted poems by five poets – Eileen Chong, Katherine Healy, LK Holt, Tracey Slaughter, and Nicholas Wong. They were chosen from a record field of almost 1,000 poems. Tracey Slaughter’s poem ‘breather’ was placed second. She receives $2,000 – the other three shortlisted poets $500 each.

Nicholas Wong, on winning the Prize, said: ‘I’m honoured and humbled to be the winner, especially with a poem whose subject matter may seem foreign. Winning the Porter Prize also allows me to reach out to Australian readers.’

John Hawke – chair of the judging panel and Poetry Editor of ABR – commented: ‘Nicholas Wong’s “101, Taipei” is a powerful representation of urban dislocation, which cuts across cultures and languages in its swerving indirections and switches in style and syntax.’

Peter Rose – Editor of Australian Book Review – commented: ‘We’re delighted that Nicholas Wong, with his superb poem, becomes the first Asian to win one of ABR’s three literary prizes. This is good for world poets and the Porter Prize, and is a measure of greater awareness of ABR overseas.’

About Nicholas Wong

Nicholas Wong is the author of Crevasse (Kaya Press, 2015), winner of the Lambda Literary Award in Gay Poetry. He is also the recipient of the Hong Kong Young Artist Award in Literary Arts in 2017. Wong has contributed writing to the radio composition project ‘One of the Two Stories, Or Both’ at Manchester International Festival 2017, and the final exhibition of Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative at Solomon R.Guggenheim Museum, which will open in May 2018. He is the Vice President of PEN Hong Kong, and teaches atthe Education University of Hong Kong.

Further information

The Peter Porter Poetry Prize is one of Australia’s most prestigious poetry awards. For more information about the Peter Porter Poetry Prize or to read the 2018 shortlisted poems please visit the ABR website.

Nicholas Wong's winning poem is published in the March 2018 issue of ABR.

Click here to download the media release

Subscribe to ABR Online to gain access to this issue online, plus the ABR archive.

Click here for more information about past winners.

Click here for more information about the judges.

ABR gratefully acknowledges the support of Ms Morag Fraser AM and Mr Ivan Durrant.

Lucas Grainger-Brown is the winner of the twelfth Calibre Essay Prize – Australia’s most prestigious essay prize. The judges – novelist Andrea Goldsmith, NewSouth Executive Publisher Phillipa McGuinness, and ABR Editor Peter Rose – chose Lucas’s essay ‘We Three Hundred’ from a field of over 200 essays submitted from thirteen countries. Lucas receives $5,000, and his essay appears in the April 400th issue of Australian Book Review.

‘We Three Hundred’ is a candid and unsentimental account of life as a cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra for a bookish, idealistic adolescent straight out of high school.

On learning that he had won the Calibre Essay Prize, Lucas Grainger-Brown commented: ‘It is an incredible honour to win the Calibre Essay Prize. When I was ready to write out this formative story, I knew I had to submit it to the Calibre Prize. Australian Book Review provides a fantastic national platform for the appreciation of Australian arts, ideas and culture. I hope my essay is read as a constructive addition to the ongoing dialogue about who we are and where we are going.’

This winner of the second prize, worth $2,500, is Kirsten Tranter. Her essay, entitled ‘Once Again’, will be published in an upcoming issue.

About Lucas Grainger Brown
Lucas Grainger-Brown joined the Australian Defence Force as a high school student. Subsequently he worked as a management consultant. He is a researcher, tutor, and doctoral candidate at The University of Melbourne. Philosophy and politics are his enduring passions. He has published commentary, essays, and fiction across numerous media. He first wrote for ABR in 2016.

About Kirsten Tranter
Kirsten Tranter lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of three novels, including Hold (2016), longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. She completed a PhD in English Literature at Rutgers University in 2008, and publishes essays, journalism, and literary criticism. She is a founder of the Stella Prize for Australian women’s writing.

Longlisted entries

Sally Kerry Fox (UK)
‘The Lives We Leave Behind’

David M. A. Francis (VIC)
‘Between Joy and Sorrow: A Journey of the Hands’

Karen Holmberg (US)
‘The Very Worst Ache Is Not Knowing Why: Remembering Mme. Cluny’

Jack Jeweller (NSW)
‘Wings with Words’

Daryl Li (Singapore)
‘Metamorphoses’

Lea Zusmanovicha (VIC)
‘The Tails of Blankets’

Further information

Click here to download the media release

Subscribe to ABR Online to gain access to this issue online, plus the ABR archive.

Click here for more information about past winners and to read their essays.

We look forward to offering the Calibre Essay Prize again in 2019. 

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Mr Colin Golvan QC and the ABR Patrons.

Grace Karskens (photograph by Joy Lai)The Calibre Essay Prize, now in its thirteenth year, has played a major role in the revitalisation and appreciation of the essay form. This year we received a record number of entries – 450 new essays from twenty-two countries. ABR Editor Peter Rose judged the Prize with J.M. Coetzee, author of several volumes of critical essays as well as the novels that won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003, and Anna Funder, author of the international bestseller Stasiland and the Miles Franklin Award-winning novel All That I Am.

This year, our two winning essays could hardly be more different: a remarkable contribution to Aboriginal and colonial history from one of our finest historians; and a highly personal account of an abortion – the body out of control and at sea.

Grace Karskens – Professor of History at the University of New South Wales and author of the award-winning The Colony: A history of early Sydney – is the overall winner of the Calibre Prize; she receives $5,000. Her essay, titled ‘Nah Doongh’s Song’, examines the unusually long life of one of the first Aboriginal children who grew up in conquered land. Born around 1800, Nah Doongh lived until 1898. Her losses, her peregrinations, her strong, dignified character are the subjects of this questing essay, in which the author states: ‘Biography is not a finite business; it’s a process, a journey. I have been researching, writing, and thinking about Nah Doongh … for over a decade now.’ The discoveries she makes along the way – the portrait she finally tracks down – are very stirring.

‘Nah Doongh’s Song’ appears in our Indigenous August 2019 issue.

Placed second in the Calibre Prize is ‘Floundering’ by Melbourne-based artist, photographer, and fine artist Sarah Walker. Sarah Walker told ABR: ‘The Calibre Essay Prize is an essential avenue for new writing to be published with profound care and respect. I am proud to be joining a lineage of extraordinary writing.’

In addition, the judges commended five essays, which will appear online in High Calibre. They are: 

• John Bigelow: ‘The Song of the Grasshopper’
• Andrew Broertjes: ‘Death and Sandwiches’
• Martin Edmond: ‘The Land of Three Rivers’
• Michael McGirr: ‘Thicker Than Water’
• Melanie Saward: ‘From Your Own Culture’ 

About Grace Karskens

Grace Karskens is Professor of History at the University of New South Wales. She is a leading authority on early colonial Australia and also works in cross-cultural and environmental history. Her books include Inside the Rocks: The archaeology of a neighbourhood and the multi-award winning The Rocks: Life in early Sydney. Her book The Colony: A history of early Sydney won the 2010 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction and the US Urban History Association’s prize for Best Book 2010. Her next book, People of the River: Lost worlds of early Australia, will be published by Allen & Unwin in 2020.

About Sarah Walker

Sarah Walker is a Melbourne-based writer and fine artist. In 2017 she won the Sydney Road Writer’s Cup and the Sydney Road Storytelling Prize. She has been published in Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Women of letters. She is also an award-winning photographer, theatre designer, anddirector, and is co-host of the podcast Contact Mic.

Further information

Click here to download the media release

Subscribe to ABR to gain access to this issue, plus the ABR archive.

Click here for more information about past winners and to read their essays.

We look forward to offering the Calibre Essay Prize again in 2020. 

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Colin Golvan QC and the ABR Patrons.

Yves Rees (photograph by Susan Papazian)Yves Rees is the winner of the 2020 Calibre Essay Prize, worth a total of $7,500, for their essay ‘Reading the Mess Backwards’. As Rees writes, the essay is ‘a story of trans becoming that digs into the messiness of bodies, gender and identity’. Yves Rees receives $5,000.

Kate Middleton was named runner-up for ‘The Dolorimeter’, a highly personal account of the author’s experience with illness. She receives $2,500.

ABR Editor Peter Rose judged the Prize with J.M. Coetzee (Nobel Laureate) and Lisa Gorton, (poet, novelist, and essayist). They chose Yves Rees's winning essay from almost 600 entries from twenty-nine different countries, a record field.

‘Reading the Mess Backwards’ appears in the June-July 2020 issue. We look forward to publishing Kate Middleton's essay 'The Dolorimeter' in the August 2020 issue.

Yves Rees on ‘Reading the Mess Backwards’

Having come out as transgender aged thirty-one, I re-examine my youth in light of this new knowledge. 'Reading the Mess Backwards' explores how we come to understand and perform our gender in a world of restrictive binaries and male dominance. By insisting upon the slippery nature of gendered identity, the essay questions what means to be 'male' or 'female' – and raises the possibility of being something else altogether.

Yves Rees on winning the Calibre Prize

I am honoured to be awarded the Calibre Prize, especially given the large field this year. In my essay, I’ve sketched the kind of narrative I hungered to read: a story of trans becoming that digs into the messiness of bodies, gender and identity. My hope is that, as such stories proliferate, we will all – men and women, cisgender and trans – be liberated from the prison of patriarchy, with its suffocating gender binary. The recognition afforded by the Calibre Prize is an important step in that struggle.

Commendations

In addition, the judges commended five essays, and we look forward to publishing some of them in coming months. They are: 

• Sue Cochius: ‘Mrs Mahomet’
• Julian Davies: ‘A Small Boy and Cambodia’
• Mireille Juchau: ‘Only One Refused’
• Laura Kolbe: ‘Human Women, Magic Flutes’
• Meredith Wattison: ‘Ambivalence: The Afterlife of Patrick White’

About Yves Rees

Dr Yves Rees is a writer and historian living on unceded Wurundjeri land. At present, Yves is a Lecturer in History at La Trobe University and co-host of the history podcast Archive Fever. Yves has published widely across Australian gender, transnational and economic history, and also writes on transgender identity and politics. Yves is a regular contributor to ABC Radio and The Conversation.

About Kate Middleton

Kate Middleton is an Australian writer. She is the author of the poetry collections Fire Season (Giramondo, 2009), awarded the Western Australian Premier’s Award for Poetry in 2009 and Ephemeral Waters (Giramondo, 2013), shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s award in 2014. From September 2011 to September 2012 she was the inaugural Sydney City Poet.

Further information

Media release

Subscribe to ABR to gain access to this issue, plus the ABR archive.

Click here for more information about past winners and to read their essays.

We look forward to offering the Calibre Essay Prize again in 2021. 

ABR gratefully acknowledges the generous support from Colin Golvan AM QC, and Peter McLennan and Mary-Ruth Sindrey, whose donations make the Calibre Essay Prize possible in this form.

Andy Kissane and Belle Ling are the joint winners of the 2019 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, worth a total of $8,500. The winners were named at a ceremony at fortyfivedownstairs in Melbourne on March 18. 

Andy Kissane's winning poem is titled 'Searching the Dead', and Belle Ling's winning poem is titled '63 Temple Street, Mong Kok'.

This year’s judges – Judith Bishop, John Kawke, Paul Kane – shortlisted five poems from almost 900 entries, from 28 countries. The shortlisted poets were John Foulcher (ACT), Ross Gillett (Vic.), Andy Kissane (NSW), Belle Ling (QLD/Hong Kong), and Mark Tredinnick (NSW). 

Porter Prize judge Judith Bishop (representing the judges) commented:

'Andy Kissane’s "Searching the Dead" recounts a moment in Australian history – our soldiers’ involvement in the Vietnam War – that has not been captured before in this way. This dense, strongly physical and evocative poem grips the reader’s mind and body, and that imprint remains long after reading.'

'In Belle Ling’s "63 Temple St, Mong Kok", other voices are rendered equally as vividly as the speaker’s own. Together they create the generous and gentle texture of this exceptionally resonant work.'

About Andy Kissane

Andy Kissane has published a novel, a book of short stories, The Swarm, and four books of poetry. Awards for his poetry include the Fish International Poetry Prize, the Australian Poetry Journal’s Poem of the Year and the Tom Collins Poetry Prize. Radiance (Puncher & Wattmann, 2014) was shortlisted for the Victorian and Western Australian Premier’s Prizes for Poetry and the Adelaide Festival Awards. He recently co-edited a book of criticism on Australian poetry, Feeding the Ghost. His fifth poetry collection, The Tomb of the Unknown Artist is due in 2019. He teaches English and lives in Sydney. http://andykissane.com

About Belle Ling

Belle Ling is a PhD student in Creative Writing at The University of Queensland, Australia. Her poetry manuscript, Rabbit-Light, was awarded Highly Commended in the 2018 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize. Her first poetry collection, A Seed and a Plant, was shortlisted for The HKU International Poetry Prize 2010. Her poem, ‘That Space’, was placed second in the ESL category of the International Poetry Competition organized by the Oxford Brookes University in October 2016. She was awarded a Merit Scholarship at the New York State Summer Writers Institute in 2017.

Further information

The Peter Porter Poetry Prize is one of Australia’s most prestigious poetry awards. For more information about the Peter Porter Poetry Prize or to read the 2018 shortlisted poems please visit the ABR website.

Andy Kissane's and Belle Ling's winning poems are published in the March 2019 issue of ABR.

Click here to download the media release

Subscribe to ABR Online to gain access to this issue online, plus the ABR archive.

Click here for more information about past winners.

ABR gratefully acknowledges the support of Morag Fraser AM and Ivan Durrant.

A. Frances JohnsonA. Frances Johnson is the winner of the 2020 Peter Porter Poetry Prize, worth a total of $9,000. This was announced at a ceremony at the Boyd Hub Community Center in Melbourne on January 16.

A. Frances Johnson's winning poem is titled 'My Father's Thesaurus'. She receives $7,000, while the four other shortlisted poets each receive $500. The full shortlist, including the winning poem, is available to read online and is published in the January–February issue of ABR. 

This year’s judges – John Hawke, Bronwyn Lea, and Philip Mead – shortlisted five poems from almost 1,050 entries, from 30 countries. The shortlisted poets were Lachlan Brown (NSW), Claire G. Coleman (Vic.), Ross Gillett (Vic.), A. Frances Johnson (Vic. ), and Julie Manning (QLD).

Congratulations to A. Frances Johnson and to all the poets shortlisted and longlisted in the 2020 Peter Porter Poetry Prize.

In their report the judges noted:

‘This year’s record field demonstrates both the depth and stylistic range evident in this vital area of our literature. The poems were notable for the currency of their engagement with social issues. “My Father’s Thesaurus” by A. Frances Johnson is an unsentimental yet emotive portrayal of the situation of the elderly and their carers.’

On learning of her win, Johnson commented:

‘It was a complete honour to stand shoulder to shoulder with the fine poets on the Peter Porter Prize shortlist. These encouragements for writers in the current cultural and political climate cannot be underestimated. They spur us on to do more, to speak up. I hope my poem honours my late father, Tom, and offers a small bridge to others who have suffered or who are experiencing the terrible affliction of Alzheimer’s. I acknowledge the great work of other Australian poets on dementia topics (Sarah Holland-Batt, Jessica Wilkinson, and others). Terrible mega-fires currently afflict us on the outside, but this illness is a bushfire inside the brain, impossible to contain, still under-resourced. Despite the confusions and word salads, in Dad’s last months we were lucky that there were still ways of finding him, being with him, holding him. I know others have gleaned similar precious communication with loved ones in the last stages of this terrible disease, though sadly, it may not work out that way. Poetry and of course music are often used in aged-care settings to enable sufferers to de-scramble, to maintain a hold on language. Poetry has certainly helped me hold Dad close.’

About A. Frances Johnson

A. Frances Johnson is a writer and artist. She has published three collections of poetry. A fourth collection, Save As, is forthcoming (Puncher & Wattmann, 2020). Her recent collection, Rendition for Harp and Kalashnikov (Puncher & Wattmann, 2017) was shortlisted in the 2018 Melbourne Prize for Literature Best New Writing Award and, in 2017, she took up an Australia Council B.R. Whiting Fellowship to Rome. A novel, Eugene’s Falls (Arcadia 2007), retraces the Victorian journeys of colonial painter Eugene von Guérard. A new novel in progress, The Lost Garden, explores first-contact histories in remote Southern Tasmania, evoking early horticultural attempts to colonise by seed. A monograph, Australian Fiction as Archival Salvage, was published by Brill in 2015.

Further information

The Peter Porter Poetry Prize is one of Australia’s most prestigious poetry awards.

Subscribe to ABR to gain access to this issue online, plus the ABR archive.

Click here for more information about past winners.

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Morag Fraser AM and Andrew Taylor AM.

What is Australian Book Review?

Australian Book Review (ABR) is one of Australia’s leading cultural magazines. Created in 1961, it lapsed in 1974 and was revived in 1978. ABR is a fully independent non-profit organisation. Its primary aims are several: to foster high critical standards; to provide an outlet for fine new writing; and to contribute to the preservation of literary values and a full appreciation of Australia’s literary heritage. 

ABR publishes reviews, essays, commentaries, interviews, and new creative writing. It is available in print and online. ABR’s diverse programs include three prestigious international prizes, writers’ fellowships, themed issues, national events, cultural tours, and paid editorial internships.

What is the ABR Fellowship program?

ABR Fellowships are intended to reward outstanding Australian writers, to enhance ABR through the publication of long-form journalism, and to advance the magazine’s commitment to ideas and critical debate. The Fellows work closely with ABR staff, especially the Editor, Peter Rose.

Who is Behrouz Boochani?

This Fellowship honours the immense artistry, courage and moral leadership of Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian-Kurdish poet, journalist, memoirist, film producer and human rights activist who has been held on Manus Island since 2013. Behrouz Boochani’s memoir, No Friend But the Mountains (Picador, 2018, translated by Omid Tofighian) won the 2019 Victorian Prize for Literature and Victorian, plus the New South Wales Premiers’ Literary Awards.

Who can apply for the 2019 ABR Behrouz Boochani Fellowship?

This Fellowship is open to English-speaking writers around the world. Any writer with a publication record is eligible. ABR staff and Board members are ineligible, as are staff, board members, and PhD students at the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness. Contributors to ABR are encouraged to apply.  

What is the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness?

The Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness was established at the Melbourne Law School in February 2018 as a result of the generous support of Peter and Ruth McMullin.  The Centre undertakes research, teaching and engagement activities aimed at reducing statelessness and protecting the rights of stateless people in Australia, the Asia Pacific region, and as appropriate more broadly.  Learn more about the work of the Centre at https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/statelessness

Are the Fellowships themed?

Some are, some aren’t. The ABR Behrouz Boochani Fellowship is. We look for applications about any aspect of refugees, statelessness or human rights.

Is this a purely academic Fellowship?

Not at all. We welcome applications from a broad range of writers: journalists, commentators, scholars, activists, creative writers, etc. ABR is not an academic journal. We seek engaging, creative non-fiction journalism of the kind you will find in The New Yorker or the London Review of Books. Links to essays by past Fellows can be found here.

Are you looking for finished articles from applicants?

No. We seek cogent proposals for non-fiction articles to be developed over the course of the Fellowship, in collaboration with the Editor. Unlike the Calibre Essay Prize, the Fellowship program is not for finished works.

How much are the Fellowships worth?

The Fellow will receive a total of $10,000, payable thus: $4,000 on announcement of the Fellowship; and two further payments on $3,000 on publication of the final two contributions to the magazine.

I don’t know anything about ABR. May I still apply?

Applicants must demonstrate familiarity with the magazine and must persuade the panel that their articles would complement other writings in ABR and win us new readers. Applications who do not refer to the magazine in their applications, or who don’t demonstrate awareness of ABR’s needs and directions, are unlikely to be successful.

Is it possible to write the article with a friend or colleague?

No. Single-author works only.

How do I apply?

Applicants must read the guidelines of the Fellowship for which they are interested in applying and send us a succinct but comprehensive proposal (three pages maximum), plus a CV of no more than three pages and two short writing samples. Please nominate two professional/literary referees (names, email addresses and phone numbers only). Note that we are looking for proposals – not finished articles or chapters. Applications must be received by the closing date of the relevant Fellowship. There is no application fee. Applicants are strongly encouraged to discuss their proposals with the Editor before submitting them: (03) 9699 8822 or via email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. NB applications  for the ABR Behrouz Boochani Fellowship are now closed.

How are Fellows selected?

The Fellowship will be awarded by Australian Book Review on the advice of a committee including Peter Rose, the Editor of ABR, and Professor Michelle Foster, Director of the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness at the University of Melbourne, and author J.M. Coetzee. Shortlisted applicants will attend an interview in person or via Skype. No correspondence will be entered into once the decision has been announced. ABR reserves the right not to award the Fellowship.

Are the ABR Fellows expected to complete their projects at the ABR office in Melbourne?

No. Most of the editorial contact is via email or the telephone. Some meetings may be desirable during the course of the Fellowship. These are important collaborative partnerships between the magazine and the Fellows.

What kind of editorial support do Fellows enjoy?

ABR Fellows enjoy a special status at the magazine – as our senior contributors. The Fellow will work with the Editor closely throughout the Fellowship. We edit promptly, closely, and respectfully. ABR is committed to presenting the Fellow’s work with the utmost finesse. The Editor is always available to discuss the project, to respond to ideas, and to read drafts. Peter Rose edits the articles in consultation with the Fellows, and each article is then proofread by at least three editors.

Are there opportunities for discussions with other writers or experts in the field?

We encourage Fellows to lead roundtable discussions with colleagues and specialists at a formative stage in the Fellowship. These can be held at the Centre on Statelessness in Melbourne. ABR assists with the organisation of these roundtables. Fellows usually chair these gatherings, which have been most fruitful in the past. The Fellow is also encouraged to participate in other events at the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, including attending the monthly seminar series where relevant.

Where are the Fellowship articles published?

In the print and digital editions of ABR.

Would ABR Fellows be required to take part in the promotion of the published article?

Yes.

Syndication

If articles are syndicated in newspapers (with the Fellow’s permission), the Fellow and ABR will each receive 50%.

Hessom RazaviAustralian Book Review has much pleasure in naming Hessom Razavi as the recipient of the ABR Behrouz Boochani Fellowship. The Fellowship, worth $10,000, honours the artistry, courage, and moral leadership of Behrouz Boochani, the award-winning author of No Friend But the Mountains (2018), who has been imprisoned on Manus Island since 2013. Dr Razavi will make a significant contribution to the magazine in 2020 with a series of three substantial articles on refugees, statelessness, and human rights. The Fellowship is funded by Peter McMullin, a lawyer, philanthropist, and businessman. Hessom Razavi was chosen from a quality international field. The selection panel comprised Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee, Michelle Foster (Director of the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness at the University of Melbourne), and Peter Rose, Editor of ABR.

About Hessom Razavi

Hessom Razavi is a writer and doctor based in Perth. He was born in Iran in 1976. In 1983 his family fled Iran to escape political persecution. He grew up in Pakistan and the United Kingdom before migrating to Australia when he was thirteen. He completed his studies as an ophthalmologist in 2015 and has visited Manus Island and Nauru in a medical capacity. He also writes poetry and essays, and he is currently working on his first collection. He describes himself as an exile, migrant, professional, and ‘perennial outsider’. His early experience of exile and state violence, and his subsequent qualifications as a writer and clinician, give him an unusual perspective on the plight of the millions of people around the world who are oppressed, anathematised, and endangered. 

‘It’s an honour and delight to receive ABR’s inaugural Behrouz Boochani Fellowship. I accept it in the spirit of mutual respect for asylum seekers, refugees, the Australian people, and our regional neighbours. I am grateful to the magazine and to Peter McMullin. I very much look forward to working with ABR and the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness in 2020. My goal will be to help shift awareness and raise empathy among those Australians who remain uninformed or ambivalent, particularly moderate conservatives, young people, and those who are open to reason. Ultimately, I work to contribute to the collective moment – medical, legal, artistic, political – that advocates for more humane, sustainable outcomes for vulnerable people who seek protection in Australia.’

Hessom Razavi

‘For decades, Australia has normalised the indefinite imprisonment of refugees. This is a critical time: we need to support writers inside the prison camps and also those people who are recording this history outside the prisons. It is extremely important that we support the writers and researchers recording this history in any way we can. The Fellowship is long overdue but also a great step in helping to document the history and to transform the present situation. What Australian Book Review is doing is valuable for many reasons. The Fellowship promises to be an important contribution to the discourse.’

Behrouz Boochani

Interviews

Hessom Razavi is available for interviews. To arrange one, contact Peter Rose: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Click here to find out more about the ABR Fellowship program.

Click here to find out more about current Fellowships.

Click here to find out more about published Fellowships.

Australian Book Review is delighted to announce the shortlist for the 2020 Peter Porter Poetry Prize. First presented in 2005, the Porter Prize is one of the world’s leading prizes for a new poem. It is worth a total of $9,000. This year, our judges – John Hawke, Bronwyn Lea, and Philip Mead – had nearly 1,050 poems to assess, the largest field in the history of the Porter Prize.

The shortlisted poems appear in our January–February 2020 issue.

'Precision Signs' by Lachlan Brown (NSW) 

Lachlan Brown is a senior lecturer in English at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga. He is the author of Limited Cities (Giramondo, 2012) and Lunar Inheritance (Giramondo, 2017). Lachlan’s poetry has been published in various journals including Antipodes, Cordite, Rabbit, and St Mark’s Review. Lachlan has been shortlisted and commended for various poetry prizes including the Mary Gilmore Prize, the Newcastle Poetry Prize, the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize, the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, and the Macquarie Fields Poetry Prize. Lachlan is currently the vice-president of Booranga Writers Centre in Wagga Wagga. 

'That Wadjela Tongue' by Claire G. Coleman (Vic.)

Claire G. Coleman is a Wirlomin Noongar woman whose ancestral country is on the south coast of Western Australia. Her novel Terra Nullius, published by Hachette in Australia and Small Beer Press in the United States, won a black&write! Fellowship and a Norma K. Hemming Award and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and the Aurealis Science Fiction Award. She writes poetry, short-fiction, and essays, and has been published in The Saturday Paper, The Guardian, Meanjin, Australian Poetry, Art Collector, The ABC, Griffith Review, Overland, Timothy McSweeny’s Quarterly Concern, and many others. The Old Lie (Hachette 2019) is her second novel.

'South Coast Sonnets' by Ross Gillett (Vic.)

Ross Gillett is a Melbourne-born poet who now lives in Daylesford in the Central Highlands of Victoria. His poems have appeared in The Age, The Australian, and The Canberra Times, in journals in Australia and the United States, and in three editions of Black Inc.’s former series The Best Australian Poems. His book The Sea Factory was one of the Five Islands Press New Poets 2006 series. In 2010 he published a chapbook of old and new poems – Wundawax and other poems – with Mark Time Books. His new book The Mirror Hurlers has just been published by Puncher & Wattmann. He has been twice shortlisted for the Blake Poetry Prize, and his poem ‘The Mirror Hurlers’ was shortlisted for the 2019 Peter Porter Poetry Prize.

'My Father's Thesaurus' by A. Frances Johnson (Vic.)

A. Frances Johnson is a writer and artist. She has published three collections of poetry. A fourth collection, Save As, is forthcoming (Puncher & Wattmann, 2020). Her recent collection, Rendition for Harp and Kalashnikov (Puncher & Wattmann, 2017) was shortlisted in the 2018 Melbourne Prize for Literature Best New Writing Award and, in 2017, she took up an Australia Council B.R. Whiting Fellowship to Rome. A novel, Eugene's Falls (Arcadia 2007), retraces the Victorian journeys of colonial painter Eugene von Guérard. A new novel in progress, The Lost Garden, explores first-contact histories in remote Southern Tasmania, evoking early horticultural attempts to colonise by seed. A monograph, Australian Fiction as Archival Salvage, was published by Brill in 2015.

'Constellation of Bees' by Julie Manning (QLD)

Julie Manning is a late-career poet. Her work has previously been published in Australian Book Review, Cordite, and the Grieve Anthology (Hunter Writers Centre), and it is forthcoming in Overland. She was longlisted for the University of Canberra Vice Chancellors International Poetry Prize in 2019 and selected at the Queensland Poetry Festival as an Emerging Poet for 2019. She lives on Moreton Bay in Queensland.

Lachlan Brown (NSW), 'Precision Signs' – Shortlisted
Claire G. Coleman (Vic.), 'That Wadjela Tongue' – Shortlisted
Diane Fahey (Vic.), 'The Yellow Room' – Longlisted
S.J. Finn (Vic.), 'A Morning Shot' – Longlisted
Ross Gillett (Vic.), 'South Coast Sonnets' – Shortlisted
A. Frances Johnson (Vic.), 'My Father's Thesaurus' – Shortlisted
Anthony Lawrence (QLD), 'Zoologistics' – Longlisted
Kathryn Lyster (NSW), 'Diana' – Longlisted
Julie Manning (QLD), 'Constellation of Bees' – Shortlisted
Greg McLaren (NSW), 'Autumn mediations' – Longlisted
Claire Potter (United Kingdom), 'Of Birds' Feet' – Longlisted
Gig Ryan (Vic.), 'Fortune's Favours' – Longlisted
Corey Wakeling (Japan), 'Drafts in Red'  – Longlisted

Click here for more information about past winners and to read their poems.

We gratefully acknowledge the long-standing support of Morag Fraser AM and Andrew Taylor AM.

John Hawke is a Senior Lecturer, specialising in poetry, at Monash University. His books include Australian Literature and the Symbolist Movement, Poetry and the Trace (co-edited with Ann Vickery), and the volume of poetry Aurelia, which received the 2015 Anne Elder award. He is ABR's Poetry Editor.

Bronwyn Lea was born in Tasmania and grew up in Queensland and Papua New Guinea. She is the author of Flight Animals (UQP, 2001), winner of the Wesley Michel Wright Prize and the FAW Anne Elder Award, and The Other Way Out (Giramondo, 2008), which won the WA Premier’s Book Award for Poetry and the SA Premier’s John Bray Poetry Prize. 

Philip Mead has worked at the University of Melbourne, as Lockie Fellow in Creative Writing and Australian Literature, at the University of Tasmania, and at the University of Western Australia as the inaugural Chair of Australian Literature and Director of the Westerly Centre. He has co-edited The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Poetry (with John Tranter) (2004) and is the author of Networked Language: Culture and History in Australian Poetry (2010) and of the Vagabond Press poetry collection, Zanzibar Light (2019).

Lachlan Brown is a senior lecturer in English at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga. He is the author of Limited Cities (Giramondo, 2012) and Lunar Inheritance (Giramondo, 2017). Lachlan has been shortlisted and commended for various poetry prizes including the Mary Gilmore Prize, the Newcastle Poetry Prize, the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize, the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, and the Macquarie Fields Poetry Prize. Lachlan is currently the vice-president of Booranga Writers Centre in Wagga Wagga. His poem 'Precision Signs' was shortlisted in the 2020 Peter Porter Poetry Prize. 

John Hawke is a Senior Lecturer, specialising in poetry, at Monash University. His books include Australian Literature and the Symbolist Movement, Poetry and the Trace (co-edited with Ann Vickery), and the volume of poetry Aurelia, which received the 2015 Anne Elder award. He is ABR's Poetry Editor.

A Frances Johnson is a writer, artist, and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Melbourne. Her fourth poetry collection, Save As, is forthcoming from Puncher & Wattmann. A previous collection, Rendition for Harp and Kalashnikov (Puncher & Wattmann, 2017), was shortlisted in the 2018 Melbourne Prize for Literature Best New Writing Award. Other books include the novel Eugene's Falls (Arcadia, 2007), which retraces the journeys of colonial painter Eugene von Guérard, and a monograph, Australian Fiction as Archival Salvage (Brill, 2015). Her poem ‘My Father’s Thesaurus’ won the 2020 Peter Porter Poetry Prize.

John Kinsella is the author of over forty books. His most recent publications include Displaced: A rural memoir (2020), The Weave (with Thurston Moore, 2020), and Insomnia (2020). His poetry collections have won a variety of awards, including the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Poetry and the Christopher Brennan Award for Poetry. His volumes of stories include In the Shade of the Shady Tree (Ohio University Press, 2012), Crow’s Breath (Transit Lounge, 2015), and Old Growth (Transit Lounge, 2017). He is a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University, and Professor of Literature and Environment at Curtin University. With Tracy Ryan he is the co-editor of The Fremantle Press Anthology of The Western Australian Poetry (2017). He lives with his family in the Western Australian wheatbelt. 

Sarah Holland-Batt is the author of two award-winning books of poetry, Aria and The Hazards (UQP), and a forthcoming volume of essays on contemporary poetry, Fishing for Lightning: The spark of poetry (UQP, 2021). She is the recipient of a number of honours, including the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry and a Sydney Myer Creative Fellowship. As of 2021, she is the Judy Harris Writer in Residence at the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney, and works as a Professor at QUT.

Jaya Savige’s most recent collection is Change Machine (UQP 2020). He is Assistant Professor of English and Head of Creative Writing at New College of the Humanities, Northeastern University, and Poetry Editor for The Australian. His previous collections include Latecomers, which won the New South Wales Premier’s Prize for Poetry, and Surface to Air, shortlisted for The Age Poetry Book of the Year and the West Australian Premier’s Prize. He read for a PhD on James Joyce at the University of Cambridge as a Gates Scholar, and has held Australia Council residencies at the B.R. Whiting Library, Rome, and the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris.

Anders Villani holds an MFA from the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program, where he received the Delbanco Prize for poetry. His first full-length collection, Aril Wire, was released in 2018 by Five Islands Press. A PhD candidate at Monash University, he lives in Melbourne.

Sarah Holland-Batt is the author of three volumes of poetry, most recently The Jaguar (UQP, 2022), and a book of essays, Fishing for Lightning: The spark of poetry (UQP, 2021). She has received a number of honours, including the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry, a Sydney Myer Creative Fellowship, and the Judy Harris Writer in Residence Fellowship at the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre. Sarah is Professor of Creative Writing at QUT and Chair of the ABR Board.

Des Cowley is Principal Librarian, History of the Book and Arts, at State Library Victoria. He is co-author of The World of the Book (MUP, 2007), and co-editor of Creating and Collecting: Artists’ books in Australia (2015). He recently edited the Collected Prose Poems of Gary Catalano and is editor of the Red Letter series of poetry chapbooks, published by Life Before Man press.

James Jiang is Assistant Editor at ABR. He was awarded his PhD in English from the University of Cambridge and taught for a number of years at the University of Melbourne. He has written for a variety of publications in Australia and abroad on poetry, critical culture, diasporic literature, and sport.

How to enter

To be in the running for any of our giveaways, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., using the subject line ‘ABR Arts Giveaways’, with your full name and contact details. Please specify in your email which giveaway you are interested in.

When distributing giveaways we naturally give preference to those with current paid subscriptions and those who have not received a recent ABR giveaway.

Click here to subscribe from $10 a month.

Mr. Burton • 5 double passes

We are delighted to offer five double passes to Mr. Burton, a British biographical drama following the early life of Welsh actor Richard Burton. Starring Harry Lawtey, Toby Jones and Lesley Manville, Mr. Burton opens in cinemas nationally on August 14.

Kangaroo Island • 5 double passes 

We are delighted to offer five double passes to Kangaroo Island, a drama comedy starring Rebecca Breeds and Adelaide Clemens and directed by Timothy David. After it’s world première at the Adelaide Film Festival, Kangaroo Island opens in cinemas nationally on August 21. 

Mahler 4 & 5 • 1 double pass

We are delighted to offer one double pass to the Australian World Orchestra’s performance of Mahler’s symphonies 4 & 5, conducted by Alexander Briger with soloist Sarah Traubel. Tickets are available for the Melbourne performance September 3 or Sydney September 4.

J.M. Coetzee was born in South Africa and educated in South Africa and the United States. He has published nineteen works of fiction, as well as criticism and translations. Among awards he has won are the Booker Prize (twice) and, in 2003, the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is currently Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide. 

Lisa Gorton, who lives in Melbourne, is a poet, novelist, and critic, and a former Poetry Editor of ABR. She studied at the Universities of Melbourne and Oxford. A Rhodes Scholar, she completed a Masters in Renaissance Literature and a Doctorate on John Donne at Oxford University. Her review essays and poetry have appeared in ABR since 2002. Her first poetry collection, Press Release (2007), won the Victorian Premier’s Prize for Poetry. She has also been awarded the Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize and the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal. Lisa’s novel The Life of Houses (2015) shared the 2016 Prime Minister’s Award for fiction and received the NSW Premier’s People’s Choice Award. Her third poetry collection Empirical appeared with Giramondo in 2019.

Peter Rose has been Editor of Australian Book Review since 2001. Previously he was a publisher at Oxford University Press. His reviews and essays have appeared mostly in ABR. He has published six books of poetry, two novels, and a family memoir, Rose Boys (Text Publishing), which won the 2003 National Biography Award. He edited the 2007 and 2008 editions of The Best Australian Poems (Black Inc.). His most recent publication is a volume of poems, The Subject of Feeling (UWA Publishing, 2015).

Sheila Fitzpatrick is a Professor at Australian Catholic University and Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney, and co-winner (2016) of the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction. Her new book, White Russians, Red Peril: A Cold War history of migration to Australia, will be published by Black Inc. in April 2021.

Billy Griffiths is an Australian writer and historian. His latest book, Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia (Black Inc., 2018), won the Ernest Scott Prize, the Felicia A. Holton Book Award, the John Mulvaney Book Award, the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction and the 2019 Book of the Year at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. He lectures in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Deakin University in Melbourne.

Peter Rose has been Editor of Australian Book Review since 2001. Previously he was a publisher at Oxford University Press. His reviews and essays have appeared mostly in ABR. He has published six books of poetry, two novels, and a family memoir, Rose Boys (Text Publishing), which won the 2003 National Biography Award. He edited the 2007 and 2008 editions of The Best Australian Poems (Black Inc.). His most recent publication is a volume of poems, The Subject of Feeling (UWA Publishing, 2015). 

Declan Fry is a writer, poet, and essayist. Born on Wongatha country in Kalgoorlie, he was shortlisted for the Judith Wright Poetry Prize in 2020 and awarded the 2021 Peter Blazey Fellowship for the Meanjin essay ‘Justice for Elijah or a Spiritual Dialogue With Ziggy Ramo, Dancing’. His work has appeared in Australian Book Review, Liminal, The Monthly, The Guardian, Overland, Westerly, and elsewhere. Twitter: @_declanfry.

Beejay Silcox is an Australian writer and critic, and the recipient of ABR’s Fortieth Birthday Fellowship. Her literary criticism and cultural commentary regularly appear in national arts publications, and is increasingly finding an international audience, including in the Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian and The New York Times. Her award-winning short stories have been published at home and abroad, and have been selected for a number of Australian anthologies.

Peter Rose has been Editor of Australian Book Review since 2001. Previously he was a publisher at Oxford University Press. His reviews and essays have appeared mostly in ABR. He has published six books of poetry, two novels, and a family memoir, Rose Boys (Text Publishing), which won the 2003 National Biography Award. 

Yves Rees is a Lecturer in History at La Trobe University and author of All About Yves: Notes from a transition (Allen & Unwin 2021). Their essay ‘Reading the Mess Backwards’ won the 2020 Calibre Essay Prize. A co-host of the history podcast Archive Fever, Yves is a regular contributor to ABC radio and The Conversation, and their work has appeared in ABR, Overland, Guardian Australia, Inside Story, and Archer. 

Beejay Silcox is an Australian writer and critic, and was the ABR Fortieth Birthday Fellow. Her literary criticism and cultural commentary appear in national arts publications such as ABR and Times Literary Supplement. Her award-winning short stories have been published at home and abroad.

Peter Rose has been Editor of Australian Book Review since 2001. Previously he was a publisher at Oxford University Press. His reviews and essays have appeared mostly in ABR. He has published six books of poetry, two novels, and a family memoir, Rose Boys (Text Publishing), which won the 2003 National Biography Award. 

Amy Baillieu is Deputy Editor of Australian Book Review. She completed a Masters of Publishing and Communications at the University of Melbourne in 2011 and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the same university. Prior to becoming Deputy Editor of ABR in 2012, she worked in other editorial roles at the magazine and was Philanthropy Manager from 2011–12. She regularly reviews fiction for ABR and also works as a freelance editor. 

Shannon Burns is a freelance writer and member of the J.M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice. He is a former ABR Patrons' Fellow, and has published short fiction, poetry, and academic articles. He is the author of a memoir, Childhood (Text Publishing, 2022).

Beejay Silcox is an Australian writer and critic, and was the ABR Fortieth Birthday Fellow. Her literary criticism and cultural commentary appear in national arts publications such as ABR and Times Literary Supplement. Her award-winning short stories have been published at home and abroad. 

Georgina Arnott has been Assistant Editor at Australian Book Review since 2022. She is the author of The Unknown Judith Wright (UWAP, 2016), shortlisted for the National Biography Award, Judith Wright: Selected Writings (La Trobe University Press, 2022), and numerous book chapters, essays, and articles in the field of Australian literary studies, history and biography. Georgina is a former judge of the National Biography Award (2018, 2019), an ABC Top 5 Humanities Scholar (2021), and a Rockefeller Archive Center fellow (2024).

Theodore Ell is an honorary lecturer in literature at ANU. He won the 2021 Calibre Essay Prize for ‘Façades of Lebanon’, an essay about surviving the Beirut port explosion of 2020, and his memoir of revolution and crisis in Beirut, Lebanon Days, was published in July 2024. His poetry collection Beginning in Sight shared the Anne Elder Award in 2022. Theodore's essays and poetry have been published in Australia, the UK, Italy and Lebanon. He lives in Canberra.

Geordie Williamson has worked as a critic for a quarter of a century. He won the Pascall prize for arts criticism, edited Best Australian Essays, published a book, The Burning Library, on neglected figures from Ozlit, edited Tasmania's Island magazine, and has been Chief literary critic of The Australian since 2008. Latterly he has worked as a publisher at Pan Macmillan, where he mainly concentrates on the Picador imprint. He has two books of his own forthcoming: a monograph on Alexis Wright for Black Inc.'s Writers on Writers series, and a work of non-fiction about his Scottish family's long association with Easter Island.

Update from Australian Book Review - March 2020

Thank you for your many interesting and thoughtful contributions to the Passage to India competition. In the circumstances, ABR and our partner Abercrombie & Kent think it would be incongruous to announce the winner at this stage, when international travel is moot at best and when such grave issues are uppermost in everyone’s mind. We will name the winner in coming weeks.

About the competition

In a first for Australian Book Review, we are delighted to be partnering with luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent to offer one lucky ABR subscriber the chance to win a ten-day adventure for two in India worth up to AU$8,250. The prize is Abercrombie & Kent’s 'Essential India’ tour, a seven-day private journey from Delhi to Agra to Jaipur, staying in luxury Taj hotels throughout, plus the winner’s choice of a three-day extension to either Ranthambore, Udaipur, or Varanasi.

To be in the running to win this magnificent prize, subscribers needed to tell us – in fifty to one hundred words – about a book that has inspired them to travel, or to dream of travelling. 

Entry for this competition has now closed. 

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Australian Book Review is delighted to announce the shortlist for this year’s ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, worth a total of $12,500. This year’s Jolley Prize received a record field of 1450 entries from 34 countries, and was judged by Gregory Day, Josephine Rowe, and Ellen van Neerven.

ABR will publish the three shortlisted stories in the 2020 August Fiction Issue. Details are listed below on how to attend a Zoom ceremony on August 13, when we will announce the winner.

Congratulations to the shortlisted entrants, and we thank all those who submitted their stories to the Jolley Prize.

The Shortlist

C.J. Garrow for 'Egg Timer'

C.J. Garrow is a Melbourne writer whose fiction has been shortlisted for international prizes including the Fish Prize (Ireland) and the George Garrett Fiction Prize (USA). ‘Egg Timer’ is his first published work of fiction.

Simone Hollander for 'Hieroglyph'

Simone Hollander is a writer from Monterey Bay, California. Her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington was completed on independent study from Dublin, Ireland. She has won prizes for her short fiction and creative non-fiction, and has served as a delegate on a writers’ cultural exchange to China. Her work can be found in PageBoy Magazine, The Weeklings, The Seattle Review, The Dublin Quarterly, and other literary niches. Simone has worked in public, private, and university libraries. She lives with her family, animals, the mountains, in Longmont, Colorado. She is writing a novel.

Mykaela Saunders for 'River Story'

Mykaela Saunders is a Koori writer, teacher, and community researcher. Of Dharug and Lebanese ancestry, she’s working-class and queer, and belongs to the Tweed Aboriginal community. Mykaela has worked in Aboriginal education since 2003, and her research explores trans-generational trauma and healing in her community. Mykaela began writing fiction and poetry in 2017, as part of her Doctor of Arts degree at the University of Sydney. Her work has since been published across forms and disciplines, placed in writing prizes, and attracted funding and fellowships.

Highly commended

'Lucky Charms' by Jennifer Down (VIC, Australia)
'I Believe' by V. Sanjay Kumar (India) 
'Wait for Me' by Jasmin McGaughey (QLD, Australia) 
'Two Africas' by Jean McNeil (UK)  
'Bedford Jeune' by Lauren Sarazen (France) 

Join us to announce the winner

The winner will be announced at a Zoom ceremony on August 13. The event will feature readings from all the shortlisted authors, with ABR then announcing the winner. This is a free public event and all are welcome, but bookings are essential. A Zoom access link will be sent out prior to the event. 

When: 6 for 6.15 pm on Thursday, 13 August 2020
Where: A Zoom ceremony. An access link will be sent out before the event.
Bookings: This is a free public event and all are welcome, but bookings are essential.
How to book: Register your attendance by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ABR gratefully acknowledges Ian Dickson's generous support for the Jolley Prize.

Australian Book Review is delighted to announce that Camilla Chaudhary is the winner of this year’s ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for their story ‘The Enemy, Asyndeton’. She receives $6,000. This year’s prize – worth a total of $12,500 – received 1,428 entries from thirty-six different countries. Lauren Sarazen placed second and receives $4,000 for her story ‘There Are No Stars Here, Either’, and John Richards placed third and receives $2,500 for his story ‘A Fall from Grace’.

The 2021 Jolley Prize was judged by Gregory Day, Melinda Harvey, and Elizabeth Tan. The judges’ report, as well as the full longlist, can be found below. 

Each of the shortlisted stories are published in the 2021 August issue (purchase single issues here). ABR extends a warm congratulations to Camilla Chaudhary, Lauren Sarazen, and John Richards, as well as to the longlisted entrants. Thank you to all who entered this year’s prize. We look forward to receiving your entries next year. 

Winner

Camilla Chaudhary
for ‘The Enemy, Asyndeton’

Camilla Chaudhary was born in Birmingham, UK, to British and Pakistani parents. After graduating from Cambridge University, she worked briefly as a literary publicist in London before moving into social policy research. She started writing fiction while her children were young and has just completed a second novel, Notes on a Jilting. She currently lives in Sydney with her husband and three children and continues to combine her career in research with writing.

Second

‍Lauren Sarazen
for ‘There Are No Stars Here, Either’

Lauren Sarazen is a writer who lives in Paris, France. Originally from Southern California, she graduated from Chapman University with a BFA in Creative Writing and received her MA in Literature from Université Sorbonne Nouvelle. Her words have appeared in Hobart, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The London Magazine, The Washington Post, VICE, Elle, Air Mail, and more.

Third

J‍ohn Richards
for ‘A Fall from Grace’‍

John Richards has previously lived in Manchester, London, and Singapore. He now lives in Brisbane with his wife and four children. In a previous life he was a lawyer. ‘A Fall from Grace’ is his first published work of fiction. He is writing more short stories and a novel.

Full longlist

‘What Happened on Djinn Island’ by Shastri Akella (USA)
‘A Dog’s Life’ by Dominic Amerena (Greece)
‘The Funeral of Maria Luisa Rafaella Ciervo’ by Melinda Borysevicz (Italy)
‘The Enemy, Asyndeton’ by Camilla Chaudhary (New South Wales) – Shortlisted
‘The Memorial’ by David Cohen (Queensland)
‘Ghost’ by Daryl Li (Singapore)
‘Furniture’ by Jennifer Mills (South Australia)
‘Everything Bagel’ by Matthew Pitt (USA)
‘The Annex’ by Anthony Purdy (Canada)
‘A Fall from Grace’ by John Richards (Queensland) – Shortlisted
‘There Are No Stars Here, Either’ by Lauren Sarazen (France) – Shortlisted
‘Revisionist’ by Liza St. James (USA)
‘Bad Tub’ by Liza St. James (USA)
‘Ver Says’ by Laura Elizabeth Woollett (Victoria)

Judges’ comments

‘A Fall from Grace’ is a deliciously enigmatic story, rich in the overtones of the international canon – Balzac, Calvino, Borges. Set in pre-revolutionary rural France, a talented painter’s career receives an unforeseen jolt that simultaneously shadows his life and propels his work from realist proficiency to metaphysical greatness. The story brilliantly elides character with environment, capturing us via a delicately crafted blend of reportage, imagery, and atmosphere. Ultimately, the writer’s own image-making power fuses with the compelling narrative of the painter, giving us the thrill of historical fiction at its most immersive.

In ‘The Enemy, Asyndeton’, Elizabeth is godmother to teenaged Julia, but actually it’s Julia’s younger sister, Asha, with whom Elizabeth feels the greater bond. One conversation ignites a peculiar obsession in Elizabeth, awakening her hitherto tepid godmotherly instincts. ‘The Enemy, Asyndeton’ is a delightful, nimble story; the characters bristle with life, and the dialogue is crisply rendered. The author deftly prevents Asha’s precocity from sliding into tweeness, and, although it becomes increasingly apparent that Elizabeth is making a little too much of Asha’s ‘seething inner brilliance’, the author depicts Elizabeth’s predicament with warmth, understanding, and humour.

In ‘There Are No Stars Here, Either’, a woman named Caroline travels through Italy while conducting an online relationship with D, a man she met two weeks earlier. This story is written in effervescent sentences that capture the enthusiasm and fickleness of its narrator as well as of her continuous headlong movement. Also captured are the intensities of youthful romance, a state in which the imagination is irrepressible, even when it has little to go on. The story pokes gentle fun at the strange pull of a mediated life over real-world experiences: the pull is strong enough to have Caroline barely taking in the prodigious beauty that surrounds her, such as the paintings of the Italian Renaissance in the Florence galleries or the palaces, piazzas, and canals of Venice.

ABR warmly acknowledges the generous support of ABR Patron Ian Dickson, who makes the Jolley Prize possible in this lucrative form. We congratulate all the longlisted and shortlisted authors.

Previous winners

Subscribers to ABR can read previous prize-winning stories to the Jolley Prize. To read these stories, click here.

If you aren't a subscriber, digital subscriptions begin at only $10 per month. Click here to become an ABR subscriber. 

Australian Book Review is delighted to announce that Tracy Ellis is the winner of this year’s ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize for her story ‘Natural Wonder’. She receives $6,000. This year’s prize – worth a total of $12,500 – received 1,338 entries from thirty-six different countries. Nina Cullen placed second and receives $4,000 for her story ‘Dog Park’, and C.J. Garrow placed third and receives $2,500 for his story ‘Whale Fall’.

The 2022 Jolley Prize was judged by Amy Baillieu, Melinda Harvey, and John Kinsella. The judges’ report, as well as the full longlist, can be found below. 

Each of the shortlisted stories are published in the 2022 August issue (purchase single issues here). ABR extends a warm congratulations to Tracy Ellis, Nina Cullen, and C.J. Garrow, as well as to the longlisted entrants. Thank you to all who entered this year’s prize. We look forward to receiving your entries next year. 

Winner

Tracy Ellis
for ‘Natural Wonder’

Tracy Ellis lives in Sydney and works as an editor in digital and print media. She has a Master’s in Creative Writing from UTS and was previously longlisted for ABR’s Calibre Essay Prize.

Second

‍Nina Cullen
for ‘Dog Park’

Nina Cullen is a Newcastle-based writer whose work has appeared in various Australian and international publications. She has just finished a collection of linked short stories and is working on a novel.

Third

C.J. Garrow
for ‘Whale Fall’

C.J. Garrow is a Melbourne writer whose fiction has been shortlisted for various international prizes. His story ‘Egg Timer’ was shortlisted in the 2020 Jolley Prize.

Full longlist

‘by the hour’ by Diana Clarke (New Zealand)
‘Dog Park’ by Nina Cullen (NSW) - shortlisted
‘Case Notes’ by Sonja Dechian (Vic.)
‘Natural Wonder’ by Tracy Ellis (NSW) - shortlisted
‘Whale Fall’ by C.J. Garrow (Vic.) - shortlisted
‘And Then There Is Pink’ by Madison Griffiths (Vic.)
‘Glads’ by Susan Hettinger (United States)
‘half-moons filled with jam’ by Andy Kovacic (NSW)
‘Born for You’ by Magdalena McGuire (Vic.)
‘The Mend’ by Bruce Meyer (Canada)
‘Blowing Up’ by Alec Patrić (Vic.)
‘Not-John’ by Jonathan Ricketson (Vic.)
‘Zamek’ by Alex Skovron (Vic.)
‘human material’ by Tracey Slaughter (New Zealand)

Judges’ comments

In ‘Natural Wonder’, the narrator watches over three boys – her son and his two cousins – as they spend the first days of a new year playing at a beach on Sydney harbour. This story of children swimming and fencing with toy lightsabers on the sand has a gently melancholic undertow: it emerges that the cousins have experienced the recent trauma of losing their mother. The narrator feels a strong urge to protect and comfort her nephews but she is also drawn to ideas of escape and freedom. The story is remarkable for its quietness, acknowledgement of knotty feelings, and the room it makes for small miracles.

In the tense and atmospheric story ‘Dog Park’, Georgie takes her young son Max on a midday visit to the park where she watches from a shaded bench while he plays. Georgie’s protective love for her son infuses the story even as her desperate longing to shield him from potential pain or humiliation leads to growing tensions and an unsettling confrontation. ‘Dog Park’ is a tender examination of the evolving relationship between an anxious mother and her growing child that is filled with nuanced observations and telling details. The complex interactions between the characters in this story are particularly convincing.

The bullying of Bernard Tusk at a school for boys ‘of shallow prospects’ is conveyed in a wry, uncanny, and almost defamiliarising way in ‘Whale Fall’, which uses the beaching of a whale carcass as a metaphor for pointless death. As an implicated but also threatened observer, the narrator takes us through the destruction of Tusk who, like all the younger boys, vaguely seeks ‘cool’, but can’t attain it. The triggering complicity of the narrator is both strangely self-exonerating and self-accusatory as he tries to figure out his role between collusion and empathy. The story skilfully examines a fraught complicity and guilt.

ABR warmly acknowledges the generous support of ABR Patron Ian Dickson, who makes the Jolley Prize possible in this lucrative form. We congratulate all the longlisted and shortlisted authors.

Previous winners

Subscribers to ABR can read previous prize-winning stories to the Jolley Prize. To read these stories, click here.

If you aren't a subscriber, digital subscriptions begin at only $10 per month. Click here to become an ABR subscriber.