ARA Historical Novel Prize

The ARA Historical Novel Prize is the richest individual literary prize in Australia and New Zealand with prize monies of $150,000 across two categories. The winner of the Adult category receives $100,000 with the CYA winner receiving $30,000. The two shortlisted authors in each category receive $5,000 each. The prize is run by the Historical Novel Society Australasia in partnership with the sponsor, ARA Group.

The 2020 Prize only awarded novels in the Adult category. A "Children and Young Adults" category was introduced in 2021.

Definition

The Historical Novel Society Australasia explained the boundaries of the prize as follows: "The definition of the genre set by the Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) is a novel in which the majority of the narrative, ie more than 50% of the events described, has taken place at least 50 years before publication.

"Historical sub-genres considered to be historical fiction include historical mystery, historical romance, and historical fantasy and alternate history. Time-slip novels, multiple-time period novels, and parallel narrative novels are also considered historical fiction with flexibility to crossover between eras stretching from 50 years or more in the past until contemporary times provided more than 50% of the events described take place at least 50 years before publication."^[1]

Announcement

The longlists for the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize were announced on 4 September 2024.^[2] The shortlists were announced on 2 October 2024, and the winners on 23 October 2024.^[1]

Prize winners

Year	Category	Author	Title	Publisher
2024[3]	Adult	Melissa Lucashenko	Edenglassie	University of Queensland Press
	Children and Young Adult	Beverley McWilliams	Spies in the Sky	Pantera Press
2023[4]	Adult	Gail Jones	Salonika Burning	Text Publishing
	Children and Young Adult	Amelia Mellor	The Bookseller’s Apprentice	Affirm Press
2022[5]	Adult	Tom Keneally	Corporal Hitler's Pistol	Vintage
	Children and Young Adult	Katrina Nannestad	Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief	HarperCollins
2021[6]	Adult	Jock Serong	The Burning Island	Text Publishing
	Children and Young Adult	Katrina Nannestad	We are Wolves	ABC Books
2020[7]	Adult	Mirandi Riwoe	Stone Sky Gold Mountain	University of Queensland Press

Shortlisted and Longlisted works

Adult category

Year	Author	Title	Publisher	Result
2024
	Melissa Lucashenko	Edenglassie	University of Queensland Press	Winner[3]
	Lenny Bartulin	The Unearthed	Allen and Unwin	Shortlisted[8]
	Tony Birch	Women & Children	University of Queensland Press	Shortlisted[8]
	Lauren Chater	The Beauties	Simon & Schuster	Longlisted[9]
	Stephen Daisley	A Better Place	Text Publishing	Longlisted[9]
	Kate Grenville	Restless Dolly Maunder	Text Publishing	Longlisted[9]
	Jane Harrison	The Visitors	HarperCollins	Longlisted[9]
	Natasha Lester	The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard	Hachette Australia	Longlisted[9]
	Catherine McKinnon	To Sing of War	HarperCollins	Longlisted[9]
2023
	Gail Jones	Salonika Burning	Text Publishing	Winner[4]
	Fiona Kelly McGregor	Iris	Pan Macmillan	Shortlisted[10]
	Jock Serong	The Settlement	Text Publishing	Shortlisted[10]
	Robbie Arnott	Limberlost	Text Publishing	Longlisted[11]
	Robyn Cadwallader	The Fire and the Rose	HarperCollins	Longlisted[11]
	Robert Drewe	Nimblefoot	Hamish Hamilton	Longlisted[11]
	Alison Goodman	The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies	HarperCollins	Longlisted[11]
	Fiona McFarlane	The Sun Walks Down	Allen and Unwin	Longlisted[11]
	Pip Williams	The Bookbinder of Jericho	Affirm Press	Longlisted[11]
2022
	Tom Keneally	Corporal Hitler's Pistol	Penguin Books	Winner[5]
	Geraldine Brooks	Horse	Hachette Australia	Shortlisted[12]
	Robyn Mundy	Cold Coast	Ultimo Press	Shortlisted[12]
	Karen Brooks	The Good Wife of Bath	HarperCollins	Longlisted[13]
	Lauren Chater	The Winter Dress	Simon and Schuster	Longlisted[13]
	Steven Carroll	Goodnight, Vivienne, Goodnight	HarperCollins	Longlisted[13]
	Portland Jones	Only Bird Above	Fremantle Press	Longlisted[13]
	Kim Kelly	The Rat Catcher	Brio Books	Longlisted[13]
	David Whish-Wilson	Sawdust House	Fremantle Press	Longlisted[13]
2021
	Jock Serong	The Burning Island	Text Publishing	Winner[6]
	Anita Heiss	Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray	Simon and Schuster	Shortlisted[14]
	Gail Jones	Our Shadows	Text Publishing	Shortlisted[14]
	Stephen Conte	The Tolstoy Estate	HarperCollins	Longlisted[15]
	Kate Grenville	A Room Made of Leaves	Text Publishing	Longlisted[15]
	Anthony Hall	The Last Convict	Penguin Books	Longlisted[15]
	Robert Horne	The Glass Harpoon	Ginninderra Press	Longlisted[15]
	Ian Reid	The Madwoman's Coat	Framework Press	Longlisted[15]
	Lyn Yeowart	The Silent Listener	Penguin Books	Longlisted[15]
2020[7]
	Mirandi Riwoe	Stone Sky Gold Mountain	University of Queensland Press	Winner
	Sienna Brown	Master of My Fate	Penguin Books	Shortlisted
	Catherine Jinks	Shepherd	Text Publishing	Shortlisted
	Nigel Featherstone	Bodies of Men	Hachette Australia	Longlisted
	Dominic Smith	The Electric Hotel	Allen and Unwin	Longlisted
	Christos Tsiolkas	Damascus	Allen and Unwin	Longlisted
	Pip Williams	The Dictionary of Lost Words	Affirm Press	Longlisted
	Tara June Winch	The Yield	Penguin Books	Longlisted

Children and Young Adult category

Year	Author	Title	Publisher	Result
2024
	Beverley McWilliams	Spies in the Sky	Pantera Press	Winner[3]
	Jackie French	Secret Sparrow	HarperCollins	Shortlisted[16]
	Rebecca Lim	Two Sparrowhawks in a Lonely Sky	Allen and Unwin	Shortlisted[16]
	Nicki Greenburg	The Detective’s Guide to Paris	Affirm Press	Longlisted[17]
	Katrina Nannestad	Silver Linings	ABC Books	Longlisted[17]
	Catherine Norton	The Fortune Maker	HarperCollins	Longlisted[17]
	Jackie Randall	Only Two	Self-Published	Longlisted[17]
2023
	Amelia Mellor	The Bookseller's Apprentice	Affirm Press	Winner[4]
	Suzanne Leal	Running with Ivan	HarperCollins	Shortlisted[18]
	Katrina Nannestad	Waiting for the Storks	ABC Books	Shortlisted[18]
	Jackie French	The Great Gallipoli Escape	HarperCollins	Longlisted[19]
	Ellie Marney	The Killing Code	Allen and Unwin	Longlisted[19]
	Lystra Rose	The Upwelling	Hachette Australia	Longlisted[19]
	Pamela Rushby	The Mud Puddlers	Walker Books	Longlisted[19]
	Philippa Werry	Iris and Me	Ahoy! An Imprint of The Cuba Press	Longlisted[19]
	Sue Whiting	Tilda	Walker Books	Longlisted[19]
2022
	Katrina Nannestad	Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief	HarperCollins	Winner[5]
	Brian Falkner	Katipo Joe: Wolf’s Lair	Scholastic New Zealand	Shortlisted[20]
	Claire Saxby	The Wearing of the Green	Walker Books	Shortlisted[20]
	Felice Arena	The Unstoppable Flying Flanagan	Penguin Books	Longlisted[21]
	Meg Caddy	Slipping the Noose	Text Publishing	Longlisted[21]
	Chloe Gong	Our Violent Ends	Hachette New Zealand	Longlisted[21]
	Lauren Keenan	Amorangi and Millie’s Trip Through Time	Huia Publishing	Longlisted[21]
	David Metzenthen	Augustin and the Hot Air Balloon	Ford Street Publishing	Longlisted[21]
	Pamela Rushby	The Secret Battle	Eagle Books	Longlisted[21]
2021
	Katrina Nannestad	We are Wolves	ABC Books	Winner[6]
	Amelia Mellor	The Grandest Bookshop in the World	Affirm Press	Shortlisted[22]
	Pamela Rushby	The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle	Walker Books	Shortlisted[22]
	Anna Ciddor	The Boy Who Stepped Through Time	Allen and Unwin	Longlisted[23]
	Jackie French	Night Ride into Danger	HarperCollins	Longlisted[23]
	Suzanne Gervay	Heroes of the Secret Underground	HarperCollins	Longlisted[23]
	Nicki Greenberg	The Detective’s Guide to Ocean Travel	Affirm Press	Longlisted[23]
	Cameron Nunn	Echo in the Memory	Walker Books	Longlisted[23]
	Richard Yaxley	Harmony	Scholastic	Longlisted[23]