The Age Book of the Year Awards

The Age Book of the Year Awards were annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's The Age newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. After 1998, they were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Initially, two awards were given, one for fiction (or imaginative writing), the other for non-fiction work, but in 1993, a poetry award in honour of Dinny O'Hearn was added.^[1] The criteria were that the works be "of outstanding literary merit and express Australian identity or character,"^[1] and be published in the year before the award was made. One of the award-winners was chosen as The Age Book of the Year. The awards were discontinued in 2013.

In 2021 The Age Book of the Year was revived as a fiction prize, with the winner announced at the Melbourne Writers Festival. A non-fiction prize was added the following year.^[2]

The Age Book of the Year (from 2021)

Fiction

The Age Book of the Year Awards winners

Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref.
2021	Robbie Arnott	The Rain Heron	Won	[3][4]
	Steven Conte	The Tolstoy Estate	Shortlisted	[5]
	Richard Flanagan	The Living Sea of Waking Dreams
	Kate Grenville	A Room Made of Leaves
	Amanda Lohrey	The Labyrinth
	Nardi Simpson	Song of the Crocodile
	Adam Thompson	Born into This
2022	Miles Allinson	In Moonland	Won	[6]
	Jessica Au	Cold Enough for Snow	Shortlisted	[7]
	Larissa Behrendt	After Story
	Brendan Colley	The Signal Line
	Jennifer Down	Bodies of Light
	Diana Reid	Love & Virtue
2023	Robbie Arnott	Limberlost	Won	[8]
	Grace Chan	Every Version of You	Shortlisted
	Paul Dalgarno	A Country of Eternal Light
	Shirley Le	Funny Ethnics
	Fiona McFarlane	The Sun Walks Down
	Alice Nelson	Faithless
2024	Tony Birch*	Women & Children	Won	[9]
	Stephanie Bishop	Anniversary	Shortlisted	[10][11]
	Elise Hearst	One Day We're All Going to Die
	Nicholas Jose	The Idealist
	Charlotte Wood	Stone Yard Devotional
	Jessica Zhan Mei Yu	But the Girl
2025	Rodney Hall	Vortex	Won	[12]
	Melanie Cheng	The Burrow	Shortlisted	[13]
	David Dyer	This Kingdom of Dust
	Kirsty Iltners	Depth of Field
	Siang Lu	Ghost Cities
	Fiona McFarlane	Highway 13

Non-Fiction

The Age Book of the Year Awards winners

Year	Author	Title	Result	Ref.
2022	Bernadette Brennan	Leaping into Waterfalls	Won	[6]
	Ed Ayres	Whole Notes: Life Lessons Through Music	Shortlisted	[7]
	Jonathan Butler	The Boy in the Dress
	Kylie Moore-Gilbert	The Uncaged Sky: My 804 Days in an Iranian Prison
	Karlie Noon and Krystal De Napoli	Astronomy: Sky Country
	Sian Prior	Childless: A Story of Freedom and Longing
2023	Kim Mahood	Wandering with Intent	Won	[8]
	Cadance Bell	The All of It	Shortlisted	[14]
	Shannon Burns	Childhood
	Peter Doyle	Suburban Noir
	Jess Ho	Raised by Wolves
	Mandy Sayer	Those Dashing McDonagh Sisters
2024	Ross McMullin	Life So Full of Promise	Won	[9]
	Kate Fullagar	Bennelong & Phillip: A History Unravelled	Shortlisted	[15]
	Helen Hayward	Home Work: Essays on Love and Housekeeping
	Matthew Lamb	Frank Moorhouse: Strange Paths
	Ellen van Neerven	Personal Score
	Rachelle Unreich	A Brilliant Life
2025	Lech Blaine	Australian Gospel	Won	[12]
	Mark Raphael Baker	A Season of Death	Shortlisted	[13]
	Anne Manne	Crimes of the Cross
	Qin Qin	Model Minority Gone Rogue
	Samah Sabawi	Cactus Pear for My Beloved
	Clare Wright	The Bark Petitions

The Age Book of the Year (from 1974–2012)

The Age Book of the Year Awards winners

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1974	David Foster	The Pure Land	[16]
1975	Thea Astley	A Kindness Cup	[17]
1976	A. D. Hope	A Late Picking: Poems 1965–1974	[18]
	Hugh Stretton	Capitalism, Socialism and the Environment	[18]
1977	Not awarded		[19]
1978	Christopher Koch	The Year of Living Dangerously	[20]
1979	Roger McDonald	1915: A Novel of Gallipoli	[21]
1980	David Ireland	A Woman of the Future	[22]
	Murray Bail	Homesickness	[22]
1981	Eric Charles Rolls	A Million Wild Acres	[23]
1982	David Malouf	Fly Away Peter	[24]
1983	Elizabeth Jolley	Mr Scobie's Riddle	[25]
1984	Nicholas Hasluck	The Bellarmine Jug	[26]
1985	Peter Carey	Illywhacker	[27]
1986	Joan London	Sister Ships and Other Stories	[28]
1987	Jessica Anderson	Stories from the Warm Zone	[29]
1988	Frank Moorhouse	Forty-Seventeen	[30]
1989	Marsden Hordern	Mariners are Warned: John Lort Stokes and HMA Beagle	[31]
1990	Gwen Harwood	Blessed City	[32]
1991	David Marr	Patrick White: A Life	[33]
1992	Marion Halligan	Lovers' Knots	[34]
1993	Elizabeth Jolley	The Georges' Wife	[35]
1994	Peter Carey	The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith	[36]
1995	Chris Wallace-Crabbe	Selected Poems 1956–1994	[37]
1996	Thea Astley	The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow	[38]
1997	Peter Carey	Jack Maggs	[39]
1998	Elliot Perlman	Three Dollars	[40]
1999	K.S. Inglis	Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape	[41]
2000	Amy Witting	Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop	[42]
2001	Rosemary Dobson	Untold Lives and Later Poems	[43]
2002	Don Watson	Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating PM	[44]
2003	Sonya Hartnett	Of a Boy	[45]
2004	Luke Davies	Totem	[46]
2005	Gay Bilson	Plenty: Digressions on Food	[47]
2006	Jennifer Maiden	Friendly Fire	[48]
2007	Peter Cochrane	Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy	[49]
2008	Don Watson	American Journeys	[50]
2009	Steven Amsterdam	Things We Didn't See Coming	[51]
2010	Alex Miller	Lovesong	[52]
2011	Fiona McGregor	Indelible Ink	[53]
2012	James Boyce	1835: The Founding of Melbourne & the Conquest of Australia	[54]

Fiction (or Imaginative Writing) Award

Fiction (or Imaginative Writing) Award winners

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1974	David Foster	The Pure Land	[16]
1975	Thea Astley	A Kindness Cup	[17]
1976	A. D. Hope	A Late Picking: Poems 1965–1974	[18]
1977	No award		[55]
1978	Christopher Koch	The Year of Living Dangerously	[20]
1979	Roger McDonald	1915: A Novel of Gallipoli	[21]
1980	David Ireland	A Woman of the Future	[22]
	Murray Bail	Homesickness	[22]
1981	Blanche d'Alpuget	Turtle Beach	[23]
1982	David Malouf	Fly Away Peter	[24]
1983	Elizabeth Jolley	Mr Scobie's Riddle	[25]
1984	Nicholas Hasluck	The Bellarmine Jug	[56]
1985	Peter Carey	Illywhacker	[57]
1986	Joan London	Sister Ships and Other Stories	[28]
1987	Jessica Anderson	Stories from the Warm Zone	[29]
1988	Frank Moorhouse	Forty-Seventeen	[30]
1989	Elizabeth Jolley	My Father's Moon	[31]
1990	Glenda Adams	Longleg	[32]
1991	Brian Castro	Double-Wolf	[33]
1992	Marion Halligan	Lovers' Knots	[34]
1993	Elizabeth Jolley	The Georges' Wife	[35]
1994	Peter Carey	The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith	[36]
1995	Rod Jones	Billy Sunday	[37]
1996	Thea Astley	The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow	[38]
1997	Peter Carey	Jack Maggs	[39]
1998	Elliot Perlman	Three Dollars	[40]
1999	James Bradley	The Deep Field	[41]
2000	Amy Witting	Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop	[42]
2001	Peter Carey	True History of the Kelly Gang	[43]
2002	Joan London	Gilgamesh	[44]
2003	Sonya Hartnett	Of a Boy	[45]
2004	Andrew McGahan	The White Earth	[46]
2005	Gail Jones	Sixty Lights	[47]
2006	Christos Tsiolkas	Dead Europe	[48]
2007	David Malouf	Every Move You Make	[49]
2008	Tim Winton	Breath	[50]
2009	Steven Amsterdam	Things We Didn't See Coming	[51]
2010	Alex Miller	Lovesong	[52]
2011	Fiona McGregor	Indelible Ink	[53]
2012	Gillian Mears	Foal's Bread	[54]

Non-fiction Award

Non-fiction Award winners

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1974	Manning Clark	A History of Australia (Vol. 3)	[16]
1975	Not awarded		[17]
1976	Hugh Stretton	Capitalism, Socialism and the Environment	[18]
1977	Not awarded		[55]
1978	Patsy Adam-Smith	The Anzacs	[20]
1979	Not awarded		[21]
1980	Not awarded		[22]
1981	Eric Charles Rolls	A Million Wild Acres	[23]
1982	Geoffrey Serle	John Monash: A Biography	[24]
1983	Lloyd Robson	History of Tasmania	[25]
1984	John Rickard	HB Higgins: The Rebel and Judge	[26]
1985	Chester Eagle	Mapping the Paddocks	[27]
	Hugh Lunn	Vietnam: A Reporter's War	[27]
1986	Garry Kinnane	George Johnston: A Biography	[28]
1987	Robert Hughes	The Fatal Shore	[29]
1988	Robin Gerster	Big-Noting: The Heroic Theme in Australian War Writing	[30]
1989	Marsden Hordern	Mariners are Warned!: John Lort Stokes and HMS Beagle in Australia 1837–1843	[31]
1990	Gwen Harwood	Blessed City	[32]
1991	David Marr	Patrick White: A Life	[33]
1992	Ruth Park	A Fence Around the Cuckoo	[34]
1993	Janet McCalman	Journeyings	[35]
1994	Jim Davidson	Lyrebird Rising	[36]
1995	Tim Flannery	The Future Eaters	[37]
1996	Geoffrey Serle	Robin Boyd: A Life	[38]
1997	Roberta Sykes	Snake Cradle	[39]
1998	Stuart MacIntyre	The Reds	[40]
1999	K.S. Inglis	Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape	[41]
2000	Kim Mahood	Craft for a Dry Lake	[42]
2001	Nadia Wheatley	The Life and Myth of Charmian Clift	[43]
2002	Don Watson	Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating Prime Minister	[44]
2003	Ann Galbally	Charles Condor: The Last Bohemian	[45]
2004	Peter Robb	A Death in Brazil	[46]
2005	Gay Bilson	Plenty: Digressions on Food	[47]
2006	Mandy Sayer	Velocity	[48]
2007	Peter Cochrane	Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy	[49]
2008	Don Watson	American Journeys	[50]
2009	Guy Rundle	Down to the Crossroads	[51]
2010	Kate Howarth	Ten Hail Marys	[52]
2011	Jim Davidson	A Three-Cornered Life	[53]
2012	James Boyce	1835: The Founding of Melbourne & the Conquest of Australia	[54]

Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize

Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize winners

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1993	John Tranter	At the Florida	[35]
1994	Dorothy Porter	The Monkey's Mask	[36]
1995	Chris Wallace-Crabbe	Selected Poems 1956–1994	[37]
1996	Eric Beach	Weeping for Lost Babylon	[38]
1997	Emma Lew	The Wild Reply	[39]
	Peter Porter	Dragons in their Pleasant Palaces	[39]
1998	John Kinsella	The Hunt and Other Poems	[40]
1999	R. A. Simpson	The Impossible, and Other Poems	[41]
2000	Peter Minter	Empty Texas	[42]
2001	Rosemary Dobson	Untold Lives and Later Poems	[43]
2002	Robert Gray	After Images	[44]
2003	Laurie Duggan	Mangroves	[45]
2004	Luke Davies	Totem	[46]
2005	Dipti Saravanamuttu	The Colosseum	[47]
2006	Jennifer Maiden	Friendly Fire	[48]
2007	Robert Adamson	The Goldfinches of Baghdad	[49]
2008	J. S. Harry	Not Finding Wittgenstein	[50]
2009	Peter Porter	Better Than God	[51]
2010	Jennifer Maiden	Pirate Rain	[52]
2011	John Tranter	Starlight: 150 Poems	[53]
2012	Mal McKimmie	The Brokenness Sonnets I-III And Other Poems	[54]

First Book

• 2005: The Unknown Zone by Phil Smith^[58]