ABIAs 2024 shortlists announced

The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has announced the shortlists for the 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs).

The APA will announce the business awards shortlists, including the categories of publisher, small publisher, bookshop, commissioning editor/publisher and marketing strategy of the year, as well as the Hall of Fame, separately on 4 April.

The ABIA 2024 shortlisted books of the year in each category are:

Audiobook of the year

• Edenglassie (written by Melissa Lucashenko, narrated by Ursula Yovich, Audible Studios)
• The Last Daughter (written by Brenda Matthews, narrated by Ella Ferris, Bolinda/ABC Audio)
• The Teacher’s Pet (written and narrated by Hedley Thomas, Macmillan Australia Audio)
• The Voice to Parliament Handbook (written and narrated by Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien, Bolinda Audio)
• Welcome to Sex (written and narrated by Melissa Kang & Yumi Stynes, Bolinda Audio)
• Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s invisible life (written by Anna Funder, narrated by Arianwen Parkes-Lockwood & Jane Slavin, Bolinda Audio)

Biography book of the year

• Heartbake (Charlotte Ree, A&U)
• Love & Pain (Ben Gillies & Chris Joannou, Hachette)
• Showing Up (Nedd Brockmann, S&S)
• Unfinished Woman (Robyn Davidson, Bloomsbury)
• Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s invisible life (Anna Funder, Hamish Hamilton)

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

• Eleanor Jones Is Not a Murderer (Amy Doak, Penguin)
• Isles of Gods (Amie Kaufman A&U)
• The Quiet and the Loud (Helena Fox, Pan)
• Stuck Up and Stupid (Angourie Rice & Kate Rice, Walker)
• This Book Thinks Ya Deadly (Corey Tutt, illus by Molly Hunt, HG Explore)
• Welcome to Sex (Melissa Kang & Yumi Stynes, illus by Jenny Latham, HGCP)

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

• The 169-Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths, illus by Terry Denton, Pan)
• Custodians: Wylah the Koorie Warrior 2 (Jordan Gould & Richard Pritchard, Albert Street Books)
• Ember and the Island of Lost Creatures (Jason Pamment, A&U)
• It’s the Sound of the Thing (Maxine Beneba Clarke, HGCP Older Readers)
• Kimmi (Favel Parrett, Lothian)
• Songlines (Margo Neale & Lynne Kelly, illus by Blak Douglas, T&H)

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

• Australian Animals: From beach to bush (Brentos, Affirm)
• Australia: Country of colour (Jess Racklyeft, Affirm)
• If I Was a Horse (Sophie Blackall, Lothian)
• A Life Song (Jane Godwin, illus by Anna Walker, Puffin)
• Nightsong (Sally Soweol Han, UQP)
• What to Do When You’re Not Sure What to Do (Davina Bell, illus by Hilary Jean Tapper, Lothian)

General fiction book of the year

• The Bookbinder of Jericho (Pip Williams, Affirm)
• Dark Mode (Ashley Kalagian-Blunt, Ultimo)
• Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect (Benjamin Stevenson, Michael Joseph)
• Green Dot (Madeleine Gray, A&U)
• Homecoming (Kate Morton, A&U)
• Mr Einstein’s Secretary (Matthew Reilly, Macmillan)

General nonfiction book of the year

• Bright Shining (Julia Baird, Fourth Estate)
• Crossing the Line (Nick McKenzie, Hachette)
• I Don’t (Clementine Ford, A&U)
• It’s the Menopause: What you need to know in your 40s, 50s and beyond (Kaz Cooke, Viking)
• Question 7 (Richard Flanagan, Knopf)
• The Voice to Parliament Handbook (Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien, HG Explore)

Illustrated book of the year

• Australian Abstract (Amber Creswell Bell, T&H)
• Fish Butchery (Josh Niland, Hardie Grant)
• Getting to Know the Birds in Your Neighbourhood: A field guide (Darryl Jones, NewSouth)
• Iwantja (Iwantja Artists, T&H)
• The New Modernist House (Patricia Callan, T&H)
• The Year I Met My Brain: A travel companion for adults who have just found out they have ADHD (Matilda Boseley, illus by Evie Hilliar, Penguin Life)

International book of the year

• Fourth Wing (Rebecca Yarros, Piatkus)
• Icebreaker (Hannah Grace, S&S)
• Iron Flame (Rebecca Yarros, Piatkus)
• Spare (Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Bantam)
• Tom Lake (Ann Patchett, Bloomsbury)
• The Woman in Me (Britney Spears, S&S)

Literary fiction book of the year

• The Hummingbird Effect (Kate Mildenhall, Scribner)
• The In-Between (Christos Tsiolkas, A&U)
• Lola in the Mirror (Trent Dalton, Fourth Estate)
• Prima Facie (Suzie Miller, Picador)
• Stone Yard Devotional (Charlotte Wood, A&U)
• Women & Children (Tony Birch, UQP)

Small publishers’ adult book of the year

• Edenglassie (Melissa Lucashenko, UQP)
• Everyone and Everything (Nadine J Cohen, Pantera)
• I’d Rather Not (Robert Skinner, Black Inc.)
• Killing for Country: A family story (David Marr, Black Inc.)
• The Matilda Effect (Fiona Crawford, Melbourne University Press)

Small publishers’ children’s book of the year

• Artichoke to Zucchini: An alphabet of delicious things from around the world (Alice Oehr, Scribble)
• Gurawul the Whale: An ancient story for our time (Uncle Max Dulumunmun Harrison, illus by Laura La Rosa, Magabala)
• Let’s Never Speak of This Again (Megan Williams, Text)
• Listen (Nicole Godwin & Duncan Smith, illus by Jandamarra Cadd, Wild Dog Books)
• Meet Me at the Moon Tree (Shivaun Plozza, UQP)
• Who’s Afraid of the Light? (Anna McGregor, Scribble)

Social impact book of the year

• The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel exports the technology of occupation around the world (Antony Loewenstein, Scribe)
• The Queen Is Dead (Stan Grant, Fourth Estate)
• The Voice to Parliament Handbook (Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien, HG Explore)
• Welcome to Sex (Melissa Kang & Yumi Stynes, illus by Jenny Latham, HGCP)
• Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s invisible life (Anna Funder, Hamish Hamilton)
• The Year I Met My Brain: A travel companion for adults who have just found out they have ADHD (Matilda Boseley, illus by Evie Hilliar, Penguin Life)

The Matt Richell award for new writer of the year

• At the Foot of the Cherry Tree (Alli Parker, HarperCollins)
• A Brilliant Life (Rachelle Unreich, Hachette)
• Everyone and Everything (Nadine J Cohen, Pantera)
• Green Dot (Madeleine Gray, A&U)
• Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder (Kerryn Mayne, Bantam)
• Saltwater Boy (Bradley Christmas, Walker).

The category winners and the overall Book of the Year winner will be announced at an awards event in Melbourne on Thursday 9 May.

[Editor’s note: The initial ABIA shortlist announcement contained a sixth title in the biography book of the year category, Did I Ever Tell You This? (Sam Neill, Text). The title was removed as it was ineligible under the award criteria that requires the biography subject be Australian.]

Category: Awards Local news