2023 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards
Winners of the 2023 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards
Victorian Prize for Literature
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au (Giramondo Publishing)
People’s Choice Award
Astronomy: Sky Country by Karlie Noon & Krystal De Napoli (Thames & Hudson Australia)
Fiction
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au (Giramondo Publishing)
Non-Fiction
Root & Branch: Essays on Inheritance by Eda Gunaydin (NewSouth Publishing)
Drama
The Return by John Harvey (Malthouse Theatre)
Poetry
At the Altar of Touch by Gavin Yuan Gao (University of Queensland Press)
Writing for Young Adults
We Who Hunt the Hollow by Kate Murray (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
Indigenous Writing
The Upwelling by Lystra Rose (Hachette Australia)
Unpublished Manuscript
One Divine Night by Mick Cummins
The Shortlist
FICTION
An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life by Paul Dalla Rosa ( Allen & Unwin)
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au (Giramondo Publishing)
Salonika Burning by Gail Jones (Text Publishing)
The Lovers by Yumna Kassab (Ultimo Press)
The Signal Line by Brendan Colley (Transit Lounge)
This Devastating Fever by Sophie Cunningham (Ultimo Press)
NON-FICTION
Childhood by Shannon Burns (Text Publishing)
Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong by Louisa Lim (Text Publishing)
Our Members Be Unlimited: A Comic about Workers and Their Unions by Sam Wallman (Scribe Publications)
People who Lunch: Essays on Work, Leisure and Loose Living by Sally Olds (Upswell Publishing)
Root & Branch: Essays on Inheritance by Eda Gunaydin (NewSouth Publishing)
The Uncaged Sky: My 804 Days in an Iranian Prison by Kylie Moore-Gilbert (Ultimo Press)
INDIGENOUS WRITING
Astronomy: Sky Country by Karlie Noon and Krystal De Napoli (Thames & Hudson Australia)
Harvest Lingo by Lionel Fogarty (Giramondo Publishing)
Tell Me Again by Amy Thunig (University of Queensland Press)
The Upwelling by Lystra Rose (Hachette Australia)
DRAMA
Golden Blood (黄金血液) by Merlynn Tong (Currency Press in association with Griffin Theatre Company)
The Return by John Harvey ( Malthouse Theatre)
Whitefella Yella Tree by Dylan Van Den Berg (Currency Press in association with Griffin Theatre Company)
POETRY
At the Altar of Touch by Gavin Yuan Gao (University of Queensland Press)
Clean by Scott-Patrick Mitchell (Upswell Publishing)
Fugitive by Simon Tedeschi (Upswell Publishing)
WRITING FOR YOUNG ADULTS
The Tree of Ecstasy and Unbearable Sadness by Matt Ottley (Dirt Lane Press/WestWords)
We Who Hunt the Hollow by Kate Murray (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
Where You Left Us by Rhiannon Wilde (University of Queensland Press)
UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT
Bright Objects by Ruby Todd
One Divine Night by Mick Cummins
Stillwater by Amy Brown
Highly Commended
FICTION
All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien (HQ Fiction: an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
Limberlost by Robbie Arnott (Text Publishing)
Loveland by Robert Lukins (Allen & Unwin)
NON-FICTION
Bedtime Story by Chloe Hooper (Scribner Australia)
Big Beautiful Female Theory by Eloise Grills (Affirm Press)
Hard Labour: Wage Theft in the Age of Inequality by Ben Schneiders (Scribe Publications)
INDIGENOUS WRITING
Cartwarra or What? Selected poems and short stories by Alf Taylor (Magabala Books)
Masked Histories: Turtle Shell Masks and Torres Strait Islander People by Leah Liu-Chivizhe (Melbourne University Publishing)
DRAMA
Orange Thrower by Kirsty Marillier (Currency Press in association with Griffin Theatre Company)
An Indigenous Trilogy – Act I: Three Magpies Perched in a Tree by Glenn Shea (The Storyteller)
POETRY
Harvest Lingo by Lionel Fogarty (Giramondo Publishing)
Song of Less by Joan Fleming (Cordite)
WRITING FOR YOUNG ADULTS
My Spare Heart by Jared Thomas (Allen & Unwin)
Sugar by Carly Nugent (Text Publishing)
The Judges
FICTION
Melissa Cranenburgh, Melissa Manning, Gene Smith, Leah Jing McIntosh (convenor)
NON-FICTION
Jonathan Dunk, Ramona Koval, Cher Tan, Yves Rees (convenor)
INDIGENOUS WRITING
Laniyuk, John Morrissey, Bridget Caldwell-Bright (convenor)
DRAMA
Melissa Reeves, Tasnim Hossain (convenor)
POETRY
Eleanor Jackson, Maria Takolander, Adolfo Aranjuez (convenor)
WRITING FOR YOUNG ADULTS
Alison Evans, Jessica Walton, Erin Wamala (convenor)
UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT
Miles Allinson, Allee Richards, Astrid Edwards (convenor)
The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards were inaugurated by the Victorian Government in 1985 to honour literary achievement by Australian writers. The awards are administered by the Wheeler Centre on behalf of the Premier of Victoria.
