Alexis Wright's Praiseworthy wins 2026 Kate Challis RAKA Award

Novels by Larissa Behrendt, Allanah Hunt and Melissa Lucashenko were commended in this year's fiction round.

By The Book Source15 October 20261 minute read

Alexis Wright has won the 2026 Kate Challis RAKA Award for her novel Praiseworthy. The University of Melbourne award honours Indigenous creative artists and rotates each year through forms including creative prose, drama, visual arts and poetry.

This year's round was for fiction written in English by an Indigenous author, covering books published between 2021 and 2026.

Three other books were commended: Larissa Behrendt's After Story, Allanah Hunt's Forever & Ever and Melissa Lucashenko's Edenglassie. University of Queensland Press, which publishes the Behrendt and Lucashenko novels, marked the commendations on 15 October.

The selection committee was Associate Professor Nikki Moodie, Dr Odette Kelada and Dr Matt Campbell from the university's School of Culture and Communication, with Kate Challis and Andrew Hollo representing the Smith family.

Original source: University of Melbourne, Faculty of Arts ↗

More from The Book Source

Prize Woollahra Digital Literary Award shortlists 15 online works for 2026 Ellena Savage, Tegan Bennett Daylight and Toby Fitch are among the writers in contention, with winners named at a Double Bay ceremony. Prize NSW Literary Awards 2027 entries close on 26 November Ten categories are open for entry from a $360,000 prize pool across 14 awards. Early-bird entries close at 5pm on 12 November and all entries at 5pm on 26 November (AEST). Prize Aurealis Awards entries for 2026 speculative fiction close 30 November Australian speculative fiction first published between 1 January and 30 November 2026 is eligible, with shortlists due in March 2027 and winners in April.