State Library of South Australia names 2026 South Australian Literary Awards shortlists

Michelle de Kretser, Charlotte McConaghy and Evelyn Araluen are among the writers in contention for a $185,000 prize pool.

The State Library of South Australia has released the shortlists for the 2026 South Australian Literary Awards, drawn from 766 entries. The awards share a prize pool of $185,000 across five national categories and five South Australian awards and fellowships, funded by the state government through CreateSA.

The fiction shortlist is Randa Abdel-Fattah's Discipline, Rhett Davis's Arborescence, Michelle de Kretser's Theory & Practice, Charlotte McConaghy's Wild Dark Shore and Holden Sheppard's King of Dirt. In non-fiction, Adele Dumont, Madison Griffiths, Natalie Harkin, John Safran and Micaela Sahhar are in contention. The John Bray Poetry Award shortlist includes Evelyn Araluen's The Rot, Maxine Beneba Clarke's Beautiful Changelings and Eileen Chong's We Speak of Flowers. Each national category is worth $15,000, and the Premier's Award goes to the strongest of the national winners.

The state-only awards include the Barbara Hanrahan, Tangkanungku Pintyanthi and Jill Blewett fellowships and the Wakefield Press Unpublished Manuscript Award, each worth $15,000. New this year are the Carclew Young Writers Awards for two age groups between 8 and 17.

Winners, along with the inaugural Deane Miller Fellowship from the Friends of the State Library, are due to be named in November.