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.The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature edited by Wilde et al. (1994) p. 23 The criteria were that the works be "of outstanding literary merit and express Australian identity or character," 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.
The Age Book of the Year (from 2021)
Fiction +The Age Book of the Year Awards winnersYearAuthorTitleResultRef.2021 Robbie Arnott The Rain HeronWon Steven Conte The Tolstoy Estate Shortlisted 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 This2022 Miles Allinson In Moonland Won Jessica Au Cold Enough for Snow Shortlisted Larissa Behrendt After Story Brendan Colley The Signal Line Jennifer Down Bodies of Light Diana Reid Love & Virtue 2023 Robbie Arnott Limberlost Won 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 Stephanie Bishop Anniversary Shortlisted 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 Melanie Cheng The BurrowShortlisted David Dyer This Kingdom of Dust Kirsty Iltners Depth of Field Siang Lu Ghost Cities Fiona McFarlane Highway 132026 Moreno Giovannoni The Immigrants Won Jennifer MillsSalvageShortlistedOmar MusaFiercelandLeonie Norrington, Djawundil Maymuru, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs and Djawa BurarrwangaA Piece of Red ClothGretchen ShirmOut of the WoodsSean WilsonYou Must Remember This
Non-Fiction +The Age Book of the Year Awards winnersYearAuthorTitleResultRef. 2022 Bernadette Brennan Leaping into Waterfalls Won Ed Ayres Whole Notes: Life Lessons Through MusicShortlisted 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 Cadance Bell The All of ItShortlisted 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 Kate FullagarBennelong & Phillip: A History UnravelledShortlistedHelen HaywardHome Work: Essays on Love and HousekeepingMatthew LambFrank Moorhouse: Strange PathsEllen van NeervenPersonal ScoreRachelle UnreichA Brilliant Life 2025 Lech Blaine Australian Gospel Won Mark Raphael Baker A Season of DeathShortlisted Anne Manne Crimes of the Cross Qin Qin Model Minority Gone Rogue Samah Sabawi Cactus Pear for My Beloved Clare Wright The Bark Petitions2026 Kate Wild The Red House Won Grantlee KiezaMr and Mrs GouldShortlistTom McIlroyBlue PolesMark McKennaThe Shortest History of AustraliaJosie McSkimmingGutsy GirlsDrusilla ModjeskaA Woman's Eye, Her Art
The Age Book of the Year (from 1974–2012)
+The Age Book of the Year Awards winnersYearAuthorTitleRef. 1974 1975 1976 A Late Picking: Poems 1965–1974 Capitalism, Socialism and the Environment 1977 Not awarded 1978 1979 1915: A Novel of Gallipoli 1980 Homesickness 1981 Eric Charles Rolls A Million Wild Acres 1982 David Malouf Fly Away Peter 1983 Mr Scobie's Riddle 1984 The Bellarmine Jug 1985 Illywhacker 1986 Sister Ships and Other Stories 1987 Stories from the Warm Zone 1988 Forty-Seventeen 1989 Marsden Hordern Mariners are Warned: John Lort Stokes and HMA Beagle 1990 Blessed City 1991 Patrick White : A Life 1992 Lovers' Knots 1993 The Georges' Wife 1994 1995 Chris Wallace-Crabbe Selected Poems : 1956–1994 1996 1997 Jack Maggs 1998 Three Dollars 1999 Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape 2000 Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop 2001 Untold Lives and Later Poems 2002 Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating PM 2003 Of a Boy 2004 Totem 2005 Plenty: Digressions on Food 2006 Friendly Fire 2007 Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy 2008 American Journeys2009 Things We Didn't See Coming2010 Lovesong2011 Fiona Kelly McGregor Indelible Ink2012 1835: The Founding of Melbourne & the Conquest of Australia
Fiction (or Imaginative Writing) Award 1974–1979 +Fiction (or Imaginative Writing) Award winnersYearAuthorTitleResult 1974 David Foster Winner 1975 Winner 1976 A Late Picking: Poems 1965–1974 Winner 1977 No award 1978 Winner 1979 1915: A Novel of Gallipoli Winner
1980–1989 +Fiction (or Imaginative Writing) Award winnersYearAuthorTitleResult1980 Winner Homesickness Winner 1981 Turtle Beach Winner1982 Fly Away Peter Winner Thea Astley An Item from the Late NewsShortlist Jean Bedford Sister Kate Rodney Hall Just Relations David Malouf Child's Play Gerald Murnane The Plains1983 Mr Scobie's Riddle Winner Robert Drewe The BodysurfersShortlist Colin Johnson Doctor Wooreddy's Prescription for Enduring the Ending of the World Peter Kocan The Cure Les Murray The People's Otherworld : Poems1984 The Bellarmine Jug Winner Alan Gould The Man Who Stayed BelowShortlist T. A. G. Hungerford Stories From Suburban Road David Malouf Harland's Half Acre Olga Masters Loving Daughters Roger Milliss Serpent's Tooth Tim Winton Shallows1985 Illywhacker Winner Beverley Farmer Home TimeShortlist David Foster Dog Rock Helen Garner The Children's Bach Robert Gray Selected Poems 1963-1983 Thomas Keneally A Family Madness C. J. Koch The Doubleman Geoff Page Benton's Conviction1986 Sister Ships and Other Stories Winner Lily Brett The Auschwitz PoemsShortlist John Clanchy Lie of the Land Helen Garner Postcards from Surfers Archie Weller Going Home 1987 Stories from the Warm Zone Winner 1988 Forty-Seventeen Winner 1989 My Father's Moon Winner
1990–1999 +Fiction (or Imaginative Writing) Award winnersYearAuthorTitleResult 1990 Longleg Winner 1991 Double-Wolf Winner 1992 Lovers' Knots Winner1993 The Georges' Wife Winner Liam Davison SoundingsShortlist Fotini Epanomitis The Mule's Foal Dorothy Hewett The Toucher1994 The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith Winner Thea Astley CodaShortlist Liam Davison The White Woman Adib Khan Seasonal Adjustments1995 Billy Sunday Winner Carmel Bird The White GardenShortlist Richard Flanagan Death of a River Guide Gillian Mears The Grass Sister Alex Miller The Sitters1996 The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow Winner Robert Dessaix Night LettersShortlist Robert Drewe The Drowner David Foster The Glade Within the Grove Rodney Hall The Island in the Mind David Malouf The Conversations at Curlow Creek1997 Peter Carey Jack Maggs Winner David Ireland The ChosenShortlist Brian Castro Stepper Delia Falconer The Service of Clouds 1998 Three Dollars Winner 1999 The Deep Field Winner
2000–2009 +Fiction (or Imaginative Writing) Award winnersYearAuthorTitleResult 2000 Isobel on the Way to the Corner Shop Winner 2001 True History of the Kelly Gang Winner 2002 Gilgamesh Winner 2003 Of a Boy Winner 2004 Winner 2005 Sixty Lights Winner 2006 Dead Europe Winner 2007 Every Move You Make Winner2008 Breath Winner J. M. Coetzee Diary of a Bad YearShortlist Mireille Juchau Burning In Sara Knox The Orphan Gunner Joan London The Good Parents 2009 Things We Didn't See Coming Winner
2010–2012 +Fiction (or Imaginative Writing) Award winnersYearAuthorTitleResult2010 Lovesong Winner Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in AmericaShortlist J. M. Coetzee Summertime Cate Kennedy The World Beneath G. L. Osborne Clouds of Magellan 2011 Fiona Kelly McGregor Indelible Ink Winner2012 Foal's Bread Winner Steven Amsterdam What the Family NeededShortlist Mark Dapin Spirit House Deborah Forster The Meaning of Grace Janette Turner Hospital Forecast : Turbulence
Non-fiction Award 1974–1979 +Non-fiction Award winnersYearAuthorTitleResult 1974 A History of Australia (Vol. 3) Winner 1975 Not awarded 1976 Capitalism, Socialism and the Environment Winner 1977 Not awarded 1978 Winner 1979 Not awarded
1980–1989 +Non-fiction Award winnersYearAuthorTitleResult 1980 Not awarded 1981 Winner1982 John Monash: A Biography Winner Blanche d'Alpuget Robert J. HawkeShortlist Bruce Grant Gods and Politicians Harold Love The Golden Age of Australian Opera Leslie Marchant France Australe1983 A History of Tasmania Winner Mary Albertus Bain Full Fathom FiveShortlist Leonard Bickel Shackleton's Forgotten Argonauts Vincent Buckley Cutting Green Hay Mary Durack Sons in the Saddle A. F. Howells Against the Stream Ken Inglis This is the ABC1984 HB Higgins: The Rebel and Judge Winner Margaret Hazzard Punishment Short of DeathShortlist Janet McCalman Struggletown Ross McMullin Will Dyson Craig Munro Wild Man of Letters Bernard Smith The Boy Adeodatus Francis West Gilbert Murray1985 Chester EagleMapping the PaddocksWinner Vietnam: A Reporter's War Vincent Buckley Memory IrelandShortlist T. A. G. Hungerford A Knockabout with a Slouch Hat Jim Marwood Valley People Desmond O'Grady Raffaelo! Raffaelo! E. M. Webster The Moon Man1986 Garry Kinnane George Johnston: A Biography Winner Terry Burstall The Soldiers' StoryShortlist E. E. Dunlop The War Diaries of Weary Dunlop Mungo MacCallum Plankton's Luck John Pilger Heroes 1987 Winner 1988 Big-Noting: The Heroic Theme in Australian War Writing Winner 1989 Mariners are Warned!: John Lort Stokes and HMS Beagle in Australia 1837–1843 Winner
1990–1999 +Non-fiction Award winnersYearAuthorTitleResult 1990 Blessed City Winner 1991 Patrick White : A Life Winner 1992 Winner1993 Journeyings Winner John Foster Take Me to Paris, JohnnyShortlist Hazel Rowley Christina Stead1994 Lyrebird Rising Winner Judith Allen Rose ScottShortlist Brenda Niall Georgiana Bernard Smith Noel Counihan : Artist and Revolutionary1995 The Future Eaters Winner Robyn Annear BearbrassShortlist Helen Garner The First Stone Gideon Haigh One Summer, Every Summer Mark Peel Good Times, Hard Times 1996 Robin Boyd: A Life Winner1997 Snake Cradle Winner Alan Atkinson The Europeans in AustraliaShortlist Mark Baker The Fiftieth Gate 1998 Winner 1999 Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape Winner
2000–2009 +Non-fiction Award winnersYearAuthorTitleResult 2000 Craft for a Dry Lake Winner 2001 Winner 2002 Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: Paul Keating Prime Minister Winner 2003 Charles Condor: The Last Bohemian Winner 2004 Winner 2005 Plenty: Digressions on Food Winner 2006 Velocity Winner 2007 Colonial Ambition: Foundations of Australian Democracy Winner2008American Journeys Winner2009Down to the Crossroads Winner
2010–2012 +Non-fiction Award winnersYearAuthorTitleResult2010 Ten Hail Marys Winner Sandy Jeffs Flying with Paper WingsShortlist Ros Moriarty Listening to Country Anne Summers The Lost Mother Maria Tumarkin Otherland2011 Winner2012 1835: The Founding of Melbourne & the Conquest of Australia Winner Jane Gleeson-White Double EntryShortlist Paul Ham Hiroshima Nagasaki Adrian Hyland Kinglake-350 Tony Taylor Fishing the River of Time
Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize
1993–1999