Breaking News: Shortlist for the 2021 Indie Book Awards Announced

Launched in 2008, the Indie Book Awards recognise and celebrate this country’s incredible literary talent and who better to nominate and judge the best-of-the-best than indie booksellers – the ultimate champions of great Australian writing!

The Category Winners and the Overall Book of the Year Winner will be announced at a virtual awards event on Monday 22 March 2021. Click here for more information.

The Shortlist for the Indie Book Awards 2021 is below. Did your favourite reads of 2020 make the list?

FICTION

All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton (HarperCollins Australia)

The Living Sea of Waking Dreams by Richard Flanagan (Knopf Australia)

Mammoth by Chris Flynn (University of Queensland Press)

Honeybee by Craig Silvey (Allen & Unwin)

NON-FICTION

Phosphorescence by Julia Baird (Fourth Estate Australia)

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku (Macmillan Australia)

People of the River by Grace Karskens (Allen & Unwin)

Truganini by Cassandra Pybus (Allen & Unwin)

DEBUT FICTION

The Bluffs by Kyle Perry (Michael Joseph Australia)

Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson (Hachette Australia)

A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing by Jessie Tu (Allen & Unwin)

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Affirm Press) 

ILLUSTRATED NON-FICTION

Sam Bloom: Heartache & Birdsong by Samantha Bloom, Cameron Bloom & Bradley Trevor Greive (ABC Books, HarperCollins Australia)

Plantopedia by Lauren Camilleri & Sophia Kaplan (Smith Street Books)

Beatrix Bakes by Natalie Paull (Hardie Grant Books)

In Praise of Veg by Alice Zaslavsky (Murdoch Books)

CHILDREN’S

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals by Sami Bayly (Lothian Children’s Books)

Sing Me The Summer by Jane Godwin, illustrated by Alison Lester (Affirm Press)

The Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Mellor (Affirm Press)

Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Lothian Children’s Books)

YOUNG ADULT

Future Girl by Asphyxia (Allen & Unwin Children’s)

Catch Me If I Fall by Barry Jonsberg (Allen & Unwin Children’s)

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin Children’s)

This One is Ours by Kate O’Donnell (University of Queensland Press)