MARION, the leading organisation for writing in the ACT, has announced the shortlist for the 2026 ACT Literary Awards.

The awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of writers from the ACT and surrounding regions, across four categories of books published in 2025: children’s literature, fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Both self-published and traditionally published works are eligible for consideration.

The winners will be announced at the 2026 ACT Literary Awards ceremony at Verity Lane ACT on Thursday 2 July.

In addition, one shortlisted work will receive the Marion Halligan Award.

Children’s Literature shortlist

• Washpool by Lisa Fuller (Hachette)
• The Drought Kangaroo by Jackie French, illustrated by Danny Snell (Harper Collins)
• Luna’s World – Library Dreams by Hayley Gannon, iIllustrated by Michelle Conn (Affirm Kids)
• Poppy’s Monster by Shelly Higgs, illustrated by Francesca Costa (Starfish Bay Publishing)
• Peculiar Parents by Stephanie Owen Reeder, illustrated by Ingrid Bartkowiak (NLA Publishing)
• Creature Corridors by Billie Rooney, illustrated by Anke Noack (CSIRO Publishing)

Fiction shortlist

• In the Name of the Trees by Merlinda Bobis (Spinifex)
• Legacy by Chris Hammer (Allen & Unwin)
• To Heal a Lyrebird by Kate Liston-Mills (self-published)
• When Sleeping Women Wake by Emma Pei Yin (Hachette Australia)

Nonfiction shortlist

• Politics, Pride and Perversion: The rise and fall of Frank Arkell by Erik Eklund, (ANU Press)
• Playtime: A history of Australian childhood by Emily Gallagher, (La Trobe University Press w/ Black Inc.)
• The Man Who Planted Canberra: Charles Weston & His Three Million Trees by Robert Macklin with Dr John Gray, (NLA Publishing)
• Versailles Mirrored: The Power of Luxury, Louis XIV to Donald Trump by Robert Wellington, (Bloomsbury Visual Arts)

Poetry shortlist

• Wita Witalana by Paul Collis (Recent Work Press)
• The Dingo’s Noctuary by Judith Nangala Crispin (Puncher & Wattman)
• Arsenic Flower by Dakota Feirer (Hachette)
• Fruits of Exile by Maggie Shapley (Recent Work Press)

The judges are:

• Children’s – Ambelin Kwaymullina, Gabrielle Tozer
• Fiction – Eugen Bacon, Lucy Neave
• Nonfiction – Frank Bongiorno, Helen Ennis
• Poetry – Dan Hogan, Jen Webb

The Anderson Pender Foundation supports the prizes.