The longlist for the Davitt Awards 2025 has been announced.
150 books were entered and the judges have selected 29 for the longlist. It has been a particularly challenging task this year. As Ruth Wykes, award winning short story writer and Judges’ Co-ordinator, said this year’s longlist is a stunning and diverse collection of stories.
“Judges were searching for those unforgettable characters, thought-provoking or funny stories, settings that felt organic to the story – and for those stories that stayed with us long after we finished the last chapter. We are also looking for quality in writing and originality in storytelling that raises the bar even higher for our wonderful Australian crime and mystery writers,” she said.
Enormous congratulations to all of these authors.
Adult Fiction
Donna M. Cameron, The Rewilding (Transit Lounge Publishing)
Shankari Chandran, Safe Haven (Ultimo Press)
Sherryl Clark, Woman, Missing (HQ Fiction/HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
Anna Downes, Red River Road (Affirm Press)
Amanda Hampson, The Cryptic Clue: A Tea Ladies Mystery (Penguin Random House
Australia)
Georgia Harper, What I Would Do To You (Penguin Random House Australia) Debut
Margaret Hickey, The Creeper (Penguin Random House Australia)
Riley James, The Chilling (Allen & Unwin) Debut
Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13 (Allen & Unwin)
Dervla McTiernan, What Happened To Nina? (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
Hannah Richell, The Search Party (Simon & Schuster Australia)
Claire Sutherland, The Crag (Affirm Press) Debut
Glenna Thompson, Gone (Penguin Random House Australia)
Vikki Wakefield, To The River (Text Publishing)
Lee Winter, Vengeance Planning For Amateurs (Ylva Publishing)
Non Fiction
Dassi Erlich, In Bad Faith: Inside a secret ultra-Orthodox sect and the brutal betrayal it tried to
hide (Hachette Australia) Debut
Anne Manne, Crimes Of The Cross (Black Inc Books)
Lucia Osborne-Crowley, The Lasting Harm: witnessing the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell
(Allen & Unwin)
Young Adult Fiction
Amy Doak, Eleanor Jones Can’t Keep A Secret (Penguin Books Australia)
Kate Emery, My Family And Other Suspects (Allen & Unwin)
Jane Godwin, Look Me In The Eye (Hachette Australia)
Erin Gough, Into The Mouth Of The Wolf (Hardie Grant Publishing)
Krystal Sutherland, The Invocations (Penguin Books Australia)
Children’s Fiction
Charlie Archbold, The Sugarcane Kids and the Empty Cage (Text Publishing)
Joe Featherstone, Queen of Dogs (Walker Books) Debut
Emily Gale and Nova Weetman, Outlaw Girls (Text Publishing)
Jacqueline Harvey, Willa and Woof: Best Idea Yet (Penguin Books Australia)
Judith Rossell, The Midwatch (Hardie Grant Publishers)
R.A. Spratt, Friday Barnes 12, Collision Course (Penguin Books Australia)
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