ACTLA 2026
ACT Literary Awards
Book Awards and Family Awards (In Memoriam)
On Thursday, 2 July, we held the ACT Literary Awards at Verity Lane Market in Canberra’s city centre.
Together, we celebrated the excellence of the literary sector in the ACT and surrounding regions. The winners across the book award categories have produced exceptional published works that demonstrate literary excellence, compelling narrative, and outstanding use of language. These awards recognise books that stand out for their originality, craft, and lasting impact on readers.
We extend our gratitude to our fantastic judges this year: Eugen Bacon, Frank Bongiorno, Helen Ennis, Dan Hogan, Subhash Jaireth, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Lucy Neave, Sandra Renew, Gabrielle Tozer, and Jen Webb.
All Photos by Ben Appleton, Photox
L-R: Paul Collis, Lisa Fuller, Dakota Feirer, Judith Ngangala Crispin, Merlinda Bobis, Kate Liston-Mills
Finding Beauty Poetry Prize
This is the second year that MARION has awarded the Finding Beauty Poetry Prize for emerging poets. This very special prize has been established in memory of Roger Green, an environmental advocate, writer and editor, lover of poetry, and thinker. Roger believed that beauty had the power to alleviate fear and hardship, and to provide hope and inspiration.
The prize recognises and rewards emerging poets in Canberra and its surrounding regions, encouraging them to explore the theme of beauty in its many dimensions, with this year’s theme being ‘human interaction’.
First place: ‘Paper Crane’ by Lillace Kenta $5,000
Second place: ’The Italian Chapel’ by Deborah Dawkings $2,000
Shortlisted: ‘The Anatomy of My Parent’s Hands‘ by Michelle Brock $750
Shortlisted: ‘She Collects Things‘ by Elizabeth Walton $750
Honourable mentions: ‘On William Barton’ by Julie Hollitt and ‘Holding Still’ by Sara Pronger
Lillace Kenta
Deborah Dawkings
Michelle Brock
L-R: Katy Mutton, Emma Batchelor, Monika Binder
ANNE EDGEWORTH EMERGING WRITER’S FELLOWSHIP AWARD
The Anne Edgeworth Emerging Writer’s Fellowship is provided to an emerging writer in the Canberra Region. The Fellowship is worth up to $5,000 and is to be used to advance the recipients’ development in the craft of writing. The Fellowship is provided annually by the Anne Edgeworth Trust and administered by MARION.
Award Winner: Kelsey Clifton
Award Winner: Katherine Hammersley
Shortlisted: Madeleine Marsland
Kelsey Clifton
Katherine Hammersley
L-R: Emma Batchelor, Katy Mutton, Rebecca Sweet (Anne Edgeworth Trust)
POETRY BOOK AWARDS
WINNER Paul Collis, Wita Witalana (Recent Work Press)
Wita Witalana by Paul Collis is a remarkable poetic achievement. Propulsive and lucid, commanding and resonant, Collis’ expert dispensation of narrative, image and an extraordinary range of poetic registers has produced a work of great depth and texture, making for an invigorating reading experience. Wita Witalana is one of those rare books that will doubtless leave any reader unchanged. - Judges’ comments
Paul Collis
HIGHLY COMMENDED Dakota Feirer, Arsenic Flower (Hachette Australia)
Arsenic Flower, Dakota Feirer’s debut collection, is witty, eloquent and often experimental. His work builds on the corpus of poetry that directly confronts the impacts of colonisation, and uses language, rhythm and imagery to re-imagine how one can be (present, honest, engaged) in the contemporary world. - Judges’ comments
Dakota Feirer
NONFICTION BOOK AWARDS
WINNER Robert Wellington, Versailles Mirrored: The Power of Luxury, Louis XIV to Donald Trump (Bloomsbury)
Versailles Mirrored explores an historical site, Versailles, and an aesthetic fantasy that has extended from the seventeenth century down to the present. Robert Wellington has written an accessible, learned and witty account that ranges across Europe, Britain, North America and the Middle East, across the centuries, and across a formidable array of sources. This is a model cultural history that will instruct readers about a remote past and all-too-familiar present. - Judges’ comments
HIGHLY COMMENDED Emily Gallagher, Playtime: A History of Australian Childhood (Black Inc.)
Emily Gallagher’s well-written, very readable book is highly original in its approach, considering the social history of Australian childhood (between 1890 and World War Two) from a child-centred perspective. The delights of archival research are obvious, and Gallagher’s copious examples illuminate not only the imaginative lives of children but their talents as well. - Judges’ comments.
FICTION BOOK AWARDS
WINNER Merlinda Bobis, In the Name of the Trees (Spinifex Press)
The Judges were enamored with this original and moving story about generations of women. The novel contains nested narratives, whose evocations of a region in the Philippines, and of local trees, make this an important book from ecocritical and cultural perspectives. This is an accomplished story, both literary and vivid. Bobis’ novel has cultural depth, is enticingly arranged and includes different perspectives across generations evoked in distinct languages. Folklore underpins In the Name of the Trees, with the story’s focus on women, injustice, migration and belonging addresses crucial timeless and contemporary themes. - Judges’ comments
WINNER (Self-published) Kate Liston-Mills, To Heal a Lyrebird
A bold and unique book with playful visual aesthetics and an audacious but intelligent text that pushes boundaries. Kate Liston-Mills’ To Heal a Lyrebird is highly innovative, literary, artistic in nature and adventurous in its largely speculative narrative with a huge cast. -Judges’ comments
CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS
WINNER - Older Readers Lisa Fuller, Washpool (Hachette Australia)
A magical, beautifully told story that is at once a fantasy, an adventure, and a tale of love and family. In turns warm, funny and insightful, this is a rich and layered narrative that is sure to be re-read many times over. - Judges’ comments
WINNER - Nonfiction Stephanie Owen Reeder and Ingrid Bartkowiak, Peculiar Parents (National Library of Australia Publishing)
A gorgeous book that introduces children and adults alike to the wonders of Australia’s native fauna. The stunning illustrations sprawl across each page and work in perfect harmony with the text to tell the fascinating stories of animal parents and babies across Australia. - Judges’ comments
WINNER - Fiction Jackie French and Danny Snell
The Drought Kangaroo (HarperCollins Australia)
This is a moving and powerful book about survival, resilience and the unforgiving Australian bush. Young Joseph’s desperate search for water will captivate young readers, while French’s lyrical writing and Snell’s evocative illustrations make this a beautiful love letter to the Australian landscape and its wildlife. - Judges’ comments
The Marion Halligan Award
This award recognises work that demonstrates uniqueness, literary excellence and has the capacity to surpass genre. The winning work is selected across all categories of the ACT Literary Awards.
The winner of the 2026 Marion Halligan Award is Judith Nangala Crispin for The Dingo’s Noctuary (Puncher & Wattman).
Judith Nangala Crispin
L-R: Emma Batchelor, Katy Mutton, Eddie Halligan, Jenny Sawer
WITH THANKS TO OUR MEMBERS, SUPPORTERS AND SPONSORS
