By arts editor HELEN MUSA

The ACT writers’ group, MARION, on Thursday released the shortlist for the 2026 ACT Literary Awards, to be announced on July 2.

In addition to the category awards, one of the shortlisted works will receive the Marion Halligan Award, which will also be announced on the night.

The awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of writers from the ACT and surrounding regions which were published in 2025, across four categories: children’s literature, fiction, nonfiction and poetry.

Both self-published and traditionally published works are eligible for consideration.

Children’s Literature Shortlist

• Washpool by Lisa Fuller (Hachette)
• The Drought Kangaroo by Jackie French, illustrated by Danny Snell (HarperCollins)
• Luna’s World: Library Dreams by Hayley Gannon, illustrated 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 Press)
• 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 with 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 & Wattmann)
• Arsenic Flower by Dakota Feirer (Hachette)
• Fruits of Exile by Maggie Shapley (Recent Work Press)

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