The winners of the 2026 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) have been announced, with Sally Hepworth’s Mad Mabel taking home the title of Audiobook of the Year. Narrated by Hannah Fredericksen and Jenny Seedsman, the novel also won in the General Fiction of the Year category.
The ABIA Awards are presented annually for achievements in bringing Australian books to readers, and this year marks the 26th anniversary of the awards. The winners were announced at a star-studded ceremony in Sydney on 21 May. Congratulations to all the honourees!
Winner: Audiobook of the Year, General Fiction Book of the Year
Artfully voiced by Hannah Fredericksen and Jenny Seedsman, Sally Hepworth’s latest is a virtuoso story of family secrets, vicious rumours, and a twisty tale of friendship, starring two unlikely criminals: an elderly woman and a little girl. Listen to our interview with the author to learn more about the inspiration behind the novel's notorious murderess.
Winner: Biography Book of the Year
Elegantly alternating between timelines and geographies—from America to remote Flinders Island, where the native Australian went to grieve the loss of her partner, Tony Horwitz—this deep and searching portrait of mourning across cultures is a stunning tribute to love and loss.
Winner: Book of the Year for Older Children (ages 13+)
Bestselling author Lynette Noni pivoted from writing fantasy worlds to pen this swoon-worthy YA survival story that strands a disgraced Hollywood actor and an average girl together in the unforgiving Australian wilderness.
Winner: General Non-fiction Book of the Year
Renowned true crime writers Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper, and Sarah Krasnostein team up to document the triple-murder trial of Erin Patterson, investigating the story's sensational matters of marriage, mycology, and murder.
Winner: International Book of the Year
Lily King's poetic prose explores how young love's echoes reverberate across decades when a writer's comfortable life is upended as her college past resurfaces, forcing her to revisit an intoxicating triangle with brilliant classmates Sam and Yash.
Winner: Literary Fiction Book of the Year
Charlotte McConaghy transports listeners to a remote island located somewhere between Australia and Antarctica where Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of the world’s largest seed bank. The novel unspools from there into a gothic tale of ferocious love as rising seas threaten their safety. Read our interview with the author.
Winner: Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year
Goorie and Koori poet Evelyn Araluen delves into decaying romance and the dying days of late-stage capitalism in this poetry collection driven by rage that exposes the bloody violence of settler colonies both near and abroad.
Winner: The Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year (for an author’s first book, regardless of genre)
Debut novelist Angie Faye Martin delivers a powerful First Nations crime noir that features both a gutsy heroine and an atmospheric look into the dark underbelly of institutionalized racism.
