Awesome Aussies

 

Sisters in Crime Australia revealed the 2026 Davitt Awards Shortlists, culled from 126 books entered across four categories, reflecting the best of crime fiction published in the past year by Australian women crime writers. The winners will be announced on Friday, September 12th at an awards ceremony in Melbourne. Congrats to all!

Adult Fiction

• Shaeden Barry, At Café 64, (Echo Publishing)
• Zeyneb Gamieldien, Learned Behaviours, (Ultimo Press)
• Fiona Hardy, Unbury The Dead, (Affirm Press)
• Sally Hepworth, Mad Mabel, (Macmillan Australia)
• Joanna Jenkins, The Bluff, (Allen & Unwin)
• Angie Faye Martin, Melaleuca, (HQ Fiction) Debut

Non-Fiction

• Sonia Orchard, Groomed, (Simon & Schuster)
• Lucy Sussex & Megan Brown, Outrageous Fortunes, the biography of Mary and Geroge Fortune, (Black Inc Books)
• Kate Wild, The Red House, (Allen & Unwin) 

Young Adult

• Amy Doak, What Have They done to Liza McLean?, (Penguin Randon House Australia)
• Kate Emery, A Murder Is Going Down, (Allen & Unwin)
• Carla Salmon, We Saw What You Started, (Pan Macmillan Australia) Debut 

Children's Books

• Sarah Armstrong, Run, (Hardie Grant Children’s)
• Jacqueline Harvey, The Girl and the Ghost, (Penguin Randon House Australia)
• Amelia Mellor, Oceanforged: The Wicked Ship, (Simon & Schuster Australia)
• Gisela Ervin-Ward, True South, (Midnight Sun) Debut