Founded in 2014, the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction is awarded for an author's first or second book, and recognises exciting and exceptional new contributions to local literature.
It is open exclusively to works of fiction.
The inaugural name of the award was 'The Readings New Australian Writing Award'.
'Lucky's is a story of family. A story about migration.
'It is also about a man called Lucky. His restaurant chain. A fire that changed everything. A New Yorker article which might save a career. The mystery of a missing father. An impostor who got the girl. An unthinkable tragedy. A roll of the dice. And a story of love, lost, sought and won again, (at last).' (Publication summary)
'Conspiracies, memes, and therapies of various efficacy underpin this beguiling short-story collection from Elizabeth Tan.
'In the titular story, a cat-shaped oven tells a depressed woman she doesn’t have to be sorry anymore. A Yourtopia Bespoke Terraria employee becomes paranoid about the mounting coincidences in her life. Four girls gather to celebrate their underwear in ‘Happy Smiling Underwear Girls Party’, a hilarious take-down of saccharine advertisements.
'With her trademark wit and slicing social commentary, Elizabeth Tan’s short stories are as funny as they are insightful. This collection cements her role as one of Australia’s most inventive writers.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
'After a catastrophic storm destroys Melbourne, Isobel flees to higher ground with her husband and young daughter. Food and supplies run low, panic sets in and still no help arrives. To protect her daughter, Isobel must take drastic action.
'The Glad Shout is an extraordinary novel of rare depth and texture. Told in a starkly visual and compelling narrative, this is a deeply moving homage to motherhood and the struggles faced by women in difficult times.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
'The characters in Jennifer Down’s Pulse Points live in small dusty towns, glittering exotic cities and slow droll suburbs; they are mourners, survivors and perpetrators.
'In the award-winning ‘Aokigahara’, a young woman travels to the sea of trees in Japan to say goodbye. In ‘Coarsegold’, a woman conducts an illicit affair while her recovering girlfriend works the overnight motel shift in the middle of nowhere. In ‘Dogs’, Foggo runs an unruly gang of bored, cruel boys with a scent for fresh meat. In ‘Pressure Okay’ a middle-aged man goes to the theatre, gets a massage, remembers his departed wife, navigates the long game of grief with his adult daughter.' (Publication Summary)
'From an impressive new voice in Australian literature, a novel where safe harbour seems always just out of reach.
'Sam Carmody is a real literary talent, with an artist's inquiring mind and a natural feel for the beauty and toughness of language. Charlotte Wood, author of the award-winning The Natural Way of Things
'A young fisherman is missing from the crayfish boats in the harsh West Australian coastal town of Stark. There's no trace at all of Elliot, there hasn't been for some weeks and Paul, his younger brother, is the only one who seems to be active in the search. Taking Elliot's place on the boat skippered by their troubled cousin, Paul soon learns how many opportunities there are to get lost in those many thousands of kilometres of lonely coastline.
'Fierce, evocative and memorable, this is an Australian story set within an often wild and unforgiving sea, where mysterious influences are brought to bear on the inhospitable town and its residents.' (Publication summary)
'Events manager Chris Gordon chats about this year's Readings Prize For New Australian Fiction shortlist with Ellen Cregan, chair of the judging panel.' (Production summary)
'Events manager Chris Gordon chats about this year's Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction shortlist with two of the judges: Marie Matteson and Gabrielle Williams.' (Production summary)