Sophie Beer and Dave Petzold shortlisted for Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2025

How magnificent to share the news that both Sophie Beer and Dave Petzold have both been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, for their books Thunderhead and We Live in a Bus respectively.

Dave Petzold’s wonderful picture book We Live in a Bus is shortlisted in the Children’s Literature category. Congratulations to Dave and the amazing team at Thames and Hudson. The shortlist is as follows:

• A Leaf Called Greaf by Kelly Canby (Fremantle Press)

• Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Tooth Fairy (And Some Things You Didn't) by Briony Stewart (Hachette Australia)

• Leo and Ralph by Peter Carnavas (University of Queensland Press)

• Raymaŋgirrbuy dhäwu When I was a little girl by Kylie Gatjawarrawuy Mununggurr (Magabala Books)

• We Live in a Bus by Dave Petzold (Thames & Hudson Australia) 

Sophie Beer’s brilliant illustrated novel Thunderhead is shortlisted in the category for Young Adult Literature. Hooray Sophie and thank you to the wonderful team at Allen and Unwin. The shortlist for Young Adult Literature is:

• Anomaly by Emma Lord (Affirm Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Australia)

• My Family and Other Suspects by Kate Emery (Allen & Unwin)

• The Anti-Racism Kit by Sabina Patawaran and Jinyoung Kim (Hardie Grant Children's Publishing)

• The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland (Penguin Random House Australia)

• Thunderhead by Sophie Beer (Allen & Unwin) 

Newly appointed Director, Writing Australia Wenona Byrne said:  

“These awards celebrate the highest expression of literary excellence, and we warmly congratulate the shortlisted authors and illustrators on this recognition of their outstanding work. 

"This year marks the first delivery of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards under Writing Australia. The Awards are a key part of our commitment to supporting the literature sector, and we are proud to celebrate these works as part of a new era in Australian writing.”