Beyond its natural wonders, exquisite beaches and deadly wildlife, Australia is rightly famous for its writers, and has arguably produced more than its fair share of Booker Prize-nominated authors over the years. The prize may be awarded at a London ceremony to the author of a book published in the UK and/or Ireland, but it has always mattered to Australians. Speaking to the Guardian in 2022, Michael Williams, editor of Australian magazine The Monthly, said that ‘Unmistakeably, the Booker still holds power here’. Winning it, he added, is ‘an act of instant canonisation’.

By that reckoning, Thomas Keneally became Australia’s first living literary saint after winning the Booker Prize in 1982. Richard Flanagan became the most recent, in 2014. Peter Carey is the only Aussie to have won the Booker twice, while Adelaide-born D.B.C. Pierre and Australia-raised Aravind Adiga scooped the award in 2003 and 2008 respectively – all proving that even while geographically removed from the main hubs of the English-language fiction scene, Australian authors can stand alongside the best of them. (Australians might even claim South Africa-born J.M. Coetzee as one of their own, although he only became an Australian citizen in 2006, seven years after his second Booker triumph.) 

No Australian woman has yet won the Booker, but Kate Grenville, Gail Jones and Madeleine St John have been nominated. 

Now, with Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood appearing on the 2024 shortlist – the first time an Australian writer has been shortlisted for a decade – we felt it was a good time to revisit some of our favourite Booker-nominated books written by Australians.

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, Stone Yard Devotional is a profound exploration of grief, faith and forgiveness. The novel follows an unnamed woman who, after leaving her failing marriage and life in Sydney, retreats to a religious community in her childhood hometown. In the stillness of her new life, a series of disturbing events force her to confront deep questions about her past. Charlotte Wood was born in the Monaro region in New South Wales, where her latest novel is set, though she now resides in Sydney. Described by the Guardian as a novel of ‘introspection and despair,’ Wood is now widely regarded as one of Australia’s greatest writers.

True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey

Winner of The Booker Prize in 2001, True History of the Kelly Gang describes the life of Australia’s greatest outlaw in his own words, as we see what motivations lie behind the actions of this notorious bushranger. Combining fact with fiction (Carey admitted it’s around 90% made up, ‘but it really respects the 2%’ that is true), the story follows Kelly’s short life from his teenage years to his death at the age of 26, after he’d become one of the most wanted men in the country. Carey provides insight into the major themes of the era, spotlighting the police corruption and violence that existed in 19th-century Australia. Peter Carey has been nominated for the Booker Prize five times and is one of only four writers to have won the award twice, for Kelly Gang and 1988’s Oscar and Lucinda. He was also shortlisted for International Booker Prize in 2009 (then known as the Man Booker International Prize) for his entire body of work.

The Bay of Noon by Shirley Hazzard

The Bay of Noon, published in 1970 was shortlisted for 2010’s Lost Man Booker Prize, a one-off award to honour books that missed out on the Booker Prize in 1970 due to a rule change. The novel follows Jenny, a young English woman who starts working for NATO as a translator in post-World War II Naples. Jenny immerses herself in the culture, befriending locals including Gioconda, a beautiful writer, Gioconda’s lover Gianni, a womanising filmmaker, and Justin, a somewhat dour Scottish co-worker. As Jenny becomes entangled in Gioconda and Gianni’s relationship, she finds herself out of her depth and ‘a game of sexual musical chairs’, as one reviewer put it, ensues. Hazzard, born in Sydney in 1931, worked for the UN in Naples for a year and described the novel as her love letter to the Italian city. 

Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally

Another Booker-winning novel that is based on true events, Schindler’s Ark (1982) tells the story of Oskar Schindler, flawed hero and businessman, who was a serving member of the Nazi Party during the Second World War. Tricking the SS, Schindler risked his life in the process of saving approximately 1,200 Polish Jews from the death camps, employing them in his enamelware and ammunition factories in Brněnec, in what is now the Czech Republic. Keneally stumbled upon the story while buying a briefcase in Beverly Hills, in 1980, at a shop owned by Leopold Pfefferberg, one of the individuals saved by Schindler. Using Pfefferberg’s archival documents and information from other living survivors, Keneally found himself telling one of the extraordinary human stories of the 20th century. The novel was adapted into the film, Schindler’s List, winner of an impressive seven Oscars. One of Australia’s most renowned literary exports, Keneally has been nominated for the Booker Prize four times. He was born in Sydney, where he still lives.

The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser

The Lost Dog revolves around an Indian-Australian professor, Tom Loxley, who moves to a remote cottage in the Australian bush while trying to finish his novel about author Henry James. While there, his dog goes missing and so Loxley sets out to find him, with artist Nelly Zhang accompanying him on the search. According to de Kretser, dogs appear in all of her novels: ‘My dogs are the only beings in my books who are drawn directly from life.’ Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2008, the novel alternates between the past and the present, reverting to Loxley’s early life in India with his mother, Iris, whose health is now declining. The plot also explores the mystery of Nelly’s lost husband and Tom and Nelly’s budding romance. According to the Guardian, de Kretser describes the book’s dual locales with ‘persuasive vitality and an ethical alertness that gives keen observation relevance and wit.’ De Kretser was born in Sri Lanka but has lived in Australia for most of her life.

Vernon God Little by D.B.C. Pierre

Winner of the Booker Prize in 2003, this darkly comic satire takes aim at contemporary American culture, capitalism and the country’s unscrupulous media. After being wrongly accused of a school massacre, Texan teenager Vernon Gregory Little goes on the run. Through a series of trials and tribulations, he encounters a vast range of colourful characters in his efforts to prove his innocence. Written from Vernon’s point of view, with a teenage vernacular to match (offensive language abounds), this unconventional winner captures ‘the moment things began to go wrong’ in the early years of the 21st century, according to Jo Hamya, co-host of the Booker Prize Podcast. D.B.C. Pierre was born in Australia and raised in Mexico but now resides in Ireland. Vernon God Little was his first book.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

Described by the Washington Post as ‘one of our greatest living novelists’, Flanagan was born in a remote mining town in Tasmania and was inspired to write 2014’s Booker Prize winner, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by his father’s experience on the Burma Death Railway during the Second World War. ‘I had known for a long time that this was the book I had to write if I was to keep on writing,’ Flanagan said. The story centres around Australian doctor Dorrigo Evans, a war veteran who is lauded for his actions as a prisoner of war in charge of 700 men, but wracked with guilt and a sense of failure, haunted by an affair with his uncle’s wife.

The Riders by Tim Winton

After attempting to build a new life for his family in Ireland, Fred Scully goes to the local airport to collect his wife and young daughter, who have travelled from Australia to join him. But when only his daughter Billy gets off the plane, the two begin a long and desperate journey across Europe, as they try to find answers to his wife’s disappearance. Part psychological thriller and part love story, the book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1995. The author of over 20 books, Winton was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia in 1998. His other Booker-shortlisted title, Dirt Music, is set across the arid landscape of Western Australia and centres around a love story and the painful tragedies of the past.

The Secret River by Kate Grenville

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2006, The Secret River was inspired by Grenville’s own great-great-great grandfather, Solomon Wiseman, who was born in London but sent to New South Wales as a convict in 1806 after stealing wood. The novel focuses on William Thornhill, who, similarly, is sent to Australia from London after committing a crime – there, he builds a new life, farming land on the edge of the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales. Centring on the colonisation of 19th century Australia and the treatment of First Nations people, The Secret River, described by the Independent as a ‘compressed epic of the unenfranchised’, presents in unflinching detail the conflicts and brutality that existed at the time.

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas

Tsiolkas’ controversial, angry novel tosses a grenade into middle-class, 21st-century domestic life – and made plenty of people very unhappy. Set in Melbourne, it revolves around a single shocking incident and its aftermath: a three-year-old child is slapped at a suburban barbecue, by someone other than his parents. Told from the viewpoints of eight different characters, the novel uncovers the emotions felt by each attendee and the repercussions of the event. Tsiolkas is the son of Greek parents but was born and raised in Melbourne. Speaking to the Guardian, he said he ‘wanted to show the world I live in, a world I don’t see reflected in Australian literature or on screen.’ Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2010, and described by the Sunday Times as ‘Neighbours as Philip Roth might have written it’, The Slap leaves readers questioning how they conduct their own domestic affairs.

Remembering Babylon by David Malouf

Remembering Babylon tells the story of a 13-year-old British boy, Gemmy Fairley who is cast ashore in Queensland where he is raised by First Nations people. After 16 years, English settlers arrive in the area and Gemmy is taken back into British Colonial society, struggling with his new identity. Malouf was born in Brisbane, with his work tending to be mostly set in Australia, specifically in or around Brisbane. In an interview with the Antipodes journal, he said, ‘Often when I find myself moved by something I want to write about, it presents itself to me in a place that has the light and texture and air of that place I grew up in.’ Remembering Babylon was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1993, while Malouf’s entire body of work was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2011.