Grab your favourite book-reading snacks and call dibs on the comfiest chair in the house because you’re going to want to read ALL the books on the Indie Book Awards 2020 shortlist.
Judges announced the shortlisted books only days ago after paring down a pretty impressive longlist of more than 60 entries for this year’s prizes. The six categories are young adult, children’s, debut fiction, fiction, non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction.
Keep on reading to see if your favourite Australian author or book made the Indie Book Awards 2020 shortlist.
Young Adult shortlist
Two of the four of books vying for this year’s Young Adult prize are from first-time authors, which is an impressive accomplishment. And all of them are amazing reads. Check out all the YA shortlisted books below.
- The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim (Allen and Unwin)
Anna Chui’s mum has a mental illness and so it’s up to Anna to look after her brother and sister and help out at the family’s restaurant. All Anna wants is the chance to have a “normal” life and be a normal teen. But her mum’s behaviour becomes more erratic and things go from bad to worse. A touching look at mental illness, families and what it means to be Chinese-Australian.
- Aurora Rising: The Aurora Cycle 1 by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Allen and Unwin)
It’s 2380 and Aurora Academy’s star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams. Instead, he ends up with an apparent band of misfits, including Auri, a girl who’s been trapped in cybersleep for two whole centuries. And if he doesn’t do something, they’ll start a war that’ll destroy the entire galaxy.
- Monuments by Will Kostakis (Lothian Children’s Books)
Connor is trying to avoid his one-time bestie when he finds a trap door under his school. It leads to a secret chamber that holds the Monuments – gods who created the world and then hid themselves away to keep it safe. Connor doesn’t know it yet, but he’s about to get so much more than he bargained for. An action-packed fantasy adventure.
- It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood (Text Publishing)
Natalie’s parents are getting divorced, her two best friends have fallen in love and nothing is going to plan. She’s awkward, spotty and unsure of both herself and what’s going to happen next. Then she meets Alex and everything changes. A sweet, funny coming-of-age story for Aussie teens.
Children’s book shortlist
Fact books, fiction books, picture books – this year’s Indie Book Awards children’s shortlist has everything. Young Newcastle illustrator Sami Bayly is up against some big names in the children’s book category with her stunning and very different non-fiction animal book. Not a bad effort to be pitted against literary stalwarts like Mem Fox and Bruce Pascoe with your debut book. Good luck, Sami! And good luck to all her fellow shortlisters too.
- The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals by Sami Bayly (Hachette Children’s Books)
You can probably tell I have a bit of a soft spot for Bayly’s rather brilliant illustrated non-fiction book, which I included in a recent wrap-up of the best animal books for kids. Brimming with facts and impressive hand-drawn pictures of ‘ugly’ animals, it shines a light on those animals who mightn’t be so cute and fluffy, but are still incredibly interesting.
- Into the Wild: Wolf Girl, Book 1 by Anh Do, illustrated by Jeremy Ley (Allen and Unwin)
Gwen gets separated from her family in the wilderness after a terrible crisis. She finds a wolf cub and some wild dogs and joins their pack, but does she have what it takes to survive without her parents? A rather thrilling middle-grade adventure story.
- The Tiny Star by Mem Fox and Freya Blackwood (Puffin Australia)
This picture book tells the story of the journey through life in a way that’s incredibly touching as well as easy for young children to understand. Which is exactly what one would expect from Australia’s grand dame of children’s books.
- Young Dark Emu: A Truer History by Bruce Pascoe (Magabala Books)
It’s Pascoe’s acclaimed Dark Emu that shows a different picture of Australia’s pre-European history, but for a younger readership. Accounts from colonists, farmers and explorers show a different side to pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians, one that’s very different to the hunter-gatherer idea.
Fiction shortlist
Two very different thrillers set on two very different islands, and stories about the bonds that connect the ones we love round out the Indie Book Awards 2020 Fiction shortlist. Which one will win? Hmmmmm, it’s a hard decision.
- There Was Still Love by Favel Parrett (Hachette Australia)
It’s the 1980s and Liska and Ludek are being raised by their twin grandmothers – one in Melbourne and one in Prague. This story of family and of love reveals how the sisters were torn apart when the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia during World War Two. It’s a story of how distance and heartache and trauma can’t stop love.
- Bruny by Heather Rose (Allen and Unwin)
Family and love also feature here, but with a thrilling geopolitical twist. Australia is now allied with China, America has withdrawn from the UN … and terrorists have just blown up a bridge connecting Bruny island to Tasmania. Riveting.
- The Wife and the Widow by Christian White (Affirm Press)
Kate has just discovered her dead husband had a secret life. And Abby? She’s just learnt her husband is a murderer. Set in an eerie island town, the two women come together and soon discover they didn’t know the men in their lives at all. An absolutely thrilling and addictive read.
- The Weekend by Charlotte Wood (Allen and Unwin)
Four women who have been friends for life gather to clean out a beach house when one of them dies. A touching and heartfelt story of friendship and what it means to grow older and to grow up.
More shortlisted books
Non-fiction shortlist
- Your Own Kind of Girl by Clare Bowditch (Allen and Unwin)
- 488 Rules for Life: The Thankless Art of Being Correct by Kitty Flanagan (Allen and Unwin)
- Tell Me Why by Archie Roach (Simon & Schuster Australia)
- Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta (Text Publishing)
Debut fiction shotlist
- Wearing Paper Dresses by Anne Brinsden (Macmillan Australia)
- Allegra in Three Parts by Suzanne Daniel (Macmillan Australia)
- The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone by Felicity McLean (Fourth Estate Australia)
- Heart of the Grass Tree by Molly Murn (Vintage Australia)
Illustrated non-fiction shortlist
- The Lost Boys by Paul Byrnes (Affirm Press)
- Finding the Heart of the Nation by Thomas Mayor (Hardie Grant Books)
- The Whole Fish Cookbook by Josh Niland (Hardie Grant Books)
- In an Australian Light edited by Jo Turner (Thames & Hudson Australia)
All the Indie Book Awards winners for 2020 will be announced in March, so make sure to check back then. In the meantime, you can browse more literary book award lists in our news section or follow TCWR on Facebook and we’ll be sure to keep you posted.
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