Giramondo Publishing

The Giramondo Publishing Company was set up in December 1995 with the aim of publishing quality creative and interpretive writing by Australian authors. It seeks to encourage innovative and adventurous literary work that might not otherwise find publication because of its subtle commercial appeal; to stimulate exchange between Australian writers and readers and their counterparts overseas; and to build a common ground between the academy and the marketplace.

Initially these aims were expressed through the publication of the book-length literary journal HEAT, which is now in its second series, and appeares three times a year. HEAT has a national and international reputation as a showcase for contemporary writing from Australia, and from overseas, often in translation.

In 2002 the Giramondo Publishing Company began the publication of literary works by individual authors in its Giramondo book imprint. Many of these titles have won major Australian literary prizes, including the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the various state Premier’s Awards. Giramondo authors include poets Emma Lew, Judith Beveridge, Jennifer Maiden, Robert Gray and Alan Wearne, novelists Brian Castro, Gerald Murnane, Mireille Juchau and Alexis Wright, and essayists Louis Nowra, John Hughes, Beverley Farmer and Gerald Murnane.

Since March 2005, HEAT magazine and the Giramondo imprint have been published from the The Writing & Society Research Group at the University of Western Sydney, which brings together writers, publishers, scholars and students concerned with the social and imaginative power of good writing.

The Giramondo Publishing Company enjoys support from the University of Western Sydney, the Literature Fund of the Australia Council, the NSW Ministry of the Arts and Sydney Grammar School. All our books are designed by the award-winning Australian designer Harry Williamson.

Three weeks until submissions close for The Novel Prize

The Novel Prize, which offers US$10,000 to the winner and publication of their novel, will close submissions on 1 July. The judges will be looking for novels which explore and expand the possibilities of the form, and are innovative and imaginative in style. The...

Four Giramondo authors shortlisted for the 2020 NSW Literary Awards

We are thrilled that Lisa Gorton, Joanne Burns, Fiona Wright and Yumna Kassab have been shortlisted in the 2020 NSW Premier's Literary Awards. Gorton's Empirical and Burns' Apparently are shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry, while Wright's book of...

Towards the End – launch speech by Philip Mead

Towards the End by Ali Alizadeh was launched by Philip Mead, at the Paperback Bookshop in Melbourne on 20 February, 2020. Below is an edited version of Mead's launch speech.  Welcome everyone. I’m delighted to be launching this latest collection of Ali Alizadeh’s...

Yumna Kassab longlisted for the 2020 Stella Prize

We are delighted that The House of Youssef by Yumna Kassab has been longlisted for the 2020 Stella Prize, an award that celebrates women's writing. The House of Youssef is a debut collection of short stories remarkable for its minimalism. Set in the western suburbs of...

Judith Beveridge wins 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Award

We are thrilled to announce that Judith Beveridge was awarded the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry in Canberra on 23 October, for Sun Music: New and Selected Poems. See below for the full judges' comments.Sun Music: New and Selected PoemsJudith...

Six authors to feature at the Melbourne Writers Festival

We are pleased to share the news that six Giramondo authors will feature at the Melbourne Writers Festival this year, including Ali Cobby Eckermann, Alexis Wright, Fiona Wright, Eunice Andrada and Fiona McGregor. Also appearing at the festival will be international...

Norman Erikson Pasaribu on tour in Australia

Indonesian author Norman Erikson Pasaribu, whose poetry collection Sergius Seeks Bacchus Giramondo published in April, will be a guest of Queensland Poetry Festival and Melbourne Writers Festival in August and September. Norman will also appear in Sydney, joined by...

Tom Lee named a 2019 SMH Best Young Australian Novelist

Tom Lee has been chosen as one of this years' Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists for his first novel Coach Fitz. The award, given to writers who are 35 years or younger at the time of their book's publication, was judged by Felicity Castagna, Delia...

Giramondo to publish A Novel Idea by Fiona McGregor

Giramondo has acquired A Novel Idea, a new book by author and performance artist Fiona McGregor. The book, a photoessay memoir that depicts McGregor’s writing of her Age Book of the Year award-winning novel Indelible Ink, will be published in March 2019....

Alexis Wright wins the 2018 Magarey Medal

We are delighted to announce that Alexis Wright has been awarded the 2018 Magarey Medal for Biography for her book, Tracker. Tracker, which also won the Stella Prize earlier in the year, is a collective memoir of the charismatic Aboriginal leader,...

Michelle Cahill launches Flood Damages

Flood Damages by Eunice Andrada was launched by award-winning poet and fiction writer, Michelle Cahill, at the Red Rattler Theatre in Marrickville, NSW, on Thursday 10 May, 2018. Below is an edited version of Cahill's launch speech.  ...Flood Damages is...

In Memoriam Beverley Farmer

Photo credit: Robin Wallace-Crabbe A eulogy delivered by Ivor Indyk at Beverley Farmer's memorial service at Queenscliff on Sunday 29 April 2018. It is difficult to write a formal eulogy for Beverley Farmer, because she was herself so much a writer of...

Alexis Wright wins the 2018 Stella Prize for Tracker

Image credit: Connor Tomas O'Brien 15 April 2018 Our heartfelt congratulations to Alexis Wright, who has been named winner of the 2018 Stella Prize for Tracker. Her book is a collective memoir on the...

Aden Rolfe wins the 2017 Mary Gilmore Award

Congratulations to Aden Rolfe who has won this year's Mary Gilmore Award, a prize given to the best first book of poetry published in the previous year. About the poet Aden Rolfe is a writer and editor whose practice includes poetry, performance writing and criticism....

A note from Alan Wearne on These Things Are Real

Award-winning poet, Alan Wearne, writes here about his most recent poetry collection, These Things Are Real. The collection is available here. Yes, poetry is an elitist pursuit, since not everyone can write it, nor can everyone read and enjoy it. Yet it is still the...

Ali Cobby Eckermann awarded 2017 Windham-Campbell prize

Indigenous poet Ali Cobby Eckermann has won the 2017 Windham-Campbell award for poetry. She has said that the prize money, which totals A$215,000, is 'going to change my life completely'. Of Eckermann, the Windham-Campbell Prize website states: 'Through song and...

Fiona Wright wins 2016 Queensland Literary Non-fiction Award

Fiona Wright has been awarded The University of Queensland Non-fiction Book Award for Small Acts of Disappearance: Essays on Hunger. Her collection of essays has also recently won the Kibble Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize. Of Small Acts of...

Lucy Dougan wins the 2016 WA Premier’s Poetry Award

The Guardians by Lucy Dougan has won the Western Australia Premier's Award in the poetry category. The award ceremony took place at the State Library of Western Australia on 3 October. Of the poetry collection, the judges said: 'Seemingly simple, actually very dense...

Alexis Wright wins the 2016 Kate Challis Award for The Swan Book

Alexis Wright has won the 2016 Kate Challis Award with her novel, The Swan Book. In their citation the judges noted: 'Alexis Wright’s The Swan Book is a sprawling, magnificent achievement, a remarkable imaginative vision of Australia as it was and is, and will be. Set...

Fiona Wright winner of $30 000 Kibble Literary Award

We are excited to announce that Fiona Wright has won the 2016 Nita B Kibble Literary Award for her collection of essays, Small Acts of Disappearance. The Award, which is worth $30 000, celebrates female writers and their impact on life writing. The judges said: “With...

Fiona Wright Shortlisted for the Kibble Award

We’re delighted that Fiona Wright has been shortlisted for the Kibble Award for Established Writers for her essay collection Small Acts of Disappearance. Established in 1994, the Kibble Awards recognise Australian female literary talent in honour of Nita Kibble, the...

Giramondo Authors Shortlisted for NSW Premier’s Literary Awards

We are delighted to have so many authors shortlisted for this year’s NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.   Christina Stead Prize for Fiction Lisa Gorton The Life of Houses Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction Fiona Wright Small Acts of Disappearance Kenneth Slessor Prize...

Fiona Wright Shortlisted for the Stella Prize

We’re thrilled that Fiona Wright’s Small Acts of Disappearancehas been shortlisted for the Stella Prize. The judges say: ‘Small Acts of Disappearance is a collection of essays on anorexia, a disorder as disturbing as it is mysterious, even to its own sufferers....

Queensland Literary Awards Shortlistings

We are delighted to have two authors shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards. Lucy Dougan's The Guardians has been shortlisted for the Judith Wright Calanthe Poetry Prize and Nicholas Jose's Bapo has been shortlisted for the Steele Rudd Short Story Prize. For...

Felicity Castagna chosen for IBBY Australia Honour List

We're thrilled that Felicity Castagna's The Incredible Here and Now has been chosen at IBBY Australia's Honour Book for Writing. Of Felicity's work, the judges said: Dom dies in a car accident. Fifteen-year-old Michael has to learn how to live without his older...

Alexis Wright Awarded a Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship

We are delighted that Alexis Wright has been awarded a Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship. First awarded in 2011, the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowships provide grants of $160,000 over two years to individual artists, arts managers and thought leaders in the humanities....

Judith Beveridge Awarded Peter Porter Poetry Prize

We're thrilled that Judith Beveridge has been awarded the Peter Porter Poetry Prize for her work, 'As Wasps Fly Upwards'. On winning the prize, Judith said: I am deeply honoured to have won the Peter Porter Poetry Prize, not only because of the high regard I have for...

Luke Carman wins NSW Premier’s New Writing Award 2015

We are delighted that Luke Carman has won the UTS Glenda Adams New Writing Award 2015 at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. The judges had this to say of Luke's work: Luke Carman’s witty collection of stories heralds a new, edgy and brilliant voice in Australian...

Alan Wearne Honoured with Christopher Brennan Award

We are thrilled that Alan Wearne has been lauded with the FAW Christopher Brennan Award. The award celebrates lifetime achievement in poetry and recognises a poet who produces work of 'sustained quality and distinction'. Judges Jennifer Harrison and Philip Salom had...

Felicity Castagna wins the Prime Minister’s Literary Award

We are thrilled that Felicity Castagna has won the Prime Minister's Literary Award, Young Adult Fiction for her work The Incredible Here and Now. The award was presented at a gala dinner in Melbourne. For the full list of winners and shortlisted titles, click here....

Brian Castro Wins Patrick White Award

We're delighted that Brian Castro has won the Patrick White Literary Award. This award is for an author's body of work and was founded by White with the proceeds of his Nobel Prize for Literature. Giramondo has published four of Castro's works, Shanghai Dancing, The...

Felicity Castagna shortlisted for Prime Minister’s Award

We're delighted that Felicity Castagna's The Incredible Here and Now has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Award, Young Adult Fiction. (For the full shortlist, click here) This follows on from her shortlisting on the CBCA Award Older Reader category...

Lisa Gorton Awarded Philip Hodgins Medal

At the Mildura Writers' Festival this year, Lisa Gorton was awarded the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal, an annual prize given to an Australian writer whose work reflects the standards and literary accomplishments that Philip Hodgins. Gorton's most recent book published...

Alexis Wright wins the ALS Gold Medal

Alexis Wright has been awarded the 2014 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal for The Swan Book. The judges' citation said: Alexis Wright's The Swan Book is a novel of serious political intent concerning the migration of stories, peoples, imaginations and cultures....

The Recluse Shortlisted for the Magarey Medal

We're delighted that The Recluse, Evelyn Juers, has been shortlisted for the Magarey Medal. The Magarey Medal for biography is a biennial prize of at least $10,000. The prize is awarded to the female author who has published the work judged to be the best biographical...

Luke Carman – 2014 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist

We're delighted that Luke Carman has been named one of the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Novelists in 2014 for An Elegant Young Man. The judges said that 'Carman’s prose blends literature and popular culture, punk and poetry, and transforms this rich seam of...

Judith Beveridge Honoured with the Christopher Brennan Award

Judith Beverdige has received the FAW CHRISTOPHER BRENNAN AWARD. It is an award to honour an Australian poet who has written work of sustained quality and distinction. The FAW supplies a specially-cast bronze plaque designed by Michael Meszaros. Each year, the...

NSW Premier’s Shortlist 2014 – Castagna, Middleton and Wright

We're pleased to have three titles shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards. You can read the judges' comments below.   Ephemeral Waters, Kate Middleton Judges' comments: 'This long documentary poem tracks the Colorado River, a system in ecological...

CBCA Shortlist – The Incredible Here and Now

We are delighted that The Incredible Here and Now by Felicity Castagna has been shortlisted for the Children's Book Council of Australia Awards in the Older Readers category. Teacher resources and reading group notes can be found here. To view all of the shortlisted...

Alexis Wright and Luke Carman shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal

  We're thrilled to have two titles shortlisted for the 2013 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal. Alexis Wright, The Swan Book Luke Carman, An Elegant Young Man The ALS Gold Medal is awarded annually for an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar...

Liquid Nitrogen Wins Victorian Prize for Literature

We're delighted that Liquid Nitrogen by Jennifer Maiden was awarded the prize in the poetry category of the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and also the overall prize, The Victorian Prize for Literature. You can view the judges' report here. Read Gig Ryan's...

All Giramondo Shorts now $19.95

Now all the Giramondo Shorts titles are available for the excellent price of $19.95 including postage. For a full list of the Shorts titles, click here. As a Christmas offer, you pick up the two latest Shorts, Ninety 9 by Vanessa Berry and An Elegant Young Man by Luke...

Liquid Nitrogen Shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize

We are thrilled that Jennifer Maiden's Liquid Nitrogen has been shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize. The full judge's citation reads: Jennifer Maiden’s Liquid Nitrogen may very well be the most contemporary collection of poetry you’ll ever read....

Gerald Murnane Special Offer – Inland

Gerald Murnane is one of Australia's most important living writers whose idiosyncratic and finely wrought fictions are capturing the attention of a new generation of readers. Buy the newly republished Inland and receive two classic Murnane titles published by...

Poetry Pick ‘n’ Mix

To celebrate the excellent poetry titles we have published in the last twelve months we are offering any three of our five most recent poetry titles for the special price of $45 with free postage in Australia. This discount of over 40% is for a limited time only. The...

Fill Your Stockings with Shorts

For the book lover in your life, we're offering a special Christmas discount on our Shorts series. Pick up three fiction titles – Anguli Ma by Chi Vu, Street to Street by Brian Castro and Varamo by Cesar Aira – for $50 with free postage. Or for the non-fiction fan,...

Gig Ryan wins the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry

Gig Ryan's New and Selected Poems was awarded the NSW Premier's Literary Award for poetry. The judges described the collection as 'uncompromising, intelligent and sophisticated'. For the full citation, click here. John Mateer's Southern Barbarians was...

Giramondo eBooks available now

  Selected Giramondo titles are now available as eBooks, and can be purchased through (in alphabetical order): Amazon, Booki.sh, Fishpond, iBooks, Kobo, Ebooks.com, Ebrary, Netlibrary, Read How You Want, Overdrive, ReadCloud The digital editions offered are:...