The Novel Prize

The Novel Prize is a biennial award for a book-length work of literary fiction written in English by published and unpublished writers around the world. It is managed collaboratively by Giramondo Publishing, Fitzcarraldo Editions and New Directions.

The Novel Prize offers US$10,000 to the winner and simultaneous publication of their novel in Australia and New Zealand by Giramondo, in the UK and Ireland by Fitzcarraldo Editions, and in North America by New Directions. The prize recognises works which explore and expand the possibilities of the form, and are innovative and imaginative in style. Giramondo reads submissions from Asia and Australasia, New Directions from the Americas, and Fitzcarraldo Editions from Africa and Europe.

The 2024 Novel Prize shortlist was announced in January 2025. The five shortlisted books are How to Live Together by Rey Conquer; Touch Me Now by Neal Amandus Gellaco; Porcupine by Nick Holdstock; Ruins, Child by Giada Scodellaro; and Moss House by Hollen Singleton. Learn more about the shortlisted books and their authors here. The winner will be announced in February 2025 and published in early 2026.

The inaugural winner of The Novel Prize was Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au, which was selected from over 1,500 entries worldwide. Cold Enough for Snow was published in Australia, the UK and the US in 2022, and in over twenty territories worldwide. It was the recipient of the Victorian Prize for Literature, among other prizes.

The joint winners of the second round of the prize, It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over by Anne de Marcken and Tell by Jonathan Buckley, were published in March 2024. de Marcken’s book went on to win the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction.

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The previous winners of The Novel Prize.