Yesterday, the 2026 Indie Book Awards longlist was announced, and I am still floating on a cloud of wonderment as I share with you that my second novel Where The Birds Call Her Name was named in the fiction category!
How does this work and what does it mean, you ask?
Australian independent booksellers nominate their favourite Australian books published in the past year. I know quite a few booksellers (believe it or not!) and, without exception, they are astute, discerning and voracious readers. I mean, booksellers are met with thousands of new titles every year, which is what makes this accolade so meaningful. Honestly, I feel like I’ve already won, even if Where the Birds Call Her Name doesn’t make it to the shortlist!
This, from the 2026 Indie Book Awards longlist announcement, articulates it perfectly:
Since 2008, the Indie Book Awards have recognised the finest Australian writing and who better to nominate and judge theses standout titles than indie booksellers? Passionate and knowledgeable, these booksellers champion Australian literature well beyond the big names, enriching the diversity of Australia’s reading culture. These awards honour their essential role in supporting Australian storytellers.
My novel is one of ten books longlisted in the fiction category… and here they are:
FICTION LONGLIST
Lyrebird by Jane Caro (Allen & Unwin)
Gravity Let Me Go by Trent Dalton (Fourth Estate Australia)
Arborescence by Rhett Davis (Hachette Australia)
Legacy by Chris Hammer (Allen & Unwin)
Tenderfoot by Toni Jordan (Hachette Australia)
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Penguin Australia)
One Hundred Years of Betty by Debra Oswald (Allen & Unwin)
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth (Macmillan Australia)
Where the Birds Call Her Name by Claire van Ryn (Penguin Australia)
I Am Nannertgarrook by Tasma Walton (Bundyi, Simon & Schuster Australia)
Sitting alongside so many talented and established authors is a DREAM and an affirmation of much hard work. But I need to also acknowledge that I could never have done this alone. Big thanks to my wonderful publisher Alli Watts, my editor Shané Oosthuizen, my agent Benython Oldfield and the Penguin Random House team. Also, of course, to my family and my Lord and Heavenly Father.
The Shortlist will be announced on 14 January 2026, with the Category Winners and the Overall Book of the Year Winner to be revealed at a virtual ceremony on Monday 23 March 2026.
Here are the other category longlists – a big congratulations to all the authors named. And a special mention to my dear friend Stef Koens whose novel Daughters of Batavia was named in the Debut Fiction Longlist! Woot!
DEBUT FICTION LONGLIST
The Butterfly Women by Madeleine Cleary (Affirm Press)
Pissants by Brandon Jack (Summit Books, Simon & Schuster Australia)
The Grapevine by Kate Kemp (Hachette Australia)
Very Impressive For Your Age by Eleanor Kirk (Allen & Unwin)
Daughters of Batavia by Stefanie Koens (HarperCollins Australia)
Melaleuca by Angie Faye Martin (HQ Fiction)
The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey (HarperCollins Australia)
Stillwater by Tanya Scott (Allen & Unwin)
Eros: Myths for Lovers by Zoe Terakes (Hachette Australia)
When Sleeping Women Wake by Emma Pei Yin (Hachette Australia)
ILLUSTRATED NON FICTION LONGLIST
The ADHD Brain Buddy by Matilda Boseley (Penguin Australia)
Planting for Native Birds, Bees and Butterflies by Jaclyn Crupi (Murdoch Books)
Bush Modern by Jessica Lillico & Sean Fennessy (Thames & Hudson Australia)
Handfuls of Sunshine by Tilly Pamment (Murdoch Books)
Wild by Design by Tim Pilgrim (Murdoch Books)
Funga Obscura: Photo journeys among fungi by Alison Pouliot (NewSouth Publishing)
She Shapes History by Sita Sargeant (Hardie Grant Explore)
W*nkernomics by James Schloeffel & Charles Firth (Hardie Grant Books)
Muster Dogs: The Next Generation by Melissa Spencer, Monica O’Brien & Brianna Peacock (ABC Books, HarperCollins Australia)
THAI by Nat Thaipun (Hardie Grant Books)
CHILDREN’S LONGLIST
If We Were Dogs by Sophie Blackall (Lothian Children’s Books)
Dropbear by Philip Bunting (Walker Books Australia)
There’s a Prawn in Parliament House: The Kids’ Guide to Australia’s Amazing Democracy by Annabel Crabb, illustrated by First Dog on the Moon (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
Dear Broccoli by Jo Dabrowski, illustrated by Cate James (Affirm Press Kids)
Ninja Girl by Anh Do, illustrated by James Hart (Scholastic Press)
Harry and Gran Bake a Cake by Fiona McIntosh, illustrated by Sara Acton (Puffin)
Runt and the Diabolical Dognapping by Craig Silvey, illustrated by Sara Acton (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
Once I was a Giant by Zeno Sworder (Thames & Hudson Australia)
Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Lothian Children’s Books)
Ningaloo by Tim Winton, illustrated by Cindy Lane (Fremantle Press)
YOUING ADULT LONGLIST
Catch by Sarah Brill (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
Cruel is the Light by Sophie Clark (Penguin Australia)
The Foal in the Wire by Robbie Coburn (Lothian Children’s Books)
Eleanor Jones is Playing with Fire by Amy Doak (Penguin Australia)
This Season’s Draft by Jason Gent (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
Drift by Pip Harry (Lothian Children’s Books)
Darkest Night, Brightest Star by Barry Jonsberg (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
Wandering Wild by Lynette Noni (Penguin Australia)
Sonny & Tess by Nova Weetman (University of Queensland Press)
Unhallowed Halls by Lili Wilkinson (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
NON FICTION LONGLIST
Australia: A History by Tony Abbott (HarperCollins Australia)
Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks (Hachette Australia)
Defiance: Stories from Nature and Its Defenders by Bob Brown (Black Inc)
The Mushroom Tapes by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper & Sarah Krasnostein (Text Publishing)
The Mushroom Murders by Greg Haddrick (Allen & Unwin)
Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent (Picador Australia)
Nature’s Last Dance by Natalie Kyriacou (Affirm Press)
A Bunker in Kyiv by John Lyons (ABC Books, HarperCollins Australia)
Destination Moon by Kate Reid (Simon & Schuster Australia)
Borneo: The Last Campaign by Michael Veitch (Hachette Australia)
Claire van Ryn 