2025 Premier’s Book Awards Shortlist

An independent judging panel of readers, writers, book sellers and story lovers have selected their top picks across six categories. Featuring graphic novels, cosy crime, high sea shenanigans and gothic coastal mysteries, the shortlist is a celebration of the breadth of talent in Western Australian storytelling. *Any missing titles from official list will be added as they are sourced*

Updated July 3, 2025
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City of Belmont Ruth Faulkner Library
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Fragile creatures a memoir
Myint, Khin
Paper Book
Khin's sister Theda has a strange illness and a euthanasia drug locked in a box under her bed. Her doctor thinks her problem is purely physical, and so does she, but Khin is not so sure. He knows what they both went through growing up in Perth - it wasn't welcoming back then for a Burmese-Australian...
Matia
Tsokos Purtill, Emily.
The Skeleton House
Allum, Katherine.
Paper Book
Meg's life is woven into the fabric of St Stephens. It's a tapestry made of two precious children, a hidden truth and a husband whose ideas of a perfect wife do not match her own. When Meg puts her foot down on a third kid, gets a job and is empowered by the same book group that was meant to keep...
Cutler
Whish-Wilson, David
Paper Book
Paul Cutler is a former undercover operative, now working off the books for his handler, Malik Khalil. When Cutler is tasked with investigating the disappearance of an Australian marine scientist on a Taiwanese distant-water fishing vessel, Cutler realises that the apparent murder he's investigating...
Death Holds the Key
Thorpe, Alexander.
Ebook
When loathed landholder Fred O' Donnell is found dead in a locked room with a bullet in his chest, rookie Detective Hartley must seek help from a mysterious wanderer to solve the case. And it' s one where everyone, including his family, has a motive and a secret to keep. Featuring the mendicant monk...
Shadows of Winter Robins
Wolhuter, Louise.
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WA PREMIER'S BOOK AWARDS - FICTION  'a masterful mystery that keeps you guessing.' -The Guardian 'Wolhuter combines an entrancing and often startling plot--which interlaces multiple storylines--with memorable...
Anatomy of a secret one man's search for justice
McCann, Gerard
Paper Book
Raw and compelling, Anatomy of a Secret bravely shares longsilenced, unspoken truths. As a boy, Gerard was sexually abused by a Catholic priest at his local church. As a grown man, he confronts the trauma of what he suffered and the psychological aftermath of his experience, grappling...
How to Avoid a Happy Life: ; An uplifting novel of hope, family ties and motherhood
Lawrinson, Julia.
Paper Book
Some people are born into bad situations, some people have bad situations thrust upon them, and some people find bad situations through their dodgy choices, lack of information and personal idiosyncrasies. Julia's life sits at the intersection of all three. From high school dropout on a...
Some People Want to Shoot Me: ; A memoir of living in two cultures
Bergmann, Wayne.
Paper Book
As a Nyikina man who straddles both traditional and modern cultures, Wayne Bergmann has faced criticism and condemnation but remains unwavering in his commitment to his community and their needs. As the former head of the Kimberley Land Council, Bergmann played a crucial role in shaping the future...
In Hot Water
Hardisty, Paul.
Paper Book
In the ongoing climate wars, the Great Barrier Reef has become a symbol of everything that we have to lose from global warming. For years, reports of the world-famous coral being irreversibly bleached have fuelled an ideological battle between those fighting to stop the damage and those who insist...
Jilya : How one Indigenous woman from the Pilbara transformed psychology
Westerman, Tracy
Paper Book
From humble beginnings in the remote Pilbara, psychologist and Nyamal woman Tracy Westerman has redefined what's possible at every turn. Despite neither of her parents progressing past primary school, and never having met a psychologist before attending university, Tracy went on to...
Tossed Up by the Beak of a Cormorant
Poelina, Anne
A stunning collaboration between poet Nandi Chinna and Martuwarra guardian Professor Anne Poelina. Punctuated by three long poems from Anne Poelina, this book-length collection explores meaningful and respectful responses to place through immersion. Together, the poems explore the beauty and...
A leaf called Greaf
Canby, Kelly
Paper Book
Bear is all alone. His brothers and sisters have left him. Bear embraces his grief in the form of Greaf - the greenest, most beguiling leaf Bear has ever seen. Bear holds Greaf tight. But as the season wanes, Greaf changes, and so too does Bear. A poignant, lyrical story gently touching on the...
The Apprentice Witnesser
MacDibble, Bren
Paper Book
Bastienne Scull is nearly twelve years old and lives a simple life as an apprentice to the Witnesser of Miracles in a small village mostly populated by women and girls. Basti knows that miracle-hunting is a lot like mystery-solving, and her little world is full of wonder and intrigue and unexpected...
When the world was soft : Yindjibarndi creation stories
Juluwarlu Aboriginal Corporation; Mankiewicz, Alex
Paper Book
A ground-breaking graphic novel sharing the stories of Yindjibarndi Creation-times in an immediate and engaging way for a contemporary audience.
Courage be my friend : the Vivian Bullwinkel story
Davis, Jenny
Ebook
Sister Vivian Bullwinkel was the only survivor of the Bangka Island massacre during World War II. Her evocative story is told through the eyes of fifteen-year-old Edith ' Edie' Kenneison. Sister Bullwinkel enlisted in the Australian Army Nurse Service at the outbreak of World War II and was posted...
A wreck of seabirds
Olson, Karleah
Paper Book
Both grappling with grief and loss, Briony and Ren are brought together in their hometown, where Ren has returned to care for his dying father and Briony remains hopeful of finding her missing sister, Sarah. Meanwhile, Sarah and her best friend Aria are hopelessly trapped on a remote island off the...
Liar's test
Kwaymullina, Ambelin
Paper Book
Seven will come. Two will die. Two will sleep. Two will serve. One will rule. I didn't want to rule the Risen. Wreak a little havoc upon them, though? That was something else entirely. Bell Silverleaf is a liar. It's how she's survived. It's how all Treesingers have survived...
My family and other suspects
Emery, Kate

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