OBSERVER: Davitt Awards Long List
This year, Sisters in Crime’s Davitt Awards for the best crime and mystery books by Australian women celebrate their 25th anniversary.
Award-winning crime short story writer, Ruth Wykes, is again the Judges’ Coordinator, and said Australian women’s crime writing is riding a huge wave that has left our shores and is now sweeping around the world.
“This year 150 books have been entered in Sisters in Crime’s 25th Davitt Awards – a testimony to its richness and depth. Back in 2001, when the awards were established, only seven books were in contention,” she said.
The longlist includes 29 books – 15 adult novels (out of a possible 114), three non-fiction books (out of nine), five Young Adult novels (out of 11) and six children’s novels (out of 16).
“Judges were searching for those unforgettable characters, thought-provoking or funny stories, settings that felt organic to the story – and for those stories that stayed with us long after we finished the last chapter.
“We are also looking for quality in writing and originality in storytelling that raises the bar even higher for our wonderful Australian crime and mystery writers,” said Ruth Wykes.
The longlist is:
Adult Novels:
• Donna M. Cameron, The Rewilding (Transit Lounge Publishing)
• Shankari Chandran, Safe Haven (Ultimo Press)
• Sherryl Clark, Woman, Missing (HQ Fiction/HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
• Anna Downes, Red River Road (Affirm Press)
• Amanda Hampson, The Cryptic Clue: A Tea Ladies Mystery (Penguin Random House Australia)
• Georgia Harper, What I Would Do to You (Penguin Random House Australia) Debut
• Margaret Hickey, The Creeper (Penguin Random House Australia)
• Riley James, The Chilling (Allen & Unwin) Debut
• Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13 (Allen & Unwin)
• Dervla McTiernan, What Happened to Nina? (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
• Hannah Richell, The Search Party (Simon & Schuster Australia)
• Claire Sutherland, The Crag (Affirm Press) Debut
• Glenna Thompson, Gone (Penguin Random House Australia)
• Vikki Wakefield, To the River (Text Publishing)
• Lee Winter, Vengeance Planning for Amateurs (Ylva Publishing)
Non-Fiction:
• Dassi Erlich, In Bad Faith: Inside a secret ultra-Orthodox sect and the brutal betrayal it tried to hide (Hachette Australia) Debut
• Anne Manne, Crimes of the Cross (Black Inc. Books)
• Lucia Osborne-Crowley, The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell (Allen & Unwin)
Young Adult Novels:
• Amy Doak, Eleanor Jones Can’t Keep a Secret (Penguin Books Australia)
• Kate Emery, My Family and Other Suspects (Allen & Unwin)
• Jane Godwin, Look Me in the Eye (Hachette Australia
• Erin Gough, Into the Mouth of the Wolf (Hardie Grant Publishing)
• Krystal Sutherland, The Invocations (Penguin Books Australia)
Children’s Novels:
• Charlie Archbold, The Sugarcane Kids and the Empty Cage (Text Publishing)
• Joe Featherstone, Queen of Dogs (Walker Books) Debut
• Emily Gale and Nova Weetman, Outlaw Girls (Text Publishing)
• Jacqueline Harvey, Willa and Woof: Best Idea Yet (Penguin Books Australia)
• Judith Rossell, The Midwatch (Hardie Grant Publishers)
•R.A. Spratt, Friday Barnes 12, Collision Course (Penguin Books Australia)
A shortlist will be announced in July.
The Davitts are named after Ellen Davitt, the author of Australia’s first mystery novel, Force and Fraud, in 1865.
The judging panel for 2025 comprises Ruth Wykes, 2016 Scarlet Stiletto Award winner, author, editor and review editor; Professor Emerita Christina Lee, 1994 and 1996 Scarlet Stiletto Award winner; Moraig Kisler, Sisters in Crime’s Secretary, and former review editor; Romany Rzechowicz, 2023 Scarlet Stiletto Award winner and communications manager; Dr Philomena Horsley, winner of the 2018 Scarlet Stiletto Award and medical autopsy expert; Ashleigh Meikle, blogger; writer, editor, proofreader, book reviewer; and Cecile Shanahan, editor, proof-reader and curator of the Bendigo Writers Festival.
Six Davitt Awards will be presented at a gala dinner in Melbourne in late August – Best Adult Novel; Best Young Adult Novel; Best Children’s Novel; Best Non-fiction Book; Best Debut Book (any category); and Readers’ Choice (as voted the 600+ members of Sisters in Crime Australia).
Voting for the Davitt (Readers’ Award Choice) will open shortly and closes Sunday July 27 at 11.59 pm.
www.sistersincrime.org.au
Cheryl Threadgold