Article • 1 December 2022

Award-winning and shortlisted books of 2022

Discover the best Penguin Random House books of 2022 with this list of award-winning and shortlisted titles this year.

2022 Award-winning and shortlisted books

Winning Titles

A Glasshouse of Stars by Shirley Marr
- CBCA Book of the Year, Younger Readers 2022
Banquet by Debi Marshal
- Ned Kelly Awards, Best True Crime
Corporal Hitler’s Pistol by Tom Keneally
- ARA Historical Novel Prize
Cutters End by Margaret Hickey
- Danger Prize (BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival)
Killernova by Omar Musa
- ACT Notable Book Awards, Poetry 2021 Big Press
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
- Dymocks Book of the Year
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
- Davitt Awards, Adult Crime Novel
- Indie Book Awards, Best Fiction
Semut by Christine Helliwell
- 2022 Les Carlyon Literary Prize
- 2022 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, Australian History Prize
She’s on the Money by Victoria Devine
- Australian Book Industry Awards, General Non-Fiction Book of the Year
Summertime by Danielle Celemajer
- ACT Notable Book Awards, Nonfiction 2021 Big Press
The Chase by Candice Fox
- Ned Kelly Awards, Best Crime Fiction
The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni
- Australian Book Industry Awards, Book of the Year for Older Children (Ages 13+)
The Scrap Iron Flotilla by Mike Carlton
- Commodore Sam Bateman Book Prize
The Silent Listener by Lyn Yeowart
- Indie Book Awards, Best Debut Fiction

Shortlisted titles

Anything but Fine by Tobias Madden
- Australian Book Industry Awards, Book of the Year for Older Children (Ages 13+)
Banquet by Debi Marshal
- Davitt Awards, Nonfiction crime book
Blue Flower by Sonya Hartnett and Gabriel Evans
- CBCA, Picture book of the Year
Bob Hawke by Troy Branston
- 2022 Australian Political Book of the Year Award
Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Dymocks Book of the Year
Cutters End by Margaret Hickey
- Ned Kelly Awards, Best Debut Crime Fiction
Death to Jar Sauce by Nat’s What I Reckon
- Australian Book Industry Awards, Illustrated Book of the Year
Emotional Female by Yumiko Kadota
- Australian Book Industry Awards, Audiobook of the Year
- Australian Book Industry Awards, Biography Book of the Year
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
- Dymocks Book of the Year
Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo
- Booker Prize
Here Goes Nothing by Steve Toltz
- Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award
Oh William! by Elizabet Strout
- Booker Prize
Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love by Yotam Ottolenghi and Noor Murad
- Australian Book Industry Awards, International Book of the Year
Puff Piece by John Safran
- 2022 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, Non-fiction
Semut by Christine Helliwell
- The Reid Prize, for the most significant book contributing to the understanding of Asia
- ACT Notable Book Awards, Nonfiction 2021 Big Press
- NSW Premier's History Awards
- SAHR Templer Medal, first runner-up
The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld
- Barbara Jefferis Award
The Deep by Kyle Perry
- Ned Kelly Awards, Best Crime Fiction
The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni
- Indie Book Awards, Best Young Adult
The Silent Listener by Lyn Yeowart
- Davitt Awards, Adult crime novels
- Davitt Awards, Debut crime book
- Danger Prize (BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival)
Toxic: The Rotting Underbelly of the Tasmanian Salmon Industry by Richard Flanagan
- Australian Book Industry Awards, General Non-Fiction Book of the Year
- Indie Book Awards, Best Non-Fiction
Why You Should Give a F*ck About Farming by Gabrielle Chan
- ACT Notable Book Awards, Nonfiction 2021 Big Press
You’re Doing it Wrong: A History of Bad and Bonkers Advice to Women by Kaz Cooke
- Australian Book Industry Awards, Illustrated Book of the Year

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Featured Titles

A Glasshouse of Stars

Shirley Marr

Winner of the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year - Younger Readers 2022

An exquisite, heartbreakingly beautiful gem of a novel for anyone who loved Wonder, Lenny's Book of Everything, A Monster Calls or When You Reach Me.

Banquet: The Untold Story of Adelaide's Family Murders

Debi Marshall

Shortlisted for Best True Crime in the 2022 Ned Kelly Awards

Cutters End

Margaret Hickey

An award-winning crime thriller, set in the South Australian outback town of Cutters End. A mysterious death on New Year’s Eve 1989 leads to a shocking murder investigation 32 years later . . .

The Chase

Candice Fox

WINNER OF THE NED KELLY AWARD FOR BEST CRIME FICTION 2022

Summertime

Danielle Celermajer

A different kind of nature writing, for a different kind of landscape.

Killernova

Omar Musa

A collection of poetry and wood cuts that burns blindingly bright.

Once There Were Wolves

Charlotte McConaghy

A Journey into the Wild and the Human Heart

From the author of the international bestseller Migrations comes a pulse-pounding new novel set in the wild Scottish Highlands

Corporal Hitler’s Pistol

Tom Keneally

Winner of the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize.

Semut

Christine Helliwell

Winner of the Les Carlyon Literary Prize and the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Australian History Prize. First Runner Up for Templer Medal Book Prize (UK). Shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Australian History Prize, the ACT Notable Book Awards, and the Reid Prize. A remarkable new book about Operation Semut, an Australian secret military operation launched by the organisation popularly known as Z Special Unit in the final months of WWII.

Why you should give a f*ck about farming

Gabrielle Chan

'I ask that if you were to read one nonfiction book this year, please make it this one.' Readings Monthly There is no farmers and others. If you eat or wear clothes, the decisions you make influence farming.

The Silent Listener

Lyn Yeowart

'A wickedly dark debut - haunting and unputdownable.' Christian White, author of The Nowhere Child

She’s on the Money: The award-winning #1 finance bestseller

Victoria Devine

The ultimate millennial money guide, from the creator of Australia’s #1 finance podcast

The Prison Healer

Lynette Noni

'Lynette Noni is a masterful storyteller. A must-read for any fantasy lover!' SARAH J. MAAS, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

Anything But Fine

Tobias Madden

A heartfelt and hilarious Australian YA debut from a rising star.

Blue Flower

Sonya Hartnett, Gabriel Evans

A beautifully told picture book about self-esteem, resilience and the discovery that being different can be something wonderful. From award-winning author Sonya Hartnett, with stunning illustrations by Gabriel Evans.

Death to Jar Sauce

Nat's What I Reckon

SHORTLISTED FOR ABIA ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 Our favourite sweary anti-jar-sauce warrior is back . . . and he’s actually written a whole cookbook this time.

Emotional Female

Yumiko Kadota

A passionate account of the toxic culture of bullying and overwork that junior doctors can experience in the workplace as part of their training.

Glory

NoViolet Bulawayo

Shortlisted for the Booker this is an exhilarating, funny, whip-smart novel about power and corruption set in the animal kingdom

Here Goes Nothing

Steve Toltz

The virtuoso new novel from the author of the Booker-shortlisted A Fraction of the Whole.

Oh William!

Elizabeth Strout

The top ten Sunday Times bestselling portrait of a marriage

Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love

Yotam Ottolenghi, Yotam Ottolenghi and Noor Murad, Noor Murad

This is Ottolenghi, unplugged. The Ottolenghi Test Kitchen team takes you on a journey through your kitchen cupboards, creating inspired recipes using humble ingredients.

The Bass Rock

Evie Wyld

The lives of three women weave together across four centuries in the dazzling book from Evie Wyld, winner of the Miles Franklin Award and the Stella Prize.

Toxic

Richard Flanagan

Is Tasmanian salmon one big lie?

You’re Doing it Wrong: A History of Bad & Bonkers Advice to Women

Kaz Cooke

You’re Doing it Wrong is an outrageous tour through the centuries of bonkers and bad advice handed down and foisted upon women, told as only Kaz Cooke can – with humour and rage, intelligence and wit.

Bob Hawke

Troy Bramston

The definitive full-life biography of Australia’s 23rd prime minister; the only one that Hawke cooperated with after exiting the prime ministership.

Lessons in Chemistry

Bonnie Garmus

The 6-million-copy worldwide and Sunday Times #1 bestseller and award-winner featuring the uncompromising, unconventional Elizabeth Zott

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

Benjamin Stevenson

Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle meet Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club in an ingenious blend of classic and modern murder mystery.