Mary Colussi wins the $20,000 Penguin Literary Prize 2025 for Touch Grass

In 2017, the Penguin Literary Prize was established to discover, nurture and develop literary fiction writers, providing a platform for new and diverse voices to emerge.

Offering aspiring authors the chance to become a part of the Penguin Random House (PRH) community, the winner of the Penguin Literary Prize receives $20,000 and the opportunity to publish with PRH, home to over 80 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors. As one of the most prestigious prizes for an unpublished manuscript in the Australian publishing industry, the Penguin Literary Prize also has an amazing legacy of fostering some of our country’s best and brightest voices.

This year’s winner, Mary Colussi, is no exception; her manuscript Touch Grass showcases the exceptional quality recognised by this award.

‘Now that I’ve (mostly) recovered from the shock, I want to congratulate the other shortlisted writers, and thank the judges and everyone at Penguin Random House for this incredible opportunity,’ says Colussi. ‘When I first started writing this story about AI, sisterhood, memory and sheep, I didn’t dare imagine that it would find a home at such a legendary publishing house, but I couldn’t be more thrilled. I can’t wait to get to work.’

Mary’s manuscript, Touch Grass tells the story of a depressed deletion specialist as she starts to leave her body at unexpected moments and finds herself at the surreal centre of a global panic.

The manuscript was selected from a shortlist of six entries. The judging panel included Meredith Curnow, publisher and Kathryn Knight, senior editor from PRH Australia; Madeleine Delany from Fullers Bookshop; Jack Harkin from Gleebooks; and Shane Strange from Paperchain.

Of this year’s winner, Jack Harkin says, ‘Touch Grass leads us fearlessly into a future that's already here. Along the way, it offers a vision of our potential ruin that is part warning, part screwball comedy - and a riot of brilliant, incisive writing about social media, body politics and the effects of worshiping false gods. Audacious, funny and anarchic — it dares us to follow.’

Of the selection process, publisher Meredith Curnow says, ‘This year we considered six entirely distinct manuscripts; different genres, themes and styles. The judges were generous, thoughtful and wise, exchanging valuable industry information and we reached a unanimous decision. Touch Grass has antecedents but brings a disarming voice to big ideas about identity and our online world.’

Shane Strange says, ‘Judging this prize was a wonderful experience. It was interesting to engage with the different styles and genres that made up the shortlist. To see such accomplished and diverse work from emerging novelists made me feel very encouraged by the state of writing in Australia.’

Since its inception, the Penguin Literary Prize has received submissions from across Australia in a variety of genres and subjects. Previous winners include Hitch by Kathryn Hind (2018), The Spill by Imbi Neeme (2019), The Rabbits by Sophie Overett (2020), Denizen by James McKenzie Watson (2021), On A Bright Hillside in Paradise by Annette Higgs (2022), Jade and Emerald by Michelle See-Tho (2023) and The Occupation by Chloe Adams (2024).

The next round of submissions for the Penguin Literary Prize will open later this year.