Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award

The Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award recognises the best original book, in the judges' opinion, that is published in Australia in the previous calendar year. Submissions must deal with any aspect of Australian life and can be in any field or genre of writing, verse or prose.

The Foundation for Australian Literary Studies presents the award annually at an event in Townsville.

The author of the winning book will receive $50,000 in prize money.

Nominations open for 2027 Awards: Monday 21st September 2026
Nominations close for 2027 Awards: Monday 14th December 2026

Longlist Announced: June 2027
Shortlist Announced: late July 2027
2027 Winner Announced: late August 2027

The 2026 Shortlist was announced in July, with the winner announced at a celebration in Townsville on 7th October 2026.

The winner of the Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award for 2026 was Glen Farmer Illortaminni for Tiwi in Paris [Thames and Hudson Australia].

Check out the winners, short and long lists from previous years.

For entries into the 2027 awards, please visit the 2027 terms and conditions for more information.

Susan K. Martin is Professor Emerita in English and a former Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.

Her current research is on the teaching of Australian literature, and Australian cultural production and the representation of drought. She has researched and published widely on contemporary and historical Australian writers, including Joseph Furphy, Miles Franklin, Ada Cambridge, Mary Gaunt, Ethel Turner, Patrick White, Peter Carey, Alexis Wright.

She has particular interests in Australian literature and the environment, and Australian book culture.  She was a member of the Australian Research Council ERA Research Excellence Committee (REC) Assessment Panel for Humanities and Creative Arts in 2018. She is a former President of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL).

Her books include Women and Empire (Australia)(Routledge, 2009) and Sensational Melbourne (2011) and Colonial Dickens (ASP, 2012) with Kylie Mirmohamadi.

Paul Salzman is Emeritus Professor of English at La Trobe University and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (2008). He holds a BA (Hons, First Class) from Monash University and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Over his career he has held visiting fellowships at Clare Hall, Cambridge; Merton College and All Souls College, Oxford; Oxford Brookes University; Birkbeck College; the Folger Shakespeare Library; and the Bodleian Library.

His research spans early modern literature and Australian literature, with a particular focus on women’s writing, prose fiction, literary and cultural history, and the intersections of literature, society and politics. He is the author of landmark studies such as English Prose Fiction 1558–1700: A Critical History, Reading Early Modern Women’s Writing, Literary Culture in Jacobean England, After the Celebration: Australian Fiction 1989–2007 (with Ken Gelder), and Facsimiles and the History of Shakespeare Editing. In Australian literature, his work includes a book on Elizabeth Jolley and two co-written studies of contemporary fiction with Ken Gelder.

Professor Salzman has also made major contributions to scholarly editing, producing four Oxford World’s Classics editions, pioneering electronic editions of Mary Wroth’s works, and award-winning projects on early modern women’s writing. His recent publications include studies of editing practices, articles on Katherine Philips and Alexander Dyce, and research on the Emmerson Collection at the State Library of Victoria. Across his career, he has helped shape both theoretical and practical approaches to editing while deepening understanding of Renaissance and modern literary traditions.

Lachlan Brown is a Senior Lecturer in English at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga. He is the author of two volumes of poetry, published by Giramondo, and has worked on poetic commissions for institutions including the Powerhouse Museum and media organisations including ABC Everyday. Lachlan has judged Australian poetry prizes including the Peter Porter Poetry Prize, the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, the Mary Gilmore poetry prize and the Blake Poetry Prize. He has also chaired the Kenneth Slessor panel for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.

Amy Heap has been a librarian for 20 years, in public libraries and the vocational education and training sector. A lifelong and wide-ranging reader, she has a particular interest in Australian writing and contemporary fiction. Through her work, she has interviewed many Australian authors about their books, writing processes, and place within the Australian literary landscape.