2025 Long and Short Lists
Debut author Khin Myint wins 2025 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award
First time author Khin Myint has won this year’s $50,000 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award for Fragile Creatures: A Memoir.
Fragile Creatures tells the story of lost love and grief, both the author’s own and that of his sister whose life and death, of tragic complexity, were played out not only within a family, but on social media and television.
The prestigious award is administered by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies (FALS), based at James Cook University, and is open to any book that deals with some aspect of Australian life that has first been published in Australia. It is coupled with the silver H.T. Priestley Memorial Medal.
Khin Myint joins a list of renowned Australian writers that have won the Roderick, including Thea Astley, Emily Bitto, Robert Drewe, Dorothy Green, Gail Jones, Malcolm Knox, Melissa Lucashenko and David Malouf.
“I got a message from my publisher saying to check my email and to start off I didn't believe I had actually won until I re-read the message from FALS,” he said.
“I started to look into the other authors on the longlist and the shortlist after that and I was just stunned at the quality of the work that was out there. I couldn't really believe that I was going to take out the award this year but I’m super excited.
“An award like this is a real gift to give, especially to give it to a debut author who really has something they want to say.
“With a book, you create this beautiful sail, and it catches some wind when the book first comes out. So to win this award I feel incredibly grateful that they've given the book this opportunity to help get it out there.”
It is only the fourth time a debut author has won the award, and the judges emphasised Myint’s achievement to win against a field of more than 200 books across all genres.
Award judges Mary Vernon, Professor Emerita Susan K. Martin, Professor Emeritus Alan Lawson and Dr Leigh Dale described the Perth-based author’s book as “extraordinary” for its exploration of complicated questions about the relationship between mind and body, medicine, and the role storytelling plays in illness and recovery.
“There are many brilliant aspects,” they said.
“The striking phrases and elegant structure, used to tell two linked stories; the emotional insight, into the author and those close to him; and the incredible control and judiciousness of tone.”
They also noted the publisher’s choice of cover design for its signposting of the story.
The prize is funded by the largest-ever bequest given to an Australian regional university, by Margaret and Colin Roderick.
Colin Roderick was founding professor of English at JCU. The generosity of his wife, Margaret, who collaborated in his literary scholarship and reviewing, enabled a significant increase in prize money for the award last year, and into the future.
Fragile Creatures: A Memoir is published by Black Inc. Books and the first chapter is available to be read online.
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2025 Shortlist | Announced 6th August 2025
Five books have been shortlisted for the prestigious $50,000 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award in 2025, with the winner set to be announced in September.
The annual Award is open to any book first published in Australia that deals with some aspect of Australian life, and over 200 were first whittled down to a longlist of ten, before today’s announcement of the final five books standing.
The five authors, in alphabetical order are, Garry Disher, Jane Godwin, Gail Jones, Leah Kaminsky and Khin Myint.
Their shortlisted books are very different, although three are novels: Disher’s Sanctuary, a thriller; Godwin’s Look Me in the Eye, for younger readers; and Jones’s One Another.
Kaminsky’s Disorders of the Blood is a collection of poetry, while Myint’s Fragile Creatures is a memoir.
Recent winners include Melissa Lucashenko for her novel Edenglassie, Sarah Holland-Batt for her poetry collection The Jaguar, and the first volume of Sally Young’s scholarly trilogy on the Australian newspaper industry, Paper Emperors.
The author of the winning book for 2025 will receive $50,000 in prize money and be presented with the silver H.T. Priestley Memorial Medal at a ceremony to be held in Townsville next month.
The prize is funded by the largest-ever bequest given to an Australian regional university, by Margaret and Colin Roderick. The Award is managed by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies at James Cook University (JCU).
Colin Roderick was founding professor of English at JCU. The generosity of his wife, Margaret, who collaborated in his literary scholarship and reviewing, enabled a significant increase in prize money for the award last year, and into the future.
The shortlisted titles are:
A web of theft and betrayal is exposed in prose as precise as polished hardwood. After more than sixty books, ranging from children’s literature to thrillers, Disher is as deft as he is prolific – a rare combination.
At what point does “caring” get creepy? And is selling Barbie dolls a sensible way to make a living? A novel for younger readers, set in post-Covid Melbourne, Look Me in the Eye opens up questions about surveillance, keeping safe and mental health.
A historical novel that deftly interweaves the life of drifting postgraduate student Helen with fragments of the life and works of writer Joseph Conrad. Is this a Bildungsroman for both? The novel plays with the rich metaphor of the lost manuscript, through the fraught progress of the two characters.
If you cannot imagine why or how a refrigerator might turn homicidal – and then decide on a different, better kind of revenge – then you need to read Kaminsky’s poem “On Becoming a Fridge.” These funny, wise, and sometimes startling poems use language with precision and insight.
The “fragile creatures” of Khin Myint’s memoir are his family, particularly the narrator and his sister, Theda. Exuding empathy and insight, as well as writerly craft, the book strikes a perfect balance between immersion and distance.
2025 Long List | Announced Friday 11th July 2025
Ten books vie for prestigious 2025 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award. The diverse selection has been longlisted for the $50,000 literary award.
Dr Leigh Dale is chair of the judging panel and she said that the discussions this year had been lengthy, as there were books that on first reading seemed to be at a similar level.
She revealed that the panel, which includes celebrated Townsville journalist Mary Vernon and Professor Emerita Susan K. Martin of La Trobe University, with the assistance of Professor Emeritus Alan Lawson of the University of Queensland, had been rereading about two dozen books over the last month to fine-tune their assessments.
“It’s always hard letting some books go, but we are confident we have made a careful sifting of the entries,
and we’re looking forward to the next round of rereading to find our shortlist and winner,” Dr Dale.
Read the full release here.
Set in 1917, this crime novel is based on the true story of pioneering female policewoman Kate Cocks in Adelaide. Kate and her junior constable Ethel Bromley have a fight to prove themselves. A thrilling murder mystery, it is also a fascinating insight into the times, and how women were perceived.
This moody, sometimes magical, novel follows twins Iris and Floyd, travelling through an alternative, colonial-era rural Australia. Evoking an uncannily familiar country, with spare, careful writing the story builds suspense as the pair try for the bounty on human-killer puma Dusk.
A young adult novel that follows two kids in the last year of primary school, the collapse of their friendship and its renewal. The story takes the reader into the multiple challenges and changes faced as they grow up. A good, compelling book with just enough of a happy ending.
Pop’s old bike is pretty wobbly, but will things come right in the end? Maybe. Along with a gentle story told in rhyme this book for children has beautiful watercolour illustrations that are packed with comic details.
Whether or not you are interested in the martial art of Muay Thai this book offers a compelling story of the career of John Wayne Parr, who became a multiple world champion, showing the extraordinary commitment it took to get to the top. Inspiring, funny, and definitely worth the read.