A novel grown from Yolŋu oral history has taken out the nation's richest literary prize, in a result being celebrated as a milestone for Aboriginal-led storytelling.
A Piece of Red Cloth has won the $80,000 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction, announced at a ceremony at the National Library of Australia in Canberra on Thursday 10 September 2026.
Judges described the novel as a "landmark achievement in fiction" that sets "a high benchmark for collaboration between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal writers."
The book was written collectively by four authors: Yolŋu knowledge holders Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Djawa Burarrwanga and Djawundil Maymuru, together with novelist Leonie Norrington.
Published by Allen & Unwin, it weaves Yolŋu oral tradition from north-east Arnhem Land together with Western novelistic storytelling, a fusion the judging panel singled out as central to why the book stands apart.
Ganambarr-Stubbs has described the story as "a true history," passed down orally across generations of her family and community before it was shaped into the novel published this year.
Set in a coastal north-east Arnhem Land community in the 1600s, the novel is grounded in a chapter of pre-colonial history that is not widely known outside Yolŋu communities: centuries of wet-season trade between Yolŋu people and Makassan trepang fishers from the port of Makassar, in what is now eastern Indonesia.
At the heart of the book is the relationship between Batjani, a Yolŋu grandmother, and her granddaughter Garritji, who is preparing for marriage.
The novel follows Batjani's efforts to protect Garritji when that long-standing trade relationship is disrupted, after Dutch colonisers seized control of Makassar and traders began using alcohol and opium in dealings with Yolŋu men, a shift that put young women and children at risk.
A record prize, a record win
The Prime Minister's Literary Awards, delivered by Creative Australia, carry the largest prize pool of any literary awards in the country, with $600,000 distributed across six categories this year.
Winners in each category receive $80,000, tax-free, with shortlisted authors receiving $5,000 each. This year's awards drew 673 entries.
A Piece of Red Cloth is reported to be the first collectively authored book to win the fiction prize in the awards' history.
The novel has also previously been recognised with the Australian Book Industry Award for Social Impact Book of the Year.
Other 2026 winners
- Non-fiction: The Red House by Kate Wild, an investigation into the 2019 death of Kumanjayi Walker and the trial of Constable Zachary Rolfe
- Australian History: The Southern Frontier by Rohan Howitt
- Poetry: Two Hundred Million Musketeers by Ender Başkan
- Young Adult Literature: Drift by Pip Harry
- Children's Literature: Song of a Thousand Seas by Zana Fraillon
Minister for the Arts Tony Burke said the awards showcase "some of Australia's best" storytelling on the national stage, while Writing Australia director Wenona Byrne said this year's winning books "show Australian storytelling at its finest, illuminating our past" and drawing readers "into lives beyond our own."
