Announcing the 2025 Shalom Collective Australian Jewish Writer Awards shortlists for books published in 2024. Winners to be announced on 24 August. Judges’ comments available on the website.

The Leslie and Sophie Caplan Award for Jewish Non-Fiction, in its second year, awards $10,000 for works of significant relevance to the Jewish experience. The 2024 winner was former editor-in-chief Michael Gawenda for My Life as a Jew. This year, the judges selected a range of books across various genres: narrative non-fiction, academic, investigative memoir, and illustrated monograph.

• Anna Jacobson, How to Knit a Human: A Memoir
• Jayne Persian, Fascists in Exile
• John Safran, Squat
• Michael Visontay, Noble Fragments
• Jana Vytrhlik, Treasures of Old Jewish Sydney

 

The Jewish Independent Young Jewish Writers Award, in its second year, awards $5,000 for works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry on Jewish subjects by authors aged 18-40. The 2024 winner was poet and artist Anna Jacobson for the poetry collection, Anxious in a Sweet Store. This year’s shortlist includes an illustrated cookbook, and memoir:

• Ellie Bouhadana, Ellie’s Table: Food from Memory and Food from Home
• Dassi Erlich with Ellen Whinnett, In Bad Faith
• Anna Jacobson, How to Knit a Human: A Memoir

The Szymon (Simon) Klitenik Award for Jewish Fiction is offered for the first time with a prize of $5,000 for a fiction book (novel or a collection of short stories). This year’s shortlist includes contemporary fiction, historical fiction, fable and romance:

• Shelley Davidow, The Girl with the Violin
• Joanne Fedler, The Whale’s Last Song
• Linda Margolin Royal, The Star on the Grave
• Jonathan Seidler, All the Beautiful Things You Love

The winners of all the awards will be announced at the awards ceremony on 24 August, including the winners of two new awards: The Edith Hausmann Award for Jewish Playwrights aged 18-45 offering a $10,000 prize for an unproduced script; and The Rosalind Sharbanee Meyer Award for Young Jewish Storytellers aged 18-35 for short stories and poetry offering prizes totalling $600.

“This year’s shortlists are a captivating reflection of the strength, breadth and creativity of contemporary Jewish Australian writing and research. We are thrilled to be offering these awards for a second year, and to have expanded our prizes to include fiction, playwrighting, short stories and poetry. We hope that not only our authors benefit from the honour of being shortlisted, but that the public embraces this opportunity to learn more about the Jewish Australian experience, and contemporary Australian Jewish writing.”

Anna Stern, Deputy Director of Programs at Shalom Collective

About the Awards

Shalom Collective creates contemporary Jewish experiences to celebrate culture, strengthen identity and build a thriving community. Through these awards, Shalom Collective aims to inspire and support current and future Australian Jewish authors, and to promote their writing to wide audiences. Shalom Collective also runs the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival, and this award has received support from Melbourne Jewish Book Week.

About Shalom Collective

Through innovative programs and strategic partnerships, we provide opportunities for deep, meaningful engagement with Jewish identity and culture, offering individuals experiences to explore and connect with their heritage through a contemporary lens. Our goal is to cultivate inclusive spaces where each individual program participant feels valued, challenged, and inspired, sparking connections that strengthen community ties to share in the experience of Jewish life together.

Winners in all five categories will be announced on 24 August at the Awards Ceremony. The public is invited to attend. Details can be found at on the Shalom Collective website.

Contact: Anna Stern on 9381 4000 | anna@shalomcollective.com.au