We are thrilled and delighted to learn that Jane Harrison’s remarkable debut novel The Visitors has been longlisted in the ARA Historical Novel Prize!

The Visitors was an audacious, earthy, funny, gritty and powerful re-imagining of a crucial moment in Australia’s history – an unputdownable work of fiction – that won the 2024 Indie Book Debut Fiction Award this year too. This honour from ARA is more deeply-felt and appreciated recognition for this incredible novel.

With prize money of $150,000, the ARA Historical Novel Prize gives Australian and New Zealand historical novelists the chance to be recognised in a class of their own, with the most significant prize purse for literature in Australasia. The Prize incorporates both an Adult category and a category for Children and Young Adult (CYA).

The ARA Historical Novel Prize now awards $100,000 to the Adult category winner, with an additional $5,000 awarded to each of the remaining two shortlisted authors. In the CYA category, the winner received $30,000, while the two short listers received $5,000 each.

The ARA Historical Novel Prize has been made possible by the generosity of our Foundation Partner, ARA Group. The ARA Group, and its Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Edward Federman, are committed to supporting the arts and literature. They do this in a number of ways – as a Principal Partner of the Sydney Writers’ Festival, the Melbourne Writers Festival, the National Institute of Dramatic Art, the Monkey Baa Theatre, and the Story Factory– and now as the sponsor of this very significant literary prize.

The Shortlists will be announced on 2 October, and winners announced 23 October. Good luck to Jane, and all the longlisted creators!