Shortlists unveiled for Australian Jewish Writer Awards

The shortlists are out for the 2026 Shalom Collective Australian Jewish Writer Awards, with Lee Kofman, Nomi Kaltmann and Anna Jacobson among the authors in contention across five categories spanning memoir, history, playwriting and poetry.

Now in its third year, the awards recognise the best Australian writing on Jewish subjects published in 2025. Five categories are on offer this year, with poetry added for the first time through the new Chaya Fedler Award for Poetry.

The non-fiction shortlist features Katia Ariel’s Ferryman: The life and deathwork of Ephraim Finch, John M. Efron’s All Consuming: Germans, Jews, and the Meaning of Meat, Ittay Flescher’s The holy and the broken: A cry for Israeli-Palestinian peace from a land that must be shared, and Ruptured: Jewish Women in Australia Reflect on Life Post-October 7, edited by Lee Kofman and Tamar Paluch. Previous winners include Jana Vytrhlik for Treasures of Old Jewish Sydney in 2025 and Michael Gawenda for My Life as a Jew in 2024.

In the playwrights category, Ziggy Enoch’s Sabotage and Nomi Kaltmann’s Bad Rabbis are vying for the prize, following Elise Hearst’s win last year for Batsheva.

The Bobby Adler Award for Young Jewish Writers, worth $5000 and open to authors aged 18 to 40, has shortlisted Merav Fima (Late Blossoms), Anna Jacobson (All Rage Blaze Light) and Shaina Rother (They Found Paradise: Retracing the Jewish History of Australia’s Gold Coast).