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).

Jacobson is a familiar name on the list, having won the award in 2024 for Anxious in a Sweet Store.

Six poets are shortlisted for the Fedler poetry prize, including Jessica Chapnik Kahn, Marcelle Freiman, Leah Kaminsky, Michael Leibowitz, Sarah Sassoon and Gadia Zrihan.

The Szymon (Simon) Klitenik Award for Jewish Fiction, carrying a $5000 prize, will not be shortlisted this year. The winner will be announced directly at the ceremony.

Shalom Collective Australian Jewish Writer Awards program manager Sydney Aaranson said the expanded program reflected the breadth of Jewish literary output in Australia.

“This year’s shortlist reflects the range of contemporary Jewish writing coming out of Australia right now, including memoir, history, fiction, and poetry, and the growing audience for these stories,” Aaranson said.

Winners will be announced on August 3 at the opening event of the Festival of the Spoken Word, presented by Sydney Jewish Writers Festival.

The ceremony will also feature international authors Ayelet Tsabari and Yishay Ron Ishi in conversation with Michaela Kalowski, presented in partnership with Melbourne Jewish Book Week.

For more about the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival, head to their website: shalomcollective.com.au/programs/sydney-jewish-writers-festival