The South Australian Literary Awards, until 2024 known as the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, comprise a group of biennially-granted literary awards established in 1986 by the Government of South Australia. Formerly announced during Adelaide Writers' Week in March, as part of the Adelaide Festival, from 2024 the awards are announced in a dedicated ceremony in October. The awards include national as well as state-based prizes, and offer three fellowships for South Australian writers. Several categories have been added to the original four.

The Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature were created by the Government of South Australia in 1986 and awarded during Writers' Week as part of the Adelaide Festival.^[1][2]

In 2020, the State Library of South Australia (SLSA) took over administration of the awards from Arts South Australia, and library director Geoff Strempel felt that the awards being presented in the late afternoon right at the end of a busy Writers' Week meant that they did not get the attention they deserved, especially compared with its interstate equivalents.^[3][4]

From 2024, the awards are renamed the South Australian Literary Awards^[5] (a name in line with its interstate equivalents),and the awards ceremony takes place in the Mortlock Chamber of the SLSA towards the end of the year, away from the festival season.^[3] The first of the rebranded awards takes place in October 2024. The shortlist was announced on 9 August 2024.^[2]

The Premier's Award is the richest prize, worth A$25,000, and awarded for the best overall published work which has already won an award in one of the other categories.^[6][2] There is a total prize pool of A$167,500, which is distributed 11 categories, including the Premier's Award. There are six national and five South Australian categories.^[3]

Other national awards, worth A$15,000 (equivalent to $16,853 in 2022) each as of 2024, are the Fiction Award, Children's Literature Award, Young Adult Fiction Award, John Bray Poetry Award, and the Non-Fiction Award. South Australian awards and fellowships are the Jill Blewett Playwright's Award, the Arts South Australia/Wakefield Press Unpublished Manuscript Award, the Barbara Hanrahan Fellowship, the Max Fatchen Fellowship (in honour of Adelaide author and journalist Max Fatchen), and the Tangkanungku Pintyanthi Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Fellowship.^[2][1] Applications for each year's awards are open until mid-December of the preceding year.^[3]

The awards are jointly funded by the SA government and the Libraries Board of South Australia.^[3]

Winners:^[1]

• 1996 The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery (Reed Books)
• 1998 The Drowner by Robert Drewe (Pan MacMillan)
• 2000 Mr. Darwin's Shooter by Roger McDonald (Vintage Books)
• 2002 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (University of Queensland Press)
• 2004 Wild Surmise by Dorothy Porter (Picador)
• 2006 Sixty Lights by Gail Jones (Vintage Books)
• 2008 Urban Myths: 210 Poems by John Tranter (University of Queensland Press)
• 2010 Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (Allen and Unwin)
• 2012 That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott (Picador Australia)
• 2014 Cold Light by Frank Moorhouse
• 2016 Figgy in the World by Tamsin Janu
• 2018 The Last Garden by Eva Hornung
• 2020 Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Lothian)^[7][8]
• 2022 The Yield by Tara June Winch^[9]
• 2024 Childhood by Shannon Burns^[10]

Winners:^[1]

• 1986 The Children's Bach by Helen Garner (McPhee Gribble)
• 1988 Julia Paradise by Rod Jones (McPhee Gribble)
• 1990 Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (University of Queensland Press)
• 1992 The Great World by David Malouf (Chatto & Windus)
• 1994 Grand Days by Frank Moorhouse (William Heinemann Australia)
• 1996 Death of a River Guide by Richard Flanagan (McPhee Gribble/Penguin)
• 1998 The Drowner by Robert Drewe (Pan MacMillan)
• 2000 Mr. Darwin's Shooter by Roger McDonald (Vintage Books)
• 2002 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (University of Queensland Press)
• 2004 Moral Hazard by Kate Jennings (Picador)
• 2006 Sixty Lights by Gail Jones (Vintage Books)
• 2008 The Ballad of Desmond Kale by Roger McDonald (Vintage Books)
• 2010 Ransom by David Malouf (Knopf/Random House)
• 2012 That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott (Picador Australia)
• 2014 Cold Light by Frank Moorhouse
• 2016 To Name Those Lost by Rohan Wilson
• 2018 The Last Garden by Eva Hornung
• 2020 The Death of Noah Glass by Gail Jones (Text)^[7][8]
• 2022 The Yield by Tara June Winch^[9]
• 2024 Permafrost by SJ Norman^[10]

Winners:^[1]

• 1986 The Long Night Watch by Ivan Southall (Methuen)
• 1988 Space Demons by Gillian Rubinstein (Omnibus Books)
• 1990 Beyond the Labyrinth by Gillian Rubinstein (Hyland House)
• 1992 The House Guest by Eleanor Nilsson (Viking Penguin)
• 1994 Angel's Gate by Gary Crew (William Heinemann Australia)
• 1996 The Third Day, the Frost by John Marsden (Pan MacMillan)
• 1998 The Listmaker by Robin Klein (Viking Penguin)
• 2000 Deadly, Unna? by Phillip Gwynne (Puffin Penguin)
• 2002 Lirael by Garth Nix (HarperCollins)
• 2004 Abyssinia by Ursula Dubosarsky (Viking Penguin)
• 2006 It's Not All About You, Calma! by Barry Jonsberg (Allen and Unwin)
• 2008 Don't Call Me Ishmael by Michael Gerard Bauer (Omnibus Scholastic)
• 2010 Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (Allen and Unwin)
• 2012 Taj and the Great Camel Trek by Roseanne Hawke (University of Queensland Press)
• 2014 A Very Unusual Pursuit by Catherine Jinks
• 2016 Figgy in the World by Tamsin Janu^[11]
• 2018 Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr
• 2020 Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Lothian)^[7][8]
• 2022 We Are Wolves by Katrina Nannestad^[9][12]
• 2024 Scar town by Tristan Bancks^[10]

(Offered 2012– ) Winners:^[1]

• 2012 All I Ever Wanted by Vikki Wakefield
• 2014 Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield
• 2016 Are You Seeing Me? by Darren Groth
• 2018 My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier
• 2020 Small Spaces by Sarah Epstein (Walker Books)^[7][8]
• 2022 The Gaps by Leanne Hall^[9]
• 2024 Completely normal (and other lies) by Biffy James^[10]

Honours John Jefferson Bray (1912–1995), Chief Justice of South Australia, academic and poet for his distinguished services to Australian poetry.^[13] Winners:^[1]

• 1986 Selected Poems – 1963–1983 by Robert Gray (Angus & Robertson)
• 1988 The Daylight Moon by Les Murray (Angus & Robertson)
• 1990 Bone Scan by Gwen Harwood (Angus & Robertson)
• 1992 Last Poems by Vincent Buckley (McPhee Gribble)
• 1994 Between Glances by Andrew Lansdown (Fremantle Arts Centre Press)
• 1996 The Silo: A Pastoral Symphony by John Kinsella (Fremantle Arts Centre Press)
• 1998 The Blue Cloud of Crying by Peter Boyle (Hale & Ironmonger)
• 2000 The Harbour by Dimitris Tsaloumas (University of Queensland Press)
• 2002 Around Here by Cath Kenneally (Wakefield Press)
• 2004 Wild Surmise by Dorothy Porter (Picador)
• 2006 Totem by Luke Davies (Allen and Unwin)
• 2008 Urban Myths: 210 Poems by John Tranter (University of Queensland Press)
• 2010 The Other Way Out by Bronwyn Lea (Giramondo poets)
• 2012 Taller When Prone by Les Murray (Black Inc)
• 2014 The Sunlit Zone by Lisa Jacobson (Five Islands Press)
• 2016 Waiting for the Past by Les Murray
• 2018 Missing Up by Pam Brown
• 2020 Archival-Poetics by Natalie Harkin (Vagabond)^[7][8]
• 2022 Fifteeners by Jordie Albiston^[9]
• 2024 At the altar of touch, by Gavin Yuan Gao^[10]

Winners:^[1]

• 1986 A History of Prince Alfred College by R M Gibbs (Peacock Publications)
• 1988 The Myriad Faces of War by Trevor Wilson (Polity/Blackwells)
• 1990 Satura by John Bray (Wakefield Press)
• 1992 Patrick White – A Life by David Marr (Random House Australia)
• 1994 Sort of a Place Like Home: Remembering the Moore River Native Settlement by Susan Maushart (Fremantle Arts Centre Press)
• 1996 The Future Eaters by Tim Flannery (Reed Books)
• 1998 Claiming a Continent: A History of Australia by David Day (HarperCollins)
• 2000 Throw'im Way Leg: An Adventure by Tim Flannery (Text Publishing)
• 2002 Leviathan: The Unauthorised Biography of Sydney by John Birmingham (Random House Australia)
• 2004 Unearthed: The Aboriginal Tasmanians of Kangaroo Island by Rebe Taylor (Wakefield Press)
• 2006 Velocity by Mandy Sayer (Vintage Books)
• 2008 Sunrise West by Jacob G Rosenberg (Brandl & Schlesinger)
• 2010 Stella Miles Franklin by Jill Roe (Fourth Estate / HarperCollins)
• 2012 An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark by Mark McKenna
• 2014 Madness: A Memoir by Kate Richards
• 2016 What Days Are For by Robert Dessaix
• 2018 The Boy Behind the Curtain by Tim Winton
• 2020 The Bible in Australia by Meredith Lake (NewSouth)^[7][8]
• 2022 Olive Cotton: A Life in Photography by Helen Ennis^[9]
• 2024 Childhood by Shannon Burns^[10]

(Offered 1992− ) Winners:^[1]

• 1992 Bran Nue Dae by Jimmy Chi (Kuckles and Bran Nue Dae Productions)
• 1994 Sweetown by Melissa Reeves (Red Shed)
• 1996 Because You Are Mine by Daniel Keene (Red Shed)
• 1998 Wolf Lullaby by Hilary Bell (Griffin Theatre Company)
• 2000 Who's Afraid of the Working Class? by Andrew Bovell, Patricia Cornelius, Melissa Reeves & Christos Tsiolkas (Melbourne Workers Theatre)
• 2002 Small Faith by Josh Tyler
• 2004 Beautiful Words: A Trilogy by Sean Riley
• 2006 This Uncharted Hour by Finegan Kruckemeyer
• 2008 Merger – Art, Life and the Other Thing by Duncan Graham
• 2010 This Place by Nina Pearce
• 2012 A Cathedral by Nicki Bloom
• 2014 Replay by Philip Kavanagh
• 2016 Cut by Duncan Graham AND Blessed by Fleur Kilpatrick (joint winners)
• 2018 19 Weeks by Emily Steel
• 2020 Forgiveness by Piri Eddy^[7][8]
• 2022 Calendar Days by Peter Beaglehole^[9]
• 2024 Paradise lost by Melissa-Kelly Franklin^[10]

(Offered 1998– )^[1]

• 1998 Counting the Rivers by Pearlie McNeil
• 2000 (No winner)
• 2002 The Black Dream by Corrie Hosking
• 2004 Goddamn Bus of Happiness by Stefan Laszczuk
• 2006 The Quakers by Rachel Hennessy
• 2008 The Second Fouling Mark by Stephen Orr
• 2010 End of the Night Girl by Amy T Matthews
• 2012 The First Week by Margaret Merrilees
• 2014 Here Where We Live by Cassie Flanagan-Willanski
• 2016 Mallee Boys by Charlie Archbold
• 2018 A New Name for the Colour Blue by Annette Marner
• 2020 In the Room with the She Wolf by Jelena Dinic^[7][8]
• 2022 The Comforting Weight of Water by Roanna McClelland^[9]
• 2024 Salt Upon the Water by Lyn Dickens^[10]

(Offered 1994– ) Winners:^[1]

• 1994 Barry Westburg
• 1996 Moya Costello
• 1998 Cath Kenneally
• 2000 Jan Owen
• 2002 Graham Rowlands
• 2004 Kirsty Brooks
• 2006 Mike Ladd
• 2008 Steve Evans
• 2010 Patrick Allington
• 2012 Nicki Bloom
• 2014 Jennifer Mills
• 2016 Carol Lefevre
• 2018 Jude Aquilina
• 2020 Aidan Coleman^[7][8]
• 2022 Rachel Mead^[9]
• 2024 Radiance: a state of being by Molly Murn^[10]

(Carclew Fellowship 1988–2012;^[14] renamed Max Fatchen Fellowship from 2014, in honour of children's writer Max Fatchen, who died in 2012.^[15][6]) Winners:^[1]

• 1988 Geoff Goodfellow
• 1990 Anne-Marie Mykyta
• 1992 Anne Brookman
• 1994 Peter McFarlane
• 1996 Chris Tugwell
• 1998 Phil Cummings
• 2000 Ian Bone
• 2002 Ruth Starke
• 2004 Marguerite Hann-Syme
• 2006 Christine Harris
• 2008 Rosanne Hawke
• 2010 Nicole Plüss
• 2012 Janeen Brian^[16]
• 2014 Helen Dinmore (writing as Catherine Norton^[15])
• 2016 Marianne Musgrove
• 2018 Danielle Clode
• 2020 Sally Heinrich^[7][8]
• 2022 Poppy Nwosu^[9]
• 2024 The children of Elphinstone, by James A Cooper^[10]

(Offered 2014– ; full name Tangkanungku Pintyanthi Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Fellowship) Winners:^[1]

• 2014 Ali Cobby Eckermann for Hopes Crossing
• 2016 Ali Cobby Eckermann for Too Afraid to Cry
• 2018 Edoardo Crismani
• 2022 Karen Wyld^[9]
• 2024 Monologues, poems and ramblings for you, them, us… and me… by Alexis West^[10]

(Offered 2004–2010)
Winners:^[1]

• 2004 The Eastern Slope Chronicle by Ouyang Yu (Brandl and Schlesinger)
• 2006 <More or Less Than> 1–100 by MTC Cronin (Shearsman Books)
• 2008 Someone Else: Fictional Essays by John Hughes (Giramondo Publishing)
• 2010 Barley Patch by Gerald Murnane (Giramondo Publishing)

Formerly the Faulding Award for Multimedia (offered 1998 to 2004).
Winners:^[1]

• 1998 FlightPaths: Writing Journeys by Julie Clarke, Rob Finlayson, Tom Gibson, Denise Higgins, Bernie Jannsen, Nazid Kimmie and Adrian Marshall
• 2000 Carrier by Melinda Rackham (www.subtle.net/carrier)
• 2002 Poems in a Flash @ The Stalking Tongue website Jayne Fenton Keane and David Keane (www.poetinresidence.com)
• 2004 Concatenation by Geniwate

• List of Australian literary awards