A Piece of Red Cloth wins Prime Minister’s Literary Award for fiction
The collaborative novel draws on Yolngu oral history and cultural knowledge to tell a story of pre-colonial exchange in north-east Arnhem Land.
A Piece of Red Cloth has won the $80,000 fiction prize at the 2026 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, bringing national recognition to a collaborative work rooted in Yolngu oral history.
The novel was written by Leonie Norrington, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs and Yolngu knowledge holders Djawundil Maymuru and Djawa Burarrwanga. Set in coastal north-east Arnhem Land in the 1600s, it follows contact between Yolngu people and Makassan fishers during the wet season.
According to The Guardian, the story traces the breakdown of that exchange after Dutch colonisers took control of Makassar. Its account of alcohol, opium and the exploitation of girls and young women is presented through the novel’s historical narrative and the oral histories on which it draws.
The judges called A Piece of Red Cloth a “landmark achievement in fiction”, praising its fusion of oral history, novelistic technique and deep cultural knowledge. They also described it as setting a high benchmark for collaboration between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal writers.
Djawundil Maymuru, whose work helped relay the oral histories behind the book, died in 2025. The award’s reported tax-free prize pool is $600,000. Other winners included Kate Wild for nonfiction, Zana Fraillon for children’s literature, Rohan Howitt for Australian history, Ender Başkan for poetry and Pip Harry for young adult literature.
