The winning Jewish books by Australians in the past year
A history of meat, a collection of short stories about creative Israeli women, and poetry exploring healing and resilience are among the winners of the Shalom Collective Australian Jewish Writer Awards.
Gideon Cohen
Published: 9 August 2026
Last updated: 16 August 2026
The winners for the 2026 Shalom Collective Australian Jewish Writer Awards have been announced. These are the winning and shortlisted books which most impressed the judges.
The Szymon (Simon) Klitenik Award for Jewish Fiction, $5,000 for a novel or short story collection
No shortlist was released for the fiction award.
Winner: Late Blossoms by Merav Fima
Late Blossoms is a collection of linked short stories inspired by the lives of 10 migrant women artists who lived in Jerusalem. Through fictionalised portrayals of figures such as Anna Ticho, Rachel Bluwstein and Zelda Schneurson Mishkovsky, the book explores how these women shaped the emerging State of Israel’s literary, artistic, cultural, and intellectual scenes.
The Leslie and Sophie Caplan Award for Jewish Non-Fiction, $10,000 for a work of significant relevance to the Jewish experience
Ferryman: The life and deathwork of Ephraim Finch
Katia Ariel
Blending biography, memoir and Jewish communal history, this book explores the life of Ephraim Finch OAM, a deathworker and community builder whose decades of service supported families through grief and loss. Drawing on Finch’s journals and interviews, Katia Ariel traces his journey from a working-class Sydney upbringing to his conversion to Orthodox Judaism, and later, more than 30 years as director of Melbourne’s Jewish Burial Society (Chevra Kadisha).
All Consuming: Germans, Jews, and the Meaning of Meat
John M. Efron
All Consuming explores the 700-year history of meat and its role in shaping German-Jewish identity. Historian John M. Efron examines how Jewish dietary laws, ritual slaughter and food practices became markers of cultural and ethnic identities, while also tracing how meat became a source of debate, prejudice and connection between Jewish and Christian communities in Germany. Through this culinary history, the book offers a broader look at the complex history of German Jewry.
The holy and the broken: A cry for peace from a land that must be shared
Ittay Flescher
For over 20 years, Ittay Flescher has worked as an educator, journalist and peacebuilder across Australia and Israel. Following the devastation of October 7 and the ensuing Gaza war, he questioned: how can we find a way forward? In The holy and the broken, Flescher challenges Israeli and Palestinian leaders, citizens and their supporters to reexamine their histories, empathise with the other side, and imagine a better future.
Ruptured: Jewish Women in Australia Reflect on Life Post-October 7
Lee Kofman & Tamar Paluch (Editors)
Ruptured is a collection of personal essays from 36 Australian Jewish women, reflecting on how their lives, sense of identity and connection to their communities were irrevocably changed in the wake of October 7, 2023. Among the contributors, race walker Jemima Montag writes about competing in the Olympics as a Jewish athlete, while actress Dena Amy Kaplan recounts facing hostility after speaking out against antisemitism. The collection captures the grief, uncertainty and resilience of Jewish women grappling with the aftermath of that devastating day.
Winner: All Consuming: Germans, Jews, and the Meaning of Meat by John M Efron
The Bobby Adler Award for Young Jewish Writers, $5,000 for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry on Jewish subjects by authors aged 18-40
All Rage Blaze Light
Anna Jacobson
In her third illustrated poetry collection, Anna Jacobson explores themes of healing, trauma, resilience, and finding light through the power of words and art. With sharp observation, wit, and an experimental style, her poems navigate a range of worlds and journeys, from escaping darkrooms to become a colour artist to surviving rentals on the same street as her therapist’s office.
They Found Paradise: Retracing the Jewish History of Australia’s Gold Coast
Shaina Rother
In They Found Paradise, historian Shaina Rother uncovers the hidden contributions of Jewish refugees and Holocaust survivors, who helped transform the Gold Coast from a strip of fishing villages into a thriving modern city. Drawing on interviews and private archives, the book recounts how, after fleeing antisemitism in 1930s Europe, these Jewish pioneers found an unlikely sanctuary on the shores of Queensland.
Late Blossoms is a collection of linked short stories inspired by the lives of 10 migrant women artists who lived in Jerusalem. Through fictionalised portrayals of figures such as Anna Ticho, Rachel Bluwstein and Zelda Schneurson Mishkovsky, the book explores how these women shaped the emerging State of Israel’s literary, artistic, cultural, and intellectual scenes.
Winner: All Rage Blaze Light by Anna Jacobson
The Edith Hausmann Award for Jewish Playwrights, $10,000 for full-length unproduced plays of any genre that engages in some capacity with Jewish subjects written by a Jewish Australian writer aged 18-45
Bad Rabbis by Nomi Kaltmann
Winner: Sabotage by Ziggy Enoch
The Chaya Fedler Award for Poetry $500 for a poem that captures an aspect of the Jewish experience and has a Jewish neshama (spirit)
I Never Knew a Song Could Be a Knife by Jessica Chapnik Kahn
The Copper Pots by Marcelle Freiman
Sleep School by Leah Kaminsky
Travelling to Jerusalem by Michael Leibowitz
Ashlonak by Sarah Sassoon
Winner: Koldre by Gadia Zrihan
About the author
Gideon Cohen is a Melbourne-based journalist and a content creator and editorial assistant at TJI. He holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of Melbourne and his work has appeared in various publications including Broadsheet and The Jewish Chronicle.
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