The Historical Novel Society Australasia is recognised as the home of the historical fiction genre in Australasia as the third arm of the international Historical Novel Society. The society considers the genre provides entertainment and education to readers while offering a valid perspective beyond the viewpoint of the historian. Both the imagination and dedication of historical novelists create authentic worlds which can enrich a reader’s understanding of real historical personages, eras and events.
The ARA Historical Novel Prize is the richest genre-based literary award in Australasia, thanks to our Foundation Partner, the ARA Group. The Prize incorporates a category for outstanding Children and Young Adult (CYA) literature, in addition to the Adult category. As such, after just three years of operation, the ARA Historical Novel Prize is worth a total of $100,000 in prize monies. The Prize awards $50,000 to the Adult category winner, with an additional $5,000 awarded to each of the remaining two shortlisted authors. In the CYA category, the winner receives $30,000, while the two short listers receive $5,000 each. Entries for the 2023 ARA Historical Novel Prize are now closed. Subscribe to our newsletter to hear news of the results.
The 2023 HNSA Conference was held on 21-22 October at the Southern Sydney Event Centre at Hurstville.
The event was a combined live and online affair with sessions being live streamed. Here’s your chance to catch up with post conference recordings. You can access 21 fabulous sessions across our two stream program. These will be available to view on demand until midnight on 29 February 2023. You can find full program details here.
Guests of honour were Melissa Lucashenko, Anna Funder, Judy Nunn and Tom Keneally.
The HNSA promotes the writing, reading and publication of historical fiction, especially in Australia and New Zealand, through its biennial conferences held since 2015. Our events showcase the best literary talent and enable readers, writers and publishing professionals to celebrate the genre.
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The inauguration of the ARA Historical Novel Prize is the crown jewel in HNSA’s suite of literary contests.
HNSA also runs the the Elizabeth Jane Corbett Mentorship for Young Adult historical novelists.
Here’s a wonderful way to cap off 2023! Simon & Schuster Australia is very kindly offering a giveaway of 10 copies of Ariel Lawhon’s new release, The Frozen River. The first 10 commenters will be the lucky winners of The Frozen River. From the bestselling author of Code Name Hélène comes a gripping historical
Missed the HNSA 2023 Conference? Here’s your chance to catch up with post conference recordings. You can access 20 fabulous sessions across our two stream program. These will be available to view on demand until midnight on 29 February 2023. You can find full program details here. Online and In-Person conference attendees can view the sessions via their existing ticket at no
Two years in the planning. Two days of celebration! The HNSA Conference was a blast and a terrific time was had by all. We’re so glad our community could finally catch up again in person and the ether. We’re proud to have brought you a hybrid conference with all sessions livestreamed to an online audience.
Historical Novel Society
