Best Australian books of the 21st century: as chosen by 50 experts

Like so many avid readers around the world, I was fascinated by the recent New York Times list of the Best Books of the 21st century, as voted by 503 authors, critics and book lovers.

But like many Australians, I was disappointed to see no Australian books on the list. Even those authors who’ve made a splash in the US literary scene this century – Helen Garner, Gerald Murnane, Maria Tumarkin – didn’t get a guernsey.

That’s where we come in. The Conversation’s Books & Ideas team, seeking to right a wrong (and just very curious), asked 50 Australian literary experts to each share their favourite Australian books of this century.

I’m pleased to say the aforementioned authors are all represented here – along with a host of others, ranging from household names and local literary darlings to excellent (we’re told) books and authors you might not have heard of until now.

We were unsurprised to see Waanyi author Alexis Wright, who made history by winning both the Miles Franklin and the Stella Prize for her epic Praiseworthy, topping our most-picked list.

Melbourne bookseller Readings recently asked members of the Australian literary community to nominate their best Australian books of the 21st century, creating a ranked top 30. Our approach is a little different: we’ve included all 50 nominations, with a few words from our experts – and we’ve allowed two honourable mentions each.

What are our personal picks? Books & Ideas editor Suzy Freeman-Greene’s number one book is Extinctions by Josephine Wilson. Her honourable mentions are Burial Rites by Hannah Kent and Joe Cinque’s Consolation by Garner.

Fellow deputy editor James Ley, our resident 2024 Miles Franklin judge (doesn’t every books section have one of those?), chose Brian Castro’s Shanghai Dancing, closely followed by Wright’s Carpentaria (narrowly edging out Praiseworthy, if only because it came first) and J.M. Coetzee’s Elizabeth Costello.

And me? My very favourite is Tumarkin’s deeply ethics-driven work of creative nonfiction, Axiomatic. My honourable mentions are Dark Palace by Frank Moorhouse and How to End a Story: Diaries 1995–1998 by Garner.

If you’d like to play this game too, scroll to the end of the article to vote in our poll or leave a comment. We’ll share selected results in our next Books & Ideas newsletter. (You can subscribe here if you don’t get it already.)

And look out for New Zealand’s Best Books, which we’ll publish soon.

Jo Case is co-editing an anthology that will be published by UQP in 2025 and has published a book with Hardie Grant.Mridula Nath Chakraborty is currently writing a monograph on Michelle de Kretser.