Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 20, 2026

Robbie Arnott

Robbie Arnott is an Australian author. He is known for his novels Flames (2018), The Rain Heron (2020), and Limberlost (2022), and Dusk (2024), all of which were nominated for or won Australian literary awards.

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Robbie Arnott
Born
Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
OccupationAuthor
Years active2018–present
Known for

Robbie Arnott (born 1988 or 1989) is an Australian author. He is known for his novels Flames (2018), The Rain Heron (2020), and Limberlost (2022), and Dusk (2024), all of which were nominated for or won Australian literary awards.

Career

Arnott's early writing appeared in literary publications Island Magazine, Kill Your Darlings and The Lifted Brow. In 2014, Arnott was awarded the Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers, and in 2015 won the Tasmanian Young Writer's Fellowship.1

Flames, Arnott's first novel, was released by Text Publishing in Australia in 2018. The novel was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 20192 and was nominated for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for fiction. Following the release of Flames, Arnott was named a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist, a title awarded to select Australian authors under the age of 35 at the time their work was published.3 Flames has been included as a text in Australian VCE (Victorian) school curriculum.4

The Rain Heron, Arnott's second novel, was released in 2020, and won The Age Book of the Year Award as well as being shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award.56 Critics noted the novel continued Arnott's style of "risk-taking" and "daring" literary fiction, with a positive reception to its environmental messages.78

The third novel from Arnott, Limberlost, was released in 2022. It became Arnott's second novel to win The Age Book of the Year Award, was shortlisted for the 2023 Miles Franklin Award,9 and won the 2023 Voss Literary Prize.10 It was also longlisted for the 2024 International Dublin Literary Award.11 Like Arnott's previous novels, Limberlost found critical success both in Australia and internationally, with positive reviews from noted critics and newspapers.121314

His fourth novel, Dusk, was published in October 2024.151617 It won the 2025 Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction18 and was joint winner of the ARA Historical Novel Prize.19

As of 2025 he was working at an advertising agency three days a week, and devoting one day per week to writing.20

Personal life

Robbie Arnott was born in 1988 or 198920 in Launceston, Tasmania.21

He married Emily, and as of March 2025 they had one daughter and were expecting their second child. They were living in Hobart.20

Awards

Year Work Award Category Result Ref
2018 Flames Queensland Literary Awards Fiction Shortlisted
Readings Prize New Australian Fiction Shortlisted
2019 ALS Gold Medal — Longlisted
Indie Book Awards Debut Fiction Longlisted
Miles Franklin Award — Longlisted
MUD Literary Prize — Shortlisted
NSW Premier's Literary Award UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing Shortlisted
Not the Booker Prize — Shortlisted
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction Shortlisted
2020 International Dublin Literary Award — Longlisted
Voss Literary Prize — Longlisted
2021 The Rain Heron Australian Book Industry Awards Small Publisher Adult Book Shortlisted
Miles Franklin Award — Shortlisted
Voss Literary Prize — Shortlisted
2022 Tasmanian Literary Awards Fiction Longlisted
William Saroyan International Prize for Writing Fiction Shortlisted
2023 Limberlost ARA Historical Novel Prize Adult Longlisted
Australian Book Industry Awards Literary Fiction Shortlisted
Dylan Thomas Prize — Shortlisted
Indie Book Award Fiction Shortlisted
Voss Literary Prize — Won
2024 Dick and Joan Green Family Award for Tasmanian History — Won
International Dublin Literary Award — Longlisted
Dusk The Guardian's Top 25 Best Australian Books of 2024 — Won 22
2025 Australian Book Industry Awards Literary Fiction Won 23
ARA Historical Novel Prize Adult (joint winner) Won 24
Bibliography

Bibliography

Novels

Novella

Critical studies of Arnott's work

Limberlost

  • Mills, Jennifer (October 2022). "A distant leviathan : Robbie Arnott's realist new novel". Australian Book Review. 447: 38.
References

References

  1. "'Past Winners'". Tasmanian Literary Awards.
  2. "Miles Franklin 2019 longlist announced". Books+Publishing. 22 June 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  3. "Four writers named 2019 'SMH' Best Young Australian Novelists". Books+Publishing. 6 May 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  4. Literature, VCE English &. "Research Guides: VCE English & Literature guide - units 3 & 4: Australian texts". guides.slv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  5. Steger, Jason (3 September 2021). "Robbie Arnott's Rain Heron swoops on the Age Book of the Year". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  6. "Robbie Arnott". Text Publishing. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  7. Tepper, Anderson (23 March 2021). "International Novels Unearth Family Secrets and Nature's Mysteries". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  8. Woollett, Laura Elizabeth (26 May 2020). "Laura Elizabeth Woollett reviews 'The Rain Heron' by Robbie Arnott". Australian Book Review. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  9. "Miles Franklin Literary Award 2023 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 20 June 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  10. "Arnott wins 2023 Voss Literary Prize". Books+Publishing. 28 November 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  11. "ANZ authors among 2024 Dublin Literary Award longlistees". Books+Publishing. 19 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  12. "Confluences | Megan Cheong on Limberlost by Robbie Arnott". Sydney Review of Books. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  13. Harrison, Melissa (9 November 2022). "Limberlost by Robbie Arnott review – a whole life in closeup". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  14. "Limberlost is a quiet marvel". The West Australian. 12 November 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  15. "Dusk". Pan Macmillan Australia. 24 May 2024. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  16. "Book Launch: Dusk". Readings. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  17. Bradley, James (14 October 2024). "Dusk by Robbie Arnott review – big cat hunters become the hunted in beautiful Tasmanian western". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
  18. ""Indie Book Awards - Winners 2025"". Australian Independent Booksellers. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
  19. "Arnott, Walton, Leal win 2025 ARA Historical Novel Prize". Books+Publishing. 16 October 2025. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  20. Chisholm, Anna (6 March 2025). "Robbie Arnott on the absence of routine and turning to nature when it 'gets too much'". ABC News. Retrieved 22 April 2026. The 36-year-old lives in Nipaluna/Hobart...
  21. Heath, Nicola (26 November 2022). "A mad whale and a furious quoll appear in this award-winning writer's latest work of 'eco-fiction'". ABC News. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  22. Harmon, Steph; Cain, Sian; Wyndham, Susan; Bradley, James; Gorman, Alyx; Nguyen, Giselle Au-Nhien; Dewey, Imogen; Kavanagh, Bec; Touma, Rafqa (13 December 2024). "The 25 best Australian books of 2024: Helen Garner, Tim Winton, Nam Le and more". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 16 December 2024. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
  23. O'Brien, Kerrie (7 May 2025). "Nagi Maehashi, John Farnham and Richard Scolyer win at book awards". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  24. "Arnott, Walton, Leal win 2025 ARA Historical Novel Prize". Books+Publishing. 16 October 2025. Retrieved 19 October 2025.