VCE Literature Text List 2027
By the HZ Tutoring English team, edited by Haobo Zhang (98.00 ATAR, University of Melbourne). Checked against the official VCAA 2027 VCE Literature text list (version 1.1, updated April 2026).
Short answer: the approved 2027 VCE Literature text list contains 30 texts across five categories – nine novels, nine plays, six poetry collections, three short story collections and three works of other literature. Your school selects five of them (at least one novel, one poetry collection and one play, and at least one Australian text), plus an adaptation of one selected text for Unit 3. The full list, with every new addition flagged:
The full 2027 list
| Category | Text | Author | New in 2027? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Novels | Drylands (A) | Thea Astley | – |
| Novels | Lady Audley’s Secret | Mary Elizabeth Braddon | – |
| Novels | Our Sunshine (A) | Robert Drewe | – |
| Novels | Silas Marner | George Eliot | New |
| Novels | The City and The City | China Miéville | – |
| Novels | The Plains (A) | Gerald Murnane | – |
| Novels | The English Patient | Michael Ondaatje | New |
| Novels | Brideshead Revisited | Evelyn Waugh | – |
| Novels | The Age of Innocence | Edith Wharton | – |
| Plays | The Persians | Aeschylus | – |
| Plays | Do Not Go Gentle … (A) | Patricia Cornelius | New |
| Plays | A Raisin in the Sun | Lorraine Hansberry | – |
| Plays | Admissions | Joshua Harmon | – |
| Plays | Cyrano de Bergerac | Edmond Rostand | – |
| Plays | As You Like It | William Shakespeare | – |
| Plays | The Tragedy of King Lear | William Shakespeare | – |
| Plays | Counting and Cracking (A) | S. Shakthidharan | New |
| Plays | Mrs Warren’s Profession | George Bernard Shaw | – |
| Short stories | Unaccustomed Earth | Jhumpa Lahiri | New |
| Short stories | Olive Kitteridge | Elizabeth Strout | – |
| Short stories | Smart Ovens for Lonely People (A) | Elizabeth Tan | – |
| Other literature | The Queen is Dead (A) | Stan Grant | New |
| Other literature | The Winter Road (A) | Kate Holden | – |
| Other literature | Shooting an Elephant and other essays | George Orwell | – |
| Poetry | Poems | Elizabeth Bishop | – |
| Poetry | At the Altar of Touch (A) | Gavin Yuan Gao | – |
| Poetry | The Hazards (A) | Sarah Holland-Batt | – |
| Poetry | Change Your Life | Rainer Maria Rilke | New |
| Poetry | The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley | Percy Bysshe Shelley | – |
| Poetry | Blakwork (A) | Alison Whittaker | New |
(A) = meets the Australian requirement. At least one of your school’s five selections must carry it.
New to the list in 2027
Eight texts enter the list in 2027 – the annual refresh the VCAA’s own guidelines promise (roughly a quarter of the list changes each year). Eight 2026 texts made way, including Alias Grace, The Yield, Chimerica, Berlin, Stories of Your Life and Others and The World’s Wife. The newcomers:
- Silas Marner – George Eliot (novels)
- The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje (novels)
- Do Not Go Gentle … – Patricia Cornelius (plays, Australian)
- Counting and Cracking – S. Shakthidharan (plays, Australian)
- Unaccustomed Earth – Jhumpa Lahiri (short stories)
- The Queen is Dead – Stan Grant (other literature, Australian)
- Change Your Life – Rainer Maria Rilke (poetry)
- Blakwork – Alison Whittaker (poetry, Australian)
How the Literature list actually works
Unlike mainstream English, where the exam draws on 20 prescribed texts, Literature schools build their own program from this list. The rules for Units 3 and 4: select five texts, which must include at least one novel, one poetry collection and one play, with the remaining two drawn from any category – and at least one text must be Australian. On top of the five, Unit 3’s first Area of Study requires an adaptation of one selected text (a film, TV miniseries, live performance or screenplay), so your year effectively runs on six works.
Two practical consequences. First, you do not choose your texts – your school does – so the smart move is depth on what you are given, not wishing for a different list. Second, because close analysis carries the whole subject, the text you like least still needs the same evidence bank as the one you love. If you also take mainstream English, the skills transfer both ways – our guide to studying VCE English and the 2027 English text list cover that side.
Working with these texts
Whatever five your school lands on, the method is stable: build a passage bank per text (10-15 short extracts you know deeply beats 40 you half-know), read each text twice before Unit 3 if you can, and treat the adaptation comparison as an argument about interpretation, not a spot-the-difference exercise. Our VCE Literature tutors run this as a weekly 1-on-1 cycle – $94/hour flat, first lesson a free 30-minute trial.
Frequently asked questions
How many texts do Literature students study?
Five selected texts across Units 3 and 4 (at least one novel, one poetry collection and one play, with at least one Australian text), plus an adaptation of one of them for Unit 3 – six works in practice.
What is new on the 2027 Literature list?
Eight texts are new for 2027: Silas Marner (George Eliot), The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje), Do Not Go Gentle … (Patricia Cornelius), Counting and Cracking (S. Shakthidharan), Unaccustomed Earth (Jhumpa Lahiri), The Queen is Dead (Stan Grant), Change Your Life (Rainer Maria Rilke) and Blakwork (Alison Whittaker). Eight 2026 texts left the list, including Alias Grace, The Yield and Chimerica.
Do I get to choose which texts I study?
No – your school selects the program from the approved list. Your leverage is depth: passage banks, re-reading and interpretation work on the texts you are given.
Where is the official list published?
On the VCAA’s Literature study page, as the “2027 VCE Literature text list” document. This page mirrors it for quick reference – the VCAA document is always the authority.