Many of her books, including Young Adult (YA) fiction, were only published in Australia, but several have attracted worldwide attention. Her short story collection Black Juice won two World Fantasy Awards and a 2006 Printz Honor Award. It was published in Australia by Allen & Unwin, in the United Kingdom by Gollancz in 2004, and in North America by HarperCollins in 2005. It includes the much-anthologized short story "Singing My Sister Down," which was nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards for best short story.
Her short story collection White Time (ISBN 0-06-074393-X), originally published in Australia by Allen & Unwin in 2000, was published in North America by HarperCollins in August 2006, after the success of Black Juice. It received recognition as a 2007 Best Book for Young Adults from the American Library Association.
In addition to Black Juice, a 2006 recipient, Tender Morsels also won a Printz Honor Award in 2009.
Tender Morsels was a 2008 Shirley Jackson Award finalist, the novella Sea-Hearts (later expanded into a novel) was a 2009 finalist. Tender Morsels won a World Fantasy Award in 2009 for best novel,[2] and was a Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book nominee. Sea-Hearts won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella in 2010.
Lanagan is an alumna of the Clarion West Writers Workshop, 1999, and returned as a teacher in 2011 and 2013.