2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award: Shortlist Announced
The six books in contention for the $60,000 prize were narrowed from a longlist of ten novels. The winner will be announced on 5 August.
The Shortlisted Novels
- Discipline by Randa Abdel-Fattah (University of Queensland Press)
- First Name Second Name by Steve MinOn (University of Queensland Press)
- Little World by Josephine Rowe (Black Inc)
- Fierceland by Omar Musa (Penguin Random House Australia)
- My Heart At Evening by Konrad Muller (Evercreech Editions)
- You Must Remember This by Sean Wilson (Affirm Press)
Each shortlisted author receives $5,000 from the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund.
Background and Key Details
First presented in 1957, the award honors the novel of the highest literary merit that presents Australian life in any of its phases. Last year's winner was Siang Lu for Ghost Cities.
The initial longlist included ten novels, featuring four debut novels. The judging panel was chaired by Richard Neville, Mitchell Librarian at the State Library of NSW, and included literary scholars Jumana Bayeh, Mridula Nath Chakraborty, Tony Hughes-d'Aeth, and Maggie Nolan.
University of Queensland Press (UQP) is the only publisher with two books on the shortlist: Discipline and First Name Second Name.
Author Randa Abdel-Fattah, who is on the shortlist for Discipline, was among authors who boycotted UQP in April following its decision to drop a children's book due to illustrator comments that the university said breached antisemitism policies.
Judges' Statement
The judging panel stated that the shortlist demonstrates Australian novels can "grapple with the most vexing and profound questions of our time" and "sing the Australian experience into new shapes."