Miles Franklin 2026 longlist announced
Ten novels have been longlisted for the country’s most prestigious literary award; this year’s field stretches from remote Western Australia and Far North Queensland to the American desert, from Malaysian Borneo to colonial Venice.
2026 Miles Franklin Literary Prize longlist includes works by Randa Abdel-Fattah DisciplineIt was chosen following controversy surrounding the novelist’s exclusion from Adelaide Writers’ Week earlier this year and his departure from publisher University of Queensland Press (UQP) last month.
Dozens of authors, including Abdel-Fattah, boycotted last month following UQP’s decision to remove a children’s book after its illustrator’s comments allegedly violated the university’s adopted definition of antisemitism. The publisher appeared on Miles Franklin’s longlist with two books, including Steve MinOn’s. Name Middle Name.
A writers’ boycott led to the cancellation of Adelaide Writers’ Week earlier this year after the Adelaide Festival board, which oversees the festival, removed the Palestinian-Australian writer and academic from the programme.
In addition to well-established names such as Toni Jordan (sensitive feet) and Josephine Rowe (Small World), the long list also includes debut novelists MinOn, Dominic Amerena (I Want Everything), Konrad Müller (Evening My Heart) and Lyn Dickens (Salt on Water) making the cut.
It was first awarded in 1957 when Patrick White won it. vossThe $60,000 prize recognizes “the novel of the highest literary merit, presenting Australian life in all its stages.” Last year’s award was given to Siang Lu. Ghost Towns.
This year’s list extends well beyond the woodlands that have dominated the award in previous years, taking readers from Venice, Kolkata and Penang to Lyn Dickens’ book. Salt on WaterOn an American journey at Madeleine Watts Elegy, Southwestand from Malaysian Borneo to Los Angeles on Omar Musa’s ship Fierceland.
This year’s judging panel was chaired by Mitchell Librarian Richard Neville and included literary scholars Jumana Bayeh, Mridula Nath Chakraborty, Tony Hughes-d’Aeth and Maggie Nolan.
“Destabilized histories, faltering memories and turbulent geographies meet in the pages of the 2026 Miles Franklin longlist,” said the jury panel.
“From northern Queensland to Tasmania and remote Western Australia, these novels remind us of the vastness of this continent, the many times and places inhabited by Australian stories, and the global networks within which ‘Australian life’ has always been embedded.
“This year’s long list is full of ancestral legacies, the human capacity for self-deception, and the ways we make room for pain. These novels hold a mirror to worlds both small and large.”
The shortlist will be announced in June and the winner in August.
2026 Miles Franklin Literary Prize longlist
Randa Abel-Fattah, Discipline (University of Queensland Press)
Dominik Amerena, I Want Everything (Summit Books)
Lyn Dickens, Salt on Water (Wakefield Press)
Toni Jordan, sensitive feet (Hachette Australia)
Steve MinOn, Name Middle Name (University of Queensland Press)
Konrad Müller, Evening My Heart (Evercreech Editions)
Omer Musa, Fierceland (Penguin Random House Australia)
Josephine Rowe, Small World (Black Inc)
Madeleine Watts, Elegy, Southwest (Ultimo Press)
Sean Wilson, You Shouldn’t Forget This (Press Confirm)
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Melanie Kembrey is National Books Editor at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect with: X or email.
