For some reason, I haven’t posted on the Miles Franklin Award shortlist for a few years, probably partly due to timing because I often travel in the southern hemisphere winter. However, I have time to post on this year’s shortlist that has just been announced, and, what’s more, I have read or will read more of this list than I have for some time. I find the list exciting, mainly because all have caught my attention – though I’ve not read them – before they were listed. That hasn’t always been the case recently.
The shortlist
- Brian Castro, Chinese postman (Giramondo) (on my reading group’s 2025 schedule) (Lisa’s review): Castro has been shortlisted before
- Michelle de Kretser, Theory & practice (Text Publishing) (my review): de Kretser has won twice before, and this book recently won the Stella
- Winnie Dunn, Dirt poor islanders (Hachette Australia) (on my reading group’s 2025 schedule): debut novel by a Tongan Australian writer
- Julie Janson, Compassion (Magabala Books): sequel to Benevolence (my review); this author’s first listing
- Siang Lu, Ghost cities (UQP): Lu’s first shortlisting for the MF
- Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13 (Allen and Unwin) (kimbofo’s review): McFarlane has been shortlisted before; but this book straddles the short story/novel divide. I’m keen to read it.
Some random observations:
- Five of the six shortlisted writers are writers of colour, reflecting the increasing diversity in Australian publishing.
- Two of the shortlisted writers – Castro and Lu – are male, but a male writer has not won since 2016 (AS Patrić’s, Black rock white city – my review).
- “Each of the six books investigates race, class and gender in contemporary Australia but in different ways. It’s very hard to compare books like Ghost Cities and Dirt Poor Islanders because they’re written in such distinct ways, but they both encourage us to think about narrative and who owns stories” (from Sarah L’Estrange of the ABC).
- One of the books, Highway 13, is more like a short story collection, and others are “quite formless”, says Declan Fry (of the ABC) who approves the trend.
- There’s a wide spread of publishers, including a few independent Australian ones, which is always good to see as these small publishers do the hard yards with our literary writers
For more discussion by the ABC RN’s book people – on the shortlist and on each of the books – check out this page.
For posterity’s sake, here was the longlist
- Brian Castro, Chinese postman
- Melanie Cheng, The Burrow (my review)
- Michelle de Kretser, Theory & practice
- Winnie Dunn, Dirt Poor Islanders
- Julie Janson, Compassion
- Yumna Kassa, Politica (on my TBR)
- Siang Lu, Ghost Cities
- Fiona McFarlane, Highway 13
- Raeden Richardson, The degenerates (Lisa’s review)
- Tim Winton, Juice (kimbofo’s review)
Each of the shortlisted writers will receive $5000 from the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, with the winner receiving $60,000 prize.
This year’s judging panel comprises Richard Neville (Mitchell Librarian of the State Library of NSW and Chair), Associate Professor Jumana Bayeh (literary scholar), Dr Mridula Nath Chakraborty (literary scholar and translator), Professor Tony Hughes-d’Aeth (literary scholar and author) and Professor Hsu-Ming Teo (author and literary scholar).
ArtsHub, from which I drew the names on the judging panel, quotes the judges as saying:
“The shortlist for the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award celebrates writing that refuses to compromise. Each of these works vitalises the form of the novel and invents new languages for the Australian experience.”
“Vitalises the form of the novel” and “invents new languages for the Australian experience” sound positive to me. Finding language for our experience is the issue, many of you will recognise, that I’ve found constantly in my Trove searches about Australian literature. It’s something that should never stop. As our society changes (its makeup for a start), so does our culture, and so also should the language we use to explore and reflect that.
The winner will be announced on 24 July
What do you think of the shortlist?
Whispering Gums 
I read the ABC discussion this morning, it was good reading. I would say the MF has been strongly influenced, for the good, by the Stella.
You might be right Bill … re the Stella.
I agree that that ABC report is a good discussion teasing out different aspects and issues in the books from quite different perspectives. Nicely put together.
I agree Bill.
Hadn’t quite clocked that there hadn’t been a male winner since 2016!
I hadn’t been aware either Kate until earlier this year … maybe when the longlist was announced … it’s an amazing about turn isn’t it?
It is an interesting list. I am currently making my predictions for the Man Booker Prize and I had thought Juice might have made it given Tim Winton has been listed twice before, but then I heard that it is not as good as his others and now it hasn’t made the short list of the Miles… hmmm maybe I put Brian Castro in instead or perhaps the Booker will also be influenced by the Stella and I should put Michelle De Krester in…
I’m staying out of that, Rach! I love seeing other people’s predictions but never try it myself. All those ideas sound possible, however.
Lol – okay – I will no doubt be horribly wrong as I have a terrible bias to what I like 😀 , and am ready for that – usually I feel like I have won the lottery if I get 1 right…
Haha … funny that you have a bias towards what you like!
Just the title Dirt Poor Islanders gets my attention. I saw the shortlist come through the news and wasn’t surprised to see MdeK’s book there, but of course the intricacies of who moves from long to short are most interesting when you “know” the whole scene.
Thanks Marcie … I’m looking forward to reading Dirt poor islanders.
Re the intricacies, I heard the chair of the 2024 Stella judging panel talk in a podcast about their process. It was fascinating but of course we’ll never know what really happens when you have passionate people together with their individual beliefs and preferences and a sense of the spirit of the prize.
I will never tire of the conversation around “who owns stories.” I was surprised when I recently interviewed Jen Michalski, a writer who is a lesbian, and asked her, “How do you feel about non-LGBTQ+ authors writing LGBTQ+ stories?” She replied, “I think it’s kind of a compliment that non-LGBTQ+ authors want to write stories about us!” That truly struck me because I assumed that she would talk about appropriation or people who get it wrong, etc. But, I absolutely understand that on the opposite side, if straight, white authors only include straight, white people in their novels, they’re accused of lacking diversity or failing to reflect what society really looks like. Honestly, I think the solution is just to have sensitivity readers so we can all do each other a solid.
Absolutely agree Melanie. This has been my feeling for a long time … that if writers ignore certain types of people who would likely be in their stories (in the community they are writing about) then they are keeping those people invisible if they don’t include them. I have written many times on my blog about this. It needs to be done appropriately and sensitively – and with consultation with the communities you are stepping into (including sensitivity readers). Aussie author Craig Silvey, wrote a novel about a trans person. He spent a lot of time talking with the trans community and I believe the book was widely approved by them.
I understand the “own stories” movement of course and the experience of oppression behind it, but rigid rules never did anyone (or any art) any good. Respect – followed by sensitivity – is the key, isn’t it?
An interesting looking list! I’m still waiting for my turn at Theory & Practice from the library. There are only a few copies and I’m #23 at the moment. People need to read faster! 😀