2025 was one of my best years for some time in terms of the Miles Franklin shortlist. When it was announced, I had only read one of the six novels, Michelle de Kretser’s Theory & practice (my review). However, by the end of the year I’d read three, having read two more with my reading group, Brian Castro’s Chinese postman (my review) and Winnie Dunn’s Dirt poor islanders (my review). Having seen this year’s shortlist, I suspect I won’t live up to that achievement this time around, partly because my reading group’s schedule is set for the second half of the year and partly because I will be travelling for nearly 6 weeks in spring. Time will be short.
However, I’m pleased to record the list for my blog’s posterity at least. It was announced today.
The shortlist
- Randa Abdel-Fattah, Discipline (UQP), Bill’s and Rach’s reviews)
- Steve MinOn, First name second name (UQP)
- Konrad Muller, My heart at evening (Evercreech Editions)
- Omar Musa, Fierceland (Penguin Random House Australia)
- Josephine Rowe, Little world (Black Inc)
- Sean Wilson, You must remember this (Affirm Press, kimbofo’s and Brona’s reviews)
Some random observations:
- To be frivolous, it looks like the Ms have it! That is, three of the authors have family names starting with M.
- Four of the shortlisted writers are male (I believe). A male writer, Siang Liu, won last year, for the first time since 2016 (AS Patrić’s, Black rock white city – my review).
- Four of the authors are listed for the first time, and two – MinOn and Muller – are debut novelists.
- Except for PRH, the publishers are independent Australian ones, with Evercreech Editions, from lutruwita/Tasmania, being new to me.
- Fierceland won this year’s Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction, and was top read in 2025 for one of my reading group friends.
- Bill, Rach and Brona (who didn’t review it but commented on Bill’s and Rach’s posts) were not completely convinced by Discipline, mainly because the writing did not seem to convey the complexity they expected. The judges say that it is “both a taut political thriller and a humane meditation on the way that Australia must continue to find ways of working through agonising conflicts that may seem far away but in which Australia and Australians are intimately entangled”. This is of course the author and book which brought down this year’s Adelaide Writers Festival.
Emma Joyce quotes the judging panel in The Guardian, as saying that the shortlist shows that Australian novels can “grapple with the most vexing and profound questions of our time”. She identifies some of these as dementia, war, migration and loneliness. The judges also said that “Grand and intimate, these novels sing the Australian experience into new shapes.” The idea of “new shapes” certainly sounds grand, but, not having read the books, I’m not sure what these shapes are.
For posterity’s sake, here was the longlist
- Randa Abdel-Fattah, Discipline (UQP)
- Dominic Amerena, I want everything (Simon & Schuster)
- Lyn Dickens, Salt upon the water (Wakefield Press)
- Toni Jordan, Tenderfoot (Hachette Australia)
- Steve MinOn, First name second name (UQP)
- Konrad Muller, My heart at evening (Evercreech Editions)
- Omar Musa, Fierceland (Penguin Random House Australia)
- Josephine Rowe, Little world (Black Inc)
- Madeleine Watts, Elegy, Southwest (Simon & Schuster)
- Sean Wilson, You must remember this
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 Associate Professor Maggie Nolan (literary scholar and director of AustLit). All but Nolan were on the 2025 panel.
I will stick my head out now and say that if I were forced to choose some to read, they would be Musa’s Fierceland, Rowe’s Little World, and Wilson’s You must remember this. Musa is a local and his passion and way with words have engaged me on the several times I’ve heard him speak; I’ve read and liked Rowe before; and kimbofo’s and Brona’s reviews of Wilson tell me his is a book for me.
You can read more at the Miles Franklin Award webpage.
The winner will be announced on 5 August
Do you have any thoughts about the shortlist?
Whispering Gums 
I promised myself if First Name Second Name was shortlisted I would read it, as one of my colleagues really loved it and I do enjoy the quirky set-up and the post-colonial themes it promises. I started it this afternoon, and so far, so good.
Another colleague read My heart at evening last week and is trying to convince us all to read it too. It’s not only Muller’s debut novel, but also the first book published by Evercreech Editions.
I’m reading Iris Murdoch’s The Unicorn and one of the characters is called Evercreech, a name I had previously never heard of. Wonder if the publishers are fans of Murdoch…?
Ah interesting kimbofo, but I’m not sure. On the website Ouston says this about the name: “Finally, there is something satisfying about the word Evercreech, suggesting a Joycean neologism and a scream from below. A word you feel you should know but at the same time find odd. It sums us up perfectly.” There’s no mention of Murdoch, but maybe he’d like to know!
Oh thanks Brona. I went to the Evercreech website to see who they were but didn’t read beyond, but now I’ve gone back and see the founder is Adam Ouston. I have his latest book on my TBR, but not published by them. Did you see the discussion of the name Evercreech, which I must say mystified me. And, I would be interested in MinOn and Muller too, it’s just that I have more connections with those three I named!
(PS I’m reading Niall Williams!!)
I’m halfway through Fierceland and enjoying it immensely but cant understand how it complies with the award’s stipulation that the book must show “Australian life in any of its phases” — apart from a character that was educated in Australia, it’s largely set in Malaysia and all the characters are Malaysian. Maybe the second half develops an Australian theme…?
I managed to read Elegy, Southwest last week and absolutely loved it, but that was another book that failed to show Australian life seeing as it was set in the US. The narrator was supposedly Australian but it was only mentioned about three times. While it was a wonderful book, I’m glad it didn’t make the shortlist.
This is interesting Kimbofo. I know Musa has been exploring his Malaysian origins. Maybe as you say a stronger Australian theme develops. Of course there is the definition to consider isn’t there. What does it mean? I am intrigued about the Watts now as I have a special love for the US southwest!