Champagne corks will be popping in the Canberra region tonight because “our” Omar Musa has been announced the winner of this year’s Miles Franklin award with his second novel, Fierceland. At the recent ACT Literary Awards which I attended, there was quiet hope – and not a little optimism – that this might be our region’s year, so, woo-hoo. Fierceland had already won this year’s Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction.

The Queanbeyan City News‘s Len Power describes Musa as “local author, visual artist, rapper and poet”. The ABC provides something of Musa’s background, which is well-known to many Canberrans, but is not I suspect known widely elsewhere. He grew up in Queanbeyan, and his mother, Helen Musa – now an arts journalist, but with a background in theatre – is a constant present across Arts events in the ACT. She met Musa’s Malaysian father – a poet and actor – when she went to Malaysia to direct the first Malay production of Hamlet.

According to Power, the judges described Fierceland as “a tour de force set against the destruction of Borneo’s rainforests”. They praised both “Musa’s prose” and the book’s “exploration of family, identity and environmental loss through the story of siblings confronting their father’s legacy”. Power also wrote that:

Perpetual, trustee of the award, said Fierceland reflected the cultural depth and complexity of contemporary Australia. Perpetual Wealth managing partner Caitriona Fay said the win showed Australian literature continued to embrace new voices and broaden its understanding of the Australian experience.

This is partly, I presume, to underpin its meeting the Miles Franklin Award stipulation that the award is for “a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases”. The above-mentioned ABC report describes the novel in more detail, and states that “with narrative strands unfolding in both Malaysia and Australia, Fierceland situates Australia firmly in the Asia-Pacific region”.

Musa is passionate but also clear-eyed about the systemic nature of the ills we are confronting. With first-hand experience of racism, while growing up in a city sometimes described as “struggle town”, and with family in southeast Asia where colonialism and capitalism are still playing out with destructive results, Musa is well positioned tell some truths – as indeed he has been doing for 20 years, initially through performance poetry and hip hop. He may be a new voice to many, but he is no johnny-come-lately.

When I shared the shortlist, I wrote that I will stick my head out now and say that if I had to prioritise 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. Needless to say, I didn’t get to read any, not because I didn’t want to, but because none were on the review pile, which tends to get more priority than perhaps it should. I’m working on this.

For posterity’s sake, here’s the longlist, with the shortlisted books in bold

• Randa Abdel-Fattah, Discipline (UQP, Bill’s and Rach’s reviews)
• 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 (Affirm Press, kimbofo’s and Brona’s reviews)

The winner’s prize is $60,000.

This year’s judging panel comprised 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).

You can read the judges report at the Miles Franklin Award webpage.

Thoughts anyone?