The Miles Franklin Literary Award is one of the most recognised literary prizes in Australia, with the winner also receiving $60,000. Selected from 104 books, the Award celebrates novels of the highest literary merit that tell stories about Australian life, spanning a breadth of narrative forms and literary styles.
The award is named for Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, an Australian author of historical fiction who wrote from feminist and nationalist perspectives. Her books, letters and diaries provide evidence of a complex personality, one who often struggled, but who persevered with her life’s work: to redefine the meaning of Australian literature. She is now acknowledged as one of Australia’s literary greats. A secret, only revealed after her death, was her establishment of the Miles Franklin Literary Award for the year’s best novel or play which presents ‘Australian life in any of its phases’. It was a generous act of personal philanthropy for Australian literature, unequalled in its time.
For more information about Miles Franklin herself, and the Literary Award, visit: http://www.milesfranklin.com.au/
The 2025 Shortlist has been revealed!
Three first-time nominees are joined by two previously shortlisted authors and a two-time winner!
According to the judges, “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.”
The winner will be announced on July 25th.
Congratulations!
| 2025 Shortlist Miles Franklin Literary Award | ||
|---|---|---|
| Brian Castro | Chinese Postman | Abraham Quin – a migrant, thrice-divorced, a one-time postman and professor, now a writer living alone in the Adelaide Hills — reflects on solitude, writing, friendship and time, seeing his role as a collector of fragments and a surveyor of ruins. A book about appreciating small events, the richness of language, and the experience of old age. |
| Michelle de Krester | Theory & Practice | A young woman arrives in Melbourne in 1986 to research Virginia Woolf, where she meets Kit. They become lovers, but meanwhile, her work falls into disarray. A book about desire and jealousy, truth and shame. |
| Winnie Dunn | Dirt Poor Islanders | Meadow Reed — half-Tongan, half-White — pushes against the constraints of tradition, family and self, and learns that being a poor Islander girl is more beautiful than she can begin to imagine. A book about growing up between cultures and the importance of knowing every part of yourself. |
| Julie Janson | Compassion | An account of Aboriginal life in the 1800s through a dramatised story of Julie Janson’s ancestor, who went on trial for stealing livestock. An exploration of the dangerous and complex lives of Aboriginal women in colonial New South Wales. |
| Siang Lu | Ghost Cities | Inspired by the uninhabited “ghost cities” of China, Siang Lu weaves together multiple narratives from across time, including the story of the young Xiang, who is fired from his translator job after it’s discovered he’s been relying on Google Translate. A book exploring the absurdity of modern life and work. |
| Fiona McFarlane | Highway 13 | An Australian man is arrested for the murder of multiple backpackers along a highway. The news of the shockingly violent crime has an impact that ripples both into the past and future, first around Australia and then across the world. A look at how stories are told and spread, and what it ultimately costs. |
