Provocation, ruin and empire: your guide to the 2026 Miles Franklin shortlist

Australian fiction has long been interested in the relationship between the local and the global – and the six books shortlisted for this year’s Miles Franklin Award are no exception. They range across time and place, from Tasmania to Malaysian Borneo and the Middle East. And they engage with histories of empire, environmental ruin, migration, ageing, political activism and war. There is a striking willingness to experiment with form. Some authors borrow from poetry or genre fiction, while…