We've read every book on the 2026 Miles Franklin shortlist. Who will win?

From hopping zombies to singing forests and a lot of queer characters, we break down the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist and pick our favourites from strong contenders including Randa Abdel-Fattah, Omar Musa and more.  The Miles Franklin is Australia's most prestigious literary award. It carries a cash prize of $60,000 and the winning author goes in to the history books alongside previous winners including Thea Astley, Tim Winton, Peter Carey, Melissa Lukashenko and the 2025 winner, Siang Lu (listen to our interview with the author).  Claire Nichols and producer Sarah L'Estrange have read through all of the 2026 shortlist and are excited by what's on offer: there's a book that brought down a writers' festival, a Tasmanian colonial detective story, one with walking zombies, one where the forests of Borneo sing, a mysterious child saint in the Kimberley and one where dementia is the inspiration for the story structure. We discuss what we do and don't like about each book and at the end, pick our favourite. Who do you think will win? These are the six books on the shortlist: - Discipline by Randa Abdel-Fattah (University of Queensland Press) - First Name Second Name by Steve MinOn (University of Queensland Press) - My Heart At Evening by Konrad Muller (Evercreech Editions) - Fierceland by Omar Musa (Penguin Random House Australia) - Little World by Josephine Rowe (Black Inc) - You Must Remember This by Sean Wilson (Affirm Press) The 2026 Miles Franklin winner is announced in Sydney on 5th August.