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Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst 

ABC Australia

The Book Show

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.

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

Mick Herron reveals how the first of his Slow Horses series almost didn't get published. He joined Claire Nichols and a packed audience at the State Library of Western Australia, to discuss this famous series and his latest thriller.

The now hugely successful series is about a batch of failed MI5 operatives, led reluctantly by Jackson Lamb, a grumpy, unkempt former cold-war era super spy. The mismatched group are shunted into a rundown building called Slough House and expected to eventually slink off into the ether, but embarrassingly for HQ, they crack major terrorist plots or uncover historic internal and political corruption. 

The series has been adapted for the screen with Gary Oldman channelling a particularly gross Jackson Lamb; where did those dirty, sloppy gaffer taped socks come from? Mick Herron's latest in the popular series, Clown Town involves a covert op during the Troubles and a mysterious missing book. 

Recorded at the State Library of Western Australia And Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival Event.

Mick Herron and the losers, misfits and boozers of Slow Horses

Pulitzer Prize-winner Andrew Sean Greer makes the case for the 'charm novel' with his latest, Villa Coco, about an eccentric Italian baroness and a young American in rural Tuscany. And, as Naomi Ishiguro tells Claire Nichols she channels Japanese folklore, anime, Pokémon as well as themes of migration, slavery and corruption in Rainshadow Orphans, the first of a fantasy trilogy. 

Andrew Sean Greer reveals how his time at an Italian writers' retreat lead by an unforgettable aristocrat inspired his novel Villa Coco. But he's quick to point out that Coco, the elderly eccentric Italian Baronessa of the novel is a vastly different character from the real person. The book's Coco lives in a crumbling villa in the Tuscan hills where a hapless young American takes a job as her assistant. But his vision of what that entails has to undergo a radical rethink; there is chaos, secrets revealed, grandiose visitors sweep through the faded halls and many misunderstandings and mishaps occur. Andrew also makes a case for writing uplifting books (echoing Ann Patchett who spoke with Claire on The Book Show recently about the importance of joy in her writing life). 

Like her father Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro, growing up in Britain has shaped Naomi Ishiguro's understandings and connections with her Japanese heritage. As she describes to Claire her latest novel Rainshadow Orphans, the first of a trilogy of fantasy fiction is partly drawn from her readings of traditional Japanese folklore mixed with contemporary anime, and flavoured with a splash of bubble tea. But in creating the mythical archipelago populated with dragons, sun spirits, high tech underworld criminals and a cast of brave revolutionaries, she is also tapping into perennial issues of discrimination, exploitation, the impact of AI as well as corporate and political greed.

Spritz and bubble tea with Andrew Sean Greer and Naomi Ishiguro

Holden Sheppard grew up gay and closeted in the regional town of Geraldton, WA and now he writes characters like himself into his award winning books — Invisible Boys and Yeah the Boys. Plus for NAIDOC week, Kalkadoon writer John Morrissey tells Claire Nichols about his debut science fiction Bird Deity.

Holden Sheppard's bestselling novel Invisible Boys was adapted to the screen and now its sequel, Yeah the Boys has a TV deal in the works too. The stories follow three teenage boys who love football and are also gay. In front of a live audience at Perth ABC, Holden told Claire about the joy of writing stories about same sex attracted men who love cars, footy and heavy metal. 

In NAIDOC week, meet award winning Melbourne based Kalkadoon author John Morrissey whose debut novel Bird Deity uses science fiction to explore the lingering impacts of colonisation and trauma.

Holden Sheppard brings footy out of the closet

Settle in for some classic storytelling with actor Bryan Brown who's written his third novel, Hidden. Plus Angela O'Keefe tells Claire Nichols about Phantom Days, a book about a book.

Bryan Brown has been a fixture of our screens since the 1970s but he recently became a writer too. In 2021 his first book of short stories, Sweet Jimmy came out and he's now penned two novels including his latest, The Hidden. He joined Claire Nichols at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival and shared his path to writing. He had the audience laughing at "hello".

Claire also speaks to Angela O'Keefe whose award winning second novel The Sitter was told from the perspective of a painting. In her new novel Phantom Days, another object is a character, in this case, a book. Angela speaks about the importance of letting go after a book is published and how she found the "voice" for the book character in her latest.

Bryan Brown comes bob-bob-bobbin' along

How Susan Choi took her own family — and dialled up the tension — in her Booker shortlisted novel, Flashlight.

Flashlight traces the fallout from the disappearance of Serk, a Japanese born Korean on his family, including his American wife and daughter. In the process, the novel powerfully traverses the intersecting 20th century histories of Japan, Korea and the US. 

Susan Choi joined Claire Nichols at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival.

Why Flashlight's Susan Choi can't stop writing about her dad

Fresh from the Oscars for Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell joins Claire Nichols to discuss her book Land. Plus, Robert Forster of iconic indie band The Go-Betweens shares the musical influences behind his debut novel Songwriters on the Run.

Maggie O'Farrell is best known for her novels Hamnet, The Marriage Portrait and her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am. Her new novel Land takes place soon after the 19th century Irish famine and follows an Irish map maker and his son as they take part in the first official mapping of the country. Maggie shares her personal connection to this venture and how she's now obsessed with maps (and identifies as a 'neek') and the Irish tradition of holy wells. She shares some Oscars gossip too.

Before Robert Forster's (The Go-Betweens) debut novel Songwriters on the Run was a book, it was a song from his solo album, Songs to Play. The story follows a couple of jailbreaking musicians evading the law. Robert shares the genesis of the song and how it became a story he couldn't let go.

How Maggie O'Farrell's inner 'neek' came out with Land

In Son of Nobody, Yann Martel tells Claire Nichols how he reimagines The Iliad, shifting the epic from heroic legend to life as an ordinary foot soldier.

Twenty-five years after Life of Pi changed his life, he also reflects on the enduring power of myth, storytelling, and why animals continue to resonate in fiction.

Yann spoke to Claire Nichols at the Sydney Writers Festival.

Yann Martel flips the script on a Greek classic

Bestselling author Ann Patchett joins Claire Nichols to discuss her novel Whistler and its unexpected take on step-parents, while Romy Ash unpacks her intimate, sexy and strange new book, Mantle.

American author Ann Patchett is the bestselling author of Commonwealth, Bel Canto and Tom Lake. She tells Claire Nichols how her own experience of growing up in a large, blended family influenced her new novel Whistler which is about a reunion between a woman and her stepfather, 40 years after losing touch. 

Ann Patchett is also a bookseller and shares the books she's excited about this year: John of John by Douglas Stuart and Music Against the Night by Yiyun Li.

Skin, strange rashes, the climate crisis and salmon farming all come together in Romy Ash's follow up to her Miles Franklin shortlisted novel, Floundering. Mantle is about a woman who's travelled to Tasmania to care for her dying mother, meanwhile a bizarre skin rash is spreading through the population. Romy shares her love of geology and why fiction is the perfect avenue to explore this passion.

Why joy matters in Ann Patchett's Whistler

Why Booker Prize winner David Szalay once thought Flesh was a vulgar title and why he's glad he kept it.

He joined Claire Nichols at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival to discuss his award winning novel and its complicated relationship to masculinity.

With the fall of the USSR, the novel charts István's changing fortunes from his humble beginnings in Hungary to a lavish life in the UK.

David also tells Claire about why his first Booker Prize award ceremony for All that Man Is in 2016 was so nerve wracking, but the second time around was much more enjoyable (winning helps).

Holden Sheppard brings footy out of the closet

Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst

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