Miles Franklin Shortlist 2023

The 2023 Miles Franklin Award shortlist was announced last night, made up of the following works:

• Khgshak Akec - Hopeless Kingdom
• Robbie Arnott - Limberlost
• Jessica Au - Cold Enough for Snow
• Shankari Chandran - Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens
• Yumna Kassab - The Lovers
• Fiona Kelly McGregor - Iris

Richard Neville, Chair of the judging panel, said of the shortlist:

'The 2023 Miles shortlist celebrates six works that delve deeply into archives and memory, play confidently with style and structure and strike new grounds in language and form. From deeply immersive tales to polished jewels of craft, from lyrical mappings of land to convention-breaking chronicles, this is novel-writing at its freshest and boldest.'

When I predicted which titles would make the cut, I guessed that Arnott, Au, Coleman, Janson and McGregor would make the shortlist. I was only half right!  

There hasn't been much time between longlist and shortlist so I have not read any of these titles. However, I have long had an interest in Au, Arnott and McGregor. Having seen McGregor at the Sydney Writers' Festival talk about her novel Iris, I am going to root for this to win.

Each of the shortlisted authors will receive $5,000 and the Winner will receive $60,000. The winner will be revealed on 25 July 2023.