Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund celebrates Australian literature
June 3, 2026
Australian writers are being recognised with major awards celebrating stories that challenge, inspire and capture Australian life.
Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund supports Australian writers through grants and fellowships, as well as major national literary prizes.
One of Australia’s most significant literary prizes, the Miles Franklin Literary Award, announced the 2026 Longlist, featuring ten outstanding novels that collectively offer “a portrayal of Australian life in all its diversity”.
This year’s longlisted authors are Randa Abdel-Fattah for Discipline, Dominic Amerena for I Want Everything, Lyn Dickens for Salt Upon the Water, Toni Jordan for Tenderfoot, Steve MinOn for First Name Second Name, Konrad Muller for My Heart at Evening, Omar Musa for Fierceland, Josephine Rowe for Little World, Madeleine Watts for Elegy, Southwest and Sean Wilson for You Must Remember This. Their works explore themes of grief, migration, colonialism, race, family and self-discovery.
Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund is a longtime supporter of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, providing $5,000 to each shortlisted author and contributing more than half a million dollars to Australia’s premier literary prize since 2004.
The Age Book of the Year Awards were recently announced at Melbourne Writers’ Festival on 7 May with Moreno Giovannoni winning the fiction prize for The Immigrants, and Kate Wild receiving the non-fiction award for The Red House. Both authors winner received $10,000 in prize money.
Emerging writers were also awarded prizes in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Best Young Australian Novelists initiative, celebrating the next generation of Australian literary talent. This year’s recipients, with each receiving $5,000 in prize money, are Joseph Earp for Painting Portraits of Everyone I’ve Ever Dated, Zeynab Gamieldien for Learned Behaviours and Lee Lai for Cannon (who went on to win the 2026 Stella Prize).
The Stella Prize celebrated outstanding writing by women and non-binary authors, with the 2026 longlist showcasing a powerful range of stories and perspectives, with each longlisted author receiving a $2,000 stipend, to acknowledge this achievement. The 2026 Stella Prize Longlist: KONTRA by Eunice Andrada, The Rot by Evelyn Araluen, Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks, Ankami by Debra Dank, Fireweather by Miranda Darling, Apron-Sorrow / Sovereign-Tea by Natalie Harkin, Cannon by Lee Lai, Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy, Wait Here by Lucy Nelson, Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An Encyclopaedia of a Palestinian family by Micaela Sahhar, 58 Facets: On violence and the law by Marika Sosnowski and I Am Nannertgarrook by Tasma Walton.
Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund is pleased to support the prize money and stipends for these authors. Through this funding we are ensuring Australian stories continue to thrive by creating opportunities for writers at every stage of their careers and connecting readers with new voices, perspectives and ideas.
Copyright Agency congratulates this year’s winners, longlisted and shortlisted authors on their achievements and contributions to Australian literature.