Poet, novelist and performer Omar Musa has won the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award for his novel Fierceland, and its $60,000 prize.

The judges described the novel as a “tour de force”, praising its lyrical ambition and its fusion of traditional Malay storytelling with contemporary Australian literary voices.

Omar Musa. Photo © Cole Bennetts

Musa’s second novel (his first, Here Come the Dogs was longlisted for the 2015 Miles Franklin Award), Fierceland follows siblings Roz and Harun as they return to Malaysian Borneo after the death of their father, a wealthy palm oil magnate, confronting questions of family legacy, environmental destruction, colonial history and identity.

Drawing on Musa’s Malaysian and Australian heritage, the novel was six years in the making. Prior to winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award, it also won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction.

Accepting the award, Musa said he was “completely blown away” by the recognition, describing Fierceland as the product of years of work and the support of family, friends and collaborators. He also paid tribute to the landscapes of Borneo that inspired the novel.

The Miles Franklin Literary Award honours novels of the highest literary merit that present Australian life in any of its phases. This year’s shortlist also included works by Randa Abdel-Fattah, Steve MinOn, Konrad Muller, Josephine Rowe and Sean Wilson.