ALS Gold Medal 2026 shortlist announced
The shortlist for the 2026 ALS Gold Medal, awarded by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, has been announced.
The shortlisted works are:
- Discipline (Randa Abdel-Fattah, University of Queensland Press)
- Elegy, Southwest (Madeleine Watts, Ultimo Press)
- The Nightmare Sequence (Omar Sakr & Safdar Ahmed, University of Queensland Press)
- A Savage Turn (Luke Patterson, Magabala Books)
- Two Hundred Million Musketeers (Ender Başkan, Giramondo Publishing)
- What Kept You? (Raaza Jamshed, Giramondo Publishing).
The longlist, announced earlier this year, also included 51 Alterities (Keri Glastonbury, Giramondo Publishing), Apron-Sorrow/Sovereign-Tea (Natalie Harkin, Wakefield Press), Arborescence (Rhett Davis, Hachette), Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath (S Shakthidharan, Powerhouse Publishing), Hailstones Fell Without Rain (Natalia Figueroa Barroso, University of Queensland Press), The Rot (Evelyn Araluen, University of Queensland Press), Worthy of the Event (Vivian Blaxell, LittlePuss Press) and Year of the Ox (Andrew Brooks, Cordite Publishing Inc.).
The 2026 judges are Paul Sharrad (chair), Michelle Cahill and Kate Noske.
Awarded annually for an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year, the ALS Gold Medal is Australia’s longest running literary award. The winner, to be announced in July, receives a gold medal.
Last year’s winner was Fiona McFarlane for Highway 13 (Allen & Unwin).
More information about the award is available on the Association for the Study of Australian Literature website.
Category: Awards Local news
