Arabic version: عمر موسى يفوز بجائزة مايلز فرانكلين الأدبية

According to ABC News, Queanbeyan-raised author Omar Musa has won the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award for his novel Fierceland, receiving $60,000 in prize money. Musa said he froze while standing in a road in the Philippines when he learned of the result, with traffic passing by, before calling his mother, Helen Musa.

The Malaysian-Australian author, also a poet, hip hop artist, theatre performer and visual artist, credited his mother with helping shape him and giving him imaginative freedom. Helen Musa was a magazine editor and arts journalist who met Musa’s father in Malaysia after directing him as Hamlet. Musa described his childhood as a mix of Queanbeyan’s suburban flats and access to Canberra’s arts scene, including exhibitions, theatre and concerts.

Musa said his parents encouraged his storytelling by giving him paper and pens, telling him he would never be bored if he had them. He said he spent time fishing on the river, running through drains and streets, drawing and writing down his thoughts. He called the combination of life in Queanbeyan and privileged access to the arts “really inspiring” and “really generative”.

Fierceland took at least five years and 21 drafts to complete, a process Musa described as a long and difficult slog. The novel follows two siblings travelling to Malaysian Borneo for their father’s funeral, before confronting his role as a corrupt logging and oil palm baron. Musa said the book explores power, complicity, corruption and the ghosts of the past, and was informed by extensive research, including conversations with people in the Borneo jungle.

Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre artistic director Jordan Best said Musa’s work shows how deeply the region and community have informed his creations. Collins Booksellers owner Carlie Lloyd said Musa’s The Vape Lord of Queanbeyan was the store’s best-selling book of the year so far, while Fierceland had also proved popular locally and was sold out.