Miranda Darling shortlisted for 2026 Stella Prize

Miranda Darling’s second novel, Fireweather (Scribe) has been shortlisted for the 2026 Stella Prize.

Of the book, the Stella Prizes judges said:

“Against a backdrop of raging bushfires and devastating winds, we reunite with Darling’s protagonist, Winona, from her previous book Thunderhead. Winona has somehow broken free from the claustrophobic domestic purgatory we last encountered her. But she is in no way free from societal expectations of her as a woman, as a mother, as a sane person or from the control and power of her cruel now ex-husband. A chorus of voices fill Winona’s mind offering advice, wisdom and confusion. She finds solace in abandoned plants and cuttings as well as animals but the forces that threaten her are strong. Darling’s stylised sharp prose shimmers on the page and pulls the reader in deeply to this narrative of feminist rage. There is music in this book, there is deep time, there is philosophy, there is a river of tears. And there is a woman fighting for her children and for her essential self.”

Watch Miranda Darling read an excerpt from her shortlisted novel: