Readings have announced the shortlist for the 2019 New Australian Fiction Prize, recognising new contributions to Australian literature.

Now in its sixth year, the prize is open to ‘first or second published works of fiction by Australian authors’. Previous winners include Jennifer Down, Sam Carmody, Zoe Morrison, Stephanie Bishop and Ceridwen Dovey.

The winner of the prize will we announced at the end of October. In the meantime, you an view the full shortlist below:

• A Constant Hum (Alice Bishop, Text)
• Inappropriation (Lexi Freiman, A&U)
• The Flight of Birds (Joshua Lobb, Sydney University Press)
• A Superior Spectre (Angela Meyer, Ventura)
• This Taste for Silence (Amanda O’Callaghan, UQP)
• The Glad Shout (Alice Robinson, Affirm).