Miles Franklin longlist announced
June 3, 2019
The trustee of Australia’s most prestigious literary awards, Perpetual, has announced 10 talented authors who have been included in the 2019 longlist for the Miles Franklin Award.
The Miles Franklin Literary Award was established by prolific author and feminist Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, now best known for her first novel My Brilliant Career. First presented in 1957, the Award celebrates novels of the highest literary merit that tell stories about Australian life. Winning authors also receive a prize of $60,000. The award remains Australia’s most prestigious and valued literary award.
The 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist is:
| Author | Novel | Publisher |
| Michael Mohammed Ahmad | The Lebs | Hachette Australia |
| Robbie Arnott | Flames | Text Publishing |
| Trent Dalton | Boy Swallows Universe | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Gregory Day | A Sand Archive | Picador Australia |
| Lexi Freiman | Inappropriation | Allen & Unwin |
| Rodney Hall | A Stolen Season | Picador Australia |
| Gail Jones | The Death of Noah Glass | Text Publishing |
| Melissa Lucashenko | Too Much Lip | The University of Queensland Press |
| Jennifer Mills | Dyschronia | Picador Australia |
| Tracy Sorensen | The Lucky Galah | Picador Australia |
“The 2019 Miles Franklin longlist yet again highlights a mixture of new and established writers. It showcases 10 of the most vibrant voices of Australian fiction speaking to us of lives facing, or having endured, some version of extremity. Angry, funny, contemplative and urgent, these voices – which include a galah – explore personal, historical and ecological loss, cultural inheritances and disenfranchisement, and the fraught bonds of friendships, families and communities,” said Richard Neville, State Library of NSW Mitchell Librarian.
The judging panel comprises, Richard Neville – Mitchell Librarian of the State Library of NSW and Chair, Murray Waldren – The Australian journalist and author, book critic Dr Melinda Harvey, Sydney-based bookseller, Lindy Jones and author and literary critic Dr Bernadette Brennan.
Perpetual’s General Manager of Community & Social Investment, Caitriona Fay, commended the longlisted authors.
“The Miles Franklin Award has long supported the multitudinal and multifaceted perspectives of Australian culture and society through the lens of the most talented authors this country has to offer.
“Perpetual is proud that it has been able to create an enduring legacy for Miles Franklin as trustee of this award and we encourage those who want to be part of that legacy to become a friend of the award via the Franklin Support Fund. We commend the 10 authors who have been selected as the longlist for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award,” said Ms Fay.
Last year, the Miles Franklin Literary Award was awarded to Michelle de Kretser for her novel, The Life to Come (2018). She was previously bestowed the award in 2013 for her novel, Questions of Travel (2012).
The shortlisted finalists will be revealed at a Copyright Agency-hosted event on Tuesday 2 July at the State Library of New South Wales. Each shortlisted author will received $5000 from the agency’s Cultural Fund. The winner announcement will be made on Tuesday 30 July in Sydney.
For further information about the Miles Franklin Literary Award, visit http://www.milesfranklin.com.au/
