The trustee of one of Australia’s most prestigious literary awards, Perpetual, has today announced ten 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 ten awardees for 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist are Michael Mohammed Ahmad for “The Lebs” with publisher Hachette Australia, Robbie Arnott for “Flames” with Text Publishing, Trent Dalton for “Boy Swallows Universe” with HarperCollins Publishers, Gregory Day for “A Sand Archive” with publisher Picador Australia, Lexi Freiman for “Inappropriation” with publisher Allen & Unwin, Rodney Hall for “A Stolen Season” with publisher Picador Australia, Gail Jones for “The Death of Noah” with Glass Text Publishing, Melissa Lucashenko for “Too Much Lip” with The University of Queensland Press, and Jennifer Mills for “Dyschronia” and Tracy Sorensen for “The Lucky Galah” both with Picador Australia.
“The 2019 Miles Franklin longlist yet again highlights a mixture of new and established writers. It showcases ten 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 ten authors who have been selected as the longlist for the 2019 Miles Franklin Award,” said 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 on Tuesday 2 July at the State Library of New South Wales. The winner announcement will be made on Tuesday 30 July in Sydney.