Miles Franklin Literary Award Longlist
March 26, 2008 3:59 pm PrizesThe Miles Franklin Award* longlist has been released, and offers some great suggestions for reading new Australian fiction. Some of the nominees have been much-hyped, but there are others that are a bit unknown. If you haven’t read much Australian fiction, then this would be a great list to start with.
59 books were selected and the long list is 9 books. A short list will be announced on April 17, and the final winner will be announced on June 19. The Miles Franklin is awarded for “the novel of the year which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases.” Previous winners include Carpenteria (Alexis Wright), The Ballad of Desmond Kale (Roger McDonald), Eucalyptus (Murray Bail), Voss (Patrick White), and the winners list basically includes great Aussie literary fiction from the last 50 years.
The Nominees:
Landscape of Farewell - Alex Miller Allen & Unwin
Love without Hope - Rodney Hall Picador (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Orpheus Lost - Janette Turner Hospital Fourth Estate (HarperCollinsPublishers)
Secrets of the Sea - Nicholas Shakespeare Harvill Secker (Random House)
Sorry - Gail Jones Vintage (Random House Australia)
The Fern Tattoo - David Brooks University of Queensland Press
The Memory Room - Christopher Koch Knopf (Random House Australia)
The Time We Have Taken - Steven Carroll Fourth Estate (HarperCollinsPublishers)
The Widow and her Hero - Tom Keneally Vintage (Random House Australia)
*I must make a comment here, that the website for this award is very badly designed, so if anyone is listening, then PLEASE FIX IT! It is appalling that we have an Australian award that is most-likely being underpromoted because of poor technology. There is not even a feed for news from the award!
Related posts:
- Miles Franklin award winner 2008
- Miles Franklin shortlist announced
- Book recommendations for those suffering acute literary indigestion
- Booker of Bookers 2008
- Get a free book from Simon and Schuster
