Miles Franklin Literary Award

That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott was announced as the 2011 winner of the Miles Franklin literary award last night. The award is worth $50,000 in prize money.

That Deadman Dance is a historical novel telling the story of early contact between British colonisers, American whalers and the indigenous Noongar people on the south coast of Western Australia.

The judges described the book as historical and magical as it drifts between the settler world and the Aboriginal world.

“That Deadman Dance is alive in the spaces between these two worlds as they collide and collaborate,” they said.  “We see and feel the hardship, tragedies and aspirations of the settlement, and at the same time we are transported into the mystical and spiritual life worlds of Wabalanginy and his people.”

In 2000 Kim Scott was the first Aboriginal writer to win the Miles Franklin with his book Benang : from the heart. That year he tied with writer Thea Astley with her novel Drylands.

There were just three novels on the shortlist this year. Scott’s rivals were Chris Womersley with Bereft and When Colts Ran by Roger McDonald which we are due to read in September.

Miles Franklin Shortlist

The 2011 Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist has been announced this morning and consists of :

Bereft by Chris Womersley

That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott

When Colts Ran by Roger McDonald

The judging panel reflected on Miles Franklin’s desire for a unique character in Australian literature. “These shortlisted books have a distinctive, indelible Australian voice. It’s a voice that has nothing to do with reflex nationalism, or jingoism – rather the reverse. The shortlisted books this year are like barometers of the state of our culture: they take the readings, and give them back to us in fiction of extraordinary accomplishment. They force us to look again at ourselves, and to think – hard.”

Look back on the 2011 longlist here.

Miles Franklin Literary Award Longlist

The 2011 longlist for the Miles Franklin Literary Award was announced yesterday.

‘The Miles Franklin Literary Award celebrates Australian character and creativity and nurtures the continuing life of literature about Australia. It is awarded for the novel of the year which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases.

Since it was first awarded in 1957 to Patrick White for his novel Voss, the award has encouraged authors and delivered an immense contribution to the richness of Australian cultural life’ (The Trust Company).

The Miles Franklin Literary Award is Australia’s most prestigious literary prize and comes with $50,000 prize money.

The 2011 Miles Franklin Literary Award Longlist, chosen from the 55 books that were submitted for this year’s award.

• Rocks in the Belly by Jon Bauer
• The Good Daughter by Honey Brown
• The Mary Smokes Boys by Patrick Holland
• The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta
• When Colts Ran by Roger McDonald
• Time’s Long Ruin by Stephen Orr
• That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott
• The Legacy Kirsten Tranter
• Bereft by Chris Womersley

To read more about the longlist novels and their authors, click on this link.

The Shortlist is due to be announced on 19 April 2011

2010 Miles Franklin Literary Award Winner

Congratulations go today to crime writer Peter Temple who has been awarded the 2010 Miles Franklin Literary Award, worth $42,000, for his latest book, Truth.

Recognised as Australia’s most prestigious prize, the Miles Franklin Literary Award which was established in 1957, is given to the novel of the highest literary merit that presents Australian life. Truth, also makes history as the first work of genre fiction to win the award.

“It unusual for a crime writer to receive such a prestigious award, so cop it sweet,” Temple told AAP upon receiving the award. He joked that Australia’s first Nobel laureate, Patrick White, would find it “unthinkable” that a crime writer had won the prize.

Temple says he feels “enormously elated” by his win. “One only has to look at the people who have won the Miles Franklin,” he added. “In order to join that company, you have to believe that you’ve joined something quite special.”

“I mean in any other terms it really would be like winning the Nobel Prize.”

Truth is the sequel to The Broken Shore, also highly regarded, and follows Inspector Stephen Villani, the head of the Victoria Police Homicide Squad who we met briefly in The Broken Shore. It is set during the aftermath of the devastating Black Saturday bushfires of February 2009 when 173 people died and 414 were injured.

2010 Miles Franklin longlist

Miles Franklin Longlist

It’s a busy week for longlists. The Miles Franklin Lliterary Award longlist has also been announced. The annual award was set up in 1954 through a bequest of My Brilliant Career author Stella Miles Franklin and is presented to the author of the novel of the highest literary merit which presents Australian life in any of its phases.

Miles Franklin Literary Award 2010 judge, Morag Fraser, said the blend of authors showed that new and award-winning writers continued to expand Australia’s understanding of its own culture. “The newcomers stand alongside some of the great names of Australian literature – writers who have helped define Australian culture and deepened our understanding of ourselves,” Professor Morag said in a statement. “For range and diversity, this is an outstanding Miles Franklin list.”

The 2010 short list will be announced in April, with the winner of the $42,000 prize to be announced at a dinner in Sydney on June 22.

The longlist was chosen from an original field of 50 books and includes:

• Alex Miller – Lovesong
• Brian Castro – The Bath Fugues
• Craig Silvey – Jasper Jones
• David Foster – Sons of the Rumour
• Deborah Foster – The Book of Emmett
• Glenda Guest – Siddon Rock
• Jon Doust – Boy on a Wire
• Patrick Allington – Figurehead
• Peter Carey – Parrot and Olivier in America
• Peter Temple – Truth
• Sonya Hartnett – Butterfly
• Thomas Keneally – The People’s Train