The 2019 Miles Franklin Longlist is announced!

The longlist for Australia’s most prestigious literary prize was announced earlier today, revealing a rich and surprising longlist.

To absolutely nobody’s surprise, Trent Dalton has been nominated for the wonderful Boy Swallows Universe and is a favourite to win. This would be a monumental win for Trent, who has also recently taken home a record-breaking 4 Australian Book Industry Awards, including Book of the Year.

The longlist also includes Robbie Arnott (Flames), who has just been announced as one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Best Young Australian Novelists, and first time novelist Tracey Sorensen (The Lucky Galah).

Richard Neville of the State Library of NSW said, “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.”

The Miles Franklin Literary Award has been awarded almost every year since 1957, established by Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (My Brilliant Career). It celebrates novels of the highest literary merit that tell stories about Australian life, with the winner receiving a $60,000 prize.

Scroll down to see the longlist (or click here)!

• The Lebs by Michael Mohammed Ahmad
• Flames by Robbie Arnott
• Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
• A Sand Archive by Gregory Day
• Inappropriation by Lexi Freiman
• A Stolen Season by Rodney Hall
• The Death of Noah Glass by Gail Jones
• Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko
• Dyschronia by Jennifer Mills
• The Lucky Galah by Tracy Sorensen

The shortlist will be announced in Sydney on 2 July, with the overall winner announced on 30 July. For more information about the Miles Franklin Literary Award, click here.

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Olivia Fricot

Olivia Fricot (she/her) is Booktopia's Senior Content Producer and editor of the Booktopian blog. She has too many plants and not enough bookshelves, and you can usually find her reading, baking, or talking to said plants. She is pro-Oxford comma.

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