The Miles Franklin Literary Award 2017

Where the Trees Were by Inga Simpson has been longlisted for The Miles Franklin Literary Award 2017!

The longlisted titles were chosen from 64 entries. A shortlist will be announced at the Australian Booksellers Association conference in Melbourne on 18 June. The winning author, who will receive $60,000, will be announced in September.

State Library of NSW Mitchell librarian Richard Neville said on behalf of the judging panel: ‘This year’s longlist, unusually, is nearly all contemporary and urban. The longlist is a reflective one, as novelists grapple with the creation and remembrance of history, the contests of urban relationships, and domestic complexity, trauma, and insight from the proximity of mortality.

‘The diversity of these voices suggests the depth and strength of Australian writing, and its resistance to easy categorisation. Each of these novels brings a distinct voice to the Australian experience which refuses conventional description.’

The judging panel also included Murray Waldren, Lindy Jones, Melinda Harvey and Susan Sheridan. 

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, A S Patrić won the 2016 Miles Franklin Literary Award for his novel Black Rock White City .