The 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist

Showing all posts about Australian literature

The 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist

17 May 2025

Ten novels have been included on the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist, which was published on Thursday 15 May 2025.

Chinese Postman, by Brian Castro
The Burrow, by Melanie Cheng
Theory & Practice, by Michelle de Kretser
Dirt Poor Islanders, by Winnie Dunn
Compassion, by Julie Janson
Politica, by Yumna Kassab
Ghost Cities, by Siang Lu
Highway 13, by Fiona McFarlane
The Degenerates, by Raeden Richardson
Juice, by Tim Winton

Australia’s oldest literary award, the Miles Franklin honours novels “of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases“. The shortlist will be announced next month on Wednesday 25 June, with the winner being named a month later on Thursday 24 July.

Vortex by Rodney Hall wins The Age Book of the Year fiction prize

10 May 2025

Vortex, by Queensland based Australian author Rodney Hall, has won the fiction prize in The Age Book of the Year award for 2025.

The two times winner of the Miles Franklin literary award, says the basis for his latest novel were some pages for a book he started writing, but later gave up on, in 1971. It pays to hold onto those old manuscripts, even the ones you don’t like, or thought you didn’t.

Lech Blaine, also living in Queensland, won the non-fiction prize, with his memoir Australian Gospel.

The announcement of the winners coincided with the opening of this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF), on Thursday. The Age Book of the Year awards have a story worthy of a novel themselves. They were first presented in 1974, by The Age newspaper, for fiction and non-fiction writing. In 1993 a poetry award, the Dinny O’Hearn Prize was added.

In 1998, the awards became a feature of the MWF, until they were ceased all together in 2013. However, in 2021 the award was rebooted, but for fiction only. Then in 2022, an award for non-fiction was introduced (or should that be reintroduced?).

More Australian publishing plagiarism allegations, this time in cook books

2 May 2025

Australian cook Nagi Maehashi, founder of popular food blog RecipeTin Eats, and publisher of two cook books (her first title was riotously successful), has accused Brisbane based baker Brooke Bellamy, of copying at least two of her recipes.

In addition, Maehashi also claims Bellamy copied “word for word”, a Portuguese tart recipe, published by late Australian chef Bill Granger, in his 2006 cook book, Every Day.

I’m not sure you can copy a recipe for something like Portuguese tarts, but allegedly re-printing one verbatim might be another story:

It has historically been difficult to prove recipe plagiarism, especially when recipes such as baklava, caramel slice and Portuguese custard tarts are not original ideas but versions of traditional recipes that have been tweaked and replicated thousands of times.

Bellamy has denied the plagiarism allegations, saying all recipes in her book, Bake with Brooki, were her own original work.

Thomas Mitchell: when your book is used to train AI platforms without permission

14 April 2025

American tech company Meta has been using the works of Australian authors — and no doubt many writers worldwide — to train its AI platforms. This happens, apparently, without consultation with the authors, and certainly — to date — without any payment. Australian author Thomas Mitchell (Instagram link), of Today I F****d Up fame, writes first-hand about the experience:

I have very little in common with Australian author Tim Winton. He has written many books, and I have written one. His titles are bestsellers; my book was mainly purchased by friends and family. He loves the ocean, whereas I am happier on land. Despite our differences, it turns out both Tim Winton and I are part of the same unfortunate club: Australian authors being ripped off by Meta.

Miles Franklin Undercover, a new biography of the Australian author, by Kerrie Davies

14 April 2025

Miles Franklin Undercover, by NSW North Coast based university lecturer and author Kerrie Davies, traces Franklin’s life in the years following the 1901 publication of her iconic novel, My Brilliant Career. Spoiler: things were not too brilliant:

But fame can be deceptive. In reality, the book earned her a pittance. The family farm was sold, her new novels were rejected, and she was broke. Just two years after her debut, Miles disappeared.

On the subject of Miles Franklin, the annual Australian literary award named for her, can’t be too far away from publishing the longlist for the 2025 award. That, I’m guessing, is maybe in a month’s time?

The 2025 Stella Prize for Australian literature shortlist

9 April 2025

The shortlist for the (stellar) Stella Prize, consisting of six titles, was unveiled last night:

Black Convicts, by Santilla Chingaipe
Black Witness, by Amy McQuire
Cactus Pear For My Beloved, by Samah Sabawi
Translations, by Jumaana Abdu
The Burrow, by Melanie Cheng
Theory & Practice, by Michelle de Kretser

The Stella Prize is an annual celebration of literature written by Australian women. The winner will be announced on Friday 23 May 2025.

We Are the Stars, Gina Chick, tops 2025 Dymocks Top 101 Book poll

7 April 2025

We Are the Stars, by Australian author Gina Chick, has claimed the number one spot in the 2025 Dymocks Top 101 Books poll. We Are the Stars also enjoys the distinction of being the first work of non-fiction to top the the list in almost twenty years.

Notable fiction inclusions (being titles I’ve also read) in this year’s Top 101 include Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams, and Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

Every year, customers of the Australian bookseller vote to determine their favourite titles of the previous twelve months.

Meta using the work of Australian authors to train AI platforms

7 April 2025

Two years ago it was ChatGPT being trained with books written by Australian authors, without their knowledge or permission. Now Facebook owner Meta is doing the same thing: using the works of local writers without permission or royalty.

A number of Australian authors, including Sophie Cunningham, Hannah Kent, Tim Winton, Helen Garner, and Alexis Wright, using a tool developed by The Atlantic, have found their work has been added to LibGen, a database Meta is using to “train” its generative AI platform.

The company claims their use of the novels constitutes fair use, as, apparently, only “limited” amounts of copyright material is being used.

If the Meta AI technology in question is what I saw on Instagram a day or two ago, on the search tab, then it’s not much to write home about. I typed my name in to see what would happen, something that appeared to stump the AI platform.

Instead of saying something about me, someone’s who been online here for over twenty-five years — how could Meta’s AI technology possibly not know about that? — it returned a spiel about an English football player called Frank, who has the same surname as I do.

If the writing of some of Australia’s best authors can’t help the technology figure out what day of the week it is, just how useful is this AI platform going to be?

Three Dresses by Wanda Gibson, wins 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award

20 March 2025

Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, based Nukgal Wurra woman Wanda Gibson, has won the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, with her book, Three Dresses. Gibson’s win is the first time a children’s title has won the award. In addition, Three Dresses won the Children’s Literature category.

Winners in other categories included Highway 13 by Fiona McFarlane, in Fiction, and Black Witness by Amy McQuire, in Indigenous Writing, which is also on the longlist of this year’s Stella Prize.

Gawimarra: Gathering by Jeanine Leane, won the Poetry award, anything can happen by Susan Hampton, collected the Non-Fiction prize, while I Made This Just for You by Chris Ames, won the Unpublished Manuscript award.

Moonboy, a time traveller fears she has changed history, and other books

19 March 2025

In Moonboy by Anna Ciddor, Letty can travel back in time from the room in her present day house, to the same room in 1969, when it is occupied by a boy her age. Letty is able to relive the excitement of the Apollo 11 launch, but fears her jaunts through time might be changing history. Don’t mess with the space-time continuum now. Moonboy might be a kids’ book, but the plot is just my thing.

First Name, Second Name, by Steve MinOn, isn’t a time travel story, nor horror, as a dead man walks back through his family’s turbulent history to claim his identity. Just in time for the imminent Federal election: How Australian Democracy Works, edited by Australian journalist Amanda Dunn. Yes, we need our democracy more than ever, as the byline reminds us.

A troubled young woman takes her mother and grandmother to Peru on a trek to Machu Picchu, thinking the walk will do them all good. But is it a good idea? Or will the amalgam of family secrets that come to light scuttle her plan? That’s Best, First and Last, by Amy Matthews.

Gusty Girls explores the life of late Australian poet Dorothy Porter, written by her younger sister, Josie McSkimming. Careless People, by former Facebook director of global public policy, Sarah Wynn-Williams, is the book Meta doesn’t want you to read. If that doesn’t scream buy me, what does?

« older posts

newer posts »