Miles Franklin Literary Award

Congratulations to Aboriginal writer Alexis Wright, who has won the 2007 Miles Franklin Literary Award, Australia's most prestigious literary prize, for her novel Carpentaria.

Wright's manuscript was rejected by mainstream publishers, but taken up by small press Giramondo.

Miles Franklin, for whom the award is named, was an unknown female author 'discovered' by Australian poet and writer, Henry Lawson, at the turn of last century. It was he who, because he believed in her work, got her first novel (My Brilliant Career) published, in the UK after it was rejected in Australia. Lawson himself was in Britain because, despite his enormous talent, he was unable to earn a living in Australia ... but there's hope for Aussie writers yet, as this award shows. Congrats again to Ms Wright and what she hath wrought.

Categories: australian+poetry, australian+literature, biography, history, henry+lawson, louisa+lawson, australia, bush+poetry, literature, poetry, labor+history, australian+history, radical+history