Gerald Murnane leads the longlist for Miles Franklin Literary Award
Six of the 10 nominated authors previously have been in the running for the fiction prize.
Gerald Murnane, the writer considered one of Australia’s best chances of winning for the nation a second Nobel Prize in literature, is in contention for the $60,000 Miles Franklin Literary Award for the second time in three years.
Murnane, 81, has been longlisted for A Season on Earth, a novel that he saw as lost to the world for four decades. It was republished in 2019 in the way he had always intended, combining his official second novel from 1976, A Lifetime in Clouds, and previously unpublished material.
Murnane is one of six writers on the 10-strong longlist, announced on Tuesday, who have been short-listed in the past. He was short-listed in 2018 for Border Districts, but the award went to Michelle De Kretser for The Life to Come, making her a dual winner.
The others in the running for a second time are Tony Birch (shortlisted in 2012) for White Girl, Peggy Frew (shortlisted in 2016) for Islands, Philip Salom (shortlisted in 2017) for The Returns, Carrie Tiffany (shortlisted in 2013) for Exploded View and Charlotte Wood (shortlisted in 2016) for The Weekend.
Two debut novelists have been longlisted: award-winning non-fiction writer Anna Krien for Act of Grace and doctor-writer Melanie Cheng for Room for a Stranger.
Tara June Winch is on the longlist for The Yield, her third novel, which won the fiction prize and was named book of the year at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards in April.
Sydney teacher and librarian John Hughes, an award-winner for his autobiographical book The Idea of Home, is in contention for his third novel, No One.
The judging panel is Richard Neville of the State Library of NSW, Murray Waldren, a journalist on The Australian and author, bookseller Lindy Jones, author and critic Melinda Harvey and academic and critic Bernadette Brennan.
Mr Neville, the chief judge, said the novels “give voice to a diversity of Australian characters whose common feature is their location on the margins, whether geographical, familial or societal. They explore the ripples and repercussions of childhood trauma, the healing power of friendship, and the unshakeable presence of the past”.
The shortlist will be announced on June 17 and the Miles Franklin winner will be revealed on July 16. The inaugural Miles Franklin, in 1957, went to Patrick White for Voss. In 1973 he became Australia’s first, and so far only, Nobel laureate in literature.