On 23 May 2022, the longlist was announced for Australia's most prestigious literary awards, the Miles Franklin Award, with twelve authors vying for the $60,000 prize. Richard Neville, Librarian from the State Library of NSW, said on behalf of the judges:
“This year's longlist, drawn from a robust pool of entries, reflects the thematic richness and the formal adventurousness of the contemporary Australian novel, as our writers respond to our times. Diverse in every sense, it extends from world of realism to novels in a more experimental vein, proving that the nation's storytellers are continuing to test the boundaries of what the novel can do.”
Let's check out the Longlist:
Michael Mohammed Ahmad - The Other Half of You
Bani Adam carries the weight of expectation. His family expects him to marry the right kind of girl and be the right kind of Muslim. But Bani wants to decide for himself, even if he makes mistakes or goes against the wishes of his family and faith. Ahmed's previous novel, The Lebs, won the 2019 NSW Premier's Multicultural Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award.
Jasmine is an Indigenous lawyer who takes her mother, Della, on a literary tour of England. This trip is an opportunity to bring them closer together and reconcile the past. When a child goes missing on Hampstead Heath, Jasmine recalls the disappearance twenty-five years ago of her older sister. Having heard Larissa Behrendt speak about this novel at the Sydney Writers Festival last weekend, I am keen to read it.
Maggie Sullivan is institutionalised, growing up in a foster homes and group facilities after her father is jailed. Neglected and abused, by 19 she is diagnosed with depression and trauma. The novel follows Maggie into adulthood, when she is forced to encounter her long buried past. I heard Jennifer Down speak at the Sydney Writers Festival last weekend and found her extremely impressive. While I reckon this will be a challenging novel, due to the subject matter, I am interested in reading it and becoming acquainted with this author.
Emma Cormac is struggling with her life and suffering postpartum depression. From the outside, she has everything anyone could ever want - a marriage to the stoic Robert, three small children and a prestige home. Emma's depression deepens, and when something happens to one of the children, Emma unravels. Doyle is the author of the novel The Island Will Sink and a memoir, Adult Fantasy.
In this debut novel, Easton spans the 1990s to today in the suburbs and inner city of Sydney. Helen, Walt and Duncan are looking to escape their complex family histories and forge new lives for themselves as they enter adulthood.
Hughes is the acclaimed author of The Remnants, Asylum, and most recently No One, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 2020. In The Dogs, Michael Shamamov is running away form life's responsibilities. His marriage has failed and he has barely seen his son or his ageing mother. A discussion with a nurse at his mother's nursing home leads him to realise that the needs to stop running away and instead reconnect.
In 2019, Mills' novel Dyschonia was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. In her latest novel, The Airways, she focuses on two characters Adam and Yun. Adam is a Greek-Australian living in Beijing. Adam is haunted by Yun's disembodied voice over something that happened between them years before. Described as a 'powerful, inventive and immersive novel' which unsettles 'the boundaries of gender and power, consent and rage, self and other, and even life and death'.
Set in Melbourne in the 1980s, Karuna is the only daughter of an Australian man and a Philipino mother. When sixteen year old Karuna falls pregnant, her mother confines her to their fourteenth story housing-commission flat. Her mother wants to keep her safe and ensure she doesn't get into any more trouble. In the claustrophobia of her confinement, the mother-daughter relationship is at breaking point as they struggle for control.
Bushfires rage in the nearby hills, coating the city streets with ash. Three women attend a performance of a Beckett play. Margot is preoccupied by thoughts of her ailing husband. Ivy is distracted by a man snoring beside her. Summer can't concentrate as she is concerned about the safety of her girlfriend in the bushfire zone. By the time the curtain falls, they have a new understanding of their world. I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend, and have somehow never gotten around to reading it. Will make it a priority now.
Seeking solitude to write a book, a man arrives at a house on the coast. In the quiet, he recalls his childhood, his early experiences with sexuality. He tries to write a novel about Paul, an American former porn star who returns home to partake in an offer he cannot refuse. This autofiction is a mediation on beauty. Tsiolkas is the critically acclaimed author of seven novels including Barracuda and Damascus. He is best known for The Slap (2009), which was longlisted for the Booker prize.
In 1908 Italian-American boxer Joe Grim toured Australia, losing fights but winning fans who marvelled at his physical resilience. This genre-defying book unfolds through conversations between the narrator and his uncle. JM Coetzee called it 'The strangest book you will ever read this year'. Sounds intriguing...
At this stage I have not read any of these novels, but I do have several of these titles in the queue to be read. Regardless, I will guess that the following authors will make the shortlist: Berhendt, Down, de Krester, Hughes, Thomas and Tsiolkas.
The Shortlist will be announced 13 June 2022 and the winner will be revealed on 20 July 2022.