The Miles Franklin Award

2007 Award

The winner of the 2007 Award was: Carpentaria by Alexis Wright

2007 Shortlist

The shortlist for the 2007 Award comprises:

The Miles Franklin award was set up under the terms of the will of the late Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, the famed Australian author who died in September 1954. It is given annually for the novel or play of the highest literary merit, presenting aspects of Australian life, and published during the preceding year. The award is administered by the Permanent Trustee Co Ltd of Sydney, and is currently worth $42,000.

Award Winners 1957 - 2006

2006 The Ballad of Desmond Kale by Roger McDonald

2005 The White Earth, Andrew McGahan

2004 The Great Fire, Shirley Hazzard

2003 Journey to the Stone Country, Alex Miller

2002 Dirt Music, Tim Winton

2001 Dark Palace, Frank Moorhouse

2000 Drylands, Thea Astley
Benang, Kim Scott

1999 Eucalyptus, Murray Bail

1998 Jack Maggs, Peter Carey

1997 The Glade within the Grove, David Foster

1996 Highways to a War, Christopher Koch

1995 The Hand That Signed the Paper, Helen Demidenko

1994 The Grisly Wife, Rodney Hall

1993 The Ancestor Game, Alex Miller

1992 Cloudstreet, Tim Winton

1991 The Great World, David Malouf

1990 Oceana Fine, Tom Flood

1989 Oscar and Lucinda, Peter Carey

Date changed from year of publication to year of announcement.

1987 Dancing on Coral, Glenda Adams

1986 The Well, Elizabeth Jolley

1985 The Doubleman, Christopher Koch

1984 Shallows, Tim Winton

1983 No award.

1982 Just Relations, Rodney Hall

1981 Bliss, Peter Carey

1980 The Impersonators, Jessica Anderson

1979 A Woman of the Future, David Ireland

1978 Tirra Lirra by the River, Jessica Anderson

1977 Swords and Crowns and Rings, Ruth Park

1976 The Glass Canoe, David Ireland

1975 Poor Fellow My Country, Xavier Herbert

1974 The Mango Tree, Ronald McKie

1973 No award.

1972 The Acolyte, Thea Astley

1971 The Unknown Industrial Prisoner, David Ireland

1970 A Horse of Air, Dal Stivens

1969 Clean Straw for Nothing, George Johnston

1968 Three Cheers for the Paraclete, Thomas Keneally

1967 Bring Larks and Heroes, Thomas Keneally

1966 Trap, Peter Mathers

1965 The Slow Natives, Thea Astley

1964 My Brother Jack, George Johnston

1963 Careful He Might Hear You, Sumner Locke Elliott

1962 The Well Dressed Explorer, Thea Astley
The Cupboard Under the Stairs, George Turner

1961 Riders in the Chariot, Patrick White

1960 The Irishman, Elizabeth O'Conner

1959 The Big Fellow, Vance Palmer

1958 To the Islands, Randolph Stow

1957 Voss, Patrick White

2006 Shortlist

The winner of the 2006 award was The Ballad of Desmond Kale by Roger McDonald.

2005 Shortlist

The winner of the 2005 award was The White Earth by Andrew McGahan.

2004 Shortlist

The winner of the 2004 award was The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard.

2003 Shortlist

The winner of the 2003 award was Journey to the Stone Country by Alex Miller.

2002 Shortlist

The winner of the 2002 award was Dirt Music by Tim Winton.

London's Gilgamesh is the only first novel on the list, though Scott is better known as a poet than a novelist. The Art of the Engine Driver is Carroll's fourth novel but first to be shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award.

2001 Shortlist

The winner of the 2001 award was Dark Palace by Frank Moorhouse.

For the first time in the prize's history a play (Life After George) was shortlisted as well as a novel by an Englishman, Matthew Kneale.

2000 Shortlist

The winners of the 2000 award were Drylands by Thea Astley and Benang by Kim Scott.

This is only the second time the Miles Franklin Award has been shared between two novels - the previous occasion being in 1962 when Thea Astley (again) shared the prize with George Turner. Astley wins the award for the fourth time and Scott for his first. Scott's win is also the first by an indigenous Australian.

1999 Shortlist

The winner of the 1999 award was Eucalyptus by Murray Bail.

1998 Shortlist

The winner of the 1998 award was Jack Maggs by Peter Carey.

1997 Shortlist

The winner of the 1997 award was The Glade within the Grove by David Foster.

The winner of this year's award was announced on June 3, 1997. The Age newspaper in Melbourne ran a story the next day on page 7 or thereabouts with a profile of the author and a few comments about the type of novel he writes. Unfortunately, the same day as the Miles Franklin was announced in Sydney, a new modern art prize was announced in Melbourne. Needless to say the art prize featured on the front page of the paper along with a colour photograph of the winning artist with the winning entry in the background. I suppose this was to be expected if you looked at it in purely monetary terms (the art prize was $A100,000) but you have to ask yourself which of the two works will be remembered in ten or twenty years time. If I could get a bet on it I would have no problems backing Foster.

- June 1997

1996 Shortlist

The winner of the 1996 award was Highways to a War by Christopher Koch.

It would appear that some attempt is being made to resurrect the standing of the Miles Franklin Award in the eyes of the general public after the debacle of 1995's award to Helen Demidenko. The Age, Melbourne's major daily newspaper, carried a small article on page 6 of the 5 June 1996 edition which gave a summary of an interview with the chairwoman of the judges Dame Leonie Kramer. Basically Dame Leonie states that the "kerfuffle"> of the Helen Darville/Demidenko affair has been put aside and that she now looks forward to this year's award. I find it odd that the major literary award in the country should be relegated to this position in the paper. I am a fairly avid reader of the book pages of both The Australian and The Age but don't recall any mention of the award there over the past month or so. Maybe the hype surrounding the Booker Prize in Britain is a tad overdone, but it certainly gets people interested. This minor mention of the Miles Franklin Award seems to place it into its correct perspective within the Australian literary psyche - namely, a lost opportunity.

- July 1996

1995 Shortlist

The winner of the 1995 award was The Hand that Signed the Paper by Helen Demidenko.

Notes

Peter Carey's novel, The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith was deemed ineligible for the award.

1994 Shortlist

The winner of the 1994 award was The Grisly Wife by Rodney Hall.

Notes

Three other novels, described as outstanding by the judges, did not qualify for the list. These were: The Georges' Wife by Elizabeth Jolley, Fury by Maurilia Meehan, and Grand Days by Frank Moorhouse.

1993 Shortlist

The winner of the 1993 award was The Ancestor Game by Alex Miller.

Notes

Subsequent to the publication of the award short list, the judges were asked by the author to withdraw Shearers' Motel from consideration on the basis that it had also been entered for other awards as non-fiction.

1992 Shortlist

The winner of the 1992 award was Cloudstreet by Tim Winton.

1991 Shortlist

The winner of the 1991 award was The Great World by David Malouf.

1990 Shortlist

The winner of the 1990 award was Oceana Fine by Tom Flood.

1989 Shortlist

The winner of the 1989 award was Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey.

1988 Shortlist

Date changed from year of publication to year of announcement, so no award was made in this year.

1987 Shortlist

The winner of the 1987 award was Dancing on Coral by Glenda Adams.

This page and its contents are copyright ©1996-2007 by Perry Middlemiss, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

[Prev] Return to Larrikin Literature page.

Last modified: October 31, 2007.