The Miles Franklin Award is Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, both for its longevity and its impact on cultural debate. If it is of the nature of literature prizes to be controversial, then the Miles Franklin is up with the best of international awards.
The Miles Franklin began in 1957 with a completely surprising bequest by the writer (Stella Maria) Miles Franklin, best known for the 1901 coming-of-age novel My Brilliant Career. It was one of the richest awards of its kind in the world in its first years, providing then the remarkable sum of ₤500 to a work “of the highest literary merit and which must present Australian Life in any of its phases”1. This formula was later modified to ” a novel or play portraying Australian life in any of its phases”. Although
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Citation: Bruce, Peter. "The Miles Franklin Award". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 July 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1674, accessed 17 October 2024.]
