Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright (published in the U.S. by New Directions) has won the A$60,000 (US$39,000) 2024 Miles Franklin Literary Award, Australia's most prestigious literary prize. This marks Wright's second time winning the award; she won in 2007 for her novel Carpentaria.
Judges called Praiseworthy "an astonishing feat of storytelling and sovereign imagination. It is a capacious work in which Alexis Wright takes on the role of creative custodian, singing the songs of unceded lands. She bears witness to the catastrophic transformations wrought by white fantasies, against which Indigenous ingenuity still stands, its connection to Country unbroken. Wright's literary technique is a superb mash-up of different languages, ancient and modern, and displays an exceptional mastery of craft. The novel is imbued with astonishing emotional range, deploying Wright's signature humour despite its powerful sense of the tragic. Through its sheer ambition, astringency and audacity, Praiseworthy redraws the map of Australian literature and expands the possibilities of fiction."
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The longlist has been selected for the $75,000 2024 Cundill History Prize, which honors "the best history writing in English" and is administered by McGill University. The shortlist will be announced September 5. To see the 13-title longlist, click here.
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The longlist has been selected for the $15,000 2024 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. The shortlist will be announced in September, and the winner in December. To see the 25-title longlist, click here.