The 2005 Miles Franklin Literary Award winner announced
24 June 2005
Australia’s most prestigious and richest single literary prize, the Miles Franklin Literary Award, has been won by Andrew McGahan for his novel The White Earth published by Allen and Unwin.
Ms Gillian Armstrong announced the winner of this Award valued at $42,000 on Thursday 23 June, at a gala Dinner Presentation held in the Miles Franklin Exhibition Room, The Mitchell Galleries, State Library of New South Wales.
In accepting the Award, Andrew McGahan said that winning or being shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award is what every young writer aspires to do when they start out in this profession.
“It’s about the prestige, and the recognised standard this Award sets for Australian novels. For me, its immensely fulfilling to achieve this milestone,” he said.
Professor Morag Fraser AM, spokesperson for the Judging Panel remarked that all of the shortlisted novels this year were written in a spirit Miles Franklin would have applauded. Even in their difference, all five demonstrated the way this ancient continent imprints on the lives of its inhabitants, young and old, and on the imagination of its chroniclers.
”The winner, Andrew McGahan's The White Earth, was chosen for the imaginative force and contemporary relevance with which it tells its tale of dynasties and dispossession in South East Queensland. McGahan uses the full resources of the novel form, effortlessly negotiating saga and gothic conventions, to explore Australia's unresolved social and political problems,” Ms Fraser said.
Judges for this year’s Award were Eve Abbey, Professor Robert Dixon, Professor Morag Fraser AM, Ian Hicks and the State Librarian of New South Wales, Dagmar Schmidmaier.
Brian Johns, Chair, Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) said, "CAL congratulates Andrew McGahan on winning the 2005 Miles Franklin Literary Award. The White Earth is a remarkable work.
"The Miles Franklin Literary Award is Australia’s foremost award for rewarding outstanding talent in Australian literature and a writer’s ability to voice the Australian experience. To win the Miles Franklin is a fine achievement" he said.
Other books shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2005 were Sarah Armstrong’s Salt Rain, Gail Jones’s Sixty Lights, Steven Carroll’s The Gift of Speed, and Charlotte Wood‘s The Submerged Cathedral
.
43 books were submitted for 2005.
Since it was first awarded in 1957 to Patrick White for his novel Voss, the Miles Franklin has encouraged authors and delivered an immense contribution to Australian cultural life. Past winners include Thea Astley, Peter Carey, Thomas Keneally, Elizabeth Jolley, Tim Winton, and Shirley Hazzard, who won the
Award in 2004. The Miles Franklin is awarded for the novel of the year which is of the highest literary merit and which presents Australian life in any of its phases.
