Miles Franklin Longlist 2021

The longlist for the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award was announced this afternoon. What is the Miles Franklin Literary Award (MFLA), I hear some of you ask? According to the MFLA website it is,

<sub>“Australia’s most prestigious literary award was established through the will of the writer Stella Miles Franklin, best known for her novel My Brilliant Career. The bequest came as a surprise to the literary world as Franklin had told nobody – save her trustees – of her plans. Miles Franklin had first-hand experience of the struggle to make a living as a writer and was herself the beneficiary of two literary prizes. She was also extremely conscious of the importance of fostering a uniquely Australian literature. She wrote,

“Without an indigenous literature, people can remain alien in their own soil.”

Accordingly, the Award is presented each year to a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases. The Miles Franklin was first awarded in 1957. Since then, the annual announcement of the winner has become an event anticipated and discussed throughout Australia and around the world.”</sub> 

MFLA website

This year I have read four of the contenders (links to my reviews included in the table below). At this point, my money is on Stone Sky Gold Mountain.

Aravind Adiga	Amnesty	Pan Macmillan Australia
Robbie Arnott	The Rain Heron	Text Publishing
Daniel Davis Wood	At the Edge of the Solid World	Brio
Gail Jones	Our Shadows	Text Publishing
Sofie Laguna	Infinite Splendours	Allen & Unwin
Amanda Lohrey	The Labyrinth	Text Publishing
Laura Jean McKay	The Animals in That Country	Scribe Publications
Andrew Pippos	Lucky’s	Pan Macmillan Australia
Mirandi Riwoe	Stone Sky Gold Mountain	University of Queensland Press
Philip Salom	The Fifth Season	Transit Lounge
Nardi Simpson	Song of the Crocodile	Hachette Australia
Madeleine Watts	The Inland Sea	Pushkin Press

A number of my fellow bloggers have reviewed most of the other books.

• Amnesty has been reviewed by Lisa @ ANZ LitLovers
• The Rain Heron has also been reviewed by Tracey @ Carpe Librum
• Our Shadows by Kim Forrester @ Reading Matters
• Infinite Splendours has two reviews thanks to Kate @ Booksaremyfavouriteandbest and Theresa Smith Writes
• The Labyrinth was reviewed by Jennifer Cameron-Smith
• The Animals in That Country by Kim Forrester @ Reading Matters
• Stone Sky Gold Mountain has three more reviews with Jonathan Shaw, Theresa Smith Writes and Kate @ Booksaremyfavouriteandbest
• The Fifth Season by Lisa @ ANZ LitLovers
• Song of the Crocodile by Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out and Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Three books are currently without a review by bloggers known to me – At the Edge of the Solid World, Lucky’s and The Inland Sea. Please let me know if you’ve reviewed one of them; I’d be happy to add your link.

I’d be keen to read Amnesty, The Labyrinth and The Fifth Season, but the rest I can leave for now, unless you can convince me otherwise.

Do you have a favourite on this list? Can you pick the winner?