Miles Franklin Literary Award 2020 shortlist reading guide

Stories of trauma — personal, communal and national — dominate the Miles Franklin Award, Australia's most prestigious literary prize, in its 63rd year. Key facts about the award The Miles Franklin Award was first awarded in 1957 It was established in the will of author Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin It distinguishes a novel "of the highest literary merit" which presents "Australian life in any of its phases" The winner is awarded $60,000 Past winners include Patrick White, Ruth Park, Thea Astley, Tim Winton, Peter Carey and Michelle de Kretser The 2019 winner was Melissa Lucashenko, for her novel Too Much Lip Two of the nominated novels deal with intergenerational trauma stemming from colonisation: The Yield, by Wiradjuri writer Tara June Winch, and The White Girl, by Indigenous Australian author Tony Birch. Winch, a first-time nominee, is a strong contender for the Miles Franklin, with her tale of family, land and language winning three prizes in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, including the Book of the Year. At first glance, the plot of The Yield sounds very similar to last year's Miles Franklin winner, Melissa Lukashenko's Too Much Lip: an Aboriginal woman returns home to the family property for her grandfather's funeral and discovers that ancestral land is under threat.