June 25, 2007

Alexis Wright wins Miles Franklin Award

Former RMIT University student Alexis Wright has won the Miles Franklin Award, Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, with her second novel, Carpentaria.

Ms Wright, who studied professional and creative writing at RMIT, was presented with the award at a ceremony at the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney last week.

Ms Wright, an activist for Aboriginal land rights, says the world that she created in Carpentaria is so far removed from the realm of experience of non-indigenous Australians that it can seem strange and almost unbelievable.

“The story is imagined, but it comes from knowing what actually happens within Aboriginal communities,” said Ms Wright.

“The response to this novel has made me realise how disconnected people are from Indigenous culture.”

Carpentaria is told from the voice of an Aboriginal elder in the fictitious town of Desperence. It explores the lives of the Picklebush people and their battles with another mob, white officials and a neighbouring mine.

RMIT lecturer in Creative Writing, Antoni Jach, said Ms Wright was a worthy winner of the Miles Franklin.

“I would compare her novel Carpentaria with two of the great contemporary novels of the past 50 years – One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Midnight's Children by Salman Rusdhie – in its extravagant exuberance and in the magicality of its telling style,” said Mr Jach.

“Carpentaria is funny, timely and profound. It is indeed a reflection on contemporary Australian life.”

By winning the Miles Franklin Award, Ms Wright joins fellow Australian literary greats such as Thea Astley, Peter Carey, Thomas Keneally, Elizabeth Jolley, Tim Winton, and Shirley Hazzard.

Carpentaria is available through Giramondo Publishing Company.

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