It’s true: the 2021 Miles Franklin Award longlist was announced today and At the Edge of the Solid World is one of the dozen titles on it. I’m honoured and humbled to see my novel receive a place on the longlist, and hopefully some fresh wind in its sails. Aside from that, I’ll say no more except to drop in here a response I was asked to give in the event of media interest:
As an expatriate author writing a book about an expatriate experience, I often felt at a distance from Australia’s literary scene and riddled with doubts about whether my work would really speak to readers in Australia. So, for me, this longlisting is both an unexpected honour and a reassurance that that experience — of uprootedness, of voluntary outsiderness — can indeed be a meaningful aspect of Australian life in its current phase.
The shortlist announcement is scheduled for June 16.
Infinite Patience 