The newly crowned winner of Australia’s Miles Franklin award, Jennifer Down, celebrated her win in a style befitting the remote ceremonies of the pandemic: with a handmade sash and a plastic tiara.
The 31-year-old, who won the country’s most prestigious literary prize this week, delighted fans on Thursday when she described her family’s surprise celebration, which featured a plastic red carpet (“murder or slip and slide?”), matching T-shirts, bouquets and an A4 printed sign on the front door that said “Miles Franklin Ceremony inside”.
