Ten years ago, Sri Lankan-origin Australian writer Shankari Chandran faced difficulty in getting her debut book published. The reason: publishers thought her novel wasn't "Australian" enough to be successful in their local market. And now, Chandran has been announced as the winner of the 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel ‘Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens’.
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual prize given to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". This year's judges for the award included: Richard Neville- State Library of NSW Mitchell librarian and Chair; author Bernadette Brennan; translator Mridula Nath Chakraborty; critic James Ley; and poet Elfie Shiosaki.
