Donald Glover, Shonda Rhimes, Phoebe Waller-Bridge: they are the ‘showrunners’ behind some of the biggest hits on the small screen. But what, exactly, is a showrunner?
The six shortlisted authors for this year’s Miles Franklin, from left to right: Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Gail Jones, Gregory Day, Melissa Lucashenko, Rodney Hall and Jennifer Mills.
Courtesy of the Miles Franklin/ Belinda Rolland
Each novel in this list is profoundly empathetic, and deeply attuned to contemporary Australia.
Cynthia Banham with Kevin Rudd in 2008. Banham’s memoir explores both the trauma she experienced during a plane crash in 2007 and her family’s history.
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In her fragmentary family memoir, Cynthia Banham interweaves narratives of war and migration with her own traumatic plane crash - ultimately reclaiming her identity in the process.
Man Out of Time is an affecting portrait of a family rocked by the patriarchal figure’s long-term depression.
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Stephanie Bishop’s latest novel demonstrates a sophisticated approach to the relationship between time and narrative: novelists and aspiring writers would do well to look closely at her achievement.
Les Murray at the National Gallery in Canberra in 2002. He was often seen as an unofficial Australian poet laureate.
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Ellen N. La Motte’s ‘The Backwash of War’ was praised for its clear-eyed portrayal of war, but was swiftly banned. Yet the similarities between her spare prose and Hemingway’s are unmistakable.
Margaret Atwood’s classic novel imagined a society where women had almost no power. Hundreds of people gathered in Sydney yesterday to hear Atwood speak about dystopias – fictional and otherwise.
Writing for pleasure improves long-term learning outcomes in a range of areas, including maths and science.
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Writing based on observation and empathy is one thing; but interviewing the people whose experiences you aim to depict - and showing them your work - is quite another.