WHAT started as a modest sum of money left in a will has turned into a literary legacy carried on today by a Lake Albert resident.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Retired school teacher Margaret Francis says her ancestor, famed author Miles Franklin, would be amazed to see the development of the award today.
Franklin, real name Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, was best known in her lifetime for writing My Brilliant Career and campaigning for better wages for authors.
Upon her death in 1954, Franklin left 8000 pounds to be used in the set up of a literary prize. Today, the Miles Franklin Award is managed by Perpetual and considered the country’s premier writing prize.
Ms Francis said Franklin’s life has inspired her work editing her family history.
“My grandfather, who I knew as an old man, had the close connection with her,” she said.
“I didn’t understand it completely until my teens and then I became very interested in our history and our family group was formed.”
Franklin would be pleased with the way the award profiles and raises awareness of those nominated, her primary motivation for the prize, Ms Francis said. “That means that it is not just the one winner and in the lead up to the award, those people are having their books bought in bookshops,” she said.