Miles Franklin: A Short Biography

A classic, accessible award-winning biography of Australia's most iconic author, leading feminist and humanitarian.
'To meet Miles Franklin was as invigorating as to ride on a spring morning across the Monaro plains she so dearly loved,' wrote Henrietta Drake-Brockman.

Author, union organiser, WWI volunteer, women's rights agitator, nationalist, Miles Franklin worked, wrote and talked for many causes, none more passionately than Australian literature. Propelled to fame aged only twenty-one in the wake of her bestselling novel My Brilliant Career, she never again achieved the same literary success, but her life was rich and productive. She published sixteen novels, numerous non-fiction books and articles, and maintained a prolific and entertaining correspondence with friends and acquaintances.

If her extraordinary achievements in life were not enough, her endowment of the Miles Franklin Literary Award on her death ensured she would never be forgotten. In 2013 the 'Stella Prize' for Australian Women's Writing, named in honour of Stella Maria 'Miles' Franklin, was awarded for the first time, gilding her reputation further.

WINNER

Queensland Premier's Literary Award 2009

South Australian Premier's Prize for Non-Fiction 2010

Magarey Medal for Biography 2010

PRAISE

' ... this shorter, tighter version should find a larger audience among readers who want to understand Franklin's extraordinary life and work' Dr Rachel Franks, Dictionary of Sydney

'Roe's mighty biography of a woman who was pivotal to the culture during a formative period of Australian literary life is meticulous and welcome' Hilary McPhee, The Australian

'a long-awaited and splendidly breezy blockbuster biography of the indefatigable, self-inventing and campaigning author of My Brilliant Career' Richard Holmes, Australian Book Review

Jill Roe, AO (1940-2017), was Professor Emerita in the Department of Modern History at Macquarie University, Sydney. She wrote numerous papers on Miles Franklin's life and work. Her edited selection of Miles Franklin's letters, My Congenials, appeared in 1993, and A Gregarious Culture: Topical Writings of Miles Franklin (with Margaret Bettison) in 2001.