For her work in weaving a tale of generational trauma told with “deadly black” humour, Melissa Lucashenko has won Australia’s most prestigious literary award, Miles Franklin Literary Award, for her novel “Too Much Lip”, And she receives AU$60,000 (US$41,000) in prize money.
The book, published by University of Queensland Press, is a tale about a “wise-cracking” woman who has spent a lifetime avoiding prison and her hometown but is pulled back to the latter when she finds out her grandfather is dying. The novel weaves a “sometimes fabulous” tale of the very real politics of cultural survival to offer a story of hope and redemption for all Australians, according to judging panel.