Miles Franklin Shortlist- It's all women this year!

[Lindach]

This is exciting news for Australian women writers. I am sure Miles Franklin herself would be very happy with this year's list.

An all-female shortlist has been named for the 2013 Miles Franklin Award, Australia's most prestigious literary prize.

First-time novelists Romy Ash, Annah Faulkner and Drusilla Modjeska, are among the five nominees competing for the $60,000 prize.

Author of Questions of Travel, Michelle de Kretser, and Carrie Tiffany, who wrote Mateship with Birds and was the recent winner of the Stella Prize , make up the rest of the shortlist.

The winner will be announced on June 19 at The National Library of Australia in Canberra.

The five authors will also receive $5,000 in prize money from Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund.

The shortlist

• Romy Ash - Floundering
• Annah Faulkner - The Beloved
• Michelle de Kretser - Questions Of Travel
• Drusilla Modjeska - The Mountain
• Carrie Tiffany - Mateship With Birds

"Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors," Simon Lewis, Head of Philanthropy and Community at the Trust Company said.

"The shortlist demonstrates how strong Australia's pipeline of female literary talent really is, as witnessed with last year's Miles Franklin winner, Anna Funder, as well as by the growing number of first time female authors included in the long and shortlists in recent years."