Sri Lankan Australian writer Shankari Chandran Her first book was published with difficulty. The reason: publishers thought her novel wasn’t “Australian” enough to be successful in their local market. Chandran was announced as the winner at the 2023 Literary Award for her novel ‘Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens’.
Chandran’s award-winning novel ‘Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens’ is a story about family, memories, community, race. It is an intergenerational epic that highlights Australia’s difficult and complex equation with multiculturalism and the traumas of post-colonialism. The book also shows how our past experiences have shaped us into the people we are today. This is Chandran’s third novel.
Miles Franklin Literary Award
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual prize given to “a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases”. This year’s judges for the award included: Richard Neville, State Library of NSW Mitchell Librarian and Chair; Author Bernadette Burnan; Translator Mridula Chakraborty. Critic…
