Author Alexis Wright – a Waanyi woman from Cloncurry, Queensland – is having a big year… The 73yo’s novel Praiseworthy last night won the 2024 Miles Franklin Literary Award – our most prestigious literary prize. She also took out the Stella Award in May making her the first to win both prizes with the same book. The judges described Praiseworthy as “an astonishing feat of storytelling and sovereign imagination”. Wright’s now a dual Miles Franklin winner after her 2007 novel Carpentaria won – she said “I already thought winning a Miles Franklin once was a miracle… Winning twice is monumental”. And a shoutout for Aussie author Charlotte Wood was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize this week for her novel Stone Yard Devotional. It’s one of the most prestigious awards in international literature, and an Aussie hasn’t made the cut since 2016.