Brisbane writer Siang Lu has won the Miles Franklin Literary Award for his comical novel Ghost Cities, after more than 200 publishers rejected the manuscript.
And the 39-year-old author isn’t joking when he says he was shocked to find out he’d won the $60,000 prize after being shortlisted for the first time.
“I just sat down and actually lost all feeling in my hands and legs, and I lost my voice,” he said.
“It was one of the first times in my life where I actually had to ask someone with complete seriousness, to just tell me that I wasn’t dreaming.”
Australia’s most prestigious literary award was announced at a ceremony in Sydney on Thursday night, at which Lu revealed that he finished the manuscript for Ghost Cities a decade ago in 2015, but it was rejected more than 200 times by publishers in Australia and overseas.
“I used to print my rejections and Blu Tack them on the glass pane between my office and my bedroom … eventually, they grew so numerous that I could no longer see through the glass,” he said in his acceptance speech.
Having finally been published by University of Queensland Press, the winning book has been described by critics as both intellectually ambitious and zany, and it’s been shortlisted for no fewer than seven book awards.
The Miles Franklin is the pick of the bunch, of course, and Lu says his win changes things dramatically – not only financially, but in terms of recognition for the quality of his work.
Ghost Cities was inspired by megacities built in China during the nation’s real estate boom, many of which have been left uninhabited and falling into ruin.
It weaves together multiple stories – including that of a young man who is fired from his job as a translator at the Chinese consulate in Sydney, when it is discovered he is monolingual and has been relying on Google Translate.
There’s also a chess automaton with a secret, and an ancient emperor who creates a thousand replicas of himself.
Since it hit the shelves in 2024, Lu has found what he describes as a perverse joy in chatting to his readers, as they try to guess what Ghost Cities is actually saying.
The answer is less complex than readers might imagine: “It is trying to be funny,” he promises.
The 2025 shortlist was dominated by writers of colour, including veteran Brian Castro, who has made the shortlist four times, and two-time winner Michelle de Kretser.
The six authors shortlisted for the Miles Franklin also receive $5000 from the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
