The 2022 Miles Franklin awards long list was recently released. Among the 12 nominees was a book by Michael Winkler called Grimmish that has gathered a swag of good reviews. It was described by JM Coetzee as ‘The strangest book you are likely to read this year,’ while Helen Garner called it, ‘A moving subterranean glint of strange masculine tenderness’.
Despite such lofty acclaim, Grimmish had very humble beginnings. It is the only book on the long list of Australia’s most prestigious literary prize to have started out as a self-published title before being picked up by a small press publisher and reprinted.
