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’.
‘I was strongly tempted to just leave it in the drawer and get on with my life, but deep down I thought the book had merit, and it had taken years of work. So, with great reluctance, I decided to self-publish. This wasn’t a new path. I had self-published two niche non-fiction books previously. I found a printer, and then I discovered that distributors were not interested,’ Winkler said.
