You might think the country’s oldest and most prestigious literary award would announce its longlist at some highbrow breakfast function. You can imagine the names read out in some grand hotel ballroom, the clink of teaspoons against fine China ringing out and the waft of buttery muffins filling the air. Well you’d be wrong. The Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist was announced this morning via the most contemporary of means – Twitter.
Perhaps a little strange for an award honouring the written word, the ten longlisted novels didn’t even get 140 characters worth of summary. The Trust Company, as Trustee of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, instead used just 25 words and a link to a picture of the book cover.
