author
Miles Franklin
1879–1954
Best known for My Brilliant Career, this Australian writer brought sharp wit, independence, and a strong feminist spirit to her fiction. Her life moved far beyond the bush settings of her early work, but she remained a powerful voice in Australian literature.
2 Audiobooks
My Brilliant Career
by Miles Franklin
Some Everyday Folk and Dawn
by Miles Franklin
About the author
Born Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin in Talbingo, New South Wales, in 1879, she grew up in rural Australia and drew deeply on that experience in her writing. Her first novel, My Brilliant Career (1901), made her famous for its lively, rebellious heroine and its clear-eyed view of life and ambition.
Franklin went on to write novels, essays, and other works over many decades, often exploring Australian identity, social life, and the lives of women. She also spent time in the United States and worked with women's and labor organizations, experiences that widened the perspective she brought to her writing.
She died in Sydney in 1954, but her influence has lasted well beyond her lifetime. In Australia, her name remains especially well known through the Miles Franklin Literary Award, one of the country's major prizes for fiction.