‘A form of creative death’ Writer Michelle de Kretser’s fear of becoming stale – By Benjamin Law Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects we’re told to keep private by getting them to roll a die. The numbers they land on are the topics they’re given. This week, he talks to Michelle de Kretser. The Sri-Lankan-born novelist, 64, emigrated to Australia at age 14. She has won the Miles Franklin twice, for Questions of Travel and The Life to Come, and her new novel, Scary Monsters, is on the award’s 2022 shortlist. “I was lucky to come to Australia at a time when tertiary education was free. I know what it is to not be middle-class.” CREDIT:JOY M LAI DEATH You once wrote a short, moving essay about the death of your pet dog. Tell me about your dogs and why they’re so important to you. They just help enliven our lives. ...

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Michelle de Kretser: From Methodist College to Global Platforms Source:Thuppahis Michelle de Kretser = born 11 November 1957 =  an Australian novelist who was born in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), and moved to Australia in 1972 when she was 14.[1]   De Kretser was educated at Methodist College, Colombo and in Methodist College, Colombo,[2] and in Melbourne and Paris. She worked as an editor for travel guides company Lonely Planet, and while on a sabbatical in 1999, wrote and published her first novel, The Rose Grower. Her second novel, published in 2003, The Hamilton Case was winner of the Tasmania Pacific Prize, the Encore Award (UK) and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Southeast Asia and Pacific). Her third novel, The Lost Dog, was published in 2007. It was one of 13 books on the long list for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for fiction. From 1989 to 1992 she was a founding editor of the Australian Women’s Book Review. Her fourth novel, Questions of Travel, won several awards, ...

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Miles Franklin Literary Award: Michelle de Kretser wins Australia’s most prestigious literary prize for the second time ABC Arts By Dee Jefferson and Kate Evans for RN’s The Bookshelf Updated yesterday at 10:46pmSun 26 Aug 2018, 10:46pm   Photo: Speaking of the financial role of literary prizes, de Kretser says: “It means you don’t wake up at 3 in the morning worrying about the bills you have to pay.” (ABC) Audio: Michelle de Kretser and The Life To Come (Books and Arts) Related Story: A reader’s guide to the 2018 Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, worth $60,000, has been awarded this year to Michelle de Kretser for her novel The Life to Come. It is the second Miles Franklin for de Kretser, who won in 2013 for her novel Questions of Travel, and the third time in the award’s 61-year history that a woman has ...

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