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Australian Tamil author whose first novel wasn’t ‘Australian enough’ wins Miles Franklin Shankari Chandran’s third novel, Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, has won the prestigious award. Winner of the 2023 Miles Franklin Literary Award Shankari Chandran poses for a portrait with her novel Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens. Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi Source : sbs KEY POINTS Shankari Chandran’s Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens, has won the prestigious $60,000 Miles Franklin award. The novel, Chandran’s third, explores multicultural Australia and the Sri Lankan civil war. Chandran hopes to adapt Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens into a television series. When Shankari Chandran got the call to say she had won the Miles Franklin, judge Richard Neville had to repeat the message four times. “My brain just couldn’t quite understand what he was saying to me,” she says. Then she put the call on hold so she could scream a little. Chandran’s third novel, Chai ...