Miles Franklin
Stella ‘Miles’ Franklin (1879–1954) was an Australian writer best remembered for her portrayals of Australian life in My Brilliant Career and All That Swagger. Her legacy lives on in the Stella Prize, a literary award for writing by Australian women.
First published in 1901, My Brilliant Career is a powerful portrayal of life in turn-of-the-century rural Australia. Young, headstrong and born into a family dogged by misfortune, Sybylla Melvyn is determined to avoid the lot of young women – to escape the drudgery of farm life by finding a husband – and instead devotes herself to the arts, adamant she will one day make her way as a writer, actor, artist…