The Airways by Jennifer Mills longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2022
An incredible achievement for Jennifer Mills this week, with The Airways longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2022.
One of twelve books on the list, this nomination acknowledges the finest of Australian fiction, with the award one of our prestigious.
‘This year’s longlist, drawn from a robust pool of entries, reflects the thematic richness and the formal adventurousness of the contemporary Australian novel, as our writers respond to our times. Diverse in every sense, it extends from works of realism to novels in a more experimental vein, proving that the nation’s storytellers are continuing to test the boundaries of what the novel can do.’ State Library of NSW Mitchell Librarian Richard Neville, one of the judges of this year’s award.
The shortlisted novels will be announced on 23 June, with the winner to be revealed on 20 July. Mills’ previous book, Dyschronia, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2019.
About the book
I had a body once before. I didn’t always love it. I knew the skin as my limit, and there were times I longed to leave it.
I knew better than to wish for this.
This is the story of Yun. It’s the story of Adam.
Two young people. A familiar chase.
But this is not a love story.
It’s a story of revenge, transformation, survival.
Feel something, the body commands. Feel this.
But it’s a phantom . . . I go untouched.
They want their body back.
Who are we, if we lose hold of the body?
What might we become?
The Airways shifts between Sydney and Beijing, unsettling the boundaries of gender and power, consent and rage, self and other, and even life and death.
A powerful, inventive, and immersive novel from award-winning author Jennifer Mills.