Spike Poll: The Best Australian Fiction of the 21st Century (so far)
JA
November 16
The last century has given us some iconic names in Australian fiction – Miles Franklin, Helen Garner, Tim Winton, David Malouf, Patrick White, Peter Carey, Alex Miller, Shirley Hazzard, Thea Astley and so on. Looking back, we can easily see what works stood out among that literary landscape and which ones gradually morphed into the classics that we read and reread today.
But since the turn of the millennium, the past decade has revealed many new and striking voices, as well as many different forms of telling. We may only be nine years into the 21st century, but over at Meanjin we feel that it’s ever too earlier to look back on the stories that shape us, or to enthuse about our writers. In that spirit, and taking cue from this exercise on the Millions, we’ve held an informal poll among twenty-two literary luminaries, editors, writers, bloggers and readers in answer to this question: ‘What are the best works of Australian fiction of the 21st century so far?’
This is not a broad sweep by any means and, of course, any poll will have its subjective nuances. But what we’re interested in here is the dialogues; the stories that resonate with us, that best capture the here and now, that will stand the test of time. What direction, for example, is Australia fiction moving in and how do we perceive it?
To the particulars then. The panel of voters is listed below. Each had to nominate up to five titles of fiction, and this could include short stories. The only rule was that they had to be published after 1 January 2000. The results have come in with a clear Top Three. There were several ties, but unlike the Millions we’ve decided not to break them. We’ll start the count down daily from tomorrow, with introductions from some of our esteemed panel, following with a post on the books that almost made it. Many thanks to those who took part, and to James Bradley for suggesting the poll in the first place.
The Voters
Patrick Allington is an Adelaide-based writer, editor and critic. His first novel is Figurehead.
Kalinda Ashton is a short story writer and the author of The Danger Game. She is a associate editor at Overland and teaches at RMIT University.
James Bradley is the author of Wrack, The Deep Field and The Resurrectionist. He can be found at cityoftongeus.com
Jo Case is books editor of the Big Issue and publications manager at Readings.
Jason Cotter is a writer and editor, and a bookseller at Readings Books, Music and Film.
Sophie Cunningham is the author of two novels, Geography and Bird, and the editor of Meanjin.
Zoe Dattner is the co-founder and creative director of Sleepers Publishing.
George Dunford is a writer, editor, teacher and Chair of Express Media.
Chris Flynn is editor of Torpedo.
Michael Giacometti is an emerging writer and contributor to Meanjin. He manages the Northern Territory Writers’ Centre in Alice Springs.
Jane Gleeson-White is the author of Australian Classics. Her third book, Double Entry: From Renaissance Venice to Wall Street, the amazing life and legacy of Fra Luca Pacioli, will be published in 2010.
Kerryn Goldsworthy is a writer, critic, blogger and former editor of the Australian Book Review.
Toni Jordan’s first novel, Addition, was long-listed for the Miles Franklin literary award 2009. She also writes regularly for the Age.
Malcolm Knox is a novelist and journalist and former literary editor of the Sydney Morning Herald.
James Ley is a freelance critic and member of the University of Western Sydney’s Writing and Society Research Group
Richard McGregor reads for work, pleasure and enlightenment and has copyedited Meanjin for 14 years.
Angela Meyer blogs for Crikey at Literary Minded. She is also a fiction writer, and is currently the acting editor of Bookseller + Publisher magazine.
Belinda Monypenny is the editor of Voiceworks.
Jeff Sparrow is the editor of Overland and the author of, most recently, Killing: Misadventures in Violence.
Louise Swinn is a writer, and cofounder and publisher at Sleepers.
Geordie Williamson is chief literary critic of the Australian.
Charlotte Wood is the editor of the anthology Brothers & Sisters (Allen & Unwin, November) and the author of three novels: The Children, The Submerged Cathedral and Pieces of a Girl.
Our Friends
- Overland
- Alien Onion
- Ampersand Duck
- Andrew McDonald
- A Pair of Ragged Claws
- Arts Victoria
- Australia Council for the Arts
- Ben Eltham
- Bookshow blog
- CAL
- City of Tongues
- Crikey
- darkly wise, rudely great
- David Astle
- Elmo Keep Does Stuff
- The Ember
- Fly the Falcon blog
- Going Down Swinging
- Griffith Review
- Hackpacker
- Harvest
- HEAT
- Island
- Killings blog
- Literary Minded
- Lorraine Crescent
- Lynden Barber
- Mandy Ord
- Marcus Westbury
- Matilda
- Meanland
- Melbourne University Publishing
- Mel Campbell
- The Monthly
- Musings of an Inappropriate Woman
- Oslo Davis
- Paul Callaghan
- Read, Think, Write
- Sleepers Publishing
- Sorrow at Sills Bend
- SPLOG
- Tom Cho
- Virgule
- Wet Ink
- Wheeler Centre
Comments
16 Nov 09 at 20:22
While the brief is a wee bit prescriptive (will there ever be a moment in Australian writing on writing when judgements are not called for, I wonder?), this is a damn fine panel. Thanks for giving it a fly, I look forward to being outrageously surprised by some exciting selections.
...17 Nov 09 at 6:26
Interesting exercise.Your judging panel could be a tad more diverse. I'll be interested to see how/whether this plays out in the countdown.
...17 Nov 09 at 8:58
We did ask alot more people than ended up on the final panel and quite a few people didn't want to do it for various reasons. I'm not sure if those other judges would have made you feel the panel was appropriately diverse, Maxine, but it might have been closer to the mark.
...17 Nov 09 at 10:45
Will you be running a readers' poll as well? That part of the process was one of the things I found most interesting about the exercise on The Millions (though I actually didn't think much of either list). But I'd be really curious to see what a readers' poll threw up, and to compare it with the panel came up with.
...18 Nov 09 at 11:05
A good idea - I think we'll throw it open to readers after the last results come in. Will nut out the particulars and then put a post up soon.
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