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Winnie Dunn

Winnie Dunn, Dirt poor Islanders (#BookReview)

July 31, 2025October 3, 2025 / Whispering Gums / 23 Comments

When my reading group chose our books for the second half of the year, the shortlist for the Miles Franklin Award had not yet been announced. However, wonderfully, the three books we chose from the longlist, all ended up on the shortlist. One of those was Winnie Dunn's debut novel, Dirt poor Islanders. It is … Continue reading Winnie Dunn, Dirt poor Islanders (#BookReview)

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Latest comments

  1. Whispering Gums's avatar
    Whispering Gums on Shaun Micallef in conversation with Adam ShirleyMay 30, 2026

    Love all this Melanie … I saw your American Psycho review pop up on my feed and will be reading…

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  3. Grab the Lapels's avatar
    Grab the Lapels on Shaun Micallef in conversation with Adam ShirleyMay 29, 2026

    Where IS Jeremy Irons?? And why isn't he in EVERY movie?! Actually, I would settle for him narrating all the…

  4. Whispering Gums's avatar
    Whispering Gums on Shaun Micallef in conversation with Adam ShirleyMay 28, 2026

    I take your point re wariness Bill although Micallef does have a writing track record - nonfiction, children’s books, short…

  5. wadholloway's avatar
    wadholloway on Shaun Micallef in conversation with Adam ShirleyMay 28, 2026

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Australian Literary Awards for (mostly) Fiction, 2026


The Age Book of the Year:
ALS Gold Medal:
Australian Book Industry Award (Literary Fiction):
Barbara Jefferis Award:
Indie Book Awards (Fiction):
Miles Franklin Award:
NSW Premier's Literary Award (Christina Stead Prize):
Patrick White Award:
Prime Minister's Literary Award:
Queensland Literary (Fiction) Award:
South Australian Literary Awards:
Stella Prize:
Victorian Premier's Literary (Fiction) Award: Omar Musa, Fierceland
Western Australian Premier's Book of the Year Award:

Acknowledgement of Country

I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the nation in which I live, of land that was never ceded. I honour and respect their cultural heritage, customs and beliefs, and am truly thankful for their ongoing care of this country.

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This work by Whispering Gums is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 DEED Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareALike 4.0 International

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