Launceston-born author Robbie Arnott has been longlisted for the nation's most coveted literary prize - the Miles Franklin Literary Award.
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Mr Arnott's debut novel Flames, a kaleidoscopic work of magical realism, capturing the wildness of Tasmanian life, has attracted rave reviews, as well as the endorsement of the state's best-known author Richard Flanagan.
The Miles Franklin Literary Award, presented to the author of the Australian novel judged to be the best of the year, was first handed out in 1957. Today, it's worth $60,000 to the winner.
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Named after My Brilliant Career author Miles Franklin, the prize was facilitated by her will, following her death in 1954.
Mr Arnott, born in 1989, has had his work appear in literary publications such as Island, The Lifted Brow and Kill Your Darlings.
In 2014, he won the Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers, while in 2015, he was awarded the Tasmanian Young Writers' Fellowship.
Mr Arnott is based in Hobart, where he works as an advertising copywriter.
He has said he "can't believe" he was longlisted for the award.
"I didn't think this book would even get published," Mr Arnott said.
"To be mentioned in the same conversation as the Miles is something I've dreamed about, but I never thought it would happen.
"This means everything to me."
State Library of New South Wales Mitchell Librarian Richard Neville, one of five judges of the Miles Franklin, said this year's longlist once again highlighted "a mixture of new and established writers".
"It showcases 10 of the most vibrant voices of Australian fiction speaking to us of lives facing, or having endured, some version of extremity," Mr Neville said.
"Angry, funny, contemplative and urgent, these voices ... explore personal, historical and ecological loss, cultural inheritances and disenfranchisement, and the fraught bonds of friendships, families and communities."
Mr Arnott is one of 10 authors longlisted for the award in 2019. Among the nominees are Trent Dalton for his novel Boy Swallows Universe and Melissa Lucashenko for her novel Too Much Lip.
The previous winner of the award was the Sydney-based Michelle de Kretser, a two-time Miles Franklin winner, most recently recognised for The Life to Come.
The shortlist for the 2019 award will be announced on July 2. Each shortlisted finalist will receive $5000 from the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund.
The winner will be named in Sydney on July 30.