Jennifer Down (born 1990) is an Australian novelist and short story writer. She won the 2022

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the Will (law), will of Miles Franklin ...

for her novel '' Bodies of Light''.

Biography

Down was in born 1990. She studied arts at

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

before studying professional writing and editing at

RMIT The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

. Down has worked as a writer, editor, and a translator.

Awards and recognition

Down won the 2014

Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize The ''ABR'' Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is an annual short fiction competition run by the ''Australian Book Review''. The Prize, with total prize money of AU$12,500 and "generating over a thousand new stories each year", is "hotly contested" ...

for "Aokigahara" and received third prize in ''The Age'' Short Story Award for "A Ticket to Switzerland" in 2010. Down's first novel, ''Our Magic Hour'', was shortlisted for the 2014 Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Award. She was chosen as one of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' Best Young Australian Novelists in 2017 for ''Pulse Points'' and 2018 for ''Bodies of Light''. She won the Steele Rudd Award at the

Queensland Literary Awards The Queensland Literary Awards is an awards program established in 2012 by the Queensland literary community, funded by sponsors and administered by the State Library of Queensland. Like the former Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, the QLAs ...

and the

Readings Prize First presented in 2014, the Readings Prize is an Australian literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded Literature, literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to a ...

in 2018 for ''Pulse Points''. Her 2021 novel, ''Bodies of Light'', won the 2022 Miles Franklin Award and was shortlisted for the 2022

Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction The Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction, formerly known as the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. As of 2011 it has an remuneration of 25,000. The winner of this category prize vi ...

, the 2022

Stella Prize The Stella Prize is an Australian annual literary award established in 2013 for writing by Australian women in all genres, worth $50,000. It was originally proposed by Australian women writers and publishers in 2011, modelled on the UK's Bailey ...

, the 2022 fiction ''The Age'' Book of the Year, the 2022

Barbara Jefferis Award The Barbara Jefferis Award is an Australian literary award prize. The award was created in 2007 after being endowed by John Hinde upon his death to commemorate his late wife, author Barbara Jefferis. It is funded by his $1 million bequest. Origi ...

and the 2022

Voss Literary Prize The Voss Literary Prize is an annual award named in honour of historian Vivian Robert de Vaux Voss (1930–1963). It is awarded to the best novel published in the previous year and is managed and judged by the Australian University Heads of Engl ...

Works

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References

External links

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At home with Jennifer Down
The Garret podcast and transcript {{DEFAULTSORT:Down, Jennifer 1990 births Living people 21st-century Australian women writers Miles Franklin Award winners Australian women novelists