Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...
writer of adult
literary fiction
Literary fiction, serious fiction, high literature, or artistic literature, and sometimes just literature, encompasses fiction books and writings that are more character-driven rather than plot-driven, that examine the human condition, or that are ...
and literary non-fiction, who has also written novels for teenagers.
In 2013 at the
Walkley Awards
The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...
, she won the "Feature Writing Long (over 4000 words) Award" for her piece ''Sinking Below Sight: Down and Out in Brisbane and Logan''. In 2019, she won the
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 ...
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
, Australia. Her heritage is Bundjalung and European (Ukrainian). She is a graduate of
Griffith University
Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...
(1990), with an honours degree in
public policy
Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...
.
In 1992, she was a founding member of Sisters Inside, an organisation which supports women and girls in prison.
Writing career
She has said that when she began writing seriously "there was still a glaring hole in Australian literature", with almost no prominent Aboriginal voices and with only the
University of Queensland Press
University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in 1948 as a traditional university press, UQP now publishes books for general readers across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children's ...
and a few other small outlets publishing the work of Aboriginal writers. When asked whether she considers herself primarily a writer, or an Aboriginal writer, she writes that the question runs into semantic difficulties, because the word means different things to different people.
Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Commonwealth Foundation has presented a number of prizes since 1987. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best First ...
.
In 1998, she released the novel ''Killing Darcy'', which won the Royal Blind Society's Talking Book Award for young readers (also referred to as the Aurora Prize in several secondary sources). It was also a finalist for the 1998
Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel
''Aurealis'' is an Australia, Australian speculative fiction magazine published by Chimaera Publications, and is Australia's longest running small-press science-fiction and fantasy magazine. The magazine is based in Melbourne.
History and profile ...
Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing
The Victorian Premier's Prize for Indigenous Writing is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. The award commenced in 2004 and in 2012 the prize was valued at A$20,000. The winner of this category prize competes with th ...
in 2014, as well as being nominated for several other awards. In 2015 it was longlisted for the
International Dublin Literary Award
The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...
.
In 2019 her sixth novel '' Too Much Lip'' won the
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 ...
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 ...
. Judges called it "...a fearless, searing and unvarnished portrait of generational trauma cut through with acerbic humour." Cenozoic Pictures optioned ''Too Much Lip'' for a screen adaptation, with Lucashenko as a co-writer and co-creator alongside Cenozoic's Veronica Gleeson.
''Edenglassie'', a seventh novel released in 2023, won her the Queensland Premier's Award for a second time, as well as the
Victorian Premier's Literary Award
The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary ...
.'''' In late 2024, she won the
ARA Historical Novel Prize
The ARA Historical Novel Prize is the richest individual literary prize in Australia and New Zealand with prize monies of $150,000 across two categories. The winner of the Adult category receives $100,000 with the CYA winner receiving $30,000. T ...
, commended for capturing "the brutal realities of colonisation while celebrating the resilience of Indigenous cultures".
Non-fiction writing
Lucashenko is also an accomplished essayist, winning the 2013 "Feature Writing Long (over 4000 words)"
Walkley Award
The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...
for ''Sinking below sight: Down and out in Brisbane and Logan''. Speaking about this essay, Lucashenko said that she was partly informed by her studies in public policy: "...one thing I was trying to bring out in the piece was the odd mix of structural factors and just sheer luck, good and bad, that makes up people's lives. All of these women are poor because of the violence and because of intergenerational poverty, and those things can be attacked in policy and should be attacked in policy.".
Personal life and family
In March 2014,
The Moth
The Moth is a nonprofit group based in New York City, dedicated to the craft of storytelling. Founded in 1997, the organization presents a wide range of theme-based storytelling events across the United States and abroad, often featuring promine ...
Radio Hour aired a recording of Lucashenko recounting the story of moving with her husband and daughter back to the Aboriginal lands in
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
(where her great-grandmother grew up), and subsequent divorce from her husband and mental illness of her daughter.
Nominations and awards
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! rowspan="2" , 1997
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Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Commonwealth Foundation has presented a number of prizes since 1987. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best First ...
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New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...
, ,
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...
Aurealis Award
The Aurealis Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction is an annual literary award for Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. Only Australians are eligible for the award.
History
The Aurealis Award was established in 1995 by ...
, ,
Young Adult Novel
Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...
Nita Kibble Literary Awards
The Kibble Literary Awards comprise two awards—the Nita B Kibble Literary Award, which recognises the work of an established Australian female writer, and the Dobbie Literary Award, which is for a first published work by a female writer. The Awa ...
James Tiptree Jr. Award
The Otherwise Award, originally known as the James Tiptree Jr. Award, is an American annual literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore one's understanding of gender. It was initiated in February 1991 by science ...
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...
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! rowspan="1" , 2001
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Walkley Award
The annual Walkley Awards are presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism. They cover all media including print, television, documentary, radio, photographic and online media. The Gold Walkley is the highest prize and ...
Mullumbimby
file:BigThingsMullumbimby.jpg, Welcome sign in Mullumbimby
Mullumbimby, locally nicknamed Mullum, is a town in the Byron Shire in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. It promotes itself as "The Biggest Little Town in Austra ...
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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 ...
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 ...
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Nita Kibble Literary Awards
The Kibble Literary Awards comprise two awards—the Nita B Kibble Literary Award, which recognises the work of an established Australian female writer, and the Dobbie Literary Award, which is for a first published work by a female writer. The Awa ...
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 ...
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Victorian Premier's Literary Award
The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary ...
International Dublin Literary Award
The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...
Australian Book Industry Awards
The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) are publishers' and literary awards held by the Australian Publishers Association (APA) annually in Australia since 2001.
The awards celebrate "the achievements of authors and publishers in bringing Au ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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Victorian Premier's Literary Award
The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary ...
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...
International Dublin Literary Award
The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...
Australian Book Industry Awards
The Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) are publishers' and literary awards held by the Australian Publishers Association (APA) annually in Australia since 2001.
The awards celebrate "the achievements of authors and publishers in bringing Au ...
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ARA Historical Novel Prize
The ARA Historical Novel Prize is the richest individual literary prize in Australia and New Zealand with prize monies of $150,000 across two categories. The winner of the Adult category receives $100,000 with the CYA winner receiving $30,000. T ...
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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 ...
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Colin Roderick Award
The Colin Roderick Award is presented annually by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies at Queensland's James Cook University for "the best book published in Australia which deals with any aspect of Australian life". It was first presente ...
Fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...
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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 ...
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Nib Literary Award
The Nib Literary Award, established in 2002 at the suggestion of actor and producer Chris Haywood, the Patron of the Friends of Waverley Library, as The Nib Waverley Library Award for Literature and since 2017 known as the Mark and Evette Mora ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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Victorian Premier's Literary Award
The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary ...
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Fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...
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International Dublin Literary Award
The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...
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New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...
, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
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, {{Cite web , date=2025-04-30 , title=NSW Literary Awards 2025 shortlists announced , url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2025/04/30/270941/nsw-literary-awards-2025-shortlists-announced/ , access-date=2025-04-30 , publisher=Books+Publishing
Bibliography
Novels
* {{cite book , last=Lucashenko , title= Steam Pigs , year=1997 , publisher=University of Queensland Press , isbn=9780702229350 , author-mask=2
* {{cite book , last=Lucashenko , title=Hard Yards , year=1999 , publisher=University of Queensland Press , isbn=9780702230806 , author-mask=2
* {{cite book , last=Lucashenko , title=Uptown Girl , year=2002 , publisher=University of Queensland Press , isbn=9780702233340 , author-mask=2
* {{cite book , last=Lucashenko , title=
Mullumbimby
file:BigThingsMullumbimby.jpg, Welcome sign in Mullumbimby
Mullumbimby, locally nicknamed Mullum, is a town in the Byron Shire in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. It promotes itself as "The Biggest Little Town in Austra ...
, year=2013 , publisher=University of Queensland Press , isbn=9780702239199 , author-mask=2
* {{cite book , last=Lucashenko , title= Too Much Lip , year=2018 , publisher=University of Queensland Press , isbn=9780702259968 , author-mask=2
* {{cite book , last=Lucashenko , title= Edenglassie , year=2023 , publisher=University of Queensland Press , isbn=9780702266126 , author-mask=2
* {{cite journal , last=Lucashenko , first=Melissa , author-mask=2 , title=I'm Not Racist, but.. , url=https://www.melissa-lucashenko.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Whiteness.pdf , journal=self-published , access-date=
* {{cite journal , last=Lucashenko , first=Melissa , author-mask=2 , title=Who Let the Dogs Out? , url=https://www.melissa-lucashenko.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Who_Let_The_Dogs_Out.pdf , journal=self-published , access-date=
* {{cite journal , last=Lucashenko , first=Melissa , author-mask=2 , year=2004 , title=Not Quite White in the Head , url=https://griffithreview.com/articles/not-quite-white-in-the-head/ , journal=Griffith Review , issue=edition 2: Dreams of Land
* {{cite journal , last=Lucashenko , first=Melissa , author-mask=2 , year=2005 , title=Our Bodies , url=https://griffithreview.com/articles/our-bodies/ , journal=Griffith Review , issue=edition 4: Making Perfect Bodies
* {{cite journal , last=Lucashenko , first=Melissa , author-mask=2 , year=2005 , title=Globalisation, Kimberley Style , url=https://griffithreview.com/articles/globalisation-kimberley-style/ , journal=Griffith Review , issue=edition 6: Our Global Face
* {{cite journal , last=Lucashenko , first=Melissa , author-mask=2 , year=2007 , title=How Green Is My Valley? , url=https://griffithreview.com/articles/how-green-is-my-valley/ , journal=Griffith Review , issue=edition 12: Hot Air
* {{cite journal , last=Lucashenko , first=Melissa , author-mask=2 , year=2009 , title=On the Same Page, Right? , url=https://griffithreview.com/articles/on-the-same-page-right/ , journal=Griffith Review , issue=edition 26: Stories for Today
* {{cite journal , last=Lucashenko , first=Melissa , author-mask=2 , year=2009 , title=The Silent Majority , url=https://griffithreview.com/articles/the-silent-majority/ , journal=Griffith Review , issue=edition 26: Stories for Today
* {{cite journal , last=Lucashenko , first=Melissa , author-mask=2 , year=2013 , title=Sinking Below Sight , url=https://griffithreview.com/articles/sinking-below-sight/ , journal=Griffith Review , issue=edition 41: Now We Are Ten
* {{cite book , last=Lucashenko , first=Melissa , title=Destroying the Joint: Why Women Have to Change the World , publisher=University of Queensland Press , year=2013 , isbn=9780702249907 , editor=Jane Caro , chapter=History's Footnote, or, a Wolvi Incident , author-mask=2
* {{cite journal , last=Lucashenko , first=Melissa , author-mask=2 , date=2020 , title=It's No Accident That Blak Australia Has Survived the Pandemic So Well. Survival Is What We Do , url=http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/23/its-no-accident-that-blak-australia-has-survived-the-pandemic-so-well-survival-is-what-we-do , journal=
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...