The win was not exactly a surprise. Ghost cities Had already be shortlisted for six major awards and lu was being compared to literature giants such Haruki MurakamiGabriel García Márquez, and Even Kevin Kwan. Its publisher, university of queensland press, called it “a profound and highly imaginative novel The judges called “A Genuine Landmark in Australian Literature.”

Ghost cities, fake translators and horny mountains

Lu’s novel unfolds Across Multiple Timelines and Realities: In one strand, a young man named xiang is fired from his job at the chinese consulate in sydney after it is discoveved he doescn. Has been relying entrely on Google translate. He relocates to a mysterious, uninhabited megacity, one of China’s infamous “ghost cities” and from there the narrative explodes into a kaleidoscope of myth and meth.

How is Xiang’s Quiet Exile Connected to a long-Dead Emperor Who Creates a Thousand Doubles of Himself? Or to a mountain that Gains Sentence and a Libido? Or to a chess-picking automaton that harbours a deadly secret? In Lu’s world, everything is metaphor and everything is literal.

From Satire to Serious Acclaim

Siang lu debuted with the whitewash in 2022, a novel documenting the unraveling of a fictional hollywood film meant to “smash the bamboo ceiling.” (Photo: University of Quensland Press)

Lu first caught readers’ attainion with The whitewashHis 2022 Debut about the unraveling of a fictional hollywood film meant to “smash the bamboo ceiling.” That novel, styled as a mock oral history, satirised the political of the reproduction in the entertainment industry, and won the abia audiobook of the year pioneering cast of mosque asian-asian-actors.

Wheree The whitewash tackled race and pop culture, Ghost cities Zooms out to empire, language, and time. It is, as author nick earls put it, “a stunning piece of writing. It is quite a feat to create one labrinth in a book… but somewhere siang lu creates two … and makes of asm acute as makes to eaach.”

The novel has expluding libraries, shape-shifting doubles, and government functions who cannot speak the language of their own burucracy. And there is xiang, a kind of anti-hero, wandering through ghost cities that can be metaphors, or might just be real.

A very silly instagram, a very serious talent

Lu, who splits his time between brisbane and kuala lumpur, do not court the solemnity that often clings to literature. When his publishes Made Him Start Instagram, He Went Rogue, Launching #SillyBookstagram, A Feed full of photoshopped book Covers This defeys his friends’ work on. “Why waste time writ book when silly photoshop do trick?” He writes, tongue firmly in cheek.

Author Alice Pung Put It Best: “The Inventiveness, The Genius of It All – It is like the lovechild thanh nguyen crossed with gabriel gabriez crossed with kevin kwan kwan kwan. And Also funny. “

Lu also co-created The Beige Indexa digital project critiquing racial representation in film and media.

Redefining the australian novel

Alongside Felow shortlist authors – Brian Castro (Chinese postman), Michelle de kretser (Theory and Practice), Winnie Dunn (Dirt Poor Islanders), Julie Janson (Compassion) and fiona mcfarlane (Highway 13) – He Represents a New Wave of Writers Reshaping the National Canon.

This year’s judging panel-richard neville, jumana bayeh, mridula nath chakraborty, tony hughes-d’aeeth, and hsu-reading teo-Described lu’s novel as “Sat as” Satting WITHIN A Australian Writing. Explores FAILED Expatriation and Cultural Fraud “While Also being” Strikingly New. “

“In ghost cities, the sino-australian imaginary appears as a labyrinthine film -et,” The judges wrote, “Where it is quite clear who is performing and who is dye acting.”

Jane Magor, Speaking on Behalf of Award Trustee Perpetual, Said Lu’s Win “Redefines What Australian Literator Can Be… .our Stories Are Ever-Changing…. In daring and unexpected ways. “

The miles Franklin Literary Award, Established in 1957, was set up to honors a work of “Highst Literary Merit” that presents “australian life in any of its phas.”