Franklin, (Stella Marian Sarah) Miles (1879-1954)

Australian novelist. Her first novel, My Brilliant Career (1901), autobiographical and feminist, drew on her experiences of rural Australian life. My Career Goes Bung, written as a sequel, was not published until 1946.

Miles Franklin was born at Talbingo, near Tumut, New South Wales. In 1906 she went to Chicago, USA, where for nine years, with fellow Australian Alice Henry, she worked with suffragette and women's trade-union organizations. She then lived in London from 1915, before returning to Australia in 1927. Novels she wrote under the name ‘Brent of Bin Bin’ include Up the Country (1928), Ten Creeks Run (1931), and the family saga All That Swagger (1936), which portrays rural pioneer life.

A literary award bearing her name is made annually for novels. In 1999 it was won by Murray Bail's novel, Eucalyptus.