Jennifer Down

Jennifer Down is an Australian author and editor who won the Miles Franklin Award in 2022 for Bodies of Light, a novel tracing the life of Maggie, a woman shaped by the trauma of Australia's foster care system, over several decades. The novel is a major work of Australian literary fiction, acclaimed for its restraint, emotional precision, and structural ingenuity. Down's debut novel Ordinary Matter (2018) was longlisted for the Miles Franklin and the Stella Prize. She works as an editor at a Melbourne publishing house and has been active in Australian literary culture for over a decade. Bodies of Light took several years to write and represents a significant evolution in her craft. Down is considered part of a new generation of Australian novelists who are redefining the scope and ambition of the country's literary fiction. She lives in Melbourne.