Michelle de Kretser

Michelle de Kretser is an Australian novelist of Sri Lankan origin who has won the Miles Franklin Award twice — for Questions of Travel (2013) and The Life to Come (2018). She grew up in Sri Lanka before emigrating to Australia. Her work is distinguished by its formal sophistication, its probing examination of postcolonial identity, and its depictions of the contradictions of modern global life. Questions of Travel is a novel in two parts, following a wealthy Australian travel writer and a Sri Lankan man whose life is upended by civil war. The Life to Come is a collection of loosely linked stories examining the ethical compromises of contemporary life in Australia and abroad. Both novels are notable for their intelligence, dark humour, and unsentimental empathy. De Kretser has also written The Rose Grower (1999), The Hamilton Case (2003), and Scary Monsters (2021). She lives in Melbourne and is widely considered one of the most important voices in Australian literary fiction.