Tim WINTON wins his 4th Miles Franklin

PERTH-BASED Australian novelist TIM WINTON has won his fourth Miles Franklin Award for his eighth novel, Breath (Hamish Hamilton, 2008), a coming-of-age story set in the world of surfing, it was announced on Thursday, June 18, 2009. With this feat, he is the first writer to win Australia’s most prestigious literary award four times. (The late Thea Astley, of course, won it four times, but was a joint winner on two occasions.) Winton won his first Miles Franklin in 1984 for Shallows. He also won the award in 1992 and 2002 for Cloudstreet and Dirt Music respectively. He was shortlisted twice for the Booker Prize for The Riders in 1995 and Dirt Music in 2002.