Tale of new Australia in Geelong migrant’s shortlist debut

GEELONG debut novelist Kgshak Akec is among six writers shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award.

Her book, Hopeless Kingdom, is the story of a mother and daughter’s relationship as their family migrates from Africa to Australia.

The judges described it as a novel of national significance that “transforms the Australian literary landscape”.

“I’m beside myself and very excited to see what happens in the future,” Akec told AAP.

The tale of Hopeless Kingdom is grounded in Akec’s own experiences of her family leaving South Sudan for Egypt when she was three, arriving in Australia on a humanitarian visa in 2003 with her six siblings.

Akec’s earliest memories are of Egypt, which she knew was not her home, and the author speaks of feeling that she was born displaced.

“When we came to Australia I understood in every fibre of my being as a six-year-old, that this was our home forever,” she said.

But being the first African-Australians at Akec’s primary school in Geelong made things more complicated – no one else looked like her family – and it wasn’t until her 20s that she recognised herself as Australian.

Now there’s every chance Akec could win the country’s most prestigious literary prize – awarded for stories of Australian life in all its phases.

Akec wrote Hopeless Kingdom during the pandemic lockdowns in 2020, starting at 7am before work, and some days writing until midnight, fuelled by Tim Tam biscuits and her mother’s green chicken curries.

She realised it could take years to get anyone from the publishing industry to read the manuscript and prepared herself to wait.

Akec didn’t need to – the novel won the 2021 Dorothy Hewett Award, which came with a book deal.

She said stories like Hopeless Kingdom are rare in Australia because the African migrant experience is relatively new here.

“It opens up the door to understanding what it’s like for migrant families settling into Australia, but it also looks at things that are very simple, very human.”

No one can complain that the 2023 list of hopefuls consists of the same old names: Akec has made the cut alongside four other first-time nominees.

Also shortlisted are Robbie Arnott, Jessica Au, Shankari Chandran, Yumna Kassab and Fiona Kelly McGregor.

Each author receives $5000 with the winner of the $60,000 prize to be announced on July 25.