| Praiseworthy | |
| Author: | Alexis Wright |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Fiction |
| Publisher: | Giramondo Publishing |
| Media Type: | Print, ebook |
| Pages: | 736 pp. |
| Isbn: | 9781922725745 |
| Preceded By: | The Swan Book |
| Awards: | James Tait Prize (2023) QLS — Fiction (2023) ALS Gold Medal (2024) Miles Franklin Award (2024) Stella Prize (2024) |
| Pub Date: | 1 April 2023 |
| Oclc: | 1362528097 |
| Congress: | PR9619.3.W67 P73 2024 |
| Dewey: | 823.914 |
Praiseworthy (2023) is a novel by Australian writer Alexis Wright. It was initially published by Giramondo Publishing in Australia in 2023.[1]
Praiseworthy won a litany of Australian literary awards, including the 2023 Queensland Literary Awards' Fiction Book Award, 2024 ALS Gold Medal, the 2024 Miles Franklin Award, and the 2024 Stella Prize. It also drew increased international notoriety when it won the 2023 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the 2024 IMPAC. It has also been longlisted for the inaugural Climate Fiction Prize.[2]
The town of Praiseworthy, in Australia's north, is home to Cause Man Steel, who sees an end-of-the-world crisis looming. His solution is to round up all the donkeys in the nearby area, arguing that they will be important when civilization collapses. He and his wife, Dance, who has become fascinated by moths and butterflies, and his sons, Aboriginal Sovereignty, who wants to commit suicide, and Tommyhawk, who wants to become white, have to live under the 2008 Australian Federal Government intervention program, which attempts to regulate how Indigenous Australians act and behave.
After its initial publication in Australia by Giramondo Publishing in 2023,[3] the novel was reprinted as follows:
According to the online aggregator Book Marks, Praiseworthy received a "rave" consensus from mainstream critics, based on nine reviews — with seven being "rave" and two being "positive".[4]
Mykaela Saunders, writing in Sydney Review of Books, noted that the novel "is classic Wright: a book made of beautiful, mutable and playful language, designed to be enjoyed."[5]
In Australian Book Review Tony Hughes-d'Aeth called the novel a "worthy" successor to the author's previous two books, and went on: "One of the joys of reading Wright is the wry exasperation that permeates the narrator's voice. Praiseworthy
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | James Tait Black Memorial Prize | — | [7] | |
| Queensland Literary Awards | Fiction Book Award | [8] | ||
| 2024 | ALS Gold Medal | — | [9] | |
| International Dublin Literary Award | — | [10] | ||
| Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award | — | [11] | ||
| Miles Franklin Award | — | [12] | ||
| New South Wales Premier's Literary Award | Christina Stead Prize | [13] | ||
| Stella Prize | — | [14] | ||
| Voss Literary Prize | — | [15] |