Beyond Australian shores, Gerald Murnane is recognised as one of Australia's most original and distinctive writers, and in a recent profile coinciding with the release of his latest work of fiction in America, The New York Times headlined the question; 'Is the Next Nobel Laureate in Literature Tending Bar in a Dusty Australian Town?’

And yet none of Murnane’s 12 works of fiction have ever been longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary awards.

Approaching his 80th year, Murnane has only now made it on the longlist for the 2018 awards with Border Districts, heading a strong list of former winners and emerging authors competing for one of Australia’s most important literary prizes and a purse of $60,000.

This late acknowledgment might be just as well, or a little too late depending on one’s perspective, since Murnane has declared his latest fiction, a meditation on the move from city to country life, to be his last. Murnane lives in Goroke, Victoria, and has never flown on a plane and barely left the state.

The author's publisher, Ivor Indyk, said Murnane’s importance had been recognised by a small group of readers for some time, but it was pleasing to see that the emotional appeal of his writing was, at last, attracting a wider readership.