Tim Winton's 'Breath' Wins Miles Franklin Award

Last night Tim Winton won an unprecedented 4th Miles Franklin award with his latest novel, Breath. I thought it was a nice touch when honouring the other books on the shortlist he suggested that he felt like 'the kid who's left holding the parcel when the music stops'.

While Tim Winton couldn't attend the announcement of the winner in person he did prepare a video acceptance speech.



It was interesting to note that Tim Winton used his acceptance speech to defend Australian authors territorial publishing rights in light of the Productivity Commission's review of Copyright Restrictions on the Parallel Importation of Books. This has become quite a hot topic in the Australian book industry as a quick blog search shows.

What about you? Do you have an opinion on this issue? Does the promise of cheaper books outweigh the potential for reduced opportunities for Australian authors to be published, as many authors and book industry professionals have argued?