British novelist Evie Wyld has won the 2014 Miles Franklin literary award for her novel, All the Birds, Singing.



Wyld’s win, announced at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday night, saw her book win out over a “stellar” shortlist that included acclaimed Australian novelist Tim Winton.

The Miles Franklin award is Australia’s highest literary honour, celebrating Australian literature that features aspects of Australian life.

Wyld’s novel, a dark tale centred around the mysterious deaths of a protagonist’s sheep, has won multiple awards since its release, including the Encore award and a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered prize.

She will take home $60,000 in prize money, awarded by Perpetual’s the Trust Company, which has been the trustee of the award for its 58-year history.

"Its a powerful story about hard places, tough lives, and getting through it," said Perpetual chairman Peter Scott of the novel as he presented the award to Wyld.



After receiving the prize, an ecstatic Wyld told Guardian Australia she "didn't really know which way was up".

"It's been a hell of a week. I've won the Encore, the Jerwood and now this, which is genuinely a prize I've followed since I was 13. These people taught me to write, so I'm just astounded," she said.

The author, who also runs a small bookshop, said the prize money is a "lifeline".

"We're really, really lucky in that we get to do for a living the thing that we want to do most in the world, but it doesn't make a lot of money," she said, adding it will give her freedom to keep working on her next book.

"The next book is at the moment only about 500 words long so I can tell you it's very short," she laughed.

"I think it's going to be something to do with my English family, but I haven't yet written anything that hasn't taken place in Australia."

Wyld, the product of an Australian mother and a "very very British" father, said having two homes informs her work.

"It's sort of where I write from – that feeling of homesickness, of yearning to be somewhere else," she said.

"The thing that happens when you are from two places is you feel your roots elsewhere wherever you are. I think it's a great thing not to feel completely stapled to the earth but it's an interesting feeling."

Longlisted authors this year included two authors for their first novels; Tracy Farr for The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt and Fiona McFarlane, whose book The Night Guest was also shortlisted last month for the all-female literary award, the Stella prize.



The longlist was whittled down from 53 submissions.



“It was a strong field this year,” prize judge Craig Munro told Guardian Australia in April. “To get it down to 11 took quite a bit of discussion.”



Three of the authors, Mcfarlane, Corey Taylor and Wylde, were in attendance at the Miles Franklin ceremony atop the harbourside museum.

Before the winners announcement, Sandy Grant, chair of the Copyright Agency, awarded an extra $5,000 to shortlisted nominees. He spoke highly of the full list of nominees and said: "All the shortlisted writers are representatives of the state of Australian writing."

The state library’s Mitchell Librarian, Richard Neville, said the selection process – of which he had been a part of for five years – was more difficult than previous years.

"Sometimes a winner just selects itself," he said. "This year it was a hard choice to get to the shortlist and once we had the shortlist it was very difficult to pick a winner".

On behalf of the judging panel, Neville said: “All the Birds, Singing draws the reader into its rhythm and mystery, through wonderfully and beautifully crafted prose, whose deceptive sparseness combines powerfully with an ingenious structure to create a compelling narrative of alienation, decline and finally, perhaps, some form of redemption.



“Flight from violence and abuse run through the core of the novel, yet never defeat its central character. All the Birds, Singing, an unusual but compelling novel, explores its themes with an unnervingly consistent clarity and confidence.”

Perpetual's manager of philanthropy and MC for the event, Andrew Thomas, told Guardian Australia Miles Franklin was a "visionary".



"Her criteria for anyone to enter is writing about Australian life in any of its phases. So we're not limited to writing about how life was 60 or 70 years ago," he said.

The trust has grown the fund from its small beginnings of just under $18,000 58 years ago to a pot of almost $1.3m.

"The trustees component is making sure the prize is relevant," Thomas said. However "the significance of this award can be underestimated", he added.

"It is the literary award of writers. Despite the fact that it carries a significant prize, it's the prestige that comes with this and Evie has now added her name to a list of really distinguished writers."

