Credit Glen Hunt
Melissa Lucashenko
One of the most compelling voices in contemporary Australian literature.
Born in Brisbane in 1967, Melissa Lucashenko is one of the most compelling voices in contemporary Australian literature. Of Bundjalung and Ukrainian descent, she is recognised for the precision and power with which she portrays the realities of First Nations life in Australia.
A long-standing advocate for Indigenous women's rights, she helped found Sisters Inside before achieving literary success — an organisation supporting incarcerated women and campaigning for the abolition of the prison system. This grounding in lived reality, and her closeness to Australia's social and political injustices, form a central thread running through her work.
Melissa Lucashenko made her literary debut in 1997 and has continually enriched the literary landscape ever since; an award-winning journalist, essayist, novelist, and short story writer, she enjoys wide recognition. From her earliest books, she stood out for her sharp, direct style. Her work combines the harshness of social inequality with biting humour, which she regards as an essential political strategy of resilience in the face of dispossession.
Her novel Too Much Lip won her the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2019 (the Australian equivalent of the Prix Goncourt), cementing her reputation well beyond Australia's borders.
French-speaking readers can discover this major author through the French translation of Too Much Lip (Celle qui parle aux corbeaux, Éditions Points, 2025), as well as Edenglassie (La Chute d'Eddie Blanket), forthcoming from Synchronique Éditions in October 2026.