‘I’m so humbled’: western Sydney’s Winnie Dunn up for $60,000 Miles Franklin literary award for debut novel

Dunn, the first Tongan novelist published in Australia, is up against two-time winner Michelle de Kretser, who just won the Stella prize

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Winnie Dunn was just a toddler when her aunt first noticed her fascination with language – mesmerised by the writing on the back of a toilet paper packet. Growing up in one of the most disadvantaged regions of Sydney, hers was a household without books.

Three decades on, Dunn has become the first Tongan writer to be published in Australia and the first to be shortlisted for Australia’s most prestigious literary prize. Her debut novel, Dirt Poor Islanders, is one of the six books vying for this year’s Miles Franklin award.