Siang Lu has won the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award for his novel Ghost Cities, taking home the $60,000 prize. The Brisbane-based author said he was in such shock upon learning the news that he lost all feeling in his hands and legs. 'I teared up. I lost my voice a little bit. It was the first time in my life that I’ve ever had to ask someone with a straight face, “Can you just please confirm to me that I’m not dreaming?”'
Ghost Cities is an experimental novel set between modern and ancient times, inspired by China's vacant megacities. The Miles Franklin judges described it as 'at once a grand farce and a haunting meditation on diaspora' and 'a genuine landmark in Australian literature'. The book, finished ten years ago, had been rejected more than 200 times in Australia and abroad.
Lu recounted printing his rejections and Blu-Tacking them onto the glass pane between his office and bedroom, where his youngest child napped. 'Eventually, they grew so numerous that I could no longer see through the glass into the bedroom where my daughter slept. This was a hard moment for me, because if things continued in this manner … I would quite literally lose sight of the important thing.' He decided to continue writing because 'to not write would be worse'.
The author noted that many characters in Ghost Cities are devoted to telling and preserving stories, a theme he believes resonated with readers and the judging panel. 'I think people are responding to a combination of the humour … but also the idea that we should venerate art, storytellers and storytelling.'
Like many acclaimed Australian writers, Lu works a full-time job in tech and has two children aged nine and 11. He wrote parts of Ghost Cities during his hour-long commute. 'From the outside … it might appear that in some ways, I’ve de-prioritised literature in my life … But in fact, secretly, I’ve put literature above everything.'
