Chinese Postman by Brian Castro shortlisted for 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award

Brian Castro’s latest novel Chinese Postman has been shortlisted for the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award. The announcement was made on 25 June by Perpetual, the award’s trustee. Castro has been nominated for award now seven times, with three shortlistings and three longlistings for previous books.

When asked by InDaily about his hopes for a win, Castro said, ‘I think it was John Cleese who famously said he could take despair, but it was hope that was the killer. So I’m not hoping at all, just running as an outsider in the mud!’

An autofictional meditation on the experience of old age, Chinese Postman centres the character of Abe Quin and his epistolary relationship with a woman in war-torn Ukraine. It has also been shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal.

Read the Miles Franklin judges’ comments on the book below.

Brian Castro’s Chinese Postman transpires in the shadowlands of mortal life. It asks how someone whose life has been haunted by a terminal homelessness of spirit can reconcile themselves to the finality of their destination. As Abe Quin, the anti-hero of this novel, finds his life running in ever diminishing circles, he reaches into himself for the sources of his consternation. There he finds a taunting judgment that all his life, all his effort and the honours of his literary achievement, seem in the end to count for nothing. They have not taken him one step closer to a home that seems forever lost. Looking back at his career and relationships he finds that he has, despite certain outward appearances, never been anything other than utterly alone. In this unprepossessing terrain, Castro has crafted a fine and profound novel. Abe does not always find language consoling, but the lyric beauty of Chinese Postman, its restless wisdom and bitter comedy, bestow a rare gift on readers.

The winner of the 2025 Miles Franklin will be announced on 24 July 2025.