From the Guardian · · 1m 10s
Cloudstreet wins ABC's poll of top 100 Australian books
Tim Winton's family epic tops a nationwide vote that spans fiction, cookbooks, children's books and Indigenous stories.
In brief
Tim Winton's family epic tops a nationwide vote that spans fiction, cookbooks, children's books and Indigenous stories. Tim Winton's Cloudstreet has been voted Australia's favourite book in an ABC Radio National poll of the top one hundred Australian books. Originally reported by the Guardian.
Cloudstreet tops the poll
ABC Radio National announced results of a nationwide poll to determine Australia's top one hundred favourite books. Tim Winton's Cloudstreet won first place.
The top three books
Markus Zusak's two thousand five novel The Book Thief took second place. Trent Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe came in third. The podium was dominated by men.
What Cloudstreet is about
First published in nineteen ninety-one, Cloudstreet follows two working-class Australian families, the Lambs and the Pickles, over twenty years living together in an old house in postwar Perth.
Winton's novel won major awards
Cloudstreet, Winton's fifth novel and ninth book, won the Miles Franklin in nineteen ninety-two and has been a staple of Australian English literature classes for decades.
The full list spans many genres
The final top one hundred included adult fiction, nonfiction, young adult fiction, children's picture books, history and cookbooks.
“audacious literary fiction to historical accounts of who we've been and how we might understand all that complicated past, to joyful children's books, Indigenous stories of both pain and humour, and many, many family stories”
The bottom line
Tim Winton's Cloudstreet has been voted Australia's favourite book in an ABC Radio National poll of the top one hundred Australian books.
