Melissa Lucashenko
Too Much Lip
“Too Much Lip is a fearless, searing and unvarnished portrait of generational trauma cut through with acerbic humour.”
Too much lip, her old problem from way back. And the older she got, the harder it seemed to get to swallow her opinions. The avalanche of bullshit in the world would drown her if she let it; the least she could do was raise her voice in anger.
UQP, 2018
Wise-cracking Kerry Salter has spent a lifetime avoiding two things – her hometown and prison. But now her Pop is dying and she’s an inch away from the lockup, so she heads south on a stolen Harley.
Kerry plans to spend twenty-four hours, tops, over the border. She quickly discovers, though, that Bundjalung country has a funny way of grabbing on to people. Old family wounds open as the Salters fight to stop the development of their beloved river. And the unexpected arrival on the scene of a good-looking dugai fella intent on loving her up only adds more trouble – but then trouble is Kerry’s middle name. Gritty and darkly hilarious, Too Much Lip offers redemption and forgiveness where none seems possible.
Winner, 2019 The Miles Franklin Literary Award
Winner, 2019 Queensland Literary Awards – Queensland Premier’s Award for a work of State Significance
Shortlisted, 2020 NSW Premier's Literary Award – Indigenous Writers' Prize
Shortlisted, 2019 The Stella Prize
Shortlisted, 2019 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards – Multicultural NSW Award
Shortlisted, 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) Literary Fiction Book of the Year
Shortlisted, 2019 Queensland Literary Awards – The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award
Shortlisted, 2019 The Voss Literary Award
Shortlisted, 2019 The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards – Fiction
Longlisted, 2019 Colin Roderick Award
Longlisted, 2019 International Dublin Literary Award
Shortlisted, 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards – Fiction
Shortlisted, 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards – Prize for Indigenous Writing
Melissa Lucashenko is a Goorie author of Bundjalung and European heritage. Her first novel, Steam Pigs, was published in 1997 and since then her work has received acclaim in many literary awards. Too Much Lip is her sixth novel and won the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Queensland Premier’s Award for a Work of State Significance. It was also shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Stella Prize, two Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, two Queensland Literary Awards and two NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Melissa is a Walkley Award winner for her non-fiction, and a founding member of human rights organisation Sisters Inside. She writes about ordinary Australians and the extraordinary lives they lead.
