If you want to know me, come and say hello next time you’re in Bankstown. If you want to know Bani Adam, read The Lebs. How autobiographical is it and is this important to your writing?ĭuring an extremely vicious review of The Lebs on Radio National, one critic said, “You can see the author too clearly in the text.” Considering that this reviewer did not know me personally and has never even met me, I found her statements to be deeply offensive and prejudiced. You’ve described it as semi-autobiographical, having grown-up in Sydney’s west and Punchbowl in particular. The Lebs has already been nominated for multiple awards and won the NSW Premier’s Award, how does it feel to be a potential winner of the Miles Franklin award with this book, especially for its potential to encourage the possibly disenfranchised young people of colour that rarely see themselves represented in Australian fiction? The Lebs takes readers into the world of protagonist Bani Adam and his experiences of power dynamics, cultural and social frictions and toxic masculinity as a student at Punchbowl Boys in Western Sydney.Īhead of the unveiling of this year’s Miles Franklin winner early next week, we caught up with Michael Mohammed Ahmad to find out more about the novel and his thoughts on the nomination. He is also the award winning author of The Tribe and his most recent work, The Lebs, which has been nominated for multiple awards, winning the NSW Premier’s Award and has been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. He is also the founder and director of Sweatshop, a literary arts collective based in Western Sydney that helps develop work by culturally diverse writers.
Michael Mohammed Ahmad is an Arab-Australian writer, editor and teacher.
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