Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin — ‘Stella’ to her family, ‘Miles’ to her readers — was an activist, a feminist and a writer, best known for her novel My Brilliant Career (1901). Franklin wrote at a furious pace, producing articles, essays, books, playscripts and letters. She is also known as a diarist, keeping an annual diary from 1909 until the end of her life. These diaries reveal the inner life of an extraordinary woman, who maintained her ambition despite regular failure and was a tireless advocate for a distinctly Australian style of literature.