The Commonwealth Foundation has announced the regional winners for the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Regional Winner, Pacific, for the Commonwealth Book Prize is The Last Thread by Michael Sala (Affirm Press). Awarded for best first book, the prize was open to writers who had their first novel (full length work
Three diverse books about “travel” have made me a thoughtful, happy wanderer on the first leg of my trip through Germany, Italy, Spain and Andorra this European spring. I’ve been doing a lot of walking (right now I’m in the Andorran Pyrenees) and, as I also want to focus more on my poetry in coming
These days I’m travelling overseas so Romy Ash’s novel Floundering held some travel narrative synergy and a touch of nostalgia for Australia’s ragged landscape. Two sons are being driven to an uncertain destination by their mother (who asks the boys to call her Loretta) in a car “yellow, brown and bubbled with rust” they call
The all-female finalists for the Miles Franklin Literary Award are Carrie Tiffany for Mateship with Birds (Picador), Michelle de Kretser for Questions of Travel (Allen & Unwin), Romy Ash for Floundering (Text Publishing), Annah Faulkner for The Beloved (Picador) and Drusilla Modjeska for The Mountain (Vintage). The prize is awarded for the novel judged to
It’s spring in Berlin but the cement “coffins” at the Holocaust memorial still cast chilling shadows. In the Berliner Dom crypt, the sarcophagi are larger and more opulent but the gloom and mustiness mean I can’t avoid reality: these silent tombs speak loudly of doom and death. Otto Quangel, a key character in Alone in
So many prizes; so many wonderful books! Among recent announcements is the Griffin Poetry Prize 2013 International and Canadian Short Lists, with Liquid Nitrogen by Jennifer Maiden (Giramondo) in the mix. The winners, to be announced at the Griffin Poetry Prize Awards evening on Thursday, June 13, will each be awarded $65,000. The Commonwealth Book
There’s no mystery as to why this delightfully easy-to-read novel is gaining plaudits. In Mateship with Birds Carrie Tiffany writes effortlessly and intriguingly about the natural world, rural life and desire. It’s a winning combination. Set in the 1950s, on the outskirts of the Victorian country town Cohuna, this quirky novel serves up a scraggly
Cate Kennedy’s luminous short story collection, Like a House on Fire, was recently shortlisted for the Stella Prize. In this Q&A, Kennedy casts light on what fuels her imagination and guides her creative instinct as she writes. A number of the stories in Like a House on Fire are about children relating to parents and
Four authors identified as Australian have been included in the 75-strong longlist for the prestigious Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize. They are Andy Kissane, The Swarm (Puncher and Wattmann), Susan Midalia, An Unknown Sky and Other Stories (The University of Western Australia Publishing), Jennifer Mills, The Rest Is Weight (University of Queensland Press) and
What do Madame Bovary, A Room of One’s Own, Pride and Prejudice, Love in a Cold Climate, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Wuthering Heights have in common? They’re all Pink Penguins and if you buy one of these titles (among others) you can help place Breast Care Nurses in communities across Australia. Penguin has teamed up
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