Alice Munro wins 2009 Man Booker International

Alice Munro, known for her short stories, has won the 2009 Man Booker International prize (different from the Man Booker Prize). Her new collection is due to be released at the end of 2009, entitled Too much happiness. Her most recent titles include Away from her (which was made into a movie of the same name) and a collection called The view from Castle Rock.

Man Booker shortlist announced

The shortlist for the Man Booker Prize was announced yesterday. Included in the six finalists is Australian author Steve Toltz for his first novel A fraction of the whole.

Worst writing of 2008

The annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest awards prizes for the worst writing of the year. Named after the infamous author whose novel began: 'It was a dark and stormy night...' contestants submit the opening scentences of imaginary novels. This year's top honours went to Garrison Spik for his steamy opener comparing love to a New York street:

"Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped 'Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J."'

Book week winners

The winners of the 2008 Children's Book Week awards have been announced! View details of all the winners here. Manly Library has copies of all the shortlisted and award winning books. Search the online catalogue to view availablity and place your holds.

Prime Minister's literary awards

The Prime Minister's literary awards are a new initiative to boost the visibility of Australian authors on the world stage. The 2008 shortlist can be viewed here.

Best of Booker goes to Rushdie

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie has won the 'Best of Booker' award. The book originally won the Booker prize in 1981 and was selected as one of the six finalists for the Best of Booker. Over 7800 people from around the world voted online and via SMS and gave Midnight's Children 36% of the vote. To view availability and place your hold on this title (or others by Rushdie) please visit our online catalogue.

Miles Franklin award winner 2008

This year's Miles Franklin Award has gone to Steven Carroll for his novel The time we have taken. Set in suburban Melbourne of the 1970's the novel is described by the judges as a 'moving and indelible in its evocation of the extraordinary in ordinary lives'.

Carroll said of the award:

"It's instantly recognisable so hopefully these things help you and kick in
and help you in your writing career and make sure it doesn't go bum."

Here's the link to the ABC news story.
Manly Library has several copies of the book. To check availability and place your hold please visit our online catalogue.

Doris Lessing wins Nobel Prize

The 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to Doris Lessing. She is only the 11th woman to win the award, and turns 88 next week. This ABC story has more info. Or visit the Nobel Prize site. Some of her novels include:

The cleft
The grandmothers
Love, again
The fifth child and its sequel Ben, in the world
A ripple from the storm
Martha Quest and
Landlocked

All of these titles can be found at F /LESS in Manly Library. You can view availability and place holds through our online catalogue.

The Australian / Vogel Literary Award 2007

The winner of this year's Australian/Vogel Literary Award is 35 year old Stefan Laszczuk for his unpublished manuscript I dream of Magda. (Even though it currently says '2006 winner' at the top of this page, it is 2007!).

Also shortlisted for the award were:

She played Elvis by Shady Cosgrove
Conditions of return by Daniel Ducrou
The homicidal nerd by Jason Spongberg
Memory vertigo by Michael Sala

Man Booker shortlist announed

The shortlist for the 2007 Man Booker Prize has been announced.
They are:

Darkmans by Nicola Barker
The Gathering by Anne Enright
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Animal’s People by Indra Sinha

Ian McEwan was 3/1 favourite to win it, but he's just been overtaken by New Zealand's Lloyd Jones.

You can check the availability of this years finalists and place holds on popular titles via our online catalogue.

Children's Book of the Year winners

The CBCA Children's Book of the Year award winners for 2007 have been announced! The official page can be found here, or there is an easy to print PDF. Here's the list of winners, including Manly Library call numbers:

Book of the Year - Older Readers: Red spikes, Margo Lanagan (YA /LANA)
Book of the Year - Younger Readers: Being Bee, Catherine Bateson (JF /BATE)
Book of the Year - Early Childhood: Amy & Louis, Libby Gleeson (EA /GLEE)
Picture Book of the Year: The Arrival, Shaun Tan (QJF /TAN)
Eve Pownall Award for Information Books: The penguin book: birds in suits, Mark Norman (J 598.47/NOR)

You can check the availability of these titles and place holds via our online catalogue.

Longlist for the Man Booker Prize announced

They are:

Darkmans by Nicola Barker
Self Help by Edward Docx
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
The Gathering by Anne Enright
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Gifted by Nikita Lalwani
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
Consolation by Michael Redhill
Animal's People by Indra Sinha
Winnie & Wolf by A N Wilson

More details at the Man Booker website.

Man Booker International Award winner

This prize is awarded once every two years, and is based on an author's overall body of work and contribution to literature. This year's winner is Chinua Achebe: an African author best known for his first novel Things Fall Apart, 1958 and Anthills of the Savannah, 1987. From the Man Booker International site Chinua Achebe comments:

"It was 50 years ago this year that I began writing my first novel, Things Fall Apart. It is wonderful to hear that my peers have looked at the body of work I have put together in the last 50 years and judged it deserving of this important recognition. I am grateful."

2007 NSW Premier's Literary Award winners announced

Listed below with Manly Library holdings information. The book may be on loan, but you can check and place holds through our online catalogue. Holdings information correct as of 30th May 2007.

Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
Peter Carey, Theft: a Love Story: F /CARE

Douglas Stewart Prize for Non Fiction
Robert Hughes, Things I Didn't Know: a Memoir: 920/HUG

Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
John Tranter, Urban Myths: 210 Poems: 829.1/TRA

Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature
Narelle Oliver, Home: Held at Lanecove, Stanton.

Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
Ursula Dubosarsky, The Red Shoe: YA /DUBO and YAPB /D

Play Award
Tommy Murphy, Holding the Man (adapted from the book by Timothy Conigrave): The book is held at Chatswood.

Script Award
Tony Ayres, The Home Song Stories: Not held.

Community Relations Commission Award
Shaun Tan, The Arrival: QJF /TAN

Gleebooks Prize for Critical Writing
Gideon Haigh, Asbestos House: the Secret History of James Hardie Industries: 338.76/HAI

UTS Award for New Writing
Tara June Winch, Swallow the Air: F /WINC

Book of the Year
Shaun Tan, The Arrival: QJF /TAN

Special Award
Gerald Murnane: Has written books such as Invisible yet enduring lilacs (A 824.3/MUR) and Velvet waters (F /MURN)

NSW Premier's Translation Prize & PEN Medallion
John Nieuwenhuizen: Translated The book of everything by Guus Kuijer (YAPB /K)

You can view judges comments on the award winners at the Arts NSW website.

Best of British: top 25 authors list announced

Waterstone's bookshop chain in the UK has named 25 British authors it believes will be the brightest stars for the next 25 years. Rather than a 'literary' list, Waterstone's wanted to name those authors that the 'ordinary reader' would choose. The list is reproduced on the Guardian website. It includes authors such as Jasper Fforde (The big over easy; The fourth bear), Julia Golding (Diamond of Drury Lane) and Louise Welsh (Tamburlaine must die; The bullet trick).

Pulitzer Prizes 2007

The winners have been announced. Visit the official site, or you can download a PDF of the 2007 winners with citations.

The winner for fiction this year was Cormac McCarthy for The Road.

The fiction prize is awarded to an American author who preferably deals with American issues.

Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist 2007

It's certainly awards season.

On April 19th the shortlist for the 2007 Miles Franklin Award was announced. The list can be viewed here with blurbs about the books, which are:

Careless: Deborah Robertson
Carpenteria: Alexis Wright
Dreams of Speaking: Gail Jones
Theft: A Love Story: Peter Carey

Children's Book of the Year Awards 2007

The Children's Book Council of Australia's shortlist for the Children's Book of the Year award has been announced. A PDF of the entire list can be downloaded here and listed below with Manly Library call numbers (the book may be on loan, but you can check on our online catalogue and place holds there).

Book of the Year: Older Readers
Don't call me Ishmael!: Bauer, Michael Gerard - YAPB /B
One whole and perfect day: Clarke, Judith - YAPB /C
Monster blood tattoo book 1: Foundling: Cornish, D. M. - YA /CORN
The red shoe: Dubosarsky, Ursula - YAPB /D
Red spikes: Lanagan, Margo - YA /LANA
My big birkett: Shanahan, Lisa - YAPB /S

Book of the Year: Younger Readers
Being Bee: Bateson, Catherine (Young Adult Fiction) - JF /BATE
The tuckshop kid: Flynn, Pat (Young Adult Fiction) - JPB /F
Macbeth and son: French, Jackie - JF /FREN
The cat on the mat is flat: Griffiths, Andy - JF /GRIF
Bird & Sugar Boy: Laguna, Sofie - YAPB /L
Layla, Queen of hearts: Millard, Glenda - Held at Lanecove, Stanton, Mosman, Chatswood

Book of the Year: Early Childhood
Grandpa and Thomas and the green umbrella: Allen, Pamela - EA /ALLE
Doodledum dancing: Costain, Meredith - EA /COST
Ella Kazoo will not brush her hair: Fox, Lee - Held at Lanecove, Stanton, Chatswood
Amy & Louis: Gleeson, Libby - EA /GLEE
Eight: Lee, Lyn - EA /LEE
Chatterbox: Wild, Margaret - EA /WILD

Picture Book of the Year
Brian Banana Duck Sunshine Yellow: McKimmie, Chris - Held at Mosman, Stanton
Home: Oliver, Narelle - Held at Lanecove, Stanton
Water Witcher: Ormerod, Jan - EA /ORME
The Rainbirds: Rippin, Sally - EA /METZ
Woolvs in the sitee: Spudvilas, Anne - QJF /WILD
The Arrival: Tan, Shaun - QJF /TAN

Eve Pownell Award for Information Books
Red haze: Australians & New Zealanders in Vietnam: Davidson, Leon - J 959.7043
Queenie: one elephant's story: Fenton, Corinne - EA /FENT
Amazing facts about Australian dinosaurs: Hocknull, Scott - Held at Lanecove, Stanton
All cats have Asperger Syndrome: Hoopmann, Kathy - EA /RED DOT
The penguin book: birds in suits: Norman, Mark - J 598.47/MOR
Leaf litter: Tonkin, Rachel - Held at Lanecove, Stanton

Holdings information correct as at 25th May 2007.
The CBCA also runs Children's Book Week which this year is 18th -24th of August.

Man Booker International Prize

The Man Booker International Prize is awarded once every two years and recognises one author for their achievement in fiction. Seperate from the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, which awards one book annually, the International Prize rewards one writer's continued achievements. The list of contenders for 2007 has just been announced and includes one of my favourites - Australian author Peter Carey. There is also a forum where anyone can have their say on the contenders.

- Anne

Commonwealth writer's prize 2007

New Zealand author Lloyd Jones has won the South-East Asia and South Pacific region of the Commonwealth writer's prize 2007 for his book Mr Pip. You can read a news article about the award here. The book was also discussed as part of ABC's the First Tuesday Bookclub in March and you can view streaming video of the discussion at the ABC site. Have you read the book? What did you think?

Also a winner in the First Book category was Australian author Andrew O'Connor for his first novel Tuvalu. I reviewed the book back in January. I have to say it is a book I've thought about for a long while after reading it, and I do recommend it. It's the second prize that this book has picked up as it also won the 2005 Australian/Vogel literary award.

- Anne.

Tuvalu

By Andrew O'Connor. Allen & Unwin, 2005.

Cover design by Commitee.

I picked up this book because it won the 2005 Australian/Vogel Literary Award, and because when I was at uni I dreamed of taking a year off and going to Japan to teach English like the protagonist Noah. The writing was interesting in style and I guess it was at least partly autobiographic since the author also taught English in Japan. The life he depicts is somewhat hellish - living in horrific boarding houses, teaching children who delight in poking you in the private parts. The women in the novel seem otherworldly, especially excentric and beautiful Mami, and were hard for me to believe at times - as though she were a kind of dream woman. The whole novel has a sadness and pathos hanging over it, but Noah seems to get through it and I kept wanting to see how he managed. The ending did sort of disappoint me but like one of the endorsements on the back of the book suggested, I did keep thinking about it for days.

- Anne.

Snow

by Orhan Pamuk. Faber, 2004. (Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2006)
Cover design by Two Associates. Cover illustrations Webistan/Corbis & Natalie Forbes/Corbis.

Turkish poet Ka has been living in exile in Germany. He travels to the remote city of Kars under the guise of being a journalist investigating the suicides of the ‘headscarf girls’. His hidden reason for the journey is to find Ipek, a beautiful woman he remembers from the 70s when they were involved in left-wing politics. The city is cut off by snow. He becomes entangled in a complex political web, falls in love with Ipek and wanders in the snow writing poems. Reading the book one has the feeling of falling into a strange dream.

Turkey has a secular government and the separation of government and religion is written into its constitution. The wearing of headscarves is against the law. The left-wing socialist politics of the 70s which had made Ka an exile, is no longer relevant to the youth. Radical Islam is the path they take to challenge the oppressive central government. Turkey sits between Europe and the Middle East. Orhan Pamuk explores the tensions this creates in Turkish culture.

In an interview in 2005 Pamuk stated, "Thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody dares to talk about it." Pamuk was charged under a newly introduced Turkish law for insulting Turkishness. In January 2006 the charges were dropped.

-Ines

Nobel prize for literature winner announced

The winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature for 2006 is Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk. You can read his bio-bibliography at the Nobel Prize site. Some of his titles in English include The white castle, 1991; The black book, 1994; The new life, 1997; My name is Red, 2001; Snow, 2004 and Istanbul: memories and the city, 2005. You can also listen to a telephone interview with Orhan conducted after he won the award.

Man Booker winner announced

The winner of this year's Man Booker prize is Kiran Desai for her novel The inheritance of loss. Kiran is the youngest woman ever to win the prize at 35. From the Man Booker website:

"The Indian-born writer has a strong family tie with the prize as her mother Anita Desai has been shortlisted three times since 1980 but has never won. This year, however, her daughter, Kiran, has won the acclaimed literary prize. Author of the 1998 universally praised Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, Desai is the first woman to win the Man Booker since 2000 when Margaret Atwood scooped the prize with The Blind Assassin. Her winning book, The Inheritance of Loss, is a radiant, funny and moving family saga and has been described by reviewers as ‘the best, sweetest, most delightful novel’."

Man Booker shortlist announced

The shortlist for the Man Booker Prize has been announced. They are:

Desai, Kiran The Inheritance of Loss
Grenville, Kate The Secret River
Hyland, M.J. Carry Me Down
Matar, Hisham In the Country of Men
St Aubyn, Edward Mother’s Milk
Waters, Sarah The Night Watch

You can view blurbs about each of the shortlisted books on the Man Booker site. And you can check the availability of these books in our library in our online catalogue. The winner will be announced on the 10th of October.

Man Booker 2006

The long list for the Man Booker prize 2006 has been announced. You can view the list here. They are also running forums on their site so you can discuss what you think about the list. The shortlist will be announced 14 Sept.