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Canberra based Australian translator and author Theodore Ell, and Melbourne based writer Harry Reid, have been named joint winners of the 2022 Anne Elder Award.

Established in 1977, the award is named for late Australian poet, and former Borovansky Ballet dancer, Anne Elder, who died in 1976, and is presented for the first published book by an Australian poet. Beginning in Sight, by Ell, and Leave Me Alone, by Reid, where published in 2022.

Ell was on a diplomatic posting in Lebanon in 2020, with his wife, at the time of the catastrophic Port of Beirut explosion. Although both survived the blast, the house they lived in was destroyed. Ell wrote an essay, Façades of Lebanon, about the incident, which won the 2021 Calibre Essay Prize.

Melbourne based Australian author Grace Chan’s debut novel Every Version of You, has been optioned for film. Cognito Entertainment, a new Los Angeles based film production company, whose goal is to bring weird science to life through story, will oversee the book to screen adaptation:

Neuroscientist and Stanford professor Dr. David Eagleman has teamed up with producers Matt Tauber and Adam Fratto to launch Cognito Entertainment, an independent production company centered around science programming and films. The Los Angeles and Palo Alto-based company has already begun working on scripted television series, documentaries and literary adaptation.

I’m part way through reading Every Version of You as I write this, and I can’t say I’m surprised. While great news for Chan, this is also a positive development for Australian writers of science fiction and speculative fiction, who often struggle to find someone to publish their work.

Still from Asteroid City, directed by Wes Anderson.

The full program of the 2023 Sydney Film Festival was published earlier today, and the news is especially good for fans of American filmmaker Wes Anderson. His new film, Asteroid City, will have its Australian premiere on Thursday 8 June 2023, at the State Theatre in Sydney. The storyline is perhaps best described as being very Wes Anderson.

Asteroid City is set in a fictional American town of the same name in 1955, and follows the story of Woodrow (Jake Ryan), who is driving his children across the country to see their grandfather (Tom Hanks). When their car breaks down in Asteroid City, the family is forced to spend time in town.

Their arrival coincides with the annual stargazers’ convention, an event which intrigues Woodrow’s son. The convention takes place on what’s known locally as Asteroid Day, which commemorates the day, thousands of years earlier, when an asteroid struck the region. Strange events begin taking place however, leading some people to suspect extra-terrestrials are responsible.

Additional screenings of Anderson’s latest feature also take place the next day at Hayden Orpheum Cremorne on Friday 9 June, and at the Randwick Ritz on Saturday 10 June. Asteroid City opens nationally in Australian cinemas on Thursday 22 June 2023*.

* according to the Internet Movie Database that is. Flicks meanwhile suggests Asteroid City opens on Thursday 10 August 2023.

Australian authors Lisa Berryman and Tim Winton were yesterday admitted to the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) Hall of Fame, for their decades of contribution to Australian literature. Berryman was recognised with the Pixie O’Harris Award for her work as a publisher of children’s and young adult titles, while Winton received the Lloyd O’Neil Award.

The Pulitzer Prize, which recognises excellence by American writers, be they journalists, magazine writers, and book authors, announced its 2023 recipients, early this morning, Australian time, with Barbara Kingsolver, and Hernan Diaz being named winners in the fiction category:

The Pulitzer prize for fiction was awarded on Monday to two class-conscious novels: Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver’s modern recasting of the Dickens classic David Copperfield, and Hernan Diaz’s Trust, an innovative narrative of wealth and deceit set in 1920s New York.

When people started working from home during the COVID pandemic, large numbers of office buildings fell vacant, and many remain that way. So why not convert these once commercial spaces into residential accommodation, and put a roof over the head of homeless people?

At first glance the idea makes sense:

Proponents argue that increasing housing in urban centres through office-to-residential conversions also supports the 15-minute city model, where many of your daily needs are just a short walk or bike ride from home. The model promotes community-building and healthy living, boosts local economies and reduces transport emissions, helping ensure there is cleaner air and a more sustainable planet.

Problems abound though. Repurposing office blocks into housing comes at cost, and some buildings are not always suitable for conversion into residential accommodation. It’s an unfortunate dilemma. On one hand, buildings sit empty, while on the other, there are people without a place to call home.

Another school drama show is making a comeback. British TV series Grange Hill, which was set at a comprehensive school in London, and originally screened between 1978 and 2008, is set to return.

The Grange Hill revival follows the 2022 reboot of Australian high-school drama series Heartbreak High, which, by the way, is returning for a second series later this year.

Unlike Heartbreak High though, the Grange Hill reprise will be a movie, rather than a new TV series. And while few of the cast from the original Heartbreak High show of the 1990’s returned in 2022, the Grange Hill film will feature a number of old faces, according to Welsh actor Sara Sugarman, who portrayed student activist Jessica Samuels, and is directing the movie:

While Sugarman did not confirm whether she would reprise her role, she did tease that the film will “definitely” feature appearances from multiple original cast members. The TV show launched the careers of actors including Todd Carty, who played Peter “Tucker” Jenkins, Susan Tully, who starred as Suzanne Ross, and Lee MacDonald, who played Zammo.

Australian author Gabrielle Carey, who co-wrote the controversial though iconic novel Puberty Blues, with Kathy Lette, died this week in Sydney.

Set in the southern suburbs of Sydney, Puberty Blues polarised readers with its no holds barred depictions of the antics, and sexuality, of Australian adolescents. Although published in 1979, Carey and Lette began writing the novel some years earlier as teenagers. The book spawned a film adaptation in 1981, and a two-series television run in 2012.

Carey went on to write a number of other books, both fiction and non-fiction, and also worked as a freelance journalist and university lecturer.

Still from The Eight Mountains, directed by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch.

The Eight Mountains, trailer, is one movie I’m looking forward to seeing, since I couldn’t get enough of Italian author Paolo Cognetti’s 2016 novel of the same name, when I read it. The story traces the lives of two boys, Pietro, and Bruno, from the time they first meet in the Aosta Valley, in the north of Italy, and the decades that follow.

Pietro is a lonely boy living in Milan. With his parents becoming more distant each day, the only thing the family shares is their love for the mountains that surround Italy. While on vacation at the foot of the Aosta Valley, Pietro meets Bruno, an adventurous, spirited local boy. Together they spend many summers exploring the mountains’ meadows and peaks and discover the similarities and differences in their lives, their backgrounds, and their futures. The two boys come to find the true meaning of friendship and camaraderie, even as their divergent paths in life — Bruno’s in the mountains, Pietro’s across the world — test the strength and meaning of their connection.

Made in 2021, filming locations included the Italian Alps, Turin, and Nepal, mostly preserving the authenticity of the story. While the film has a run time of almost two and a half hours, Elissa Suh, writing for Literary Hub, says the adaptation, co-directed by Felix van Groeningen, and Charlotte Vandermeersch, “adheres strictly to both the book’s tone and the author’s intent.”

If you haven’t read the novel, take the time to do so. The Eight Mountains is a whole different world, one where scaling mountains, and wandering through Alpine forests, comes as second nature to those residing within its realm.

Gadigal/Sydney residing artist Julia Gutman has been named winner of the 2023 Archibald Prize, for her painting of Australian musician Montaigne. Awarded annually, the Archibald celebrates the finest works of Australian portraiture.

In other presentations, Zaachariaha Fielding took out the Wynne Prize for Australian landscape painting, while Doris Bush Nungarrayi won the Sulman Prize for genre or mural painting.