Showing all posts in the links category
The Penguin Books 2023 Write It Fellowship Shortlist
28 July 2023
The 2023 Write It Fellowship shortlist was announced earlier this month, and is made up of eleven Australian writers with works of fiction spanning historical, autobiographical, crime, psychological horror, fantasy, memoir, and poetry genres.
The Write It Fellowship was established by book publisher Penguin Random House Australia in 2018. The Fellowship is intended to support unpublished writers from under-represented sections of the community, including those with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ and First Nations backgrounds.
The winner of the Fellowship will be named on Monday 9 October 2023.
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Australian literature, books, literary awards
Vale Sinéad O’Connor, 1966 – 2023
27 July 2023
Nothing compares 2 U, her 1990 hit, a song written by the Prince, sums up, somewhat, the pathos.
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The delicious Rotating Sandwiches wins inaugural Tiny Awards
26 July 2023
Rotating Sandwiches, designed by Lauren Walker, has been named winner of the inaugural Tiny Awards, a prize celebrating “the idea of a small, playful and heartfelt web.” Rotating Sandwiches is exactly what it says on the tin — go see for yourself — but if you’re feeling a bit peckish it might be an idea to wait until you have food in front of you.
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awards, design, IndieWeb, technology
The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf, with her handwritten notes, found in Sydney
24 July 2023
In 2021, Simon Cooper, a University of Sydney worker, rediscovered a first edition copy of The Voyage Out, the 1915 debut novel of British author Virginia Woolf, lurking amongst a collection of science books, where it had been misfiled years ago.
What makes the find so remarkable are the notations throughout the book, written in hand by Woolf herself, when she was considering revising the novel. A veritable boon for anyone interested in studying Woolf’s work. The book has since been digitised, and can be viewed online.
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books, history, literature, novels, Virginia Woolf
Announcing the winner of the 2023 Lyttle Lytton Contest
24 July 2023
Last month the winners of the Lyttle Lytton Contest were announced. The Lyttle Lytton is a literary prize, but not of the usual variety. Instead of celebrating the good or excellent, Lyttle Lytton honours the worst of the worst. In this case bad, or terrible, would-be opening sentences from novels that will likewise turn out to be awful. The lines are not taken from actual published works though, instead they are devised by contest participants vying to write the best bad sentence they can think of.
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humour, literary awards, literature, writing
Short interviews with the 2023 Miles Franklin shortlisted authors
17 July 2023
The winner of the 2023 Miles Franklin literary award will be announced in just over a week, on Tuesday 25 July 2023. Ahead of the presentation, The Bookshelf and Book Show have recorded interviews with all six shortlisted Australian authors. View the shortlist here.
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Australian literature, books, literary awards, Miles Franklin, podcasts
Films that influenced Barbie, the movie by Greta Gerwig
17 July 2023
American filmmaker Greta Gerwig shares thirty-three films influencing her new feature, Barbie, and a varied collection it is. Titles include Saturday Night Fever, Playtime, The Truman Show, The Philadelphia Story, Heaven Can Wait, Gold Diggers of 1935, and (of course) 2001: A Space Odyssey.
There’s quite a few films here that I haven’t seen. It seems to me if you’re looking for some film watching inspiration, Gerwig’s list makes for a great starting point.
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2001: A Space Odyssey, film, Greta Gerwig
What to do when no one likes the quirky links that you curate
11 July 2023
Well this wasn’t part of the plan. Imagine you’ve set yourself up as the editor of a (possibly informal) email newsletter featuring (what you consider to be) interesting, funny, and quirky links.
Except no one you send the newsletter to (possibly whether they wish to receive it or not) seems to find anything you’ve compiled to be the least bit amusing. Welcome to the world of online (sort of) publishing. The only consolation (maybe) is no one can unsubscribe.
But stick with it I say, you never know when you might strike a chord with someone one day.
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humour, publishing, self publishing
The AIGA best book and cover designs of 2022 unveiled
8 July 2023
The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) has announced the winners of the 2022 50 Books | 50 Covers competition. Almost five-hundred covers, from twenty-seven countries, were submitted for consideration in the annual contest, which commenced one hundred years ago, in 1923. The fifty winning entries can be seen here.
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WHAM! The story of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, by Chris Smith
8 July 2023
There’s an old saying in the place where I reside: if you remember Wham! you were in the eighties.
Wham! as in the out of control mega-successful British pop duo of the late George Michael, and Andrew Ridgeley. A new documentary of the same name, directed by American filmmaker Chris Smith, and produced by Netflix, recounts Michael and Ridgeley’s days in Wham! through archival interviews and footage, and previously unheard audio interviews. See the trailer here.
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