Showing all posts about literature
Melbourne Writers Festival summer reading guide
21 December 2021
Wild Abandon by Emily Bitto, Scary Monsters by Michelle de Kretser, Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, and Seven and a Half by Christos Tsiolkas, are among inclusions on my to-be-read list, and the Melbourne Writers Festival summer reading guide.
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The books your favourite authors recommend
13 December 2021
Apart from literary award long and short lists, book recommendations from the world’s best authors are a sure fire way to find novels to add to your to-be-read list. Along with American writer Min Jin Lee, and British author Kazuo Ishiguro, Australian novelists Anna Funder, Helen Garner, Hannah Kent, Sofie Laguna, Alexis Wright, and Craig Silvey, talk about their favourite reads of the past twelve months.
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Sally Rooney voted top fiction writer in the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards
11 December 2021
Beautiful World, Where Are You, by Sally Rooney, has been voted the best fiction title for 2021 by Goodreads members, who voted for books across seventeen categories in the annual Goodreads Choice Awards. Congratulations to all authors whose works were nominated this year.
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books, literature, novels, Sally Rooney
Prime Minister’s Summer Reading List 2021
10 December 2021
Australian public policy think tank the Grattan Institute has selected six books for the Australian Prime Minister to read over the upcoming summer break.
This year’s list covers a wide range of important issues including the disparity between private and public education systems; land use and the environment; grief, loss, and the female voice; poverty; sovereignty of the First Nations of Australia; and technology’s impact on our lives, our politics, and our values.
The only fiction offering on this year’s list is She Is Haunted, by Melbourne based author Paige Clark, a collection of short stories exploring themes including grief, heartbreak, and illness. Here’s hoping the Prime Minister takes the time to read these titles, and others, during the holiday break.
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Australian writing, literature
The Indie Book Awards 2022 longlist
10 December 2021
Another place to source titles for your to-be-read list, the longlist of the
2022 Indie Book Awards was unveiled earlier this week. The awards, which focus on Australian works, honour fiction, debut fiction, non-fiction, illustrated non-fiction, children’s, and young adult books.
Established in 2008, the Indie Book Awards celebrate the best Australian writing; and who better to nominate and judge the best-of-the-best than indie booksellers! What makes indie booksellers uniquely placed to judge and recommend the best Aussie books of the past year, is their incredible passion and knowledge, their contribution to the cultural diversity of the Australian reading public, by recommending beyond the big brands, and above all, their love of quality writing. The Awards recognise and celebrate indie booksellers as the number one supporters of Australian authors.
The shortlists for each category will be announced on 19 January 2022, while the winners will be named on 21 March 2022.
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Australian writing, literature
Good Weekend’s Christmas reading guide 2021
8 December 2021
I’m sure we’re going to be seeing a few of this lists over the next few weeks, but the 2021 reading guide from Good Weekend, contains some choice titles, fiction and non-fiction.
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Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2022 shortlist
7 December 2021
The shortlists for the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards were announced yesterday. Prizes of twenty-five thousand dollars are awarded across six categories that include Indigenous writing, fiction, and poetry. A fifteen thousand dollar prize is also awarded for the best unpublished manuscript. It’s my guess anyone whose work is even shortlisted in the unpublished manuscript will not remain unpublished for long. The awards are administered by the Wheeler Centre, and the winners will be named on Thursday, 3 February 2022.
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Australian writing, literature
What is the best book of the past 125 years?
3 December 2021
Voting is opening until a few seconds before midnight, Sunday, 5 December 2021 (ADST) for The New York Times best book of the past 125 years. Yes, you read that correctly, the past one-hundred-and-twenty-five years. How you chose the best book of the last twelve months is a challenge, if you ask me, let alone the last century and a quarter. Somehow though, thousands of nominations were whittled down to a shortlist of just twenty-five titles. Go now and cast your vote.
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Darren Hanlon’s literature inspired music playlist
2 December 2021
Last week Australian musician Darren Hanlon put together a music playlist inspired by works of literature for radio station Double J. Included is a cover of the old Dire Straits hit Romeo and Juliet, based of course on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare, by Lisa Mitchell.
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Darren Hanlon, literature, music
One hundred Notable Books of 2021
24 November 2021
One hundred Notable Books of 2021, compiled by The New York Times. Quite a few titles I recognise, many I don’t. Be nice to see more Australian work making the cut, particularly in the fiction segment, but overall an impressive list of books, spanning fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and memoir categories.
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