Thursday, November 29, 2012

‘Us and Them’ wins inaugural Voiceless print media award

‘Us and Them’ wins inaugural Voiceless print media award
on the importance of animals.
 I am not weighing up whether our treatment of animals is just, because it isn’t. That age-old debate is a farce – deep down we all know it. The real question is, just how much of this injustice are we prepared to live with?’
 http://www.quarterlyessay.com/issue/us-them-importance-animals

Atlas of Living Australia

Atlas of Living Australia

 http://www.ala.org.au/faq/species-identification/


Christmas gifts 2012: the best stocking-filler books

Christmas gifts 2012: the best stocking-filler books

Red House Children's Book Award - 2013 Shortlist

Red House Children's Book Award - 2013 Shortlist

Books for Younger Children

'Welcome to Alien School' by Caryl Hart and Ed Eaves
'Can You See Sassoon?' by Sam Usher
'Spooky Spooky House' by Andrew Weale and Lee Wildish
'Dog Loves Drawing' by Louise Yates

Books for Younger Readers

'Operation Eiffel Tower' by Elen Caldecott
'The World of Norm: May Contain Nuts' by Jonathan Meres and Donough O'Mally
'Gangsta Granny' by David Walliams and Tony Ross

Books for Older Readers

'Eight Keys' by Suzanne La Fleur
'The Power of Six' by Pittacus Lore
'The Medusa Project: Hit Squad' by Sophie McKenzie

Children can go ahead and vote on their favourite from each category by visiting the website www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk now, and voting will remain open until Sunday 27th January 2013. Parents can also look online now to take a look at the shortlisted books for Christmas inspiration, as cheap books can make great Christmas gifts for growing children. 

http://world.einnews.com/pr_news/121012869/red-house-releases-the-children-s-book-award-2013-shortlist

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Royal Society Winton prize for science goes to James Gleick | Books | guardian.co.uk

Royal Society Winton prize for science goes to James Gleick | Books | guardian.co.uk
 


 http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/10/james-gleick-information-interview

Disaster victims 'need books as well as food' | Books | guardian.co.uk

Disaster victims 'need books as well as food' | Books | guardian.co.uk

 Books and "nourishment for the mind" should be an essential part of the emergency relief effort when disasters such as the Haitian earthquake occur, according to a call for action signed by four Nobel laureates, Libraries Without Borders and dozens of authors.

 http://www.librarieswithoutborders.org/

 

Hamilton drugs book wins prize - Others - More Sports - The Independent

Hamilton drugs book wins prize - Others - More Sports - The Independent

The Secret Race, the 287-page confessional by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle exposing doping, double-dealing and cover-ups at the court of Lance Armstrong, has won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year for 2012.
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/nov/26/tyler-hamilton-secret-race-william-hill

Goodreads | The Miles Franklin Literary Award (54 books)

Goodreads | The Miles Franklin Literary Award (54 books)

Monday, November 26, 2012

Books of the year 2012

Books of the year 2012

In the Orchard, the Swallows by Peter Hobbs – review | Books | The Guardian

In the Orchard, the Swallows by Peter Hobbs – review | Books | The Guardian

 This is a very slim book, meditative and shot through with acute sensory touches. There is light in it, and the freedom of swallows; the smell of earth, the colours of water and the texture of handmade paper on which the narrator is writing this, his letter.



Best Sellers - The New York Times

Best Sellers - The New York Times

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

2012 COOL Awards winners announced

2012 COOL Awards winners announced
The winning titles are:
  • Fiction Years 7-9: The Phoenix Files: Arrival (Chris Morphew, HGE)
  • Fiction Older Readers: The 13-Storey Treehouse (Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton, Pan)
  • Fiction Younger Readers: Tashi and the Golem (Anna Fienberg, Barbara Fienberg & Kim Gamble, A&U)
  • Picture Storybooks: The Terrible Plop (Ursula Dubosarsky & Andrew Joyner, Viking).

Costa Book Awards - shortlists announced

Costa Book Awards - Media- download media release here

Costa book awards 2012 shortlists first graphic works

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/nov/20/costa-book-awards-2012-graphic-works?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+%28Books%29

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/graphic-novels-finally-win-the-literary-limelight-as-two-make-their-way-onto-costa-book-awards-shortlist-8335669.html

COSTA BOOK AWARDS 2012 SHORTLISTS
2012 Costa Novel Award shortlist
Hilary Mantel Bring up the Bodies Fourth Estate
Stephen May Life! Death! Prizes! Bloomsbury
James Meek The Heart Broke In Canongate
Joff Winterhart Days of the Bagnold Summer Jonathan Cape
2012 Costa First Novel Award shortlist
J W Ironmonger The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Jess Richards Snake Ropes Sceptre
Francesca Segal The Innocents Chatto & Windus
Benjamin Wood The Bellwether Revivals Simon & Schuster
2012 Costa Biography Award shortlist
Artemis Cooper Patrick Leigh-Fermor: An Adventure John Murray
Selina Guinness
The Crocodile by the Door: The Story of a House, a
Farm and a Family
Penguin Ireland
Kate Hubbard Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household Chatto & Windus
Mary Talbot and Bryan
Talbot Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes
Jonathan Cape
2012 Costa Poetry Award shortlist
Sean Borodale Bee Journal Jonathan Cape
Julia Copus The World’s Two Smallest Humans Faber and Faber
Selima Hill People Who Like Meatballs Bloodaxe Books
Kathleen Jamie The Overhaul Picador
2012 Costa Children’s Book Award shortlist
Sally Gardner Maggot Moon Hot Key Books
Diana Hendry The Seeing The Bodley Head
Hayley Long What’s Up with Jody Barton? Macmillan Children’s Books
Dave Shelton A Boy and a Bear in a Boat David Fickling Books

For additional information please visit www.costabookawards.com.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Losing Humanity | Human Rights Watch Report - prohibiting autonomous drones – "killer robots"

Losing Humanity | Human Rights Watch

 The use of autonomous drones – "killer robots" that could fire weapons with no human control – must be prohibited by international treaty, human rights campaigners and lawyers have said.
 published jointly with Harvard Law School international human rights clinic.

Download the report from here----
 Human Rights Watch

Louise Erdrich’s Novel ‘The Round House’ Wins National Book Award - NYTimes.com

Louise Erdrich’s Novel ‘The Round House’ Wins National Book Award - NYTimes.com


 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/19/minneapolis-writers-secre_n_2158538.html
http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2012.html#.UKqrOIYmhGM

On why fantasy stories are important:
"Oh! Where to start? Fantasy reminds us that there are other possibilities; I mean they stretch those muscles."
"You're reminded that the way things are isn't the only possible way that they could be. It's not that they convince you that, for instance, goblins are real, they just stretch that sense of possibility just enough sideways that you don't get tricked into thinking that this is it — that the current shape of the world is the only possible shape it could ever have."
"Things are changing constantly," he said. "Plus they're fun. Goblins are fun." William Alexander


Monday, November 19, 2012

Science Weekly podcast: Royal Society science book prize | Science | guardian.co.uk

Science Weekly podcast: Royal Society science book prize | Science | guardian.co.uk


Next week the winner of the prestigious Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books will be announced. Previous winners have included Jared Diamond (twice), Stephen Hawking, Steve Jones, Bill Bryson and Stephen Jay Gould.
....
During the course of this week the Guardian will review all the books online. We're also giving away two complete sets of the shortlisted titles in our usual science trivia competition.
The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker – review
The Information by James Gleick
My Beautiful Genome by Lone Frank
Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene
The Viral Storm by Nathan Wolfe
 more at.... click title above.
http://royalsociety.org/awards/science-books/shortlist/
also previous winners----
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society_Prizes_for_Science_Books

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Lohrey wins 2012 Patrick White Award

Lohrey wins 2012 Patrick White Award

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/amanda-lohrey-joins-the-honour-roll-of-the-patrick-white-award/story-e6frg8n6-1226518456744

Novels

  • The Morality of Gentlemen (1984)
  • The Reading Group (1988)
  • Camille's Bread (1995)
  • The Philosopher's Doll (2004)
  • Vertigo (2008)
  • Reading Madame Bovary (2010)
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Lohrey

 


Awards

The Miles Franklin Award
  • The Philosopher's Doll, 2005 longlisted
  • Camille's Bread, 1996 shortlisted

International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
  • The Philosopher's Doll, 2006 longlisted[1]
Australian Literature Society Gold Medal
  • Camille's Bread, 1996 winner
Victorian Premier's Literary Award
  • Camille's Bread, 1996 winner of the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards
  • The Reading Group, 1998 shortlisted for the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction

Letters with Pooh app review — The Horn Book

Letters with Pooh app review — The Horn Book

 ipad november 007 Letters with Pooh app review

Book of a lifetime: The Bible - Reviews - Books - The Independent

Book of a lifetime: The Bible - Reviews - Books - The Independent

 The Bible is one of those books, and there are others, that everyone thinks they know. In almost every case – from deranged fundamentalists to raving neo-atheists, and including me – they are wrong about what is in it. This is partly because it is so large it is hard to "know" it all and partly because none of us come to it clean. It has been so used and abused, has so permeated our language, our culture and our civic lives that for better or worse it is a book of everybody's lifetime.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

‘On Saudi Arabia,’ by Karen Elliott House - NYTimes.com

‘On Saudi Arabia,’ by Karen Elliott House - NYTimes.com
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Karen Elliott House has been visiting the kingdom for more than 30 years, and in her new book, “On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines — and Future,” she skillfully unveils this inscrutable place for regional specialists and general readers alike.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Graphic Books Best Sellers: Lego Toys in Book Form - NYTimes.com

Graphic Books Best Sellers: Lego Toys in Book Form - NYTimes.com

"Lance Armstong's Regime" - review of --The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups and Winning at All Costs

David Runciman reviews ‘The Secret Race’ by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle · LRB 22 November 2012

Little White Duck Receives Big Gold Star « Graphic Universe blog

Little White Duck Receives Big Gold Star « Graphic Universe blog

Based on the early life of the book’s author, Na Liu—now a doctor of hematology and oncology—and illustrated by her husband, Andrés Vera Martínez—an award-winning artist and graduate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the School of Visual Arts—this page-turner is described by Kirkus as “beautifully drawn and quietly evocative.” The book explores, in eight stories, the childhood of the author—who was nicknamed Da Qin (Big Piano) and her younger sister, Xiao Qin (little piano), in Wuhan, one of the nation’s largest cities, right along the Yangtze. Different aspects of China’s history are weaved into the book—from the “Four Pests Campaign” (a time in the late 1950s and early 1960s when the country fought back against the ravages of rats, flies, mosquitoes, and cockroaches) to the observance of the Chinese New Year—Na’s favorite holiday and a time of national pride and great celebration.

http://www.hbook.com/2012/11/choosing-books/recommended-books/graphic-novels-for-middle-graders/
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/andres-vera-martinez/little-white-duck-childhood-china/#review



Canadian Governor General’s Literary Award Winners Named

Canadian Governor General’s Literary Award Winners Named

Amazon Best Books 2012 Revealed

Amazon Best Books 2012 Revealed

Winner of top non-fiction prize: Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest by Wade Davis – review | Books | The Observer

Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest by Wade Davis – review | Books | The Observer

 

 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11602442-into-the-silence?auto_login_attempted=true

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Robert Louis Stevenson - picture of the day | Books | guardian.co.uk

Robert Louis Stevenson - picture of the day | Books | guardian.co.uk

‘Foal’s Bread’ wins Colin Roderick Award

‘Foal’s Bread’ wins Colin Roderick Award
Mears’ novel was selected from a shortlist of seven books. The other shortlisted books were: The Taste of River Water (Cate Kennedy, Scribe), An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark (Mark McKenna, Miegenyah Press), Bite Your Tongue (Francesca Rendle-Short, Spinifex), End of the Night Girl (Amy Matthews, Wakefield Press), Alexander Macleay: from Scotland to Sydney (Derelie Cherry, Paradise Publishers) and The Sons of Clovis: Ern Malley, Adoré Floupette and a Secret History of Australian Poetry (David Brooks, UQP).
Foal’s Bread won this year’s Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, the Age Book of the Year fiction prize and the ALS Gold Medal. Mears’ novel was also shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Kibble Literary Award and the Barbara Jefferis Award.
 
more at --

 http://www.booksellerandpublisher.com.au/DetailPage.aspx?type=item&id=25502

review --
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/11/foals-bread-gillian-mears-review 
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksplus/foal27s-bread2c-part-2/4303272

Australian, NZ authors on IMPAC Dublin 2013 longlist

Australian, NZ authors on IMPAC Dublin 2013 longlist

Books by Australian authors on the longlist are:
  • What the Family Needed (Steven Amsterdam, Sleepers)
  • Estuary (Sam Bunny, Bay Owl Press)
  • Spirit of Progress (Steven Carroll, Fourth Estate)
  • All That I Am (Anna Funder, Penguin)
  • Sarah Thornhill (Kate Grenville, Text)
  • Five Bells (Gail Jones, Vintage)
  • Foal’s Bread (Gillian Mears, A&U)
  • Autumn Laing (Alex Miller, A&U)
  • Cold Light (Frank Moorhouse, Vintage)
  • Past the Shallows (Favel Parrett, Hachette)
  • The Street Sweeper (Elliot Perlman, Vintage).

Books by New Zealand authors on the longlist are:
  • Wulf (Hamish Clayton, Penguin NZ)
  • The Larnachs (Owen Marshall, Random House NZ)
  • Rangatira (Paula Morris, Penguin NZ)
  • The Conductor (Sarah Quigley, Random House NZ).

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

BBC News - Dylan Thomas Prize for Maggie Shipstead with first novel

BBC News - Dylan Thomas Prize for Maggie Shipstead with first novel

About the Dylan Thomas Prize --
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas_Prize

Reader reviews---
 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12712435-seating-arrangements?auto_login_attempted=true

Reviews --
New York Times review
Sydney Morning Herald review
Washington Post review

Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead.

Human Rights Awards 2012: Finalists - Literature (non-fiction) - Print media Award

Human Rights Awards 2012: Finalists - Literature (non-fiction) Award (sponsored by The Co-op Bookshop)
  • Am I Black Enough For You? (Anita Heiss, Bantam)
  • The Boy Who Wouldn’t Die (David Nyuol Vincent & Carol Nader, A&U)
  • Don’t Go Back to Where You Came From (Tim Soutphommasane, NewSouth)
  • The People Smuggler (Robin de Crespigny, Viking). 
 Half a Citizen: Life on Welfare in Australia (John Murphy et al, A&U) won the award last year. 
also--
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/hrawards/finalists_print_media.html

Monday, November 12, 2012

Best Illustrated Books - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

Best Illustrated Books - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

Behold the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2012, with sample artwork from each of the 10 winners. This year is the 60th anniversary of the Times Best Illustrated awards. Since 1952, the Book Review has convened an independent panel of three judges from the world of children’s literature to select picture books on the basis of artistic merit. Each year, the judges choose from among thousands of picture books, for what is the only annual award of its kind.

 RED KNIT CAP GIRL
Written and illustrated by Naoko Stoop.
Megan Tingley Books/Little, Brown & Company.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Friday, November 9, 2012

Rose Tremain: The art of not winning literary prizes | Books | The Guardian

Rose Tremain: The art of not winning literary prizes | Books | The Guardian

Young Australian’s Best Book Awards --2012 Award Winners

2012 Award Winners


The 2012 Award Winners

Winner Fiction Years 7-9

Phoenix Files – Arrival

Chris Morphew
Publisher – Hardie Grant 2009

Fiction Older Readers

13 Storey Treehouse

Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton
Publisher – Pan Macmillan, 2011

Fiction Younger Readers

Alice Miranda at School

Jacqueline Harvey
Publisher – Random House, 2010

Picture Storybooks

Fearless in Love

Colin Thompson & Sarah Davis
Publisher – ABC Books/Harper Collins, 2011

About YABBA

The Young Australian’s Best Book Awards (YABBA) were established in 1985 by a group of Victorians keen to see children engage in reading Australian books.
Run by a volunteer committee our goal after more than 25 years is still the same.
We seek to provide children a voice within the general Australian children’s book industry.  The YABBA Awards encourages children to read recent Australian published books, rate them against all others and then finally reward that book they feel is best.
As a membership based non-for-profit organisation we seek the support of schools and libraries across Victoria in providing the financial resources necessary for this vital work.  All Victorian schools can become members of YABBA to engage their students in reading Australian literature, becoming discerning readers and finally participating in the announcement of their choices.
Our final goal is that whilst engaging children in this process the wider children’s book industry hears the voice of the very people they are writing for – the children!  We facilitate this message delivery through the connection of authors and illustrators to the children via shortlist announcement and the annual awards ceremony.
 http://yabba.org.au/about-yabba/

Miller wins $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature; Sherborne takes out Best Writing Prize

Miller wins $60,000 Melbourne Prize for Literature; Sherborne takes out Best Writing Prize

 Alex Miller has won the 2012 Melbourne Prize for Literature, presented every three years to a Victorian author ‘whose body of published or produced work has made an outstanding contribution to Australian literature, as well as to cultural and intellectual life’.
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/author-snaffles-danger-money-20121107-28ygr.html

The Melbourne Prize also presents a best-writing award worth $30,000 for a single work, which went to Craig Sherborne for The Amateur Science of Love. He also wins a residency at the University of Melbourne.
 


Indigenous Literacy Foundation - Christmas Appeal

Home - Indigenous Literacy Foundation

  • $515,000 Donated In 2012
  • 85,000 Books Supplied
  • 230 Remote Communities

 http://www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/programs.html

‘Of Africa,’ by Wole So­yinka - NYTimes.com

‘Of Africa,’ by Wole So­yinka - NYTimes.com

 Among the Africans who deserve some kind of secular sainthood is Wole So­yinka. Although best known as a playwright, he has also written poetry, novels and nonfiction; the luminous world evoked in his memoir “Aké: The Years of Childhood” sticks with me decades after I read it. Moreover, Soyinka has always been a passionate defender of human rights. For trying to negotiate peace during the Nigerian civil war of the late 1960s, he spent two years in prison, much of it in solitary confinement; some 30 years later, as an opponent of a later generation of military dictatorship, he had to escape Nigeria on a motorcycle and was sentenced to death in absentia.
 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/books/review/of-africa-by-wole-soyinka.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1352400807-8+fCDF3qb5WxtisqK2lQAQ

Guardian First Book award 2012 shortlist announced | Books | guardian.co.uk

Guardian First Book award 2012 shortlist announced | Books | guardian.co.uk

Thursday, November 8, 2012

BBC Radio 4 - BBC National Short Story Award, BBC International Short Story Award 2012

BBC Radio 4 - BBC National Short Story Award, BBC International Short Story Award 2012

 Bulgarian author Miroslav Penkov has won the £15,000 BBC International Short Story Award for his story 'East of the West'. The announcement was made live on Radio 4's Front Row from a ceremony at the Free Word Centre in London. South African Henrietta Rose-Innes was the runner-up, winning £2,500 for her story 'Sanctuary'.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Roald Dahl prize - News - Books - The Independent

David Walliams loses out to Dark Lord in Roald Dahl prize - News - Books - The Independent

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/prizes-and-awards/4

Dark Lord: Teenage Years by Brighton-based games developer Jamie Thomson was chosen as the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize for 2012 at a ceremony in London.
Thomson's book, the first in a new series, won the gong for the funniest book for children aged seven to 14 and centres on the trials of Dirk Lloyd in his bid to be taken seriously as an evil force on Earth.
Aimed at younger readers, a book about a toddler terrorising her mother with her tantrums received the award for funniest book for children aged six and under.
My Big Shouting Day by Cambridge based author/illustrator Rebecca Patterson stomped its way to victory, beating award-winning illustrators, recognised for the witty way it finds humour in the terrible twos.










 My Big Shouting Day

John's Top Secret Bathroom Reader for Kids Only! by The Bathroom Readers' Institute - review | Children's books | guardian.co.uk

John's Top Secret Bathroom Reader for Kids Only! by The Bathroom Readers' Institute - review | Children's books | guardian.co.uk

Uncle John's Top Secret Bathroom Reader for Kids Only!

The Famous Five back on TV? A new generation is in for a treat | Bim Adewunmi | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

The Famous Five back on TV? A new generation is in for a treat | Bim Adewunmi | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Shortlists announced for 2012 NSW Premier's Literary & History Awards | Media Centre - State Library of New South Wales

Shortlists announced for 2012 NSW Premier's Literary & History Awards | Media Centre - State Library of New South Wales

Sydney Morning Herald report

2012 NSW Premier's Literary Awards shortlist

The Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($40,000)
Anna Funder, All That I Am (Penguin Group Australia)
Kate Grenville, Sarah Thornhill (Text Publishing Company)
Gail Jones, Five Bells (Random House Australia)
Malcolm Knox, The Life (Allen & Unwin)
Kim Scott, That Deadman Dance (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Rohan Wilson, The Roving Party (Allen & Unwin)
Commended: Mark Dapin, Spirit House (Pan Macmillan Australia)
The UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing ($5000)
Peggy Frew, House of Sticks (Scribe Publications)
Anna Funder, All That I Am (Penguin Group Australia)
Favel Parrett, Past the Shallows (Hachette Australia)
Edwina Shaw, Thrill Seekers (Ransom Publishing)
Craig Sherborne, Amateur Science of Love (Text Publishing Company)
Rohan Wilson, The Roving Party (Allen & Unwin)
The Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction ($40,000)
Delia Falconer, Sydney (NewSouth Publishing)
Paul Kelly, How to Make Gravy (Penguin Group Australia))
Simon Leys, The Hall of Uselessness: Collected Essays (Black Inc)
Mark McKenna, An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark (Melbourne University Publishing)
Alice Pung, Her Father's Daughter (Black Inc)
Martin Thomas, The Many Worlds of RH Mathews: In Search of an Australian Anthropologist (Allen & Unwin)
The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry ($30,000)
Ken Bolton, Sly Mongoose (Puncher and Wattman)
Susan Hawthorne, Cow (Spinifex Press)
John Mateer, Southern Barbarians (Giramondo Publishing)
Claire Potter, Swallow (Five Islands Press)
Gig Ryan, New and Selected Poems (Giramondo Publishing)
Tracy Ryan, The Argument (Fremantle Press)
The Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature ($30,000)
Kate Constable, Crow Country (Allen & Unwin)
Rosanne Hawke, Taj and the Great Camel Trek (University of Queensland Press)
Glenda Millard, illustrated by Rebecca Cool, For All Creatures (Walker Books)
Jan Ormerod, illustrated by Freya Blackwood, Maudie and Bear (Little Hare, Hardie Grant Egmont)
Sally Rippin, Angel Creek (Text Publishing Company)
Emily Rodda, illustrated by Craig Smith, Bungawitta (Omnibus Books)
The Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature ($30,000)
Bill Condon, A Straight Line to My Heart (Allen & Unwin)
Ursula Dubosarsky, The Golden Day (Allen & Unwin)
Kelly Gardiner, Act of Faith (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
Scot Gardner, The Dead I Know (Allen & Unwin)
Penni Russon, Only Ever Always (Allen & Unwin)
Vikki Wakefield, All I Ever Wanted (Text Publishing Company)
The Play Award ($30,000)
Vanessa Bates, Porn.Cake. (Malthouse Theatre)
Angela Betzien, War Crimes (Regional Arts Victoria; Currency Press)
Lally Katz, Neighbourhood Watch (Belvoir Theatre Upstairs)
Verity Laughton, The Sweetest Thing (Arts Radar in association with B Sharp)
Joanna Murray-Smith, The Gift (Melbourne Theatre Company; Currency Press)
Lachlan Philpott, Silent Disco (Griffin Theatre with Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) and Hothouse Theatre; Currency Press)
The Scriptwriting Award ($30,000)
Peter Duncan, Rake (Episode 1): R v Murray (ABC TV)
Shaun Grant, Snowtown (Warp Films & Film Victoria)
Michelle Offen, East West 101: The Price of Salvation (Knapman Wyld Television)
The Community Relations Commission for a multicultural NSW Award ($20,000)
Tim Bonyhady, Good Living Street: The Fortunes of My Viennese Family (Allen & Unwin) Raimond Gaita, After Romulus (Text Publishing Company)
Nadine Helmi and Gerhard Fischer, The Enemy at Home: German Internees in World War I Australia (UNSW Press)
Alistair Thomson, Moving Stories (UNSW Press)
Arnold Zable, Violin Lessons (Text Publishing Company)

2012 NSW Premier's History Awards shortlist

Australian History Prize ($15,000)
Russell McGregor, Indifferent Inclusion: Aboriginal People and the Australian Nation (Aboriginal Studies Press)
Mark McKenna, An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark (Melbourne University Press)
Brenda Niall, True North: The Story of Mary and Elizabeth Durack (Text Publishing Company)
The General History Prize ($15,000)
Tim Bonyhady, Good Living Street: The Fortunes of My Viennese Family (Allen & Unwin) Ian Donaldson, Ben Jonson: A Life (Oxford University Press)
Paul Ham, Hiroshima Nagasaki (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
The New South Wales Community and Regional History Prize ($15,000)
Deborah Beck, Set in Stone: A History of the Cell Block Theatre (UNSW Press)
Julia Horne and Geoffrey Sherington, Sydney: The Making of a Public University (Miegunyah Press)
Andrew Moore, Mr Big of Bankstown: The Scandalous Fitzpatrick and Brown Affair (UWA Publishing)
Young People's History Prize ($15,000)
Anh Do and Suzanne Do, illustrated by Bruce Whatley, The Little Refugee (Allen & Unwin)
Stephanie Owen Reeder, Amazing Grace: An Adventure at Sea (National Library of Australia)
Nadia Wheatley, illustrated by Ken Searle, Playground (Allen & Unwin)
The Multimedia History Prize ($15,000)
Richard Corfield, Rose Hesp, Wendy Boynton and Andrew Glover, Ernabella: No Ordinary Mission (Compass/ABC TV)
Maree Delofski, Nick Franklin, Mark Gregory and Timothy Nicastry, Isle of Denial: William Cuffay in Van Diemen's Land (Hindsight/ABC Radio National)
Catherine Freyne, Tit for Tat: The Story of Sandra Wilson (Hindsight/ABC Radio National)

Australian Poetry Library

Home - Australian Poetry Library

 http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/about-us

An oak tree- Poem of the week: The Year of the Tree by Katherine Gallagher

An oak tree

 An oak tree

The Year of the Tree

I carried a tree
through the Underground.
It was hard. At first,
people scarcely noticed me
and the oak I was lugging
along the platforms –
heavier than a suitcase
and difficult to balance.
We threaded through corridors,
changing lines: up and down stairs,
escalators, and for a moment
I imagined everyone on the planet
taking turns
to carry a tree as daily rite.
A few people asked
Why a tree?
I said it was for my own
edification –
a tree always
has something to teach.

Sharp gusts
whirred through the corridors
rustling the branches
as I hurried on
past the sweepers
picking up rubbish, scraps of paper.
Be sure to take the tree
with you
, they said.
Don't worry, I'm taking it
to my garden,

the start of a forest.
When people stared,
Relax, I said,
it's a tree, not a gun.


 http://www.arcpublications.co.uk/book.php?description_id=403

Year of the Tree from----
[Carnival Edge: New and Selected Poems]

Katherine Gallagher

Carnival Edge: New and Selected Poems

“To be able to follow, within a single volume, the evolution and refinement of a poet of Gallagher's subtlety and integrity is a fascination in itself. At its best, this is delicate, straight talking - a poetics that yokes inner generosity to outward reticence, a guileless paredness reminiscent of outback. Coming in from the heat, it's not always clear whether these poems dance or simply walk; but with a turn of phrase, a shoe-tight image, an elegant sleight of foot, everything is transformed. Reading Gallagher, one recognises there are ways of walking that are also dance.” Mario Petrucci
“Katherine Gallagher is ‘a fervent watcher' of the world. Like the watcher in her poem “Orchid” (from the sequence La Fleuraison) she is also ‘a global traveller', and this informs all of her work. Her past, that ‘antipodean patchwork', is also a rich resource comprising memory and discovery, a place ‘where weather's a way of life'… Landscape, war, family, the gains and losses of life, plus aerial meditations during long flights - all shine forth in the wide range of her subject matter, wrought in vivid colours. Gallagher is a poet of the eye, the rainbow and of all the feeling senses. In “Manifesto”, from the final section of new poems which crown this volume, she says: ‘… Bring out your gambler, / risk-taker. Surprise yourself.' This book attests to the energy and insight of that statement.” Penelope Shuttle

Friday, November 2, 2012

New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books winners 2012 — The Horn Book

New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books winners 2012 — The Horn Book

Bear Despair written and illustrated by Gaëtan Dorémus (Enchanted Lion)
The Beetle Book written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins (Houghton)
House Held Up by Trees written by Ted Kooser; illustrated by Jon Klassen (Candlewick Press)
The Hueys in the New Sweater written and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers (Philomel)
Infinity and Me written by Kate Hosford; illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska (Carolrhoda)
Little Bird written by Germano Zullo; illustrated by Albertine (Enchanted Lion)
One Times Square: A Century of Change at the Crossroads of the World written and illustrated by Joe McKendry ( Godine)
Red Knit Cap Girl written and illustrated by Naoko Stoop (Tingley/Little)
Stephen and the Beetle written by Jorge Luján; illustrated by Chiara Carrer (Groundwood)
Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad written and illustrated by Henry Cole (Scholastic)

SLJ's Best Books 2011: Fiction - Bookverdict.com

SLJ's Best Books 2011: Fiction - Bookverdict.com
from School Library Journal

Books for Food Day | Wyatt’s World

Books for Food Day | Wyatt’s World

102312C1 Books for Food Day | Wyatt’s World

Best Databases 2012

Best Databases 2012

 http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/10/best-of/database/

compare with those provided by the Ryde Library Service
http://library.ryde.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/MSGTRN/OPAC/ODBS

Masterstroke: Real Monet-spinner to light up NGV

Masterstroke: Real Monet-spinner to light up NGV
 NEXT year, in Melbourne's coldest months, the National Gallery of Victoria will be in bloom. NGV director Tony Ellwood has announced that the 2013 Winter Masterpiece exhibition will be Monet's Garden, sourced from the Musee Marmottan Monet in Paris, home of the world's largest collection of the artist's work.

Maxine McKew book launch 13 November

Maxine McKew

Tales from the Political Trenches

In conversation with Geraldine Doogue

Tuesday, November 13, 2012 / 6.00 for 6.30pm

Venue: Law Lecture LT 101 Sydney Law School Eastern Avenue The University of Sydney
Cost: Free
Buy Tales from the Political Trenches
Tales from the Political TrenchesCo-presented with Gleebooks and the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney
At the 2007 federal election former journalist Maxine McKew won a spectacular victory against John Howard and wrote herself into Australian political history as only the second candidate to have ever defeated a sitting prime minister in his constituency seat. She was part of the Kevin ’07 juggernaut, which dismissed the Howard Government after eleven years of power. She believed in the ideas and aspirations of the Labor Party leader, Kevin Rudd. But then his own party brought him, as a first term Prime Minister, down.
In her new book Tales from the Political Trenches, Maxine brings a reporter’s eye and an insider’s knowledge to her, until now, untold story. She combines a personal tale of change with an up-close account of one of the most tumultuous periods in modern Australian politics. She discusses this and more with ABC journalist Geraldine Doogue.
Maxine McKew had a thirty year career as a broadcast and print journalist before moving to politics. She hosted ABC Lateline in the mid 1990’s, and later was the part-time anchor of The 7.30 Report. Her television reporting has been recognized by her peers with both Logie and Walkely awards for broadcast excellence, and her print journalism included a column that ran from 1999 to 2004 in The Bulletin Magazine ‘Lunch with Maxine McKew’. She currently works as an advisor on education to the not for profit group Social Ventures Australia. She is also Chair of Playgroup Australia, is a member of the board of Per Capita, is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for Macquarie University’s School of Advanced Medicine and is an ambassador for Alzheimer’s Australia.
Gleebooks will have copies of Tales from the Political Trenches on sale at the event, and Maxine McKew will be signing books after her conversation.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxine_McKew