Monday musings on Australian literature: Prime Minister’s Literary Awards

I've written about the Prime Minister's Literary Awards before - more than once in fact, as you will see if you click on my link. They were created in 2007 by our then new Labor Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. What heady days they were. These were, at the time, Australia's most lucrative literary awards, and … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Prime Minister’s Literary Awards

Monday musings on Australian literature: The Voss Literary Prize

Did the title of this post grab your attention? It grabbed mine so dramatically when I came across it that I immediately abandoned my plans for today's post - they can wait - to tell you about it. The first thing to say about it is that it's not what you think, if indeed like me … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: The Voss Literary Prize

Monday musings on Australian literature: Guest post by Dorothy Johnston, writer and Barbara Jefferis Award judge

Literary awards, their role and import, have come under frequent discussion here at Whispering Gums. So, when writer Dorothy Johnston, whose The house at number 10 and Eight pieces on prostitution I've reviewed and, more relevantly, who was one of the judges for this year's Barbara Jefferis Award, suggested a guest post on the Award, I was … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Guest post by Dorothy Johnston, writer and Barbara Jefferis Award judge

Monday musings on Australian literature: Literary awards back then

A comment by blog-reader Ian Darling on a recent Monday Musings post that he supposed literary prizes existed back in 1927, followed by the tardy announcement a couple of days ago of the shortlist for this year's Prime Minister's Literary Awards (see Lisa ANZLitLovers' post), got me thinking about the history of literary awards. I've long … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Literary awards back then

Richard Flanagan, the Booker Prize, and Books

Lisa at ANZLitlovers has posted on Richard Flanagan's (exciting-to-us) Booker Prize win for The narrow road to the deep north, and has provided links to reviews by several bloggers. So, I thought I'd do something different. In my review and follow-up post, I discussed the role of poetry in the novel. Reviewer (and novelist) Romy Ash suggests … Continue reading Richard Flanagan, the Booker Prize, and Books

Monday musings on Australian literature: Poetry awards

Over recent months, I've devoted several Monday Musings to exploring various Australian literary festivals and awards. I was inspired to write this one on poetry awards by two things. The first is that during my recent exploration of Australian literature in the first few decades of the 20th century, and particularly of the 1927 plebiscite conducted … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Poetry awards

Monday musings on Australian literature: Nature Writing Prize

You know what they say, too much of a good thing is bad for you, so, to save you dear readers from bad things, I thought we'd take a break this week from my historical survey of Australian literature. And, since I received this morning an email containing a call for submissions for Nature Conservancy Australia's … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Nature Writing Prize

Monday musings on Australian literature: National Biography Award

I have mentioned the National Biography Award before, but have never dedicated a post to it. Since this Monday musings coincides with the announcement of the 2014 award, I thought it would be a good time to write a little about this award. The National Biography Award was initially endowed by Geoffrey Cains, with support … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: National Biography Award

Tara June Winch, Swallow the air (Review for Indigenous Literature Week)

Tara June Winch's Swallow the air is another book that has been languishing too long on my TBR pile, though not as long as Sara Dowse's Schemetime. For Swallow the air, it was a case of third time lucky, because this was the third year I planned to read it for ANZLitLovers Indigenous Literature Week. Like the … Continue reading Tara June Winch, Swallow the air (Review for Indigenous Literature Week)