ABC fiction award

Another award for ‘emerging writers’ has been announced: the ABC Fiction Award.
The competition seeks the best, original, unpublished, quality fiction manuscript, written by an Australian resident over the age of 18. The submitted manuscript cannot be under consideration by any other publisher or award.

Theory for beginners

The big books story in the Sydney/Oz weekend papers is in the Australian, indeed, it made the front page. Luke Slattery writes on the use of post-modernist forms of criticism in high schools. (The front page story, linked above, leads into a longer piece which I can not locate on the Oz website. If anyone [...]

Down with it

The Catholic Church has decided to get all hip and happening, or as a spokesperson said: “This is an attempt to engage in something that is popular in modern culture.” Whatever.
They’ve launched a website about Mary Magdalen in an effort to circumvent those horrible things Dan Brown has been saying about her.

Potter pirate

Why is it, the more they sell, the more paranoid they are about being ripped-off? Too late honey.

Last night a poet saved my life

Last night I had an almost spiritual experience while reading a volume of poetry and today I found this: Writing poetry was the balm that kept Guantanamo prisoners from going mad: Former inmates say they wrote thousands of lines.
Do yourself a favour, read yourself some poetry, preferably some Australian stuff, I’m feeling patriotic (to our [...]

A summer of Faulkner? Oh, Oprah.

Jonathon Franzen may have been a little “sheepish” about being included in Oprah’s bookclub, claiming he was from a “high art” tradition, but Oprah has pulled a swifty this northern summer and proclaimed it the Summer of Faulkner. Yes, that’s right, William Faulkner.
By proposing to read not one but three works by a dead white [...]

Another library rant

Stacks’ appeal says Thomas H. Benton in the Chronicle. Indeed they do. I am pointing to this for no other reason than pure stack lust.
For the record, I have never had sex in the stacks, and — even after many years of lurking in several major collections — I have never had to discreetly avoid [...]

There is a god

The Guardian says:
The new Harry Potter book broke records at bookshops at the weekend. Retailers said that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had sold more copies in a day than The Da Vinci Code sold in one year.
This, however, is ridiculous.

Sydney bookstores investigated for selling terror books

I’m not touching this one with a barge-pole but, the SMH reports that:
Counter-terrorism agencies are investigating at least two Sydney bookstores accused of selling extremist Islamic literature – including one book endorsed by Osama bin Laden.
Just thought this should be mentioned.

And bite marks?

I can’t believe this is real but something in me just wants it to be: via Boing Boing, guides as to how to describe offensive material in books, according to Parents Against Bad Books in Schools:
For each type checked above also indicate level of vividness/graphicness using the following as a general guide:
[...]