Author Archives: Jody

Alternative Nobel Prize for Literature

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As you may have heard, 2018 Nobel Prize for literature has been cancelled by the Swedish Academy following sexual assault allegations and resignations of members. More than 100 prominent cultural figures from Sweden have formed the New Academy and will present their own literary award while Swedish Academy is sorting itself out.  In contrast to the Nobel prize, which seeks to honour the writer who has contributed ‘the most outstanding work in an ideal direction’, the new award will be offered to a writer who has told the story of ‘humans in the world’. The New Academy invited Swedish librarians to nominate authors who fit the eligibility criteria. 47 authors were nominated and the four finalists were decided by public vote. Winner will be announced in October after deliberation by the jury. In December the New Academy will be dissolved and 2 laureates will be nominated by the Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize in literature in 2019.

The four nominees are:

Maryse Conde                        Haruki Murakami

Kim Thuy                                 Neil Gaiman

Children’s Book Week 2018 – Winners

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Book Week is the longest running children’s festival in Australia, and was created in 1945 by the Children’s Book Council of Australia, a not for profit organization that strives to promote the best in Australian literature for kids and teens. The theme for this year was Find your Treasure.

The winners for 2018 are:
Older Readers Book of the Year (ages 13-18) – Take Three Girls by Cath Crowley et al.
Younger Readers Book of the Year (ages 8-12) – How to Bee by Bren MacDibble
Early Childhood Book of the Year (ages 0-7) – Rodney Looses It! by M.G. Bauer
Picture Book of the Year – A Walk in the Bush by Gwyn Perkins
Eve Pownall Book of the Year  – Do Not Lick this Book by I. Ben-Barak

Crichton Award for New Illustrators – Tintinnabula by M. Lanagan, illustrated by R. Cai

See winners and honour books of 2018 here.

All these wonderful books are available from Parramatta City Libraries. Borrow now!

V.S. Naipaul – Nobel Prize Laureate for literature

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Sir V.S. Naipaul, one of the most widely read and admired literary figures of the contemporary world, has died at the age of 85.

From his humble beginnings as a son of East Indian father in Trinidad Naipaul rose to the height of his literary career as a Nobel Prize laureate for literature. He dedicated his life to literature inspired by his father’s love of writing. The road towards recognition had not been easy as Naipaul struggled to find his authentic voice as a young foreign writer in 1950s London. In his writing Naipaul explored themes of identity, culture, religion and politics in the postcolonial world. His novels and travel writing brought him both accolades and criticism. His travel writing ranges far and wide and his works explore fates of colonial and postcolonial societies in Africa, India and West Indies.

V.S. Naipaul wrote over 30 books, both novels and non-fiction. He was knighted in 1989. He was awarded the David Cohen British Literature Prize by the Arts Council of England in 1993 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001. He was awarded honorary doctorates from Cambridge University and Columbia University in New York, and honorary degrees from the universities of Cambridge, London and Oxford.

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