The Irish Times interviews marathon runner cum Irish author Michael Collins. Swoon. (I've reviewed a few of his books here.)
The Miles Franklin Award shortlist has been announced. Sonya Hartnett's Butterfly, which I reviewed earlier in the week, has made the cut. Ditto for Craig Silvey's Jasper Jones, which I read last week but am yet to review. (By the way, Penguin is giving away 10 copies of Butterfly. The closing date is April 30.)
The Times interviews David Mitchell.
Canongate has published an extract of one of my reviews on its Meet At The Gate website. The independent publisher has also named RobAroundBooks as its Site of the Week. Yay, Rob!
We're in the midst of election fever here in the UK, so I'm loving Waterstone's Politician's Table, if only to wonder how many of the books have been personally selected by the MPs involved and how many have been selected by their spin doctors to push a certain message! Me? Cynical? Never!
Have you seen the Penguin Decades website? I've been drooling over it for a week or two. How I'd love to own the entire set, but £143.80 is pushing it a little!
The Desmond Elliott Prize 2010 longlist has been announced. The award is for a first novel published in the UK. I've read Simon Lelic's Rupture and Ali Shaw's The Girl With Glass Feet. A shortlist of three books will be announced on Wednesday 26 May.
The shortlist for the Orange New Writers' Award has been unveiled, and I'm delighted to see Evie Wyld's After the Fire, A Still Small Voice is on it. The winner will be announced on June 9.
