Reading Matters

Carrie Tiffany's 'Mateship with Birds' wins first ever Stella Prize

Congratulations to Australian writer Carrie Tiffany, who won the inaugural Stella Prize for her novel Mateship with Birds in Sydney yesterday.

She gets $50,000 for her efforts, although I believe she has decided to distribute $10,000 of her prize-money to the five other writers on the shortlist — Courtney Collins, Michelle de Kretser, Lisa Jacobson, Cate Kennedy and Margo Lanagan — which is a rather lovely and generous thing to do.

In a media release issued after the award was announced, the chair of the Stella Prize judges, Kerryn Goldsworthy, said: "Mateship with Birds is a deceptively gentle-looking novel whose calm surface belies its many sharp and frank observations about the world. Set in country Victoria in the 1950s, it follows the fortunes of two people whose loneliness is offset by the many active strands of their daily lives: Harry, a farmer whose wife has left him for somebody else; and Betty, an aged-care nurse whose two children have no visible father.

"Tiffany uses the two main characters’ interactions with each other and with a small supporting cast to show the intricate interrelations not only between people, but also between human life and the natural world. There’s complex interdependence among species, and human behaviour is reflected in even the smallest, most attentively observed details of the lives of animals and birds."

You can read my review of the book here.

Stella Prize: inaugural short list is announced

If you heard me talking with Simon on The Readers podcast recently, you will remember I mentioned the Stella Prize. This is a new award in Australia for Australian women writers — the first prize is $50,000 (about £34,000).

Well, the shortlist has just been unveiled — and it's an exciting mix of subject matter and genre. If you are looking for some inspiration for the soon-to-be-here Australian Literature Month, this might be a good place to start.

Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser (Allen & Unwin) — published in the UK in hardcover and Kindle editions.

Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany (Picador) — published in the UK in hardcover and Kindle editions.

Like a House on Fire by Cate Kennedy (Scribe Publications) — not published in the UK, but the Book Depository offers to ship in 72 hours.

The Sunlit Zone by Lisa Jacobson (Five Islands Press) — not published in the UK (Five Islands Press is a small, independent publisher), but you can buy a Kobo edition online.

Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin) — not published in the UK.

The Burial by Courtney Collins (Allen & Unwin) — published in the UK on May 3.

The winner will be announced on 16 April.

UPDATE: David, who regularly comments here, informs me that Margo Lanagan's Sea Hearts was published in the UK last year under a different title — The Brides of Rollock Island. This is available in hardcover and Kindle editions. The paperback will be published on April 4.

Trevor and Simon talk about the Booker Prize

Sometimes it feels like every second person has a book blog, so it's nice to be occasionally reminded that the book blogging world is actually quite small and interconnected and that I am not so out of the loop after all.

Only yesterday, I was delighted to listen to my fellow Shadow Giller jury judge and US resident Trevor — from The Mookse and the Gripes — talking to my friend Simon Savidge on The Readers' Man Booker Prize Special podcast. I highly recommend you listen to their discussion about the Man Booker Prize and this year's shortlist (I even crack a very small mention!). Alternatively, you can get the podcast's RSS feed or subscribe to the weekly podcast on iTunes.

Man Booker shortlist unveiled: have this year's judges "saved" the prize?

Matthew Cain, the culture correspondent on Channel 4 News, says this year's shortlist confirms the Booker Prize's status (see video above).

It will be intriguing to see if he's right; the prize was mired in controversy last year and looked to have lost much respect, goodwill and public support. But, maybe, this year's judges have turned it around...?

The nominees are:

• Hilary Mantel: Bring up the Bodies
• Will Self: Umbrella
• Deborah Levy: Swimming Home
• Tan Twan Eng: The Garden of Evening Mists
• Alison Moore: The Lighthouse
• Jeet Thayil: Narcopolis

To find out more about each book and author, BBC Online provides a succinct rundown.

To discuss them, please visit the "unofficial" Booker forum set up by fellow Shadow Giller jury judge Trevor from The Mookse and The Gripes.

What do you think of the list? Have you read any of the shortlisted novels?

A (very British) Man Booker Prize longlist 2012

I know you're going to be seeing this everywhere, but the longlist for this year's Man Booker Prize was announced today and I couldn't help but mention it.

I haven't really followed this prize since 2006, but I still like to see what gets name-checked.

The longlist is:

• The Yips by Nicola Barker (Fourth Estate)

• The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman (Sceptre)

• Philida by André Brink (Harvill Secker)

• The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (Myrmidon Books)

• Skios by Michael Frayn (Faber & Faber)

• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (Doubleday)

• Swimming Home by Deborah Levy (And Other Stories)

• Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (Fourth Estate)

• The Lighthouse by Alison Moore (Salt)

• Umbrella by Will Self (Bloomsbury)

• Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil (Faber & Faber)

• Communion Town by Sam Thompson (Fourth Estate)

My initial impression? It's a hugely British list — the only "foreigners" are one Malaysian, one South African and one Indian. Where are the Canadians, the Australians, the Irish?

But the upside? It's nice to see some independent publishers in the mix. Plus, I own several of these books already — The Garden of Evening Mists, Skios and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry — so perhaps it's time I nudged them a little higher up the TBR?

Who do I think will win it? I have no idea... but as a long shot, how about Nicola Barker?

What do you think of this list? Have you read any books on it?

Christine Dwyer Hickey wins Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year award

Congratulations to Christine Dwyer Hickey, who has won this year's Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year award for The Cold Eye of Heaven, which I reviewed on the weekend.

The announcement was made on the opening day of Writers' Week, an annual literary festival held in County Kerry, Ireland.

Dwyer Hickey takes home €15,000.

A full rundown of winners can be viewed on the official Writers' Week website.

Authors' Walk of Fame, Toronto

You've heard of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And if you've ever been to Hong Kong you might be familiar with the Avenue of Stars.

But have you heard of the Authors' Walk of Fame in Toronto, Canada?

According to the official website, the Toronto Book Awards were established in 1974 to honour "books of literary or artistic merit that are evocative of Toronto". There were three winners in the first year: William Kurelek's O Toronto, Desmond Morton's Mayor Howland and Richard Wright's In the Middle of a Life.

The awards have been issued annually ever since — the finalists and winner share the $15,000 prize pool — and winners include everyone from Margaret Atwood (Cat's Eye, 1999) to Anne Michaels (Fugitive Pieces, 1997). (There is a full list of winners here.)

Sadly, the associated plaques on the Authors' Walk of Fame appear to have stopped in the early 1990s. Which is a shame. I really enjoyed accidentally (but not literally) stumbling upon the walk during my visit to Toronto earlier this month.

 

The walk is located near the Horseshoe Tavern on Queen Street West in Downtown Toronto.

Wouldn't it be great if more book awards were memorialised in this way? Which awards would you like to see set in stone?

Reading my way through the shortlist for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year

Last week there was a flurry of shortlist announcements for the Orange Prize, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award — amongst others — but one that slipped under the radar and didn't get much media attention was the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year.

This award, which is worth €15,000, is in its 17th year and is administered by Writers' Week, an annual literary festival held in Co. Kerry, Ireland. To be eligible, the novel must be written by an Irish author and published between 1 March 2011 and 1 March 2012.

This year's shortlist is very strong and comprises:

• Kevin Barry: City of Bohane
• Christine Dwyer Hickey: The Cold Eye of Heaven
• Anne Enright: The Forgotten Waltz (my review)
  
• Carlo Gébler: The Dead Eight
• Belinda McKeon: Solace (my review)

Given I have a penchant for Irish novels and have already read two from the list, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I thought I would read the rest before the winner is announced on May 30. I'm part-way through Carlo Gébler's novel and am finding it extraordinarily powerful, so goodness knows how the judges are going to choose a winner between this fine lot.

Have you read anything from this shortlist? Care to predict a winner?

Joseph O'Connor wins 2012 Irish PEN Award

Congratulations to Joseph O'Connor who has been awarded the prestigious 2012 Irish PEN Award.

He will be presented with the award by the Irish President Michael D Higgins at a dinner in Dublin next February.

The award is presented annually to an Irish-born writer who has made an outstanding contribution to Irish literature. Previous winners have included Colm Toibin (2011), Jennifer Johnston (2006) and John McGahern (2003).

You can find out more via the official Irish PEN website.

More information about Joseph O'Connor on Reading Matters:

• Joseph O'Connor's Triple Choice Tuesday selections

• Joseph O'Connor interview, part 1: 'Ghost Light' & Molly Allgood

• Joseph O'Connor interview, part 2: Irish literature and writing

• An evening with Joseph O'Connor at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith

• My review of Ghost Light

• My review of Star of the Sea
  

Winners of the Irish Book Awards 2011 announced

Thanks to BGE Book Club's twitter feed I was able to find out the results of this year's Irish Book Awards in real time — as they happened.

I was delighted to see Belinda McKeon's debut novel Solace win the Irish Newcomer of the Year Award and Alan Glynn's Bloodland take the Crime Fiction Award.

Here's a full rundown:

UPDATE (November 18): Here's how the Irish Times reported the event.