Tim Winton's novel Breath has won the Miles Franklin award
I've read it, as I've done many of Winton's other books, and enjoyed it, as I enjoyed them, despite sometimes taking a while to enter into the worlds he creates.
I'm neither a dancer, a surfer nor a paramedic, but do have adult children. I find the last words of the novel resonate with me. Speaking of his adult daughters, the narrator says
They probably don't understand this, but it's important for me to show them that their father is a man who dances - who saves lives and carries the wounded, yes, but who also does something competletely pointless and beautiful, and in this at least he should need no explanation.
At the award presentation ceremony Winton criticised proposed changes to Australian laws which are likely to make it harder for local authors to be published. For further information and to see a video click here .
Showing posts with label Literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Literature. Show all posts
20 June 2009
07 January 2008
City of lit...
Today's Age editorial "Melbourne: city of literature and literacy" supports Melbourne's case to be the second, after Edinburgh, UNESCO City of Literature.
Why any city needs UNESCO's imprimatur to boost its claim (or self-belief) that it is a centre of culture is beyond me, but if Melbourne and Melburnians aspire to it, then the best of luck to you.
I was particularly interested in other comments in the editorial, especially the connection between literature and literacy:
To have a city of literature also requires involvement through comprehension and understanding by those who are best positioned to take advantage of it: the population. These qualities, as with those of culture itself, are not speedily acquired but are the cumulative work of years or generations. The pleasure of reading, something once taken for granted in the best sense of the phrase, has become harder to achieve; in the age of email and text messaging and other forms of instant gratification, reading a book takes time and space in a hectic world full of distractions. Literature is slow food versus the take-away chook leg.
I'll leave you to read the rest for yourself if you're so inclined. I must get off the computer and back to a book. For the record, at present I'm dipping into several books and have two novels on the go (or, with the lure of cricket distracting me latterly, go slow): David Leavitt's The Indian Clerk and Alexis Wright's Carpentaria.
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Why any city needs UNESCO's imprimatur to boost its claim (or self-belief) that it is a centre of culture is beyond me, but if Melbourne and Melburnians aspire to it, then the best of luck to you.
I was particularly interested in other comments in the editorial, especially the connection between literature and literacy:
To have a city of literature also requires involvement through comprehension and understanding by those who are best positioned to take advantage of it: the population. These qualities, as with those of culture itself, are not speedily acquired but are the cumulative work of years or generations. The pleasure of reading, something once taken for granted in the best sense of the phrase, has become harder to achieve; in the age of email and text messaging and other forms of instant gratification, reading a book takes time and space in a hectic world full of distractions. Literature is slow food versus the take-away chook leg.
I'll leave you to read the rest for yourself if you're so inclined. I must get off the computer and back to a book. For the record, at present I'm dipping into several books and have two novels on the go (or, with the lure of cricket distracting me latterly, go slow): David Leavitt's The Indian Clerk and Alexis Wright's Carpentaria.
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