Multicultural Anthology

The Multicultural Writers Association of Australia is seeking submissions in prose (up to 5,000 words) and verse (up to 50 lines) for a national anthology. The anthology, with the proposed title 'Culture Is...' aims to share experiences of living in Australia.Submissions should be sent to:

The Secretary

Multicultural Writers Association of Australia

P O Box 192

Kent Town

SA 5071

Verse contributions can also be submitted via email: vbalnaves@hotmail.com

Further information is available from the Association's secretary, Vanessa Balnaves, at the above email or by phone, 0413 127 211.

From AustLit

Amnesty rebukes search engines

Human-rights group says filtered results hurt Chinese users Technology giants Yahoo, Google and Microsoft need to establish a stronger stance on human rights by revealing more details about how they're filtering information and cooperating with the government in China, Amnesty International said Thursday. Read on ... censorship

Kibble and Dobbie Awards for Women Writers Announced

From Austlit

Brenda Walker's The Wing of Night is the winner of the 2006 Nita B. Kibble Award.

The annual prize is awarded to a woman writer of 'a published book of fiction or nonfiction classifiable as "life writing".'

The Dobbie Award, a similar prize but for a first published book, went to Carrie Tiffany for Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living.

Walker was especially delighted with her win 'because it is a prize about women's connections, and my book is all about how rural women connected with each other when the men were away at war, and how the connections forced by the war led to unlikely alliances.' (Australian, 11 May 2006)

Judging panel chair Elizabeth Webby noted that 2006 was the first time in the Kibble's twelve-year history that all finalists were works of fiction. 'There have been several articles recently about the decline of literary fiction so it was a pleasure to see it was a particularly strong year for fiction.' (Sydney Morning Herald, 11 May 2006)

The other finalists were Heather Rose's The Butterfly Man and Kate Grenville's The Secret River

women writers, Australian literature

Website update

I have just updated the Communication web pages at Pivotal Points.

The new Success Tips are in Public Speaking and Communication.

The new articles are Practicing Servant-Leadership

and

What You Can Accomplish in 6 Minutes.

communication, public speaking, leadership, meetings

ABR Poetry Prize to Judith Bishop

Judith Bishop is the winner of the 2006 Australian Book Review (ABR) Poetry Prize with her poem, 'Still Life with Cockles and Shells'. The poem, a response to a 17th century Italian painting, is described by the judges as 'unfailingly poised and suggestive', with not an 'otiose or misplaced' word. Bishop, a linguist, portrays herself as 'a "globalist" when it comes to language, and also, therefore, to poetry. I am just in love with the fact that each language brings with it a new horizon of experience; and each good poem does the same in miniature.' (ABR, no. 280, April 2006)

From Austlit poetry

the downside of Google

The readers editor on ... the downside of Google Stephen Pritchard Back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, journalists seeking enlightenment and chasing a deadline relied on their dogeared contacts books to find experts, spokesmen and pundits. Today, we still reach for those phone numbers, but we also have an infinitely more powerful aid in our research - the internet. Search engines such as Google find acres of instant information and more 'experts' than you can shake a stick at, but every computer screen should carry the warning: 'Beware: all is not as it seems.' Read on … information literacy

Distinguished Poet Honoured in Premier's Awards

From Austlit

Rosemary Dobson, one of Australia's foremost poets, received the Special Award in the 2006 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. The Special Award is designed to recognise work 'not readily covered by the existing categories' or for a 'writer's achievements generally'. Dobson, who turns 86 in June, has published more than a dozen collections of poetry. Both her first and most recent selections were in booklet form, beginning with Poems (1937) and finishing – to date – with Folding the Sheets and Other Poems (2004).

Books in the intervening years include the prize-winning volumes The Three Fates and Other Poems (1984) and Untold Lives and Other Poems (2000). The citation for Dobson's award noted the remarkable circle of poets that gathered in the Canberra area in the 1970s. Among Dobson's acquaintances were David Campbell, A. D. Hope, R. F. Brissenden and Judith Wright; an assembly that generated fine writing and deep friendships.

The citation concludes: 'The level of originality and strength of Rosemary's poetry cannot be underestimated, nor can the contribution she has made to Australian literature. Her literary achievements, especially her poetry, are a testament to her talent and dedication to her art and we should feel honoured to know her.'

Other winners in the 2006 Awards include:

Kate Grenville for The Secret River (Fiction)

Jacob G. Rosenberg for East of Time (Non-Fiction)

Jaya Savige for Latecomers (Poetry)

Ursula Dubosarsky for Theodora's Gift (Young People's Literature)

Kierin Meehan for In the Monkey Forest (Children's Literature)

Steven Lang for An Accidental Terrorist (New Writing)

andThomas Murphy for 'Strangers In Between' (Drama)

A complete list of winners, with judges' comments, can be viewed on the Arts New South Wales website.

communication, Australian literature