UK Crime Writers Association Dagger Winners

Colin Cotterill has won the Dagger in the Library; Tragic's favourite crime writer Fred Vargas alongside translator Sîan Reynolds have triumphed in the International Dagger for the third time in four years; Sean Chercover has won the Short Story Dagger and Catherine O’Keefe the Debut Dagger. Yes, they get real daggers but authors are very responsible citizens and only kill people by proxy in their novels.

The shortlists and winners for the Gold, John Creasey (New Blood) and Ian Fleming Steel Daggers will be published in the autumn, with the winners being announced on Wednesday, 21st October, 2009.

Full details

The New People's Choice Award- US National Book Award Reaches Out to the Great Unwashed

Manna from Heaven for Award Tragic. To celebrate it's 60th anniversary the USA National Book Award crew have set-up a Blog-a Day where every winner of the fiction prize from 1950 to 2008, will be revisited, dissected, commented upon and generally given a fresh airing.

Some 77 works of fiction will be considered by a group of writers associated with the awards who will each submit their top three. From this a short list of six will be announced and the public invited to vote.

Oh, the smell of democracy is rampant! Even the IVY League awards are having to pull back the shutters and invite public involvement to maintain relevance in the age of Twitter, My Space and giant plasma screens. Tragic has included a complete list of past National Fiction winners at the bottom of this blog.

To quote verbatim from the circular:

The blog will run from July 7th to September 21st, starting with Nelson Algren’s The Man With the Golden Arm, ending with Peter Matthiessen’s Shadow Country, and including works by Ralph Ellison, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, and Alice McDermott. Discover lesser known but equally talented National Book Award Fiction Winners such as Conrad Richter, Wright Morris, and Robb Forman Dew. Then, on September 21st, you will have a chance to select The Best of the National Book Awards Fiction and win two tickets to the 2009 National Book Awards by visiting the Foundation’s web site at www.nationalbook.org, the first time in its history the Awards will open to a public vote.

Danger of Exposure?
American literature came in for a scathing attack last year from Nobel Prize Permanent Secretary, Horace Engdahl (left) who said it's no coincidence that most winners of the Nobel Literature Prize are European.To quote:

"Of course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can't get away from the fact that Europe still is the centre of the literary world ... not the United States," . Speaking generally about American literature, he said U.S. writers are "too sensitive to trends in their own mass culture," dragging down the quality of their work." Ouch.

With the fiction winners of National Book Award Fiction Prize for the last 60 years on show, we will all get a chance to see if Horace was on the right track. Tragic rallied to the defence of US literature at the time, but having just reread some DeLillo and Carol Hall Oates he is no longer quite so sure! He suspects that there is a huge degree of cultural relativism inherent in the work of the nation's leading writers which, as a consequence, does not travel well. Wonder if Horace will read the shortlist?

Booker Influence? Booker Pitfalls!

The National seems to have borrowed the voting process from the somewhat ill-conceived Best of Booker, held to celebrate that prizes' 40th anniversary. The great unwashed got to vote on a dubious short list of six selected by some Judgeship luminaries. Despite the global prominence of the Booker, a mere 8,000 or so (unaudited?), bothered to vote. Let us hope that by opening up the process the National does not expose a glaring lack of interest in proceedings thus diminishing the sheen of mystery that surrounds this most esteemed prize.

All that was required to vote in the Booker, (as with other awards mentioned below) was an email address. Tragic has access, should he wish it, to thousands of email addresses through his book award listing empire . Hope someone is checking IP addresses in the process.

The Booker affair was criticised in some quarters as somewhat meaningless as many of the very books that had proved most popular with the public over the years, did not make the shortlist. The selection offered-up for public scrutiny was selected by the literati according to their no doubt rigorous criteri. The result, a set- menu chosen by an elite from which we then got to chose the 'very best dish' of all time.

The Booker, by the way, was won by Salman Rushdie for Midnight's Children, as was the 25th anniversary. Nothing better produced in the 15 years between 'Best Ofs'. Not a great success, despite the PR spin.

Other Awards Open to Public Vote

A number of other leading awards globally have sought to involve stakeholders.

The 2009 Irish Book Awards sought to maintain relevance by throwing open voting across some ten categories to a public vote, combined with an elaborate academy-based (vetting?) system from industry insiders. With more hype than an FA Cup final and sponsors dropping by the wayside at a rapid rate, we can't blame them for trying. Despite his rant against the process, Tragic was forced to back track slightly when the books that actually won were, mostly, quite fine (winners and blog here). Also, it sounded like everyone had fun.

More recently, one of Australia's leading leading awards, The New South Wales (NSW) Premier's Literary Prizes, threw open the shortlist of the Christina Stead Prize ($40,000 AUD) to a NSW public vote.

Tragic has not been privy to how many people actually voted but the great unwashed and the learned judges disagreed. The 2009 People's Choice Award for Fiction was won by Steve Toltz's – A Fraction of the Whole. whereas the Christina Stead was awarded to Joan London's The Good Parents. The latter was almost invisible to the public during the voting period with those of us interested enough having to seek out a copy whereas the Booker Prize shortlisted, A Fraction of the Whole, had been on the book stands for some time. Ironically, Tragic forgot to vote, and despite a having a group of literary friends, not a single one got involved. Oh dear.

Learning from Children's Choice
The most successful grass roots award processes are those revolving around Children's Choice Awards of which there are countless examples around the world. Check-out the list of one hundred or so Children & Young Adult Literary Awards Australia . Of course, Children's Choice Awards have the backing of school authorities, librarians et al, a captive and engaged audience in the young.

A Chance to Reach-out?

Tragic has also observed an almost zero interest in this prestigious prize outside of the USA. This is evidenced by a severe lack of visitor numbers (compared to others) to the award page hosted at Literary Awards Australia or visitors from outside the US to the page at Book Awards Online or LitAwards.com. Tragic might test this a little further by posting information about this initiative and details of past winners on his well frequented UK book award site, Literary Awards UK. Not holding his breath.

Perhaps this event presents an opportunity for the National to reach-out on behalf of American literary merit to reach-out to wider English speaking public, outside of the USA- putting aside Oscar Wilde's comment ' We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language'.

Postpone all Other Activity
The idea of examining past National winners is fun. Tragic has read 23 out of the 77 books, yet, despite being fully engaged with Book Award World, there is no way that he has the time to check-out blogs on some 77 works of fiction, however well constructed the narrative thread. He also wonders how many of those invited to consider the long long long list, will be across the works on offer?

Still, a bunch of roses to the organisers of the National for this initiative. Getting stakeholders, the reading public that is, involved is to be commended. Tragic looks forward to the Masonic like Pulitzer doing the same. For the thirty-three people who are old enough to have read every National Fiction Winner since 1950 it will no doubt be be particularly meaningful!

Let the Games Begin!
If Europe Central by William T. Vollmann gets on the shortlist Tragic swears he will give up book awards altogether. Likewise if The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard doesn't make it!

Tragic's top three pick? Challenging given 77 on offer!

2000 In America by Susan Sontag
1983 The Color Purple by Alice Walker
2003 The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard

Other picks
1960 Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth
1951 The Collected Stories by William Faulkner
1997 Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
2008 Shadow Country: A New Rendering of the Watson Legend by Peter Matthiessen
2006 The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

Special mentions to the 1975 winner, Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone . It was the first National Book Award Winner Tragic ever read. He is still trying to finish the 2007 winner, Tree of Smoke: A Novel by Denis Johnson so he can't comment ( Tragic's Dad liked it though).

Not sure whether the list below is of any help. The links connect to Powells Books data- base and includes all the books under consideration back to 1950.

National Book Award Fiction Winners 1950 to 2008

2008

Shadow Country: A New Rendering of the Watson Legend by Peter Matthiessen

Review
"Shadow Country is a magnum opus. Matthiessen is meticulous in creating characters, lyrical in describing landscapes, and resolute in dissecting the values and costs that accompanied the development of this nation." Seattle Times (read more)

2007

Tree of Smoke: A Novel by Denis Johnson

Review
"To write a fat 600-page novel about the Vietnam War nearly 35 years after it ended is an act of literary bravado. To do so as brilliantly as Denis Johnson has in 'Tree of Smoke' is positively a miracle..." Washington Post Book Review (read more)

2006

The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

Review
"[A] muscularly ambitious book, one that scatters small yet piercing revelations among the more thunderous ideas....Powers may well be one of the smartest novelists now writing." Los Angeles Times (read more)

2005

Europe Central by William T. Vollmann

Review
"Vollmann [is] a master of synthesis and an intense and compassionate writer....[A] work of compelling intimacy....Vollmann opens new portals onto a genocidal war never to be forgotten, and illuminates both the misery and beauty human beings engender." Booklist (Starred Review) (read more)

2004

The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck

Review
"Elegant.... Reading The News from Paraguay feels like looking into a crystal ball: seeing pieces of a garden, storm clouds building, lives passing." Los Angeles Times (read more)

2003

The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard

Review
"The Great Fire is one of the most sophisticated novels I've read in years. Beautiful writing and acute psychological insights." Mark, Powells.com (read more)

2002

Three Junes by Julia Glass

Review
"Three Junes almost threatens to burst with all the life it contains. Glass' ability to locate the immense within the particular, and to simultaneously illuminate and deepen the mysteries of her characters' lives, would be marvelous in any novelist. In a first-time novelist, it's extraordinary." Michael Cunningham (read more)

2001

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Review
"Ultimately The Corrections, with its emphasis on sibling rivalry, the break between generations, and the clash between pious bourgeois respectability and the slippery mores of this new and alien America, recalls no novel so much as John Cheever's The Wapshot Scandal. The Corrections is just as funny and sad and smart as that masterpiece, and Franzen, like Cheever, reminds us of the timelessness of human folly." Stewart O'Nan, The Atlantic (read more)

2000

In America by Susan Sontag

Review
"Susan Sontag's new novel is a brilliant and profound investigation into the fate of thought and culture in America. Like her last novel, The Volcano Lover, In America masquerades as historical fiction, flaunting the stuff of drama and romance. It is something restless, hybrid, disturbing, original....Sontag gives us a convincing portrait of an artist who is losing her way, and it would be a pity if all the structural brilliance that surrounds her were to distract readers from her imperious, self-dramatizing and fallible character." Mark Rozzo, Los Angeles Times (read more)

1999

Waiting by Ha Jin

Review
"Ha Jin profoundly understands the conflict between the individual and society, between the timeless universality of the human heart and constantly shifting politics of the moment. With wisdom, restraint, and empathy for all his characters, he vividly reveals the complexities and subtleties of a world and a people we desperately need to know." Judges' Citation, National Book Award (read more)

1998

Charming Billy by Alice McDermott

Review
"McDermott fashions her story out of an accumulation of hints and evasions, secrets and lies. Emotions are closeted, muffled, purged. There are no explosive confrontations, no charged recriminations. Yet the drama is enormous, arising from the tension of what isn't said. Billy, an innocent who couldn't fathom that life is neither poetry nor prayer, is the silent center of a superbly crafted novel." Dan Cryer, Salon (read more)

1997

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

Publisher Comments
Based on stories in the author's family, this novel is about a wounded Civil War soldier who walks away from the hospital and finds his arduous way home to his sweetheart – a cultured young woman who has been forced to learn the brutal ways of farm life. The stories of the two lovers are intertwined; when they converge, they find that their worlds have changed radically, and so have they. (read more)

1996

Ship Fever and Other Stories by Andrea Barrett

Publisher Comments
The love of science, the science of love – and the struggle to reconcile the two – are the subjects of this remarkable collection, stories and a novella. Interweaving historical and fictional characters, these stories move between past and present as they negotiate the complex territory of ambition, failure, achievement, and shattered dreams. (read more)

1995

Sabbath's Theater by Phillip Roth

Publisher Comments
Mickey Sabbath, an aging, misanthropic puppeteer, embarks on a journey into his checkered past when his long-time mistress dies. His journey turns into succession of disasters. And while Sabbath wants to die, he still has too much life in him to succumb. (read more)

1994 A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis
1993 The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
1992 All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
1991 Mating by Norman Rush
1990 Middle Passage by Charles Johnson
1989 Spartina by John Casey
1988 Paris Trout by Pete Dexter
1987 Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann
1986 World's Fair by E.L. Doctorow
1986 Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez
1985 White Noise by Don Delillo
1985 Easy in the Islands (1st Novel Award) by Bob Shacochis
1984 Stones for Ibarra (1st Novel Award) by Harriet Doerr
1984 Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist
1983 The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
1983 The Collected Stories by Eudora Welty
1983 The Color Purple by Alice Walker
1982 Dale Loves Sophie to Death (1st Novel Award) by Robb Forman Dew
1982 Rabbit is Rich by John Updike
1981 Plains Song by Wright Morris
1981 Sister Wolf (1st Novel Award) by Ann Arensberg
1980 Birdy (1st Novel Award) by William Wharton
1980 Sophie's Choice by William Styron
1980 The World According to Garp by John Irving
1979 Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien
1978 Blood Ties by Mary Lee Settle
1977 The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner
1977 Master Tung`s Western Chamber Romance by Li Li Chen
1976 JR by William Gaddis
1975 The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams
1975 Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
1974 Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
1974 A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer
1973 Augustus by John Williams
1973 Chimera by John Barth
1972 The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor
1971 Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow
1970 Them by Joyce Carol Oates
1969 Steps by Jerzy Kosinski
1968 The Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
1967 The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
1966 The Collected Stories by Katherine Anne Porter
1965 Herzog by Saul Bellow
1964 The Centaur by John Updike
1963 Morte d'Urban by J.F. Powers
1962 The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
1961 The Waters of Kronos by Conrad Richter
1960 Goodbye Columbus by Philip Roth
1959 The Magic Barrell by Bernard Malamud
1958 Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever
1957 The Field of Vision by Wright Morris
1956 Ten North Frederick by John O'Hara
1955 A Fable by William Faulkner
1954 The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
1953 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
1952 From Here to Eternity by James Jones
1951 The Collected Stories by William Faulkner
1950 The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren

2009 Desmond Elliott Prize

5/4 bookies favourite, Blackmoor, , by Edward Hogan has won the £10,000 prize named for the literary agent and publisher. Mr. Hogan was delighted- he is, apparently, totally skint. Ah writing. The glamour.

The book had previously been shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and was a runner-up for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. Tragic understands he only got £500 for that. Hopefully he put the lot on with the bookies to win the Elliott.

The Desmond Elliott Prize 2009 panel of judges was chaired by Candida Lycett Green, former Literary Editor of The Independent on Sunday, Suzi Feay, and Rodney Troubridge of Waterstone's the UK bookseller.

Tragic maintains Elliott prize summary pages at Literary Awards UK and Literary Awards Australia- official site link below.

Winner

* Blackmoor by Edward Hogan (right) (Simon & Schuster)

ISBN: 9781847391261
Format: Paperback

A Shakespearian tragedy in the heart of the Derbyshire moors: a woman whose face doesn't fit; a child left without a mother; a love that lasts forever.

Beth is an albino, half blind, and given to looking at the world out of the corner of her eye. Her neighbours in the Derbyshire town of Blackmoor have always thought she was 'touched', and when a series of bizarre happenings shake the very foundations of the village, they are confirmed in their opinion that Beth is an ill omen. The neighbours say that Beth eats dirt from the flowerbeds, and that smoke rises from her lawn. By the end of the year, she is dead. More

About the Prize

The Desmond Elliott Prize is a new prize for a first novel written in English and published in the UK. Worth £10,000 to the winner, the prize is named after the literary agent and publisher, Desmond Elliott.

Charismatic, witty, and waspish, Elliott lived his life with sparkle. He drank only champagne, always crossed the Atlantic on Concorde and lunched at Fortnum and Mason. His office was in Mayfair and he had houses in St James’s and on Park Avenue. Desmond Elliott’s ethos to support new writers will live on in the shape of the prize.

When choosing the winner, a panel of 3 judges will look for a novel which creates a “buzz”, a book with “word of mouth” appeal. In addition, the judges will look for the following qualities:

* a novel which is a page-turner but which makes you pause for thought
* an intelligent book with broad appeal

Arthur Ross Book Award 2009

A book award at the serious end of town, the annual Arthur Ross Book Award recognises books that make an outstanding contribution to the understanding of foreign policy or international relations. The prize, endowed by Arthur Ross in 2001, is for nonfiction works (including biography) from the past two years, in English or translation, that merit special attention for:

* bringing forth new information that can change our understanding of events or problems;
* developing analytical approaches that allow new and different insights into a key issue;
* or providing new ideas to help resolve foreign-policy problems.

The award consists of a USD$30,000 first prize, a USD$15,000 second prize, and a USD$7,500 honorable mention.

Tragic is delighted to see that the former Australian politician, and now globe-trotting Diplomat, Gareth Evans, got an Honorable Mention this year for The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and For All . An important book. The winning book, Philip P. Pan, Out of Mao's Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China, is probably a must read for us all given the rise and rise of China.

Tragic maintains an award summary page at Literary Awards Australia.

2009 Winners of the Arthur Ross Book Award:

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Gold Medal Philip P. Pan, Out of Mao's Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China (Simon & Schuster)- More than fifteen years after the fall of the Soviet Union, China is engaged in the largest experiment in authoritarianism in the world. By launching market reforms while continuing to restrict political freedom, the Chinese Communist Party has challenged the Western assumption that economic growth must lead to political liberalization - an assumption at the core of UK and American foreign policy. At the same time, the struggle for democratic change is reaching a crescendo, marking a moment in the history of modern China as uncertain and consequential as the rise of Mao's cult of personality, or the run-up to the Tiananmen Square massacre. From the booming cities of Beijing and Shanghai to the rural communities of the vast countryside, this ground-breaking book introduces us to some of the courageous people who are dedicated to more

Silver Medal Ahmed Rashid - Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia (Penguin Group) -

After September 11th , Ahmed Rashid’s crucial book Taliban introduced American readers to that now notorious regime. In this new work, he returns to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia to review the catastrophic aftermath of America’s failed war on terror. Called “Pakistan’s best and bravest reporter” by Christopher Hitchens, Rashid has shown himself to be a voice of reason amid the chaos of present-day Central Asia. Descent Into Chaos is his blistering critique of American policy—a dire warning and an impassioned call to correct these disasterous strategies before these failing states threaten global stability and bring devastation to our world.

About the Author
Ahmed Rashid is a Pakistani journalist based in Lahore who writes for the The Washington Post, Daily Telegraph (London), the International Herald Tribune, The New York Review of Books, BBC Online, and The Nation. His previous books include Jihad, Taliban, and The Resurgence of Cetral Asia. He appears regularly on NPR, CNN, and the BBC World Service. --

Honorable Mention Gareth Evans - The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and For All (Brookings Institution Press) - After the Holocaust, the world vowed it would never again permit such mass atrocity crimes, yet many have since gone unchecked, from the killing fields of Cambodia to the machetes of Rwanda to the ongoing nightmare in Darfur. Gareth Evans, president of the International Crisis Group, explains this lack of government action. In a more hopeful vein, however, he also shows how the emergence of a new international norm can protect the peoples of the world from mass crimes. The Responsibility to Protect (or R2P) concept was born in 2001 and embraced at the UN World Summit in 2005. The heart of this new international norm is the belief that if sovereign governments fail to protect their own people from genocide, ethnic cleansing, or other major crimes against humanity, then the wider international community must take whatever action is appropriate. The new norm emphasizes assistance and prevention, not coercion, but it also accepts that it is sometimes right to fight. More

About the Author
Gareth Evans is co-chair of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. Evans is former president and CEO of the International Crisis Group, a leading international nongovernmental organization advising on conflict prevention and resolution. He came to ICG in 2000, after eight years as Australia's foreign minister.No one could be more qualified to write this book. Evans co-chaired the Canadian-sponsored International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty that initiated the Responsibility to Protect idea in 2001, and he was a member of the UN Secretary General's High Level Panel that in 2004 proposed its adoption by the World Summit. He won the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas ImprovingWorld Order for his 1994 Foreign Policy article, Cooperative Security and Intra-State Conflict

New Zealand Aetearoa High Book Award Appreciation Zone

With a population of a mere 4 million New Zealand/Aetearoa is perhaps best known by many as the beautiful setting for the Lord of the Rings movies. But, judging by the visitor numbers to Tragic's very new site, Book Awards NZ, the land is home to a well-read population

Tragic maintains a number of national literary award sites all of which receive a gratifying number of 'hits' (to use net parlance), considering the subject matter (as a friend said the other day, "lets face it, all you do really is post lists and details of award winning books" - ah but what books, what lovely books). Eight times out of ten, those darling visitors who chose to support Tragic's obsession by buying a book via the partnership links provided, do not buy award winning books, but something else that takes their fancy. Fair enough.

Not so New Zealanders, and to a lessor extent Australians.

Tragic, who has more than once contemplated living in the land of the Long White Cloud, is impressed with the support that locals show for their award winning authors and those of other lands. Google analytics also shows that New Zealanders, per capita, search for the term 'book awards' more than any other country. NZ's enlightened views on nuclear weapons, genetic engineering etc now make much more sense.

The nation also boasts a number of excellent Book Blogs, including Beattie's Book Blog, penned by a former Managing Director/Publisher of Penguin Books NZ Ltd, and Scholastic NZ Ltd, Graham Beattie. Tragic follows his blog from a discreet distance and never ceases to be impressed by his local knowledge and insights. Recommended.

Now, if only the All Blacks could pick-up their game a bit. Perhaps a few award winning book reads or a few motivational books from the sports category at Best Books NZ might assist? Tragic's money is on the Wallabies in the forthcoming test series. Maybe the next Rugby World Cup in 2011 will be the moment when New Zealand's promise finally reaches fruition on home soil? A gratuitous travel tip. If you are visiting NZ in the next few weeks, whatever you do, don't mention the French.

Yes. Caught. The whole blog was just an excuse to publish the cartoon that Tragic's alter-ego, Kev Parker designed above, plus to squeeze in a comment about the noble game on a book blog. Must be the weekend looming. Watch out for tenuous book awards meets the Tour de France comments in weeks ahead.

Spear's Book Awards- What the Wealthy Read?

Tragic believes that Spears are a wealth management company based in the UK. May be wrong. Nonetheless, they have introduced a new annual Literary Award which recognised the inaugural winners across six categories in London at a suitably elegant lunch a few days ago. Tragic was not on the invite list and instead enjoyed a cheese and pickle sandwich and a cup of English Breakfast on the verge outside the local brick works.

It has apparently been a difficult year for high wealth individuals, not that they are getting, nor would they expect, a whole lot of sympathy from the lumpen proletariat. A bold move then to launch a book award that has such categories as Coffee Table and Family History - the latter not being intended for the family history of the likes of us of course.

Whilst Tragic may be falling into the ' be not too radical when young lest ye become too conservative when old' category, the books that have made the inaugural short lists and winners circle are excellent. In evidence a slightly reflective theme of 'what the hell went wrong' with it all.

It is impossible to go past a title like Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe. Gillian Tett's no-holds barred book won the Financial Book of the Year category. Could there be a severe outbreak of Noblesse Oblige afoot as those who have achieved the pinnacle of wealth refelct on what has passed?

The Biography of the Year was won by Jackie Wullschlager's elegant , Chagall: Love and Exile , whilst the rare category of, Financial History Book of the Year, was won by Liaquat Ahamed's timely, Lords of Finance: 1929, the Great Depression and the Bankers Who Broke the World. For the voyeuristic amongst us, the Coffee-Table Book of the Year was won by Robert Murphy and Ivan Terestchenko for, The Private World of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge.

Hilary Mantel's, Wolf Hall, must be a very fine work to have beaten off a stand-out short list in the novel category. No doubt tickets for her appearence at the inaugural Budleigh Saterton Literary Festival in September, will go through the roof. The winner of the Family History of the Year category was Adam Nicolson, for Sissinghurst , (now a BBC series?).

A welcome addition to Literary Award World with a flying start for the Spears' with quality books. Their various judgeships are to be complimented. The full shortlist (with a list of judges for the curious) can be viewed at Tragic's British book award site, Literary Awards UK. along with official site links etc. Book links below to UK/US Blackwell books.

The only question remaining is how does a low wealth individual such as Tragic get to snuffle a few truffles this lifetime?

2009 Spear's Book Award Winners

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Financial Book of the Year
Gillian Tett, Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe (Little, Brown) - In the mid 1990s, at a vast hotel complex on a private Florida beach, dozens of bankers from JP Morgan gathered for what was to become a legendary off-site meeting. It was a wild weekend. But among the drinking, nightclubbing and fist-fights lay a more serious purpose - to assess the possibility of building a business around the new-fangled concepts of credit derivatives. More

Financial History Book of the Year
Liaquat Ahamed, Lords of Finance: 1929, the Great Depression and the Bankers Who Broke the World (William Heinemann) - Many of us take it as a given that the Great Depression resulted from a confluence of inexorable forces beyond any one person or government's control. This title explains how it was the decisions taken by a small number of central bankers that... More

Biography of the Year
Jackie Wullschlager, Chagall: Love and Exile (Allen Lane) - 'This is a masterly biography. Jackie Wullschlager has a painter's eye, a historian's grasp of context and a novelist's pace and momentum. She gives back to Chagall's paintings the sharpness and strangeness that they had for his contemporaries, and she makes the story of his life so gripping that I couldn't put the book down' - Hilary Spurling. More

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Family History of the Year
Adam Nicolson, Sissinghurst (HarperPress) - A fascinating account from award-winning author Adam Nicolson of the history of Nicolson's own national treasure, his family home: Sissinghurst. . More

Novel of the Year
Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall (Fourth Estate)- Lock Cromwell in a deep dungeon in the morning,' says Thomas More, 'and when you come back that night he'll be sitting on a plush cushion eating larks' tongues, and all the gaolers will owe him money.' England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the... More

Coffee-Table Book of the Year
Robert Murphy and Ivan Terestchenko - The Private World of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge (Thames & Hudson) - The star pieces from fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent's art collection includes works by Cezanne, Picasso, Mondrian and Matisse. Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge amassed the collection together before the designers death in June 2008. More

Dundee International Book Prize for Emerging Writers Winner

Tragic always thought that Dundee in Scotland was a quiet sort of city and has enjoyed a few pleasant visits there over the years. Judging by the drama inherent in the novels produced by local writers about the city and its history, it appears that he is quite mistaken. The recently announced winner of the Dundee International Book Prize for emerging writers , awarded during the Literary Dundee Festival, is no exception.

Local crime writer, Chris Longmuir (left) has won the 2009 Dundee International Book Prize for her gritty crime novel Dead Wood.

Dead Wood was selected from over a hundred entries . She received a £10,000 cash prize and a publishing contract with Birlinn Ltd, publishers of the Polygon imprint, Ms. Longmuir said that she is: “ Over the moon. It really has been a long haul and it feels so fantastic to see my book on the shelves of local bookstores.” Wonderful. Tragic imagines there have been a few sheets ripped from the typewriter in frustration over the years to get to this point.

Tragic enjoyed reading, Claire-Marie Watson's - The Curewife, a winner back in 2002. The award has been given every couple of years since 2000 but is due to be awarded annually from next year. Excellent, too few awards for emerging writers.

One thing that does bemuse Tragic is why the prize is called the Dundee International Book Prize when the the subject matter, and the authors, are all so very local?

Tragic has put up summary page for the Dundee at Literary Awards UK and provides a brief description of the Dundee Literary Festival at Literary Festivals UK. The latter is all over for another year (ended 28th June), but sounded like a fine affair.

About Dead Wood - [ can't find any cover art)

The winning novel Dead Wood, set in the industrial city of Dundee, begs the question; what happens when the cold, calculating world of gangland retribution collides with the psychosis of a serial killer?

In a grim Dundee of urban decay and criminal deprivation what happens when the cold, calculating world of gangland retribution collides with the psychosis of a serial killer? Kara has a debt to gangster Tony and takes to the streets to earn the cash. On a job she encounters the killer's victims' dumped in the woods just outside the city. Terrified, she escapes, making an anonymous phone call to the police. An investigation led by newcomer DC Louise Walker begins, but she is not the only one determined to catch the killer. Tony, devastated to learn that his daughter is one of the victims, vows revenge. Who will find the killer first? And what kind of justice will prevail? More

Previous Winners

2007 - Fiona Dunscombe - The Triple Point of Water

The novel tells the story of Harri, a stripper who believes in magic and is haunted by two very different images of her father. Her friend, Saf, searches among London's homeless for a dad she no longer remembers, whilst another young woman struggles to come to terms with what her father does for a living. In a decade presided over by Britain's first female prime-minister, absent fathers, fantasy fathers, psuedo fathers, religious, and transgressive fathers, haunt and protect, love, lie and desert; Harri's task is to find her own identity somewhere between them.

Growing up in rural Nottinghamshire, Arabella Cordon sees life through a filter of fairytales. She idolises her father, but his enthusiasm is reserved for steam engines, motorcycles and Margaret Thatcher. On the day Thatcher comes to power, Arabella's life changes irrevocably. Alone and adrift in London, she takes a job as a striptease artist in Soho and makes friends with Saf, who is searching for her lost father amongst the city's homeless. Unlike Saf, Arabella is determined to leave the past behind, but she is haunted by the ghosts of fathers - missing fathers, pseudo fathers, fantasy fathers. In the icy years presided over by Britain's first female prime minister, Arabella's own identity and survival are inextricably linked to the question of what a father is. More

2005 - Malcolm Archibald - Whales for the Wizard.

The adventure story is based around the whaling industry in Dundee in the 1860’s and its fast-paced and detailed narrative truly captures the spirit of the time.

Set in 1860, Whales for the Wizard is a novel of intrigue and mystery. Returning to Dundee after years in the army, Robert Douglas finds employment with George Gilbride, a whaling-ship owner and businessman, but falls foul of the sinister John Wyllie. Drugged by Wyllie, Douglas awakes on board the steam-whaler Redgauntlet, bound for the Arctic, to realise that many of his companions believe the ship is haunted and do not expect to return.

The voyage sees the unravelling of a year-old mystery as Douglas clashes with, then befriends 'Bully' Houston, the ship's mate, and together they locate a sister ship that was believed lost in the ice. By finding clues from various sources, they decide that Wyllie was the source of many unpleasant happenings, and their respect deepens on a difficult journey homewards.

Their problems are not resolved until they return to Dundee, when Gilbride's daughter Ellen helps to solve the final mystery and they discover the real force behind their problems. Whales for the Wizard combines a sea story with the atmosphere of an industrial city undergoing immense change. More

2002 - Claire-Marie Watson - The Curewife

The Curewife - In the reign of Charles I, Grissel Jaffray, The Curewife, arrived in Dundee as a new bride. This compelling story, based on the very few known facts about her life, graphically depicts seventeenth-century Dundee: a time of war, plague, political turmoil, and fanatical witch-hunts.

The Curewife is the story of Grissel Jaffray, the last woman to be burnt as a witch in Dundee. Her story is brought to light by the chance discovery of an ancient diary in modern day Connecticut. Through the transcription of this diary, a powerful narrative unfolds. Grissel Jaffray has inherited a legacy of 'uncommon sagacity': the accumulated knowledge of her forebears who have the gift of healing and practiced withcraft for more than three centuries. Grissel is a woman of keen intelligence whose fictional journal graphically depicts life in seventeenth-century Dundee: a land of war, plague, political turmoil, and fanatical witch-hunts. The struggle for survival echoes down the years to trouble the last of her tormented line. Now the place is New England, a place of peace prosperity and endless possibility. Her descendants' stories, told in parallel with main narrative, bring ancient fears to today's business world.Winner of the Dundee Book Prize 2002. More

2000 - Andrew Murray Scott won the first Dundee Book Prize with his novel Tumulus

Tumulus - the name refers to an ancient burial mound - is a tale in two parts. The first tells the storyvia the narrator, the second investigates it. Tumulus details bohemian Dundee through the 60s and 70s to the present day blending fact, myth, pub tales and autobiograhical account. Andrew Murray Scott is a graduate of the University of Dundee and now works as a press officer. Three further novels by Andrew have been published; 'Estuary Blue', 'The Mushroom Club' and 'The Big J'.

An enigmatic and prize-winning first novel from a vibrant new voice on the fiction scene: Andrew Murray Scott. Tumulus tells the story of an archivist, Stella Auld, who, in the course of putting together an exhibition focusing on 70s urban culture, unearths a mysterious manuscript from that psychedelic decade. Enthralled by the outrageous accounts of parties, urban myth, drug-taking, drunken heroism and artistic ambitionthe manuscript contains, she decides to embark upon an investigation to track down the author. But, as many false trails and versions of the truth start to appear through her investigations, and as the boundaries between the fictional lives of the characters and Stella's own reality begin to break down, her sanity begins to suffer... Does she really walk two miles naked in the dark to burrow her way inside an archaeological site - or was that a dream? In the end she is forced to make an appeal to the reader to solve the enigma at the heart of the novel. This is a riotous and hilarious account of a middle-aged woman forced to reassess her conception of herself as a respectable citizen. A mix of raw humor, irony, black sarcasm and enigma, Tumulus presents the reader with a literary puzzle, stories within stories, and a mystery within a mystery. This is experimental modern fiction at its most stylish and unexpected.

Hans Christian Andersen Awards 2010 - Contenders

Always an event of importance in Literary Award World, the Hans Christian Andersen Awards announced their 2010 contenders a few months back. Posted here by request. Tragic maintains a summary page at Book Awards Online where there are some slideshows displaying the cover art from winning authors and illustrators over the years. Delicious.

Presented every two years by IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) to an author and an illustrator whose complete works have made an important and lasting contribution to children's literature. IBBY National Sections from 33 countries have made their selections, submitting the following 29 authors and 27 illustrators as candidates for the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Awards:

Country	Author	Illustrator
Argentina	Liliana Bodoc	Luis Scafati
Austria	Heinz Janisch	Linda Wolfsgruber
Belgium	Pierre Coran	Carll Cneut
Brazil	Bartolomeu Campos de Queirós	Roger Mello
Canada	Brian Doyle	Marie-Louise Gay
China	Liu Xianping
Croatia		Svjetlan Junakóvić
Cyprus	Maria Pyliotou
Czech Republic	Pavel Šrut	Jiří Šalamoun
Denmark	Louis Jensen	Lilian Brøgger
Finland	Hannu Mäkelä	Salla Savolainen
France	Jean-Claude Mourlevat	Grégoire Solotareff
Germany	Peter Härtling	Jutta Bauer
Greece	Loty Petrovits-Andrutsopulou	Diatsenta Parissi
Iran	Ahmad Reza Ahmadi
Ireland	Eoin Colfer	P.J. Lynch
Japan	Shuntaro Tanikawa	Akiko Hayashi
Lithuania		Kęstutis Kasparavičius
Mexico	Alberto Blanco	Fabricio Vanden Broeck
Mongolia	Dashdondog Jamba
Netherlands	Peter van Gestel	Harrie Geelen
Norway	Bjørn Sortland	Thore Hansen
Russia		Nickolay Popov
Serbia	Zoran Božović
Slovak Republic	Ján Uličiansky	Peter Uchnár
Slovenia	Tone Pavček	Ančka Gošnik Godec
Spain	Jordi Sierra i Fabra	Xan López Domínguez
Sweden	Lennart Hellsing	Anna-Clara Tidholm
Switzerland		Etienne Delessert
Turkey	Muzaffer İzgü	Can Göknil
Uganda	Evangeline Ledi Barongo
United Kingdom	David Almond	Michael Foreman
USA	Walter Dean Myers	Eric Carle

The elected Chair of the International Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury, Zohreh Ghaeni (Iran) and Jury members from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States of America, will meet in March 2010 to select from among these 56 nominations the winners of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Awards.

The results will be made public at the Bologna Children's Book Fair, Monday, 22 March 2010 and the Awards will be presented to the winners at the 32nd IBBY Congress in Santiago de Compostela, Spain on 11 September 2010

UK Carnegie and Greenaway Medal Winners vs Caldecott, Newberry et al

The Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal (Illustration) are probably the United Kingdoms two most anticipated, and certainly most prestigious Children's Book Awards. They have just released their winners for 2009.

In Tragic's opinion, the Carnegie and Greenaway are directly comparable to the United State's Caldecott (Illustration) and Newbery Medal. Australia's equivalent lies in the Children's Book Council of Australia Awards (Older Readers & Picture Book categories) and the Crichton Award for New Illustrators.

New Zealand/Aetearoa has the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, which has a Book of the Year plus a Picture Book category, and, more specifically, the Russell Clarke Award for the artist who has produced the most distinguished pictures or illustrations for a children's book with, or without, text. There are also the other New Zealand Librarian's LIANZA prizes (Russel C is one).

Canada has a plethora of gorgeous Children's Book Awards, but arguably the most comparable prize is the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon for Illustration. Tragic is not entirely sure what the lead Canadian equivalent of the Carnegie Medal is - perhaps the The Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature or the newish TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award? Will give that some thought before putting books forward.

All of the prizes mentioned choose quality books evidenced by the number that are still in print many years after initial publication. The winners of this years Carnegie and Greenaway Medals should prove no exception. The Carnegie winner, Bog Child , by the late Siobhan Dowd, will almost certainly become a classic. It was also the winner of Ireland's leading award the, CBI Bisto Award Leabhar-Ghradaim Book of the Year. Indeed, all of Siobhan's books are exemplary. Blessed we were by her presence.

Tragic thought it might be nice to put the winners of each of the prizes mentioned above side-by -side for comparison. Interestingly, few books seem to achieve 'classical' status, or even sell well, across all English speaking nation's often resonating in their country of origin only. Cultural relativity?

There are exceptions over the years, a few of which come to mind, no doubt there are others. The amazing Dr. Seuss books, celebrated by the annual Theodor Seuss Geisel Award; England's Roald Dahl, celebrated with new Roald Dahl Funny Prize; the evergreen Pipi Longstocking books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is the world's richest children's prize and was won a few years back by another writer who, whilst she has yet to crack America, is hugely popular in her home country of Australia and in Europe, Sonya Hartnett.

The links below will take you to award summary pages somewhere in Tragic' award winning book list realm, or to various retailers data-bases for more information. Historic winners lists can be found on various summary pages or go to Literary Awards Australia for the complete sheebang.

2009 Carnegie Medal Winner

Winner DOWD, SIOBHAN Bog Child
(Age range: 12+)

Digging for peat in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus finds something that makes his heart stop. Curled up deep in the bog is the body of the child. And it looks as if she’s been murdered. As Fergus tries to make sense of the troubled world around him (it is 1980s Ireland), a little voice come to him in his dreams and the mystery of the bog child unfurls. More

Judges: This is a beautifully written and controlled novel, strong on dialogue but with some beautiful descriptive phrases as well. The dual narrative is deftly done and Dowd is very good on family relationships and the atmosphere of the times. The ending is satisfying, and the whole believable and unflinching

2009 Kate Greenaway Medal Winner

Rayner, Catherine Harris Finds His Feet
Publisher: Little Tiger Press ISBN: 9781845065898Little Tiger Press (Age range: 3+)
ISBN: 9781845065898

Harris, a very small hare with very big feet goes out with his Grandad and finds out not only how to hop high into the sky, climb to the tops of the mountains and run very fast, but also about the importance of finding his own feet. More

Judges comments:Harris is a triumph from the way he moves and his expressions to his velvety fur and his hands and feet. His relationship with his Grandad is beautifully evoked as are the times of day and the textures of the exquisite landscapes around him. Shortlist

Recent winners Caldecott medal

2009

The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson and Beth Krommes

Review
"This picture book will make a strong impression on listeners making their first acquaintance with literature. It is a masterpiece that has all the hallmarks of a classic that will be loved for generations to come." School Library Journal (read more)

2008

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Review
"With characteristic intelligence, exquisite images, and a breathtaking design, Selznick shatters conventions related to the art of bookmaking....This is a masterful narrative that readers can literally manipulate." School Library Journal (Starred Review) (read more)

2007

Flotsam by David Wiesner

Powells.com Staff Pick
A day at the beach like no other! A boy finds an old camera that has washed ashore and thus begins an incredible story-in-pictures. As beautiful and intriguing as any of his previous books, Flotsam is a Wiesner classic — a treat for kids and adults alike. (read more)

Recent Winners Newbery Medal

2009

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Powells.com Staff Pick
Neil Gaiman has once again created a world filled with both dark humor and adventure. Nobody Owens, orphaned as an infant, is raised by the ghosts, ghouls, and werewolves of a graveyard. Exciting and oddly touching!
Recommended by Rachael, Powells.com (read more)

2008

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz

Synopsis
Maidens, monks, and millers' sons — in these pages, readers will meet them all. There's Hugo, the lord's nephew, forced to prove his manhood by hunting a wild boar; sharp-tongued Nelly, who supports her family by selling live eels; and the peasant's daughter, Mogg, who gets a clever lesson in how to save a cow from a greedy landlord. (read more)

2007

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

Synopsis
Lucky, age ten, doesn't expect running away to be so complicated. A large cast of magnanimous surprises awaits her when she plans to hide from her guardian in the Mojave Desert. (read more)

Australia Children's Book Council Awards

CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers Readers

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2008 Sonya Hartnett The Ghost's Child Viking Books
2007 Margo Lanagan Red Spikes Allen and Unwin
2006 J.C. Burke The Story of Tom Brennan Random House

Crichton Award for New Illustrators

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2008 - Anna Walker Santa's Aussie Holiday

2007 - Vince Agostino When Elephants Lived in the Sea

2006 - Jeremy Geddes The Mystery of the Eilean Mor

Winners CBCA Picture Book of the Year

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2008 Matt Ottley Requiem for a Beast Lothian
2007 Shaun Tan The Arrival Lothian

2006 Colin Thompson The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley Lothian |

2005 Alison Lester Are We There Yet? A Journey Around Australia Viking Books
2004 Joan Grant, illus. Neil Curtis Cat and Fish Lothian

New Zealand Post

New Zealand Post Book of the Year Winner 2009

The 10PM Question

By Kate De Goldi

Frankie Parsons is twelve going on old man, an apparently sensible, talented boy with a drumbeat of worrying questions steadily gaining volume in his head: Are the smoke alarm batteries flat? Does the cat, and therefore the rest of the family, have worms? Will bird flu strike and ruin life as we know it? Is the Kidney-shaped spot on his chest actually a galloping cancer? Only Ma takes seriously his catalogue of persistent queries. But it is Ma who is the cause of the most worrying question of all, the one that Frankie can never bring himself to ask. Then the new girl arrives at school and has questions of her own: relentless, unavoidable questions. So begins the unravelling of Frankie Parsons's carefully controlled world. More

Russell Clark Award Recent Winners

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2008, Gavin Bishop, Rats
2007, Ben Galbraith, Three Fishing Brothers Gruff
2006, Gavin Bishop, Kiwi Moon

Canada

2008 Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award Winner

Chester, written and illustrated by Mélanie Watt (RIGHT), published by Kids Can Press in 2007, is the winner. Mechanimals, written and illustrated by Chris Tougas (Orca Book Publishers) and My New Shirt, illustrated by Dušan Petričić and written by Cary Fagan (Tundra Books) are the honour books.

2008		Mélanie Watt Chester. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 2007.
2007		Mélanie Watt Scaredy Squirrel. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 2006.
2006		Leslie Elizabeth Watts The Baabaasheep Quartet. Markham, ON: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2005.

2009 Australian Book Industry Award Winners - ABIA The Night of Nights

No doubt dining on quince and swan, Australia's glitterati -litterarti gathered in Sydney to honour the best and brightest local authors, publishers, booksellers and distributors and and - well you get the picture. Put it this way, 18 categories were awarded in Australia's equivalent of The Galaxy British Book Awards. It must have been an epic event.

The Australian Publishers Association (APA) is the peak industry body for Australian book, journal and electronic publishers. Established in 1948, the association is an advocate for all Australian publishers: large or small; commercial or non-profit; academic or popular; locally or overseas owned. They coordinate the Australian Book Industry Awards (or ABIAs)

The shortlisted and winning entries comprising the 18 awards on offer are chosen by an academy of 150 booksellers and publishers who voted online in April/May 2009.

Given the kerfuffle with Book Price Wars in Australia, recession and the printed book as an endangered species, it was possibly an intense affair as rival booksellers chucked bits of garlic bread at each other and pouted strategically. Well, what else do you do on a Tuesday.

Tragic hopes that everyone took a moment off worrying to celebrate as some fabulous books, were recognised. At the end of the day we, the great unwashed and industry outsiders, are really interested in the books don't you know.

Book of the Year 2009

Commonwealth Prize Winner, The Slap, by Chris Tsiolkas won Book of the Year - no doubt the ever-gracious Tim Winton doesn't mind sharing the largess around, after all Breath might have missed out here but has already won the Miles Franklin, Age Book of the Year, Australian Indies etc.

Shaun Tan and Melina Marchetta were both honoured; Tan for Tales from Suburbia (loved it) in Illustrated Book category and Marchetta in the Older Readers for Boston Horn Globe winner Finnikin of the Rock. (Shaun Tan won a Globe last year for the marvellous The Arrival).

Nam le will never have to practise law again. His multi-award winner, The Boat, won the Newcomer of the Year Award -strange as he seems to have been around for ages now. The book has previously won the NSW Premier's Book of the Year, the Dylan Thomas Prize and the USA's Ainsfield-Wolf - and probably a few Tragic has forgotten.

Strangely enough, despite having five of the six nominations in the Chain Bookseller of the Year Award, Dymocks franchisees, who are leading the charge to deregulate the Australian industry, lost out to Melbourne's Hill of Content. Book Politics Down-Under? Nah..... Such things aside, if ever you are in Melbourne, check-out Hill of Content, it is a truly delicious bookshop -over 80 years old, which, by Aussie standards is quality vintage.

One of the things that Tragic likes about the awards is that beleaguered small publishers and book shops are recognised. One of his favourite champions, Black Books Inc, won Small Publisher of the Year 2009, (sponsored by Midland Typesetters- good on ya).

Aussie legend, Mem Fox, was in the winners circle with her charming book, Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, winning the Younger Children's category. Tragic's children have always adored her books.

Other winners as detailed below. Book links to Fishpond books in Australia for more information. Tragic maintains a summary page at Literary Awards Australia - grab a coffee and a bagel, it could take a while to get through.

2009 Australian Book Industry Award Winners

Pixie O' Harris Award for distinguished service to Australian Children's Books - Helen Chamberlin

Lloyd O' Neil Award for outstanding service to the book industry - David Gaunt

Book of the Year 2009 and Literary Fiction Winner

Winner: The Slap, written by Christos Tsiolkas, published by Allen & Unwin

Also Winner: Commonwealth Writers' Award Book of the Year

At a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his own. This event has a shocking ricochet effect on a group of people, mostly friends, who are directly or indirectly influenced by the event. In this remarkable novel, Christos Tsiolkas turns his unflinching and all-seeing eye on to that which connects us all: the modern family and domestic life in the twenty-first century. The Slap is told from the points of view of eight people who were present at the barbecue. The slap and its consequences force them all to question their own families and the way they live, their expectations, beliefs and desires. What unfolds is a powerful, haunting novel about love, sex and marriage, parenting and children, and the fury and intensity - all the passions and conflicting beliefs - that family can arouse.

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General Fiction Book of the Year 200

Winner

A Beautiful Place to Die, written by Malla Nunn, published by Macmillan Publishers Australia

When an Afrikaans police captain is murdered in a small South African country town, Detective Emmanuel Cooper must navigate his way through the labyrinthine racial and social divisions that split the community. And as the National Party introduces the laws to support the system of apartheid, Emmanuel struggles - much like Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko - to remain a good man in the face of astonishing power. In a considered but very commercial novel, Malla Nunn combines a compelling plot with a thoughtful and complex portrayal of a fascinating period of history, illustrating the human desires that drive us all, regardless of race, colour or creed. "A Beautiful Place To Die" is the first of a planned series of novels featuring Detective Emmanuel Cooper. More

Winner Newcomer of the Year (debut writer)

Also won: Dylan Thomas Prize - Ainsfield Wolf Book Award (USA) -NSW Premier's Book of the Year

The Boat, written by Nam Le, published by Penguin Australia -

The Boat is a stunningly inventive, deeply moving fiction debut: stories that take the readers from the slums of Colombia tothe streets of Tehran; from New York City to Iowa City; from a tiny fishing village in Australia to a foundering vessel in the South China Sea, in a masterful display of literary virtuosity and feeling. In the opening story, "Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice," a young writer is urged by his friends to mine his father's experiences in Vietnam — and what seems at first a satire on turning one's life into literary commerce becomes a transcendent exploration of homeland, and the ties between father and son. More

Winner Illustrated Book of the Year 2009

Tales From Outer Suburbia, written by Shaun Tan, published by Allen & Unwin

Do you remember the water buffalo at the end of our street? Or the deep-sea diver we found near the underpass? Do you know why dogs bark in the middle of the night? Shaun Tan, creator of The Arrival, The Lost Thing and The Red Tree, reveals the quiet mysteries of everyday life: homemade pets, dangerous weddings, stranded sea mammals, tiny exchange students and secret rooms filled with darkness and delight. Fifteen intriguing illustrated stories about the mysteries that lurk below the surface of suburban life. More

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Winner Biography of the Year 2009

The Lucy Family Alphabet, written by Judith Lucy, published by Penguin Australia

Judith Lucy has been cracking jokes about her parents for years. But when a birth relative's casual comment implied that she despised them, Judith was shocked. Sure, she had been talking about Ann and Tony Lucy like they were one-dimensional Irish nutbags who'd ruined her life for years, but there was always more to them and her own feelings than that. So Judith decided it was time to write the full story of her parents and her childhood. And here it is, a reference book on all things Lucy from: A is for Adoption (she is) to C is for Cleaning (they didn't) and for Counselling (you'll find out why she had a lot of it) to D is for Diets (she was put on one at eight) .. More

Winner General Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2009

The Tall Man, written by Chloe Hooper, published by Penguin Australia

In 2004 Cameron Doomadgee, a 36-year-old resident of Palm Island, was arrested for swearing at a white police officer. Within 45 minutes he was dead. The main suspect was well respected Senior Sergeant Christopher Hurley. This is the story of what happened, the trial, and the Aboriginal myths around the case. More

Book of the Year for Younger Children (age range 0 to 8 years) 2009

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, written by Mem Fox, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, published by Penguin

As everyone knows, nothing is sweeter than tiny baby fingers and chubby baby toes ...From two of the most gifted picture book creators of our time, here is a celebration of babies and the joy they bring to everyone, everywhere, all over the world! 'This is a perfect read-aloud picture book ...full of warmth and appeal. It was a joy to read and a pleasure to hold.' Margaret Hamilton, Bookseller and Publisher More

Winner Book of the Year for Older Children (age range 8 to14 years) 2009

Finnikin of the Rock, written by Melina Marchetta, published by Penguin Australia

At the age of nine, Finnikin is warned by the gods that he must sacrifice a pound of flesh in order to save the royal house of his homeland, Lumatere. He stands on the rock of three wonders with his friend Prince Balthazar and the prince's cousin, Lucian, and together they mix their blood. And Lumatere is safe: but then the unspeakable! More

Publisher Categories in Full- Goodness knows they keep the whole show on the road- bless em'

Small Publisher of the Year 2009, sponsored by Midland Typesetters

• Black Dog Books Black Inc - Winner
• Giramondo Publishing Company
• University of Queensland Press
• Wakefield Press

Publisher of the Year 2009

Penguin Australia - Winner

Others: Allen & Unwin Hachette Australia Random House Australia The Text Publishing Company

Distributor of the Year 2009, sponsored by VISTA Computer Systems

Winner: United Book Distributors

Other finalists

Alliance Distribution Services Harper Entertainment Distribution Services Hinkler Books Random House Australia

Marketing Campaign of the Year 2009, in memory of John Cody, sponsored by Random House Australia

Winner: Penguin Australia, for Popular Penguins, written by various authors

Allen & Unwin, for Change of Heart, written by Jodi Picoult Allen & Unwin, for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, written by Mary Ann Shaffer Penguin Australia, for Breath, written by Tim Winton Random House Australia, for Occy, written by Mark Occhilupo & Tim Baker

International Success of the Year 2009, sponsored by Activair

• Penguin Australia, for various Sonya Hartnett titles -Winner
Other finalists
• HarperCollins Publishers, for Hammer of God, written by Karen Miller
• Random House Australia, for The Floods, by Colin Thompson

Chain Bookseller of the Year 2009, sponsored by PacStream (Thorpe-Bowker & ECN Group)

Vic Hill of Content- Winner

Others: NSW/ACT Dymocks Sydney Qld Dymocks Indooroopilly SA/NT Dymocks Adelaide Tas Dymocks Hobart WA Dymocks Garden City (Booragoon)

Independent Bookseller of the Year 2009 *, sponsored by Thorpe-Bowker

• Vic Readings Books Music Film Carlton - Winner
• NSW/ACT Gleebooks
• Qld Riverbend Books & Teahouse SA/NT
• Imprints Booksellers Tas
• Fullers Bookshop Hobart
• WA Bookcaffe