Advances
Fiction galore
When entries closed in July, we had received 1300 entries in the ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. Our three voracious judges are now finalising the shortlist. The four nominated short stories will appear in our Fiction issue in October. We ...
Majestic gongs
ABR in the past has been critical of the paucity of writers receiving national honours and the over-representation of politicians, bureaucrats, and plutocrats, so it was pleasing to find several distinguished writers among those honoured on the Queen’s Birthday. Christopher Wallace-Crabbe, a stalwart friend of ABR, recei ...
A month of Miles
Australia is glutted with literary prizes, all competing for attention; but the Miles Franklin Literary Award, first awarded in 1957 and now worth $42,000, retains a cachet all its own. This month’s shortlist is very exclusive: the three shortlisted books are Roger McDonald’s When Colts Ran (Vintage), Kim Scott’s That Deadman Dance ...
Internship opportunity
Australian Book Review – supported by the Sidney Myer Fund – seeks applications for an editorial intern. This is a unique opportunity for recent graduates seeking an entrée into publishing: no such paid editorial internship is currently available in Australia. The ABR Sidney Myer Fund Editorial Internship reflects ABR ...
Calibre of the year
Dean Biron and Moira McKinnon are the dual winners of the 2011 Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay, the fifth to be presented by ABR in association with Copyright Agency Limited’s Cultural Fund. ...
Chong’s covers
Last month’s cover subject, Paul Kelly, proved immensely popular when we began advertising a new series of portrait prints based on W.H. Chong’s cover images. Each portrait is available exclusively from ABR. The unframed prints – presented in limited editions – are signed, numbered, and (in some cases) hand-coloured by Chong, who, with ...
ABR is now online
This month we launch our online edition. ABR OE, which complements but in no way replaces the print version, is probably the most important innovation at ABR since its revival in 1978. With this additional resource, ABR is well placed to maximise its potential and reach those readers a ...
Takolander’s prize
Maria Takolander – a poet and academic at Deakin University – has won the 2010 ABR Short Story Competition, worth $2000. The judges, Chris Flynn and Peter Rose, were impressed, and amused, by her story ‘A Roānkin Philosophy of Poetry’, an artful take on academic intrigue and absurdism. It appears
The kindness of patrons Early last month we launched our Patrons Scheme. One hundred friends and supporters celebrated the event in style at ‘Cranlana’, in Melbourne. A full report appears on page 5, next to a list of all our Patrons. For ABR, as we have already reported, private philanthropy is absolutely essential. Without it we can’t grow, can’t take the odd risk, can’t introduce many new features.
Patronage and ABR
Private philanthropy has never been more important for the arts, as costs (and expectations) rise, and as traditional sources of funding and revenue become more unpredictable. ABR has had some success in this regard since entering the field two years ago, but June marks a turning point for us, with the formal launch of our philanthropy program in Melbourne, on 2 June. David Malouf, one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, is our guest speaker. There will be more such events around Australia in coming months.
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