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AGENCY NEWS
October November 2009
Congratulations to Barry Hill and Gerald Murnane on being finalists in The Melbourne Prize for Literature 2009.
See Gerald Murnane’s first novel in fourteen years, Barley Patch, published in October by Giramondo.
The book begins with the question, Must I write? What follows is a remarkable account of the images that have appeard in the author's mind during a career of over thirty years as a reader and writer. Murnane creates an enchanting chronicle of the world in his mind through the stories he weaves around these images.
Congratulations to Robert Adamson whose collection, The Golden Bird: New and selected poems, was published in Australia by Black Inc in 2008, won the Victorian Premier's Poetry Awards 2009 and was short listed for The Age Book of the Year (Poetry) 2009.
’The sparseness and taut energy of the more recent poems, for all Adamson's famous romanticism, seems classic: as if, like Yeats, he has discovered the exhilaration and enterprise of walking naked‘
~ DAVID MALOUF
Look Who’s Morphing, published by Giramondo and Tom Cho’s first published book, was short listed for The Age Book of the Year Award (Fiction) 2009 and is a finalist in the Melbourne Prize Best Writing Award 2009. It is a collection of funny, playful, often outlandish ficitons in which, along with his extended family, the central character undergoes a series of transformations, shape-shifting through figures drawn from film and television, music and books, porn flicks and comics. He is Godzilla, a Muppet, and Witney Housten’s bodyguard; the Fonz, a robot, a Ford Bronco 4x4 – and as a climax, a fifty-five metre tall guitar-wielding cock rock star, who performs for the people of Tokyo, and an adoring troupe of sexy fans. Within these fantasies there is a deep intellectual and emotional engagement, a fundamental questioning of the nature of identity, and the way it is constructed in a world filled with the images of popular culture.
’Tom Cho is a rare and original voice in the Australian literary landscape. His stories are eccentric, witty deceptive, and immensely pleasurable. I read this book in one sitting and wanted more.‘
~ TONY AYRES
Watch out for Janine Fraser’s most recent novel for children, Sarindi and the Lucky Buddha, published in September 2009, the sequel to Sarindi and the Lucky Bird first published by HarperCollins in April 2001 and reprinted in 2009 to coincide with the publication of Sarindi and the Lucky Buddha. Both stories are set in Indonesia. In Sarindi and the Lucky Buddha, Sarindi's mother suddenly becomes ill. And when his mother is not getting well, he decides to visit every sacred place he knows, and prays for his mother's good health at each - because who knows which will turn her sickness away?
Sarindi and the Lucky Bird was short listed for the 2002 Children’s Book Council Awards in the Younger Readers category. It was also awarded a Highly Commended Award; in the Younger Readers Category in the Australian Family Therapists Book Awards, as well as being short listed in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards for 2002. “Sarindi thinks that luck is like a mischievous monkey, playing hide-and-seek, and it seems to be hiding from Sarindi and his family. When Sarindi’s father has an accident and loses his job as a becak driver, he says they must go to the bird market and buy a Lucky Bird. Then perhaps their luck will change. So does the magical song of the Lucky Bird change their luck? ...Or do they make their own luck in the end?”
Sam’s Bush Journey was published by Little Hare in September 2009. Written by Sally Morgan and Ezekiel Kwaymullina and beautifully illustrated by Bronwyn Bancroft, it tells the story of Sam, who hates the bush. However, on visiting his Nanna, who loves the outdoors, he undertakes a journey during which he learns there is more to the bush than stinging insects and prickly vegetation.
See also Stopwatch, Book 2: The Land of Mirthful, published by Walker Books Australia in July 2009 and Stopwatch, Book 1: The Land of Kur published in March 2009. These are the first two books in a new fantasy series by Sally Morgan, Ambelin, Blaze and Ezekiel Kwaymullina, action packed and full of earthy humour, perfect for 7 to 9 year olds. A stopwatch has sixty thin black lines, each marking off the seconds in a minute. But in Tom's stopwatch, they are also geateways to sixty different worlds! Sally (best selling author of My Place) has recently been doing a lot of writing for children and several projects she has undertaken with her children, Ambelin, Blaze and Ezekiel Kwaymullina, are in production. They are working on Book 3 right now!
Learn how to drought proof your garden with the fourth edition of Kevin Walsh’s classic Waterwise Gardening published in September 2009 by New Holland. This new and updated edition has many colour photographs, easy to follow text and diagrams so that you can pick up some handy hints, contemplate changes to your garden's layout, or get into the finer points of setting up a tank and using grey water.
In Two Minds by Paul Valent, published by University Of NSW Press in July 2009, is an epic adventure story that leaves us wiser and more hopeful. It demonstrates that beyond our inner demons we can find sense, health and goodness, and that our struggles in the dark are ultimately understandable and achievable.
Written as a memoir, in this book Valent describes the journey of the struggles and discoveries in his varied career over four decades. Through the fascinating stories of his work with patients and the examination of his own life story, the author articulates and grapples with ubiquitous human issues: What is the nature of the fear of death? What is the source of moral judgements and their variability over time? How do people develop values, beliefs, religions and ideologies? Existential meanings? A sense of sacred? Purpose? What happens when things go drastically wrong? How do victims and perpetrators arrange their minds? What is the nature of irrationality, illness, and evil? How do mind, body and society interact?
Paul Valent confronts the dilemma of human nature. Is our essence substance or soul; mind or brain? Should he use drugs or words to help his patients? If words, what is the power of words? How do they reach the unconscious? And what is the unconscious? Where is it? And why is it there? For more information see Paul Valent's web site at www.paulvalent.com.
Dancing in the Dark is Robyn Bavati’s first novel and will be will be published by Penguin Books in February 2010. Ditty was born to dance, but she was also born into a strictly Orthodox Jewish family. When her parents won't let her take ballet lessons, Ditty starts to dance in secret. But for how long can she keep her two worlds apart? And at what cost? This dramatic and moving story is about a girl who follows her dream, and finds herself questioning everything she believes in.
The Women Behind the Roses by Tilley and Andrew Govanstone will be published by Rosenberg Publishing in March 2010. The authors spent 25 years on and off researching this book which is a celebration of the sixty-five women to whom Australia's most prodigious rosarian, the late Alister Clark, chose to dedicate Glenara Seedling roses. As the authors’ knowledge and understanding of Alister’s rose-namesakes has grown over time, so they have come to appreciate that his choices were, in most cases, his way of acknowledging the women themselves and their achievements in a range of endeavours.
GOLVAN ARTS MANAGEMENT • PO Box 766, Kew, Victoria 3101 Australia • golvan@ozemail.com.au