What a piece of work

It’s rare for different genres to appear on a Miles Franklin Award shortlist: it’s even rarer when partners appear on the same shortlist. This year we have a bit of both. Among the six shortlisted titles are The Prosperous Thief, by Andrea Goldsmith, and Wild Surmise, by Dorothy Porter. The latter marks Porter’s second appearance on a Miles Franklin Award shortlist, hers being the only verse novels to have appeared to date. The other shortlisted titles are An Angel in Australia, by Tom Keneally; Journey to the Stone Country, by Alex Miller; Moral Hazard, by Kate Jennings; and Of a Boy, by Sonya Hartnett. This year’s prize is worth $28,000. The judges – Hilary McPhee, David Marr, Mark Rubbo, Dagmar Schmidmaier and Elizabeth Webby – will put the authors out of their misery on June 12.

Celebrating Mietta O’Donnell

ABR fondly remembers Mietta O’Donnell, who died in January 2001. Mietta’s contribution to food culture and to the arts in general was second to none. It’s difficult to think of an Australian writer who didn’t perform in her famous Lounge – often many times. Several veterans will gather in Melbourne on July 5 and 6 to take part in Readings@Miettas 2003, which also celebrates thirty years of Readings@Readings. Participants will include Richard Flanagan, Michelle de Kretser, Alex Miller and Shirley Painter. Full details are available on page 7.

Raising money for people with MS

Multiple Sclerosis is the most common disease of the central nervous system among young Australian adults. To help raise money for support services and clinical research, the Multiple Sclerosis Society is organising another MS Readathon. Last year’s raised $2.2 million. From June 16 until July 25, more than 40,000 children across Australia are expected to participate in this huge reading programme. For more information about this admirable fund-raising event, contact Emma Eyles, the Publicity Officer, on (02) 9646 0600 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Changes at ABR

ABR has attracted some splendid new volunteers in recent months. Joining loyal Eamon Evans are Matthia Dempsey, Christy Dena, Emily Fraser, Lolla Stewart and Robyn Tucker. Meanwhile, our editorial advisory board continues to grow, the latest recruits being Ilana Snyder, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, and Bruce Moore, Director of the Australian National Dictionary Centre in Canberra. This month, our inestimable Assistant Editor, Aviva Tuffield, goes on maternity leave. Anne-Marie Thomas will replace Aviva until she rejoins us in early 2004. Anne-Marie is no stranger to acronymic organisations, having worked for OUP, CUP and MUP.

Bon pillage!

Remember that mordant cartoon in the New Yorker during the first Gulf War in which thousands of medieval knights set off on a Crusade while a maiden at her castle window shrieked: ‘Bon pillage!’ We thought of this when we heard about the appalling events at Iraq’s National Museum, the Mosul Museum, and the National Library and Archives a few days after US troops took control of central Baghdad. Various curators and archaeologists, many of whom had warned the Pentagon of the risk of looting and vandalism well before the recent war began, have described the collective losses as calamitous. The local media seem to have lost interest in this story, but not the feisty and exemplary Art Newspaper in London (edited by Anna Somers Cocks), which analyses the events in its May issue and lists some of the losses, which include most of the 170,000 items held in the National Museum. ‘It is … inexplicable that the American forces did not regard its protection as a major priority when occupying Baghdad,’ the Art Newspaper writes. Everyone agrees that one US tank and a few Marines would have prevented the ransacking. Yet US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was sanguine as ever: ‘Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.’ The banality of his rhetoric is matched only by the ruthless disregard for world culture.