Advances

And the winner is …

Stephen Edgar has won the inaugural ABR Poetry Prize with his poem ‘Man on the Moon’. The three judges, Morag Fraser, Peter Rose and Peter Steele, were impressed by the overall quality of the entries and were pleased to be able to choose from such a strong short list, but the final decision was quick and unanimous because of the formal and imaginative qualities of Stephen Edgar’s poem. He receives $2000, and ‘Man on the Moon’ reappears on page 13. Elsewhere in the magazine, we publish the two poems that received honourable mentions (by Judith Bishop and Lisa Gorton). ABR also apologises to Mark Tredinnick, and our readers, for the ludicrous break that somehow infiltrated his villanelle ‘Ubirr Rock’, which we published with the other short-listed works in the previous issue.

2004 National Biography Award

There have been some big developments with this award, which is administered and presented by the State Library of New South Wales on behalf of its benefactor, Dr Geoffrey Cains. As we go to press, the organisers tell us that this year’s prize money has been increased from $15,000 to $20,000, because of the generosity of Michael Crouch, Director of Zip Heaters and a supporter of the Library. This makes it one of our wealthiest literary awards. The judges (Edmund Campion, Amanda Lohrey and Gerard Windsor) have compiled an interesting short list: Robert Adamson’s Inside Out (Text), Li Cunxin’s Mao’s Last Dancer (Viking), Robert Hillman’s The Boy in the Green Suit (Scribe), Gaylene Perry’s Midnight Water (Picador) and Peter Skrzynecki’s Sparrow Garden (UQP). On March 2, Belinda Hutchinson will announce that Robert Hillman (not the Robert Hillman who gets stuck into Geoff Page in our ‘Letters’ this month) is the winner of this year’s award.

An evening with J.M. Coetzee

ABR (in association with La Trobe University and the City of Melbourne) is delighted to be able to invite all our readers, but especially our subscribers, to what promises to be one of our major events for the year, when the masterly novelist and critic J.M. Coetzee will read from his work. This rare opportunity for Victorians to hear the Nobel Laureate and author of Disgrace and Life and Times of Michael K will take place at the Melbourne Town Hall at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, August 4 (we suggest you arrive at 5.30 to ensure you get a seat). Full details appear on page 5. This is a free event. La Trobe University will also confer the degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) on J.M. Coetzee during his visit to Melbourne.

ABR goes to London

Hot on the heels of our inaugural ABR Forum in Canberra on March 28, when a capacity audience attended the session on life-writing at the National Library, ABR will host its first event in London on Tuesday, June 8. Peter Rose and Morag Fraser will present an evening of readings and ideas, with special appearances by Clive James and Peter Porter. We’re delighted to be able to present this special event in association with the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, Kings College London. The event will run from 6 to 8 p.m. Bookings are essential: please direct them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. ABR has many subscribers and supporters in the UK; we look forward to meeting them – and to reaching new ones.

The poet Bruce Beaver died on February 17, something we couldn’t note in the March issue of ABR, as we had just gone to print. Since then, the tributes have been many, and utterly deserved. We publish Beaver’s poem ‘October 1999’ in this issue, along with a tribute from Tom Shapcott. UQP informs us that it will release the poet’s posthumous collection, The Long Game and Other Poems, on 17 February 2005.

This month we welcome back Aviva Tuffield, who returns as Deputy Editor, a new position for ABR and one that reflects her seniority and her long commitment to the magazine. We also farewell, with many thanks, Anne-Marie Thomas, who filled in while Aviva Tuffield went on maternity leave. Dianne Schallmeiner remains as Office Manager, and Alastair Lamont joins our admirable team of volunteers.

The nexus between ABR and La Trobe University has always been strong, and our summer issue is a good example of this, with a long essay on George Orwell’s  enduring influence by Robert Manne, Professor of Politics at La Trobe University (pictured in the next column with Professor Michael Osborne, Vice-Chancellor (centre), and Peter Rose, Editor of ABR). Two years ago, La Trobe University became ABR’s chief sponsor, an arrangement that has had immense intellectual and other benefits for the magazine. The partnership grows stronger all the time, and we were delighted when the university renewed its sponsorship last month. Full de-tails of the 2004 La Trobe University/Australian Book Review Annual Lecture, and other collaborative events, will follow in due course.

‘A pox on the GST!’ wrote one of our many new readers last month when filling in her subscription form. ABR has long been famous for its feisty correspondence (never more so than last month). This editor is not about to disagree with our new subscriber. The imposition of GST on books and magazines surely rates as one of the crasser political acts in recent years. Anyone unsure of its effect on literature in this country should ask booksellers and publishers what sort of a year they had in 2000. Readers weren’t unscathed, either.

The second Adelaide Festival of Ideas will happen in mid-July. Local participants will include Tim Flannery, Raimond Gaita, Marcia Langton, and Ronald Wilson, and, from overseas, John D. Barrow and Vandana Shiva. The advertised themes are water, population, reconciliation, addiction/intoxication, and cosmology – something for everyone.

The Australian/Vogel Literary Award, now in its twenty-first year, is on again. Entries must be lodged by the end of May. You don’t have to be twenty-one to enter – just under thirty-five. Winners are guaranteed publication by Allen & Unwin, and a cheque for $20,000.