The winner of the 2022 HNSA Historical Prize was announced last night…
*drum roll*
Corporal Hitler’s Pistol, by Tom Keneally, see my review
In a generous gesture, Keneally has chosen to share his prize (worth $50,000) He is giving $4000 each to the shortlisted authors Robyn Mundy (Cold Coast, see my review) and Geraldine Brooks. (Horse).You can read about this is in his acceptance speech at the HNSA website.
Update, later the same day, from the Guardian newspaper, with my apologies for my error. The links are to my reviews.
“Receiving the prize, Keneally said he would give $4,000 (£2,200) to the six authors who made the ARA prize longlist: Karen Brooks, Lauren Chater, Steven Carroll, Portland Jones, Kim Kelly and David Whish-Wilson.
Geraldine Brooks and Robyn Mundy, who were also shortlisted with Keneally, already received $5,000 from the prize for their achievement.”
“This monumental view of the Hudson River Valley was painted from memory in the artist’s London studio. Cropsey adopted a high vantage point, looking southeast toward the distant Hudson River and the flank of Storm King Mountain. A small stream leads from the foreground, where three hunters and their dogs gaze into the sunlight. All along the meandering tributary there are signs of man’s peaceful coexistence with nature: a small log cabin, grazing sheep, children playing on a bridge, and cows standing placidly in the water. Here, man neither conquers nor is subservient to nature; both coexist harmoniously…”
Miri it is while sumer i-last With foulës song; Oc now neghëth windës blast And weder strong. Ei, ei, what this night is long, And Ich with wel michel wrong Sorwe and murne and fast.
Dis, quand reviendras-tu ?
Voilà combien de jours, voilà combien de nuits, Voilà combien de temps que tu es reparti, Tu m’as dit cette fois, c’est le dernier voyage, Pour nos coeurs déchirés, c’est le dernier naufrage, Au printemps, tu verras, je serai de retour, Le printemps, c’est joli pour se parler d’amour, Nous irons voir ensemble les jardins refleuris, Et déambulerons dans les rues de Paris,
Dis, quand reviendras-tu, Dis, au moins le sais-tu, Que tout le temps qui passe, Ne se rattrape guère, Que tout le temps perdu, Ne se rattrape plus,
Le printemps s’est enfui depuis longtemps déjà, Craquent les feuilles mortes, brûlent les feux de bois, A voir Paris si beau dans cette fin d’automne, Soudain je m’alanguis, je rêve, je frissonne, Je tangue, je chavire, et comme la rengaine, Je vais, je viens, je vire, je me tourne, je me traîne, Ton image me hante, je te parle tout bas, Et j’ai le mal d’amour, et j’ai le mal de toi,
Dis, quand reviendras-tu, Dis, au moins le sais-tu, Que tout le temps qui passe, Ne se rattrape guère, Que tout le temps perdu, Ne se rattrape plus,
J’ai beau t’aimer encore, j’ai beau t’aimer toujours, J’ai beau n’aimer que toi, j’ai beau t’aimer d’amour, Si tu ne comprends pas qu’il te faut revenir, Je ferai de nous deux mes plus beaux souvenirs, Je reprendrai la route, le monde m’émerveille, J’irai me réchauffer à un autre soleil, Je ne suis pas de celles qui meurent de chagrin, Je n’ai pas la vertu des femmes de marins,
Dis, quand reviendras-tu, Dis, au moins le sais-tu, Que tout le temps qui passe, Ne se rattrape guère, Que tout le temps perdu, Ne se rattrape plus
That’s how many days, that’s how many nights, How long have you been gone, You told me this time, it’s the last trip, For our hearts torn, this is the last shipwreck, In the spring, you’ll see, I’ll be back, Spring is pretty to talk about love, We will go together to see the flowering gardens, And stroll through the streets of Paris,
“Dis, quand reviendras-tu ?” est une chanson sortie en 1962, écrite, composée et interprétée par Barbara. Dans cette chanson, l’auteure-narratrice écrit une lettre à un amant dont elle attend inlassablement le retour pour l’inciter à revenir à ses côtés. La qualité exceptionnelle d’écriture de cette chanson ainsi que la sensibilité de l’interprétation de Barbara en font un monument de la chanson française.
One of the most significant publishers of my lifetime died in London yesterday.
Born and educated in Melbourne, Dame Carmen Thérèse Callil, DBE, FRSL (1938 – 2022) was the founder of Virago Press in 1973. She was a champion of women’s writing and published some of the most important writers of our age such as Angela Carter, Maya Angelou and Margaret Atwood while also bringing back into print a backlist of authors such as Antonia White, Willa Cather, and Rebecca West.
Virago covers were always distinctive — I can pick them out on my paperback shelves in an instant just by the cover of the spine. They featured superb art works such as the detail from ‘Carolina Morning‘ by Edward Hopper on the cover of Their Eyes were Watching God. All the titles I have also have insightful introductions such as the one by Drusilla Modjeska for Winged…
A Good Life to the End has to be one of the most depressing books I’ve read this year, but it’s an important one that faces up to some unpleasant facts.
Although I think it deserves a wider audience, I think the book will have most resonance for those of us confronting the end of life for aged parents, who are having to make decisions for loved ones no longer able to make those decisions for themselves, and who are realising that the same issues apply to us as we ourselves get older.
Professor Ken Hillman is Professor of Intensive Care at the University of New South Wales (SWS Clinical School), and an actively practising clinician in Intensive Care, at Liverpool Hospital. He’s also the presenter of the TED talk ‘We’re doing dying all wrong’, though I didn’t see that till I Googled his profile for this review.
Virago covers were always distinctive — I can pick them out on my paperback shelves in an instant just by the cover of the spine. They featured superb art works such as the detail from ‘
A Good Life to the End has to be one of the most depressing books I’ve read this year, but it’s an important one that faces up to some unpleasant facts.
penwithlit 
