Posts Tagged ‘ arbitration of taste ’

If:book Essay: You’re the Voice

If:book Australia is a think-and-do tank dedicated to promoting ‘new forms of digital literature’ and exploring ‘ways to boost connections between writers and audiences’, which is more exciting than I can fully express. They are associated with the Institute for the Future of the Book in New York, and if:book London, and are based at Queensland Writers’ [ READ MORE ]

In-flight Reading

… Maybe I’m naive, but I was surprised that T C Boyle’s story in this week’s Harper’s was boring. I’ve heard good things about T C Boyle, and about Harper’s. Combine that with a story titled ‘What Separates Us From The Animals’ and I thought I was in for a sure thing. The reason I treat myself to a foreign [ READ MORE ]

How to Grow a Mullet in 2010

Someone recently asked me to write about my mullet for an independent Adelaide newspaper, and the below ‘column’ is the result. It was accompanied by the terrible Photo Booth job that I’ve pasted in: not sure what’s worse, the ‘haircut’ or the ‘photo’ of the ‘haircut’. Or the ‘column’. Actually I quite like the column [ READ MORE ]

Why Pulling Prizes Is Okay Sometimes

Over at Virugle there is a mostly-one-way discussion being had about how terrible Australian Book Review is for deciding not to award the inaugural Young Calibre Non-fiction Prize – an essay prize that matches their esteemed Calibre Prize, but for writers under 21. Unfortunately, apart from a questionable call for transparency, I don’t get a [ READ MORE ]

Boating! I Mean, Agenting!

In my last post about Nic Low’s manuscript I described ‘Tailings’ as ‘a beautiful duck, wearing a tiara … bobbing up and down on [the sea of mediocrity] … that results from the seemingly indiscriminate publication of some 12 000+ books per year in Australia’. I now realise that’s a bit harsh: Australia has a proud [ READ MORE ]

Prizes Ain’t Prizes

Sam Cooney has an article about literary awards in the current issue of Voiceworks, and the critical take on such a holy grail inspired me to continue the conversation. I’ve touched on manuscript awards once before, and am regularly vocal, to people who ask, against wholesale acceptance of prizes as a wonderful and highly sought [ READ MORE ]

Critics With a Cause

My friend Felice posted me this link on Facebook: ‘Critical mess: whose ‘must see’ is it anyway?’ The article starts with a guy having a fight with his girlfriend because they have different expectations of art reviewers. She likes to rely on her own curiosity when choosing the film she’d like to see, and her own [ READ MORE ]

Inferiority Complex, Much?

I often read claims like this: So is YA taking over the grown-ups’ table? It’s a revealing question, steeped in the kind of condescension that assumes books aimed at young people are intrinsically of less cultural value than the real books, speculative or otherwise, that are ostensibly for adult readers. It’s also drenched in fear because, [ READ MORE ]

Ploughing Author Intentions

I have a question to ask that seems simple, but which grows increasingly complex when you think about it. How do you consider author intention when reviewing a novel? I’ve come up ambivalent about a book I’m reviewing. When this happens I like to make note of the positives and negatives and try to round up [ READ MORE ]

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