tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post1729727699473376293..comments2024-03-14T04:35:06.209+13:00Comments on Beattie's Book Blog - unofficial homepage of the New Zealand book community: Beattie's Book Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01505389626725979100noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-37274348396673138352008-06-19T16:10:00.000+12:002008-06-19T16:10:00.000+12:00Literary Prizes (all arts prizes in fact) are fund...Literary Prizes (all arts prizes in fact) are fundamentally flawed: works of art are not designed to compete against each other. Either you dismiss the whole concept of such a competition (in which case you don't care who is/is not selected) or you accept such competitions with all their inherent folly. Four titles instead of five? Whatever.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-79215557702598898302008-06-12T23:20:00.000+12:002008-06-12T23:20:00.000+12:00What a fascinating blog and discussion. (Thanks to...What a fascinating blog and discussion. (Thanks to Mary Mccallum for sending me the link.) I have been away from Wellington for a very long time so I am playing catch up. <BR/>It does all seem very odd - but odd things to happen from time to time.Jennifer Comptonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13254781317505540179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-92131517159501517592008-06-12T20:27:00.000+12:002008-06-12T20:27:00.000+12:00Possibly a great deal of this situation could have...Possibly a great deal of this situation could have been solved by actually having a shortlist/ or is it a longlist, as used to always happen in recent memory. Then at least everyone half pie decent gets a hearing until the finalists are announced. But this current year (and the abbreviation of the finalists by cutting out the best first book and limiting the fiction finalists) has exacerbated the problem by reducing NZ fiction's output to a couple of books of short stories and two novels.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-85947281879497792392008-06-12T13:10:00.000+12:002008-06-12T13:10:00.000+12:00Interesting to hear Linda Henderson of Booksellers...Interesting to hear Linda Henderson of Booksellers NZ on Radio this morning, listing the criteria for fiction to show why the four were chosen and other books weren't. But it was an unfortunate move on her part. The criteria include "strong narrative" which would imply that the short listed books have this in lst year's crop. In the 2 I've read, I don't see much understanding of narrative at all. This ties in with previous comment on this blog about one of the judges having a dislike of narrative. The points I dwant to make are:<BR/>1: judges can pick who they like but their choices are never going to please everyone<BR/>2: a different set of judges would have picked another set of books, possibly all different from this year's.<BR/>3: the reason people are outraged this year is the tone of the judges' comments and the put-down of local fiction generally. <BR/><BR/>Someone earlier suggested the list of long-listed titles be made public. Why not let us know what books were seriously discussed by the judges in the final round? They would have argued about a top handful and should say honestly that they couldn't agree, not use weasel words.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-56942177983337180322008-06-12T10:51:00.000+12:002008-06-12T10:51:00.000+12:00The problem with so many of the responses here is ...The problem with so many of the responses here is that they are uninformed and biased one way or another. With only one Wellington writer in the finalists, how is that a Wellington cabal? As a former fiction advisor myself, people should understand that the advisors do not have a final say in the selection. Judges can ignore them or not. Also advisors and judges are constrained in what they can say about the process.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-23976877109709099172008-06-12T10:03:00.000+12:002008-06-12T10:03:00.000+12:00Um...re the narrow nature of choices in the awards...Um...re the narrow nature of choices in the awards, two of the three judges are from Wellington. This was signalled as a problem quite early on by Gordon McGlaughlin among other people. A kind of mirroring and insane political correctness goes in this small inward looking and incestuous city. The crazy shortcircuit might have been broken by a better and more real geographical spread.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-48964598314117174602008-06-12T09:57:00.000+12:002008-06-12T09:57:00.000+12:00The best first book award has not been 'scuppered'...The best first book award has not been 'scuppered'. Last year was the only time there has been a shortlist. This year the main prizes have first books in them, so a shortlist would be pointless.<BR/><BR/>As for the suggestion that Mary McCallum's book should have been judged only in the category of best first book, that is ridiculous. It's not one or the other. If it's good enough to be a finalist against all the novels, that should be a cause for celebration, not a gripe that she's somehow stolen someone's rightful place.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-18452390080787845592008-06-12T09:51:00.000+12:002008-06-12T09:51:00.000+12:00Woops. The Montana committee are clearly taking a ...Woops. The Montana committee are clearly taking a defensive position which is really unfortunate( on the radio this morning). A shame they can't acknowledge the real damage done to not publicising more writers by not merely having a fifth finalist in fiction but also scuppering the best first book award. And if the Montana bookseller people say there is a lot of support why isn't it audible here on this blog. Do Freeman, Corballis and Elworthy and their supporters lack a tongue?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-81037528285305184192008-06-12T09:50:00.000+12:002008-06-12T09:50:00.000+12:00The fiction advisor was Diane Brown. Last year (?)...The fiction advisor was Diane Brown. Last year (?) she gave her strong opinions on LeafSalon about the dominance of some kind of Wellington writers' cabal. Therefore I doubt that the final list is a Wellington plot.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-86122888083019146522008-06-11T20:37:00.000+12:002008-06-11T20:37:00.000+12:00Wellington shot Bambi's mother!!!Wellington shot Bambi's mother!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-73144611926189995372008-06-11T19:59:00.000+12:002008-06-11T19:59:00.000+12:00Fergus me tatou katoa- I'm definitely not into the...Fergus me tatou katoa- I'm definitely not into the Wellington/Auckland axis/bias thing<BR/>{I'm south South SOUTH!)<BR/>but the cotinued seeming-ignorance of writers like Elizabeth, Owen, Karl & others for major ANZ lit. prizes this (lit.prize) year is<BR/>-interesting...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-44521933189698214092008-06-11T18:08:00.000+12:002008-06-11T18:08:00.000+12:00Hey, what's Wellington got to do with it?!Hey, what's Wellington got to do with it?!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-48865669751027649582008-06-11T17:40:00.000+12:002008-06-11T17:40:00.000+12:00I think the point is there will be no best first b...I think the point is there will be no best first book prize since not enough of the first books were 'good enough' according to our somewhat supercilious judges...apart from Mary McCallum's first book. More experienced judges would have put her in the first book competition with other first books, thus giving more books a little reader-attention. As it is, all fiction writers who published their first book this year must be feeling very flat. They've had their hands smacked for trying. Somehow it all reeks so horribly of a narrow Wellington piety, faintly evangelical in its wish to be 'creative' but actually faintly boorish and naive.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-36024969321000537102008-06-11T17:21:00.000+12:002008-06-11T17:21:00.000+12:00Re Best First Book - there never has been a best f...Re Best First Book - there never has been a best first book shortlist announced, to my recollection, excepting last year, which was something of an experiment. So it is not bizarre or controversial, as some seem to imply, that there is not such a list this year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-60401861869696475342008-06-11T14:36:00.000+12:002008-06-11T14:36:00.000+12:00I see that Booksellers NZ are being as closed as e...I see that Booksellers NZ are being as closed as ever. Not content <BR/>with offending against one of the fundamentals of democracy by <BR/>telling PEN who is acceptable as their nominee, they also tell us <BR/>that nominations for the Montana Book Award are confidential.<BR/><BR/>What a load of rubbish. If it is in the conditions, it shouldn't be.<BR/><BR/>I don't want to over-state the case but can't help wondering, why <BR/>revert to closedness when openness is called for? What a sad pass the <BR/>industry has come to when its institutions, instead of stoutly <BR/>defending openness at all costs, default to being closed.<BR/><BR/>Does no one in Booksellers NZ think about such matters? Is it just <BR/>quietly slipping into irrelevance to the wider community? Is that <BR/>perhaps just what it deserves?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-69350785053862428552008-06-11T13:55:00.000+12:002008-06-11T13:55:00.000+12:00I can't believe Sarah Laing's 'Coming Up Roses' di...I can't believe Sarah Laing's 'Coming Up Roses' didn't make the best first book list.<BR/><BR/>I'll come clean and admit I'm a friend of Sarah's, but bias aside, I thought her book was fresh, energetic and quite unlike anything else published here recent years.<BR/><BR/>Anonymous comments irritate me, by the way. Stand by your points of view, people! <BR/><BR/>HelenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-16570464394051978392008-06-11T13:53:00.000+12:002008-06-11T13:53:00.000+12:00Just for the record - I'm not the Fiona in questi...Just for the record - I'm not the Fiona in question either<BR/>Fiona FarrellAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00261297524729887278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-44343667112676050072008-06-11T11:29:00.000+12:002008-06-11T11:29:00.000+12:00Consider this: of the books on the list, and those...Consider this: of the books on the list, and those that didn't make it, which, if any, will still be selling and read in ten years time?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-1957513780786741122008-06-11T09:39:00.000+12:002008-06-11T09:39:00.000+12:00I am not the 'Fiona' placing comment on this issue...I am not the 'Fiona' placing comment on this issue. For the moment its a case of 'no comment' from me<BR/><BR/>Fiona KidmanFiona Kidmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18042525666756179285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-58335390641746233872008-06-11T09:38:00.000+12:002008-06-11T09:38:00.000+12:00I particularly loved the way the judges shuffled t...I particularly loved the way the judges shuffled their unlikely suspects onto the finalists' stage for fiction then promptly kneecapped them by announcing that nonfiction was where excellence lay this year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-1166891898950501712008-06-11T09:30:00.000+12:002008-06-11T09:30:00.000+12:00Well said Keri - the notion that academics are int...Well said Keri - the notion that academics are intellectuals and the hoi polloi are not is much the same as the mayor of Wellington's assertion the her citizens are culturally aware and intelligent because the goverment is there - the whole country has started to talk in Tui billboards and it should stop. There are enough clouds gathering over cultural management for a serious debate about devolving some of it to beginAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-80521950288752047372008-06-11T08:53:00.000+12:002008-06-11T08:53:00.000+12:00To follow up on Keri's comment about adviser/preli...To follow up on Keri's comment about adviser/preliminary judges, it would be illuminating to know what the fiction adviser thought of this year's list. Did he/she also think that only 4 books were worth short listing? Why can't we know what the long-list was? I'm sure Booksellers will bring out the 'confidential' card again but in these circumstances isn't there a public right to know?<BR/>The Montanas have become a joke, and the judges have shown themselves to be naive for thinking their comments will be acceptable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-19857155472056979842008-06-11T00:07:00.000+12:002008-06-11T00:07:00.000+12:00speaking of advisers, personalities, circumstances...speaking of advisers, personalities, circumstances and luck: interesting correlation between the poetry adviser (an AUP poet) and the poetry shortlistAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-17920262329902140332008-06-10T23:53:00.000+12:002008-06-10T23:53:00.000+12:00Fiona, are you really equating intellectualism wit...Fiona, are you really equating intellectualism with being an academic? That is, intellectuals are found only within Academe? Dear me-<BR/><BR/>I dont find we ANZers are "cripplingly anti-intellectual"<BR/>and Montana judges are definitely *not* always attacked.<BR/><BR/>Let's have a bit more open-ness about the entire Montana judging process e.g. the role of advisors/preliminary judges (been there, done that.)<BR/>And let us all acknowledge the fact that *any* literary prize is a matter of personalities, circumstances, & luck, after a certain degree of professional expertise has been achieved by an author.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-37128544806437248652008-06-10T22:45:00.000+12:002008-06-10T22:45:00.000+12:00(1) If the books are chosen on merit, and the judg...(1) If the books are chosen on merit, and the judges found four really outstanding ones, with the others some distance behind, then why shouldn't they choose a shortlist of four? What they are doing is protecting the integrity of the award. <BR/>(2) Tim Corballis is not a "minor Wgtn novelist" but a noted critic and a talented writer whose novel The Fossil Pit is taught at university level.<BR/>(3) The Montana judges are ALWAYS attacked, usually on the basis of our crippling NZ anti-intellectualism (the more academic the judge, the nastier the scorn). Let's open our minds a bit. Let's be a bit more honest.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com