LUCK OF THE IRISH ABROAD
After enthusing to Undercover about Richard Flanagan's Booker Prize win, Thomas Keneally mentioned he was heading to Dublin to pick up a prize of his own. (The two are pictured at a dinner in June to celebrate Keneally's 50 years of writing.) On Thursday, Keneally was one of 10 people presented with the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad, which "recognises the service given to this country or to Irish communities abroad by those who live outside Ireland". Keneally was honoured in the category of arts, culture and sport with the Irish-American actor Fionnula Flanagan, whom I once saw give a sexy reading of Molly's monologue from James Joyce's Ulysses at a Bloomsday marathon in New York. Keneally will bring home a wooden award in the shape of an open door. "I'm very good at winning awards with no prizemoney, but they're flying us over business class" said the former Booker Prize winner. More seriously, he said, "Australia should support its writers and artists as we do primary producers", because they bring the country publicity and economic benefits.
A WRITERS' FANTASY
Australian crime writer Michael Robotham has received the dream cover quote for his latest novel, his first set in the US. Stephen King has written: "Life or Death is a nerve-shredding thriller with the heart and soul so often missing from lesser crime and suspense novels. I couldn't stop reading, yet I didn't want Audie's story to end. Robotham is an absolute master." That will appear on future editions around the world. But even better is King's private message to Robotham's publisher: "That's the blurb, should you need one. He's also a wonderful writer. The copy you sent me is filled with underlinings. His Texas is so real you can taste the dust. Tell him he just made my week." I'm sure King just made Robotham's year.
TOP SHELF BOOKS
The US Library Journal has named its best books of 2014, including two Australian books. Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth is one of five historical fiction titles and Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty one of five books defined as women's fiction. That's quite an achievement considering the list is dominated by American authors such as David Nicholls, Jane Smiley, Michael Lewis, Rebecca Mead, William Gibson, and a few other "foreigners" such as Desmond Tutu, David Mitchell, Thomas Picketty and Eimear McBride. See reviews.libraryjournal.com.
DYLAN THOMAS TURNS 100
Dylan Thomas fans probably know the Welsh poet was born 100 years ago this week. Adding to the vast literature on his short life is a new book, Dylan Thomas: A Centenary Celebration (Bloomsbury), edited by his granddaughter Hannah Ellis. The collection of essays and poems is by biographers and admirers including Phillip Pullman, Jimmy Carter and Clive Woosnam, president of the Dylan Thomas Society of Australia, who writes about "Dylan Downunder". Though Dylan didn't come to Australia, his two sons lived here and another granddaughter and daughter-in-law are still here. Another contributor, actor Michael Sheen, directed and starred in a recent reading of Under Milk Wood at New York's 92nd Street Y, where the "play for voices" premiered in 1953. You can listen at 92yondemand.org. A new BBC feature film, A Poet in New York, recreates the original reading and other moments in Dylan's four trips to New York, where he died at 39 from the effects of alcohol and nicotine.
