Kathleen Noon, in the "Courier-Mail" takes up the idea of an Australian Poet Laureate, citing the fact that Britain, USA, Canada and New Zealand all have such a position, but that we do not. I threw together some thoughts on this topic back in the middle of 2006.
Small independent publishers can find a useful niche market, as this piece, by Victoria Laurie in "The Australian", about indigenous publisher Magabala, shows.
Australian novelist, K.A. Bedford, has been nominated for the Philip K. Dick award for his novel Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait - great title. This award "was conceived by Thomas M. Disch to honor the memory of Philip K. Dick by rewarding the best paperback original SF book of the year (since so much of Philip K. Dick's work was published in that format)." It has been awarded since 1983.
Pavlov's Cat has a look at the ratio of male to female contributors in a number of Australian literary magazines, and finds Quadrant especially remiss.
On the AustCrimeFiction weblog, Karen lists the television crime programs that are either on their way for 2009, or expected to be screened in the UK this year. Of particular interest is "Three Acts of Murder (ABC): Telemovie based on the case of a serial killer who copied a 'perfect murder' he read about in a novel by Bony creator Arthur Upfield." This was the murder mentioned in this reprint.
I'm still not sure if we can claim The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga as an Australian novel, but the book is one of the contenders in the 2009 Tournament of Books.
D.M. Cornish has made the Sf and Fantasy shortlist for the Cybils Award 2008 - these are subtitled "the children's and young adult bloggers' literary awards".
