I went to and worked at too many sessions to make a summary of each interesting to anyone so, drum roll please for the inaugural 3000 books Melbourne Writers Festival awards. All quotes are approximate and taken from my basically useless scrawl.
Most seen author goes to Hannah Tinti, proud parent of The Good Thief. We probably have the same star sign or something. I saw her so many times that I feel like I know her, I'm going to keep calling her Hannah. It probably comes down to the fact that she is an author of short stories, which I have been consuming like a madperson. I went to the The Young Americans party, too, which featured Hannah. Its three participants all theoretically demurred on the basis of their age (Mark Sarvas, for example, is 43). Finally, I spied her in Aphrodite's LoveTV, an experience from which I theoretically demurred. I mean, I was there while Hannah discussed intimate tales of love with a lady in an emerald green onesie, but I was drinking red wine in the corner. I wasn't watching or videotaping or fantasising about buying a tent from Toy Kingdom or anything like that, no.
Best chemistry in a session is a tie. Inside UK Publishing, a wildcard not in the program that I suspect was a late addition (or an oopsie) featured crime writer Mark Billingham and David Shelley, his RP-brandishing editor at Little, Brown. Billingham, who used to be a stand-up comedian, surfed the small crowd with ease. But the most interesting dynamic came from the interaction between Shelley and the chair, Michael Williams, who mentioned that he worked at Text Publishing for 6 years before his current post, which I didn't catch. Williams and Shelley took pretty obvious stances on the continuum of 'editor-as-cherisher' to 'editor-as-book broker'. Typical quote from Williams: 'I love this and I want to bring this to the world'. Response from Shelley: 'The world wants this, and I'm going to bring it to them in its best possible form.' Great TV, I mean, conversation.
Best chemistry in a session II for me was The Tall Man, where Chloe Hooper and Jeff Waters discussed their wildly different takes, and I would surmise books, on the subject of the death of Mulrunji on Palm Island last year. Hooper had stayed with Mulrunji's family and was obviously much more emotionally involved, though it was not just this which made her a passionate storyteller. Waters approached his writing task with the 'change the world' principle of the socially aware investigative journalist but at a greater distance, and with a focus on the consequences for governance issues. From the sound of the bell, they parried on various points including their chosen ways of referring to Mulrunji and the legal status of inquest evidence. Waters was frank about the constraints applicable to him as an ABC correspondent, though defensive enough that it was difficult not to admire Hooper's directness. Fraught, wide-ranging, dynamic, just as conversation on such important topics should be.
The 'You made me sad about Australian Publishing' award goes to a publisher who gave Michael Hyde reasons for rejecting his novel as follows: 'Your novel has too many issues--the main character's girlfriends is Vietnamese, there's a youth suicide in the plot, and the guy's dad is a single father.'
Funniest thing worn on stage: Kate Mosse's platform sneakers.
Yuckiest moment: I complimented a shall-remain-unnamed author on their session the previous day, and was rewarded with a stony silence. Je regrette.
Most beautifully spoken goes to Nicholas Rothwell on The Essay--'an elusive and demanding form' which should ideally exhibit the writer's humility.
Session with the youngest average audience age was How to get published. Which was also the winner of my Way too many panellists award.
And there you have it. Did I say to stop the drum roll? You'd better stop.
Most seen author goes to Hannah Tinti, proud parent of The Good Thief. We probably have the same star sign or something. I saw her so many times that I feel like I know her, I'm going to keep calling her Hannah. It probably comes down to the fact that she is an author of short stories, which I have been consuming like a madperson. I went to the The Young Americans party, too, which featured Hannah. Its three participants all theoretically demurred on the basis of their age (Mark Sarvas, for example, is 43). Finally, I spied her in Aphrodite's LoveTV, an experience from which I theoretically demurred. I mean, I was there while Hannah discussed intimate tales of love with a lady in an emerald green onesie, but I was drinking red wine in the corner. I wasn't watching or videotaping or fantasising about buying a tent from Toy Kingdom or anything like that, no.
Best chemistry in a session is a tie. Inside UK Publishing, a wildcard not in the program that I suspect was a late addition (or an oopsie) featured crime writer Mark Billingham and David Shelley, his RP-brandishing editor at Little, Brown. Billingham, who used to be a stand-up comedian, surfed the small crowd with ease. But the most interesting dynamic came from the interaction between Shelley and the chair, Michael Williams, who mentioned that he worked at Text Publishing for 6 years before his current post, which I didn't catch. Williams and Shelley took pretty obvious stances on the continuum of 'editor-as-cherisher' to 'editor-as-book broker'. Typical quote from Williams: 'I love this and I want to bring this to the world'. Response from Shelley: 'The world wants this, and I'm going to bring it to them in its best possible form.' Great TV, I mean, conversation.
Best chemistry in a session II for me was The Tall Man, where Chloe Hooper and Jeff Waters discussed their wildly different takes, and I would surmise books, on the subject of the death of Mulrunji on Palm Island last year. Hooper had stayed with Mulrunji's family and was obviously much more emotionally involved, though it was not just this which made her a passionate storyteller. Waters approached his writing task with the 'change the world' principle of the socially aware investigative journalist but at a greater distance, and with a focus on the consequences for governance issues. From the sound of the bell, they parried on various points including their chosen ways of referring to Mulrunji and the legal status of inquest evidence. Waters was frank about the constraints applicable to him as an ABC correspondent, though defensive enough that it was difficult not to admire Hooper's directness. Fraught, wide-ranging, dynamic, just as conversation on such important topics should be.
The 'You made me sad about Australian Publishing' award goes to a publisher who gave Michael Hyde reasons for rejecting his novel as follows: 'Your novel has too many issues--the main character's girlfriends is Vietnamese, there's a youth suicide in the plot, and the guy's dad is a single father.'
Funniest thing worn on stage: Kate Mosse's platform sneakers.
Yuckiest moment: I complimented a shall-remain-unnamed author on their session the previous day, and was rewarded with a stony silence. Je regrette.
Most beautifully spoken goes to Nicholas Rothwell on The Essay--'an elusive and demanding form' which should ideally exhibit the writer's humility.
Session with the youngest average audience age was How to get published. Which was also the winner of my Way too many panellists award.
And there you have it. Did I say to stop the drum roll? You'd better stop.
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