Advances
Kerryn Goldsworthy wins the Pascall Prize
Advances was delighted to learn that Kerryn Goldsworthy has won the 2013 Pascall Prize ‘Critic of the Year’. Dr Goldsworthy is a frequent contributor to, and former Editor of, ABR; she reviews Lionel Shriver’s new novel in this issue.
... (read more)‘We live in exacting times – or think we do.’ Advances, ever wary of alarmists, was reminded of Peter Steele’s epigram while reading Kerryn Goldsworthy’s article ‘Everyone’s a Critic’, the fruit of her ABR Ian Potter Foundation Fellowship, which we are delighted to be able to publish in this issue.
We are all familiar with facile notions that criticism is dead, or incurably futile; that long-form journalism is a defunct (or miraculously recent) school; that critics themselves are woefully biddable, incestuous creatures. Dr Goldsworthy – a former Editor of ABR – dubs this the ‘decline polemic’. Her article, based on a survey of sixteen leading reviewers and literary editors, examines these anxieties and points to new forms, new freedoms, new opportunities.
There can be no doubt, though, that book reviewing faces many challenges. Miniscule space in some newspapers; no space at all in others; the valorising of online verdicts from anyone who can negotiate a keyboard; sloppy critical practices: these are just some of the hazards that exercise the minds of Dr Goldsworthy’s subjects, and many others.
... (read more)Martin Thomas wins Calibre
Martin Thomas is the winner of the seventh Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay, worth $5000. The judges – Morag Fraser and Peter Rose – chose his essay from a field of about 150 entries. Dr Thomas’s essay, ‘
We give you ABR Online! By now readers will have heard the whispers about our new website, the unveiling of which is imminent. Our electronic home will be much easier to use and more pleasant to read. We want to make the experience of browsing through ABR Online as close as possible to flipping through the m ...
Poetry and ABR
ABR is delighted to announce that David McCooey, a celebrated poet and frequent contributor to the magazine, is our new Poetry Editor. Professor McCooey, who was re ...
ABR Critic in Residence
In one of our major initiatives since the creation of the Calibre Prize and the launch of ABR Online Edition, we will appoint the first ABR Critic in Residence in February. This twelve-month appointment (funded by our Patron ...
Hard times at the ABC
Why is it that the ABC – which can produce lavish and lamentable ‘entertainments’ such as Randling and Angry Boys – can’t find the money to maintain decently resourced radio drama or book readings. From January 2013, Radio National’s popular Book Reading – now in its sixty-fourth year – will disappear. The ABC has also announce ...
Boyd and beyond
Coming ABR events include another Fireside Chat – this time with Wayne Macauley, author of The Cook (Text), which has been shortlisted for several prizes, including the Melbourne Prize Best Writing Awa ...
Calibre – ‘Body and Soul’
Matt Rubinstein is the overall winner of the sixth Calibre Prize for an Outstanding Essay. His essay, entitled ‘Body and Soul: Copyright Law and Enforcement in the Age of the Electronic Book’, could not be more timely – a probing, meticulous ...
ABR moves to Southbank
While this issue is printing, we’ll be moving to our new office in Boyd, a wonderful extension of the City of Melbourne’s Creative Spaces program. Adva ...