Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Copyright Abuse

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  • Charles Mabbett,

    There's even the Franz Kafka Prize which is based in the Czech Republic. You probably have to have been on an Amnesty International watch list to be considered.

    But I notice Philip Roth and Haruki Murakami are past winners so obviously not a prerequisite.

    Since Nov 2006 • 236 posts Report Reply

  • Charles Mabbett,

    The Nobel Prize for Literature is worth ten million Swedish kronor (about $US1.5 million) and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is worth $US10,000.

    The Booker is worth Stg50,000.

    But the Nobel Prize is for a body of work so while lucrative, certainly a lot more work.

    Since Nov 2006 • 236 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    It's like making a contest of breastfeeding, or gargling.

    I'm not sure how, neither of those things being bloody hard work.

    Ummm... actually, I found breastfeeding bloody hard work. First time round, I was physically exhausted, and second time round, just no could do, given twins, and a couple of other factors.

    I think it's one of those things which is easier for some people it is for others. A friend of mine was able to feed her twins for a year, no problems.

    But I'm with Daleaway on this - the merit of a lot of fiction is in the eye of the beholder, and it does seem odd to judge one high-quality book against another, especially when even getting onto the Booker list is an indication of merit, whatever that merit might be.

    I wonder if a medal system like the wine medal system might be better...

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    I was really astonished with how well Margaret Atwood seemed to write a male in Oryx and Crake when she does such powerful evocative female characters - so acutally I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. Talent is talent.

    Likewise Annie Proulx and, when she's on form, Ursula LeGuin. Talent, yes - though I tend to think of it as real creative imagination.

    What should matter isn't that the creator fits into the 'correct' box of ethnicity, gender or sexuality; but that they bring to the table all the insight, empathy and pure skill they can.

    I'd suggest that those who'd raise such quibbles haven't even begun to appreciate the value of imagination, let alone exercise it.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Andrew Paul Wood,

    Shall we say half imagination, half the music of the prose. And I'm not sure I want to live in a world where Doris Lessing wins the Nobel Lit prize. Those moralising sci-fi things are dreadful

    Christchurch • Since Jan 2007 • 175 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    I'm not sure I want to live in a world where Doris Lessing wins the Nobel Lit prize. Those moralising sci-fi things are dreadful

    I'd cut Lessing a lot of slack for The Temptation of Jack Orkney & Other Stories, but LeGuin does do that sort of sci-fi thing heaps better.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    Still, you've got to love a country where when it comes to dealing with disappointment: Arty-Farties 1; Rugby-Heads nil.

    Arty-Farties 1; Rugby-Heads 1 I think you'll find. We did win the RWC once...a long, long, long time ago.

    It'll be the sort of thing you'll be able to tell your grandkids about: "I was alive when the All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup for their one and only time..."

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    So ... can someone tell me why the Booker Prize is considered the pinnacle of world literary achievement, when it's only open to work in English and excludes three-quarters of the World's population (including American novelists)?

    Astute and aggressive promotion, and the kind of civilized knife-fights the Brit-literarti do so well breaking out like clockwork. And with all due respect to the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction the Booker has a significantly lower crap count. (I admire Philip Roth, but you've got to wonder whether The Plot Against America - which is "moralising sci-fi" that would give Lessing and Atwood pause - mainly got the Pulitzer as a boo ya sucks to Dubya.)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    Also, you can run a book on the Booker - it's an added value literary competition.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    LeGuin does do that sort of sci-fi thing heaps better.

    Up to a point. Even the woman who wrote The Wizard of Earthsea, The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed has me head for the exit when she gets on her soapbox. It's what I call the Dickens Effect - yes, I agree being beastly is just... well, beastly. But could you show us by getting on with the fraking story, rather than grinding to a halt so you can tell us dim peasants what we're too thick to notice for ourselves?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    Russell, I notice you didn't get any traction on the rumour about Langwell possibly getting the role as editor.

    I've heard the same rumour, which doesn't make it any more or less true, especially as Russ and I probably hang around the same commie cafes.

    I also heard that the reason she will be taking the step up is because Shayne Currie (HOS current editor) will be stepping up to the top job at the Herald. Other than to say SC dropped the column I wrote for the HOS. And that I think the only real purpose the HOS has served is to make the SST look better...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    Even the woman who wrote The Wizard of Earthsea, The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed has me head for the exit when she gets on her soapbox.

    Heh.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Tony Kennedy,

    THE MONEY

    "The prize money awarded with the Booker Prize was originally £21,000, and was subsequently raised to £50,000 in 2002"

    meanwhile just across the water....

    "The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is the largest and most international prize of its kind for a single work of fiction published in English. It is open to novels written in any language and by authors of any nationality, provided the work has been published in English or English translation. The Award is a joint initiative of the Dublin City Council, the Municipal Government of Dublin, Ireland, and the productivity improvement company IMPAC. The prize is €100,000.

    The award is administered by Dublin City Public Libraries who seek nominations from public libraries from major cities across the world."

    No NZ winner yet

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 225 posts Report Reply

  • Idiot Savant,

    And on the subject of the Booker prize:

    A Nation Mourns (again)

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    We should sack Jones' coach.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • francis,

    Hi, I'm the "power-tripping little snot" in question. Just wandering in to say you didn't see the comments that invoked the ban because they'd been deleted - and the notice of the ban was just an advisory that if the poster wanted to keep it clean and on point, he'd be welcome back.

    But I also want to say that if anyone thinks there's just one way to "get" the internet (or YouTube or Facebook or any social medium IN the internet), that person misses the entire point OF the internet.

    wellington • Since Jan 2008 • 2 posts Report Reply

  • francis,

    Oh, and about the "nastygram" - I asked, politely, they declined, less politely, end of story.

    wellington • Since Jan 2008 • 2 posts Report Reply

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