The Malaysian Insider :: Books
The Malaysian Insider :: Books |
| Booker-winning novelist Mantel back on shortlist Posted: 11 Sep 2012 06:14 AM PDT  Malaysian writer, Tan Twan Eng is also shortlisted as a nominee for the Man Booker Prize for fiction this year for his book "The Garden of Evening Mists". — Reuters pic. The other five nominees are Will Self ("Umbrella"), Deborah Levy ("Swimming Home"), Malaysia's Tan Twan Eng ("The Garden of Evening Mists") and first-time novelists Alison Moore ("The Lighthouse") and Indian author Jeet Thayil ("Narcopolis"). "We loved the shock of language shown in so many different ways and were exhilarated by the vigour and vividly defined values in the six books that we chose," said Peter Stothard, chair of the judges and editor of the Times Literary Supplement. The overall winner will be announced at a ceremony at London's Guildhall on October 16 and receive a cheque for £50,000 (RM247,000) plus a spike in sales that usually accompanies a major literary award. Last year's winner, "The Sense of An Ending" by Julian Barnes, has sold more than 300,000 print copies in the United Kingdom alone. Of the six shortlisted authors, two have previously been linked to the prize. Mantel won in 2009 with the first instalment of her Thomas Cromwell trilogy, and was longlisted in 2005 for "Beyond Black". Eng was longlisted for the prize in 2007 with his debut novel, "The Gift of Rain". The four other novelists including Self, who was described by organisers as a "radical of contemporary literature", appeared on the list for the first time. The shortlist features three major publishers — Faber & Faber, Fourth Estate and Bloomsbury - and three smaller regional publishers — Myrmidon Books, Salt and And Other Stories. Levy's novel Swimming Home is co-published by And Other Stories and Faber & Faber. Jonathan Ruppin, web editor at Foyles bookshops, praised the judges' selection, and added: "One can never discount the consistently brilliant Hilary Mantel and Will Self has surpassed himself with Umbrella, but I'm tipping Alison Moore's moody and exquisite The Lighthouse, to pull off a triumph for the dynamic world of indie publishing." The prize launched in 1969 to promote works of fiction written by citizens of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. — Reuters |
| Author Richard Bach’s condition improving Posted: 11 Sep 2012 06:02 AM PDT SEATTLE, Sept 11 — Richard Bach, author of the 1970s bestseller "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," who was seriously injured when his small plane flipped during a landing, is improving and will soon be moved out of intensive care, a hospital spokeswoman said. Doctors at Seattle's Harbourview Medical Center were upgrading Bach's condition to satisfactory from serious, spokeswoman Susan Gregg said. "He's improving." Bach, 76, clipped power lines with the landing gear of his 2008 Easton Gilbert Searey on Aug. 31 while trying to land on a grass airstrip on San Juan Island in northwestern Washington state. A group of young tourists found Bach, suspended upside down and strapped to his harness in the heavily damaged single-engine plane, and cut him loose from the wreckage. Bach is now able to enjoy chocolate milk and respond to verbal commands such as "cough" and "give a thumbs up." He was expected to be moved out of intensive care late yesterday, son James Bach told Reuters. "He can say some words, but it's hard for him. so he mostly sticks to 'yes' or 'no,' the son said. "We still can't tell if he understands that he is in the hospital and why he is there. But he asked for chocolate milk today — so at least his love of chocolate milk is intact," said the younger Bach, 46. "We think it's going to be a long slow recovery. We're taking it one day at a time. We're optimistic." The author's injuries included a head blow that caused internal bleeding, bruised ribs, a bruised shoulder that doctors initially thought was broken and a right eye that remains shut, his son said. "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," the story of a seagull expelled from his clan after he pushes himself to become an extraordinary flyer, was published in 1970. It topped the New York Times best-sellers list two years later and was made into a movie in 1973. — Reuters |
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