Sunday 29 June 2008

The Indie Award


Abbey's is proud to be involved with the Indie Award. Chosen by Australian independent booksellers, the $18,000 prize will honour an Australian author for the best book of the past twelve months. The award is being managed by Leading Edge Books, a group of independent bookstores with member stores across Australia, both metropolitan and regional, including many of Australia's iconic independent bookshops. The award will demonstrate independent booksellers' commitment to Australian books and writers, with over 120 bookshops working together to sponsor this annual award. Our very own Lindy Jones is one of the judges this year.

Over 100 titles have been submitted to The Indie Award panel in the categories of Fiction, Debut Fiction, Non Fiction and Children's Books. Independent booksellers around the country are now madly reading, with the winner from each of the four categories to be announced on Monday 25th August. The winner of The Indie Award for the book of the year will be chosen by the booksellers from the four shortlist category winners and announced on Monday 6th October.

The award has the support of key people in the Australian book world, including Tim Winton who said "Everywhere else in the English-speaking world, bookselling has become the province of chains, of massive centralisation, of venality and a steady loss of competence on the shop floor. Thank God we still have booksellers passionately committed to our shared reading culture. This is something we must not give up. For nearly thirty years I've made a living from writing fiction in this country with the steady support of independent bookshops. This year I've been lucky enough to have a novel reach the top of the bestseller lists. A literary novel at number one. Hand-sold all the way there by people who take books personally."

Saturday 14 June 2008

Books on TV...on the internet


If your monthly dose of the First Tuesday Book Club isn't enough, there are now book-related programs you can download or watch online.

Black iTV comes from Black Inc. - the people who publish the excellent Quarterly Essays and books like Van Diemen's Land and Dear Mr Rudd. It allows you to watch the latest Black Inc. events and book launches online. 

Slow TV is produced by the people who own Black Inc. It provides interviews, debates, conversations and public lectures about Australia's key political, social and cultural issues. Not everything is book-related, but much of it is. Recently featured authors include Tim Winton, Michelle De Kretser, Les Murray and Paul Auster.

Titlepage.tv is a US program which recently completed it's first season. You can watch it through their website or download video or audio versions through iTunes