Man Asian Literary Prize 2009 Shortlist

From the Man Asian L:iterary Prize website press release:

Omair Ahmad, Siddharth Chowdhury, Eric Gamalinda, Nitasha Kaul and Su Tong are today announced as the shortlisted authors for the 2009 Man Asian Literary Prize, the leading regional prize for novels unpublished in English.

The shortlist, chosen by an international judging panel, was announced at the Frankfurt Book Fair, where a display about the prize can be seen at the Hong Kong Government pavilion.

The five shortlisted books, chosen from a longlist of 24, are:
• Omair Ahmad, Jimmy the Terrorist
• Siddharth Chowdhury, Day Scholar
• Eric Gamalinda, The Descartes Highlands
• Nitasha Kaul, Residue
• Su Tong, The Boat to Redemption


Chair of the judging panel Colm Toibin, comments:
     “Reading these books was a fascinating experience because of the range of styles and subjects. The variety of ways in which voice and tone was used in these novels, the sense of commitment to story, the range in the methods of exploring both self and society, the interest in experimenting and making it new, made the time spent judging this prize rewarding and enlightening.”

The winner of the 2009 Man Asian Literary Prize will be announced on Monday, 16 November 2009 at a dinner at the Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong. The winning author will receive US$10,000 and can look forward to publication and wider recognition in the English-reading world.

A distinguished panel of judges selects a single work of fiction to be awarded the prize each year. Chaired by Irish novelist Colm Toibin, the 2009 judges include Chinese American author Gish Jen and Indian writer Pankaj Mishra who was also a judge of the 2008 Prize.

The Man Asian Literary Prize was established in 2006 to bring greater worldwide attention to Asian writing and authors. Works submitted for consideration must not yet have been published in English, although they may have been published in other languages. The Prize is jointly administered by representatives of the Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival, the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The inaugural prize was awarded in 2007 to Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong, which was published in English to great acclaim in early 2008. Miguel Syjuco’s Illustrado won the 2008 prize and will be published in 2010.

Many of the short- and longlisted works from 2007 and 2008 have also been published.

Man Group plc is the sponsor of the Man Asian Literary Prize, in cooperation with Asian Literary Prize Ltd. Man Group also supports a variety of other programmes as well as charities aimed at furthering literature and literacy, including the Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival, a 10-day event that attracts authors from around the world and thousands of attendees. Separately, Man Group also sponsors the annual Man Booker Prize and the bi-annual Man Booker International Prize, in conjunction with the Booker Prize Foundation.

Man Group is a world-leading alternative investment management business. With a broad range of funds for institutional and private investors globally, it is known for its performance, innovative product design and investor service. Man Group manages about US$44 billion. Founded in 1783, today Man Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index with a market capitalisation of about £5 billion. Man Group is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the FTSE4Good Index.

Further information can be found at www.mangroupplc.com.

'Praise Song for the Day'

This poem was composed and read by poet Elizabeth Alexander during Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration:

Praise Song for the Day

by Elizabeth Alexander

Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other's
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what's on the other side.

I know there's something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.


Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.

The Dead by Billy Collins

I read this poem by Billy Collins from one of his poetry collections (I cannot remember if it was The Trouble With Poetry or Sailing Across the Room. I have to check at Barnes and Noble at Brockport).




I truly like the poem and the animation.

This Made Me Think

"I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one, so I'm delighted to win them all, the whole lot, OK?"

-Doris Lessing, in an ambush interview with the

media after the announcement that she has won

the 2007 Nobel Prize.

Doris Lessing wins Nobel Prize

Photo from the web

Doris Lessing won this year's Nobel Prize for Literature. I haven't read her books but I have copies of them. I have a copy of her short story collection. She is primarily known for her novel The Golden Notebook (pictured below).

For more reports of her winning the prize click here and here.

The Nobel Organization said of Lessing's works: "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny." I don't know what that means.