I’ll just go shoot myself. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award has just been given to Sonya Hartnett. I have no problem with this at all, except as is so often the case with the Nobel Prize, I have not read a single book by her. Of course.
Let this be a lesson to people who say I read a lot. I don’t. All the time, maybe, but that’s not enough.
Congratulations, Sonya. I’ll be there when you receive the award, if that helps.
15 responses so far ↓
Lee // March 13, 2008 at 9:04
I detest the very idea of awards, but you must reader Hartnett. She’s one of the very best YA writers around, though I too am coming to distrust the whole YA classification thing. At least once a year I reread several of her novels -Sleeping Dogs, for example
Lee // March 13, 2008 at 9:18
Whoops, sorry for those typos. I really must force myself to reread my comments (and emails)!
bookwitch // March 13, 2008 at 9:39
How can you possibly have time to re-read so much? I don’t even read all books a first time.
Typos are OK. Yesterday I received an email from a publisher saying “you should of received…” Which is slightly worse than the “advanced copy” another publisher sent me. Shame they had to write it on the book itself.
Col // March 13, 2008 at 10:02
I agree, Harnett is one of the best YA writers I’ve ever read, and I’m very glad she’s won this award and hopefully her books will get some more publicity in the UK.
Sue // March 13, 2008 at 14:55
I’ve recently reviewed Sonya Harnett’s new book for The Bookseller - published in May .. next time you’re in our cafe I’ll show you my review and the book!
bookwitch // March 13, 2008 at 22:05
Keep that tea hot, Sue. And perhaps a toasted tea cake with that?
Meg Rosoff // March 14, 2008 at 9:53
I haven’t read her either, but when I was in Australia, she was like the queen — so well respected and adored. And as for awards, why detest them? Would we be talking about SH without them?
bookwitch // March 14, 2008 at 10:18
I like awards. I’m looking forward to getting the Alma myself, because it’s a decent sum of money, unlike most other awards which are mainly for the honour. And I’d say that apart from giving it to Pullman, the Alma judges have done that Swedish thing and gone for someone who is not a household name. By now I feel I know the judges far better than I ever will the winners. Though one of them changes her hair so drastically every year, that she can be hard to recognise.
Lee // March 14, 2008 at 11:42
Why detest awards? Because of the hype, because they often bring one person to prominence while many others of equal (or better) worth are ignored, because art is not, abolutely not, a competition. Shall I go on?
Lucky, isn’t it, that I’ll never have to put my convictions to the test …
Lee // March 14, 2008 at 11:43
P.S. There are other means to discover and talk about writers than awards.
bookwitch // March 14, 2008 at 13:06
Yes, you can all read this blog…
I think awards are a bit like having a birthday party. As you get older you don’t need them, but they can still be fun. I’ll invite you next time I’m 40.
Sally // March 14, 2008 at 17:01
I agree that art isn’t a competition and that awards are horribly subjective (I always used to wonder as a child why the same book didn’t win every award, if it was the best one).
But my experience is that being shortlisted - and in some cases longlisted - for an award can give you much-needed prominence as well. And although there are other ways of finding out about books, we forget in our internet-dominated world that actually many people don’t read blogs or newspapers or go to book groups - which is why Richard and Judy and Waterstones have such control over what people read.
And anything that widens the range of books that come to the public attention has to be a good thing.
Laurie // March 14, 2008 at 17:40
Well, my witch: even if you haven’t read her books, if you recognized her name, you’re doing better than I am.
The three Barnes & Noble bookstores in my area don’t stock her, so maybe it isn’t just me being oblivious again.
The local library has four titles: Surrender, Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf, Silver Donkey, and Thursday’s Child. Recommendations, anyone?
bookwitch // March 14, 2008 at 19:20
Sally - that sentence of yours in brackets is a very Aspie observation. Wonderful.
Laurie - Sonya Hartnett’s British publishers say to start with Thursday’s Child. Do we trust them? See, your library has the books. That’s exactly the kind of thing I’d expect of something that gets picked by the Alma judges.
Sally // March 16, 2008 at 15:28
If you don’t like depressing books narrated by young people who are dying, I wouldn’t start with ‘Surrender’. It’s not exactly cheerful, although it does mess with your head. ‘Thursday’s Child’ is good.
To be honest, I think Sonya Hartnett is a wonderful writer, but I’m not sure she’s young adult. She’s one of these authors like Mark Haddon who I suspect are writing grown-up books really.
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