Last Friday night the book industry celebrated its night of nights: The Australian Book Industry Awards (or ABIAs). It’s like the Oscars but for books! The evening was a celebration of the book in all its forms and those who make the Australian Book Industry one of the most diverse and vibrant in the world.

The guest of honour for the awards was the Federal Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott and Glenys Beauchamp,  Secretary Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport

The major award of the evening, the Book of the Year award, went to All That I Am by Anna Funder (which also won Literary Fiction Book of the Year). All That I Am has already won the Indie Award this year and is shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. It tells the story of a group of friends in Germany in 1933 who are opposed to the rise of Nazism and must flee their country when Hitler comes to power. It is about friendship, betrayal, courage and fear. Anna showed us all what a fantastic writer she is with her non fiction book Stasiland about life under the East German Stasi and proves it again in spades with All That I Am. This will be a deserved winner of the Miles Franklin (if not a little controversial).

The Newcomer of the Year was awarded to Favel Parret whose debut novel Past The Shallows is also shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award this year. I’m a huge fan of Favel’s book and she has got a big future ahead of her. Set inTasmania in the 1980s, this is the story of three brothers; Joe, Miles and Harry. Their mother was killed in a car accident when they were younger and their belligerent father takes his hard life out on his kids. The three brothers all try in one way or another to help the other cope but when the oldest brother Joe leaves town everything becomes untethered. Favel deftly captures the harshness and beauty of life at the edge ofAustralia and her writing will stay with you long after you put the book down.

Rudie Nudie by Emma Quay, a fantastic picture book won the Younger Children Book of the Year and Andy Griffiths won the Older Children category for The 13-Storey Treehouse.

Shearers Bookshop in Leichhardt won Independent Bookshop of the Year for the 2^nd year in a row and Hill of Content in Balmain won the Chain/Franchise Bookshop of the Year. Readers in the inner west of Sydney are obviously extremely well served!

Allen & Unwin won Publisher of the Year and Text Publishing won Small Publisher of the Year. Both independently owned Australian publishers that shows how strong and important the local publishing scene is in Australia.

Click here for the full list of winners

I love Sydney Writers Festival time! I feel like a kid at the Easter Show down at Walsh Bay surrounded by books, authors and stories! While I love getting the chance to meet some of the authors whose books I love I also like the opportunity the festival gives you to discover a new book or author.

I thought I’d put together my wish list for the festival, if I could move space and time.

The author I most want to see is Jeffrey Eugenides. Middlesex is amongst my favourite all-time books and I loved his new book The Marriage Plot. And I also want to meet Chad Harbach, author of The Art of Fielding.

I’m also keen to hear Roddy Doyle. I have a thing for Irish writers and his Henry Smart trilogy is superb. It follows a character from the Easter Uprising in 1916 through to the Ireland in the 90s taking in America, Louis Armstrong, Hollywood and of course The Troubles. (PS If I ever have a son he will be called Henry after the character in this trilogy). Fellow Irish author Sebastian Barry is also on my list.

I haven’t read Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward but is has been on my ‘to read’ pile for a while. It has had great reviews and won the National Book Award last year. The book follows a poor African American family who live on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico just before Hurricane Katrina hits. So I definitely want to hear Jesmyn talk about her novel.

I also think Barbara Arrowsmith-Young will be fascinating. She was one of the cases mentioned in Norman Doidge’s bestselling The Brain That Changes Itself. She has now written a book about her severe learning disabilities and how she was able to retrain her brain.

Now I’m the wrong age group and my daughters aren’t up to these books yet but Jeff Kinney, author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid is going to be huge. The latest Wimpy Kid book was the bestselling book in Australia last year selling over 200,000 copies. I also want to hear picture book author/illustrator Oliver Jeffers .

But the Writers Festival is not just about international guests. It is also a celebration of our fantastic local writers. There are too many to list but my highlights to see would be Elliot Perlman, Drusilla Modjeska, P.A. O’Reilly, Charlotte Wood, Kate Grenville and Michael Robotham.

And there are of course the fantastic discussion panels and workshops!

One of the fantastic workshops at the festival this year is an all day event at the State Library: The Forest for the Trees. The workshop will look at what has happened in the last year for publishers, bookshops and the writer and discuss the challenges that exist for publishing in the modern world. Anna Maguire from the fantastic Digireado blog (like on facebook!) will be discussing recent developments in digital publishing and the opportunities created for writers.

Too much to see and not enough time!

Telegraph Avenue is a well known strip in Oakland, California and the centrepiece of the story is Brokeland Records, a used vinyl record store, on this strip. The shop is run by Archy and Nat, whose passion and knowledge of music brought them together as friends and then as business partners. But the store and their livelihood is under threat when a former sports star and local resident, now entrepreneur, announces plans to build a music megastore up the block from Brokeland Records. (As you can see a story close to an independent bookseller’s heart.)

But there is more going on in Archy and Nat’s lives than the record store. Their wives, Gwen and Aviva, also work together as mid-wives specializing in home births and their job is not without its own dramas and confrontations. Then there are of course the children. Gwen and Archy are expecting their first child together, any day, and Archy’s faithfulness to their marriage is severely lacking. Nat and Aviva’s 14 year old son, Julie, is coming to terms with his sexuality and has fallen in love with a boy who is only going to complicate Archy’s life even more. And then there is Archy’s father, an ex-blaxploitation film star of the 1970s and absent father who was semi-involved in Black Panther politics who is now a recovering drug addict and back on the scene and causing much disturbance to many on Telegraph Avenue.

This is Michael Chabon at his creative and imaginative best. The microcosm he constructs in and around Brokeland Records sucks you right in. The story Chabon tells is alive with music, film, family, history and community. Every character is equally endearing, frustrating and involving. There is a reason Chabon is rated so highly as a writer and a storyteller and this book is why.

If you can’t see the video you can view it on YouTube

Read my review here

Could this be the ‘biggest book of 2012′? – ABC New South Wales – Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

This week on 702 ABC Sydney, Linda Mottram and I talked about what I think is the biggest book of the year, BRING UP THE BODIES by Hilary Mantel. WOLF HALL won the Booker Prize in 2009 and I think we have been asked on a constant basis for the sequel ever since. BRING UP THE BODIES is released worldwide on Thursday May 10 and Hilary Mantel is doing a session at the Sydney Writers Festival via video link.

We then discussed some picture books for children including the brand new Oliver Jeffers, THE NEW JUMPER. I am a huge fan of Oliver Jeffers. His recent picture books have been steadily getting a bit older but with this new book he introduces us to some new characters, The Hueys, which also means this picture book is aimed at a younger audience.

We also talked about HUGLESS DOUGLAS AND THE BIG SLEEP by David Melling.  In the third Hugless Douglas adventure, Hugless is going to a sleepover at Rabbit’s house and must pack his bag. Along the way he pick ups a few friends and by the time he gets to Rabbit’s house their might not be room for everybody!

Rather than looking at the love affairs and scandal of the fall of Anne Boleyn BRING UP THE BODIES is all about the behind-the-scenes machinations and the jockeying for position and favour. But in the end it is about personal revenge. It is absolutely captivating.

Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn are again on the periphery of the story. WOLF HALL was the rise of Thomas Cromwell and in BRING UP THE BODIES he is at the height of his powers. Thomas Cromwell is often portrayed as a hard and vicious attack dog (and I think also confused by some with Oliver Cromwell) but Mantel presents him as a much more complex and complicated character. The ghost of Cardinal Wolsey literally haunts Cromwell. Wolsey was his mentor and he still harbours much loyalty to him. But he also understands why and how he fell from grace and is determined that he doesn’t meet a similar (or worse) fate.

There will be another book to follow BRING UP THE BODIES which I assume will be the fall of Thomas Cromwell. I cannot wait to see how Hilary Mantel plays that story out. However I have grown very attached to Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell and don’t want to see him meet his end.  But then again he is playing the game of thrones…..

If you can’t see the video try YouTube

You can read my review of the book here

“The mark of the classic is that it keeps talking to us even if it says different things to successive generations”

- Jennifer Byrne in the introduction to My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin reissued by Text Publishing, 2012

Text Publishing have republished 30 Australian classics in a bid to keep them in print, because sadly around 20 past winners of the Miles Franklin Award are no longer in print. You can view the full list here or download the eBooks here.

Have a listen to my chat with Linda Mottram on 702 ABC Sydney…

Reviving the Australian classic – ABC New South Wales – Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

What is your favourite Australian novel? Mine is The White Earth by Andrew McGahan

…then check out this fabulous trailer.

I am very excited to announce that I am now regularly reviewing books every Tuesday at 10:45am on Mornings with Linda Mottram on 702 ABC Sydney. My first segment was today.

If you missed it click on the link below to read a couple of short reviews of the books or download an audio file of my chat with Linda.

And tune in next week!!

Book review – Jon Page – ABC New South Wales – Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

The books I discussed this week were:

Waiting For Sunrise by William Boyd &

What It Is Like To Go To War by Karl Marlantes

It is a part coming-of-age novel, part parable not only about the ocean and the environment but life in general. Miles O’Malley is almost 14 but looks 10 because of his short stature. He is obsessed with the tidal mud flats behind his house and the life that teems just below its surface. However a series of remarkable discoveries sets in motion a chain of events that will have a profound impact on Miles and the people he cares about.

THE HIGHEST TIDE ebbs and flows with life, friendship, love and loss. Miles is one of those rare book characters who you will never forget. His wide-eyed passion, knowledge and fascination with marine life are infectious and his big heart and selfless attitude and actions only endear him to you more. This is a book to make you smile, shed a tear and want to share with as many people as possible.