Happily, in the weeks leading up to this launch, interest in our Patrons program has soared. On page five we list all our Patrons, including many new ones. ABR Patrons are making a major contribution to its future; we thank them all. In the brochure on patronage that accompanies this issue, we outline our reasons for seeking such support, and list the five categories of patronage. If you wish to become a Patron, or would like more information about the program, please contact the Editor, Peter Rose This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The road to Ransom

This month, ten lucky new subscribers will receive a signed copy of Ransom – David Malouf’s award-winning novel – courtesy of Random House. In his review of Ransom in the May 2009 issue of ABR (freely available on the ABR website), our reviewer described its prose as ‘of an eloquence and suppleness that we might have thought extinct’.

Another twenty new or renewing subscribers will win either a copy of Cormac McCarthy’s acclaimed novel The Road or the new-release DVD of its film adaptation (with thanks to Icon Films). In his article ‘Baby Dante and the Apocalypse’ (March 2010), Peter Craven praised John Hillcoat’s version of McCarthy’s ‘terminally grim’ fable as ‘an indication of what might be possible in this country’. Subscribe online or give us a call.

Writers at Montsalvat

Last month Craig Munro reviewed Rodney Hall’s memoir, popeye never told you. We also had some signed copies to present to new subscribers; these were snapped up in no time. This month, Rodney Hall will be in conversation with Peter Rose about popeye and autobiography in general. The event will take place in the Barn Gallery at Montsalvat, on Thursday, 17 June – from 7 to 8.30 pm. The entry fee is $10, which includes refreshments. Bookings are essential: (03) 9439 7712. The Montsalvat Conversations series is sponsored by Copyright Agency Limited. Montsalvat’s website: http://www.montsalvat.com.au.

Seeing Hansen

Victorian admirers of David Hansen’s Calibre Prize-winning essay ‘Seeing Truganini’ (May 2010) should head to the Wheeler Centre on Thursday, 24 June, when he will be joined by curator Brenda Croft for a discussion about academic and curatorial squeamishness concerning Truganini and Aboriginal artefacts. This is a free event, from 6.15 to 7.15 pm.

Patrick White in Bloomsbury

Oh to be in England! – at least between 23–25 June, when the Institute of English Studies, University of London, will host an international conference on Patrick White: ‘Modernist Impact/Critical Futures.’ David Marr, author of Patrick White: A Life (1991), will deliver the 2010 Menzies Lecture on 23 June. The rest of the program looks equally auspicious, with Gail Jones on White’s ‘ambivalent modernism’; Ivor Indyk on White’s Expressionism; Margaret Harris and Elizabeth Webby on the White archive; Vrasidas Karalis on translating Voss; David Musgrave on Memoirs of the Many in One as a ‘grotesque fantasy’ and John Carmody on White as ‘composer manqué’. Enquiries to Dr Ian Henderson (King’s College London): This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards

The shortlists have been announced for the CBCA Book of the Year Awards. Several of the nominated titles have been reviewed in ABR. Lost! A True Tale from the Bush (National Library of Australia), written by regular contributor Stephanie Owen Reeder, has been shortlisted for the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books. The Awards will be announced on 20 August.

Vale Patricia Wrightson

ABR was saddened to hear of the death of award-winning children’s book author Patricia Wrightson (1921–2010). The prolific and influential Wrightson was a four-time winner of the CBCA Book of the Year award and the only Australian recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing – awarded to her by the International Board on Books for Young People in 1986, for her body of work. Wrightson’s contribution to Australian children’s books will not be forgotten; in 1999 the New South Wales Premier’s Awards announced the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature.

Litmags Australia

The Literary Magazines Australia website brings together ten publications – Griffith Review, HEAT, Island, Meanjin, Overland, Quadrant, Southerly, Voiceworks, Wet Ink and ABR – under the one electronic auspice: www.litmags.com.au.