At the recent Mildura Writers’ Festival, Inga Clendinnen added the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal to her trophy collection. (A unique medal created by Jim Curry accompanies the cheque for $3000.) This annual prize, first presented in 1997, goes to a writer ‘whose work best reflects the high standards and distinguished literary accomplishments that Philip Hodgins consistently advocated and exemplified in his poetry’. Alan Gould, himself a former winner, was this year’s judge. In his report he stated: ‘My view is that Australian literary culture is very fortunate indeed to have an intellect like Inga Clendinnen’s contributing to our national discourse’. Award seed discontent like poppies, but few are likely to disagree with Mr Gould’ opinion. Inga Clendinnen’s publications include Reading the Holocaust ( 1999) and Dancing with Strangers (2004).

Vale Glenda Adams 1940-2007

Glenda Adams, the distinguished novelist and teacher, has died in Sydney, aged sixty-seven. Ms Adams’ characters’ penchant for travel was part of her own nature. Born in Sydney and educated at the University of Sydney, she travelled in Indonesia before settling in New York in 1964. She studied journalism at Columbia University and spent many year teaching fiction writing. Following her return to Australia in 1990, she taught at the University of Technology, Sydney, where her influence was celebrated. Her novels included Dancing on Coral (1987), which won the Miles Franklin Award and a New South Wales Premier’s Award; and Long-leg, which won the Age Book of the Year Award. She also wrote for television and published collections of short stories. As John Dale noted in his Age obituary, she was ‘never one to seek the limelight, [but] she made a significant contribution to Australian literature and the discipline of creative writing’. Recently, in the inaugural Calibre Prize, Glenda Adams received an Honourable Mention for her essay titled ‘On the Island of Nias, Indonesia, October 1962’.

Seymour Lectures

In the June 2007 issue we published Lawrence Goldman’s essay ‘Virtual Lives’, a deeply erudite study of history and biography in the electronic age. This was originally presented as the 2006 HRC Seymour Lecture, a series that is presented by the Humanities Research Centre (ANU) and funded by John and Heather Seymour. ABR will publish all future Seymour Lectures. The 2007 HRC Seymour Lecture will be delivered by Jill Roe, whose long-awaited life of Miles Franklin will be with us early next year. Professor Roe’s subject – not a small one – is ‘Biography and the Struggle for the Soul of Australia’. As always, the lecture will be presented in three capital cities, beginning in Canberra at 6 p.m. on September 5 at the National Library of Australia. Professor Roe will repeat the lecture in Melbourne on October 3 (Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square) and in Sydney on October 10 (National Maritime Museum). These are free events and open to the public. More information about the lectures is available from Ms Leena Messina at the HRC: (02) 6125 4357.

Richard Holmes, the celebrated biographer of Shelley and Coleridge, has agreed to deliver the 2008 lecture, another coup for the organisers and benefactors.