The winner of the inaugural Calibre Prize is Elisabeth Holdsworth, who was born in the Netherlands soon after World War II and who has had works published in magazines and The Best Australian Essays 2004. Her essay is titled ‘An die Nachgeborenen: For Those Who Come After’, after the poem by Bertolt Brecht. It relates her recent return to Middleburg and her family’s vicissitudes during the war.

Of the gestation of ‘An die Nachgeborenen’, Elisabeth Holdsworth has remarked: ‘I didn’t set out to write a memoir, short story or an essay. I was merely allowing the past, the present, Australia, the Netherlands to appear on the page. The “past” proved to be a bit of a nuisance, as there is no equivalent word in Dutch. The freedom and tolerance for which the Dutch are renowned are written in blood, in civil wars, in religious bigotry. We were at our finest during World War II. The nadir from which my parents never recovered was the great flood of 1953. At this stage of my life, and given that I am the last of my father’s line, and my mother’s, I went all out in this essay. I did not spare myself or my ancestors. In the end, Brecht’s poem became a solace rather than a burden.’

ABR congratulates Elisabeth Holdsworth. She did indeed go ‘all out’ in ‘An die Nachgeborenen’; nor did she spare herself: two measures of the essay, an intimate but often bracing and reverberant form. We are delighted to be able to publish this stirring, luminous essay. Because of its length (it was one of the longer entries, at 10,000 words) and because of the tightness of the summer issue, we have postponed publication until February 2007.

As so often, the competition was keen and the judging process a protracted one. More than one entry could have won the prize. The judges have awarded Honourable Mentions to the four that came closest: ‘On the Island of Nias, Indonesia, October 1962: Personal History’, by Glenda Adams; ‘Death Dance’, by David Hansen; ‘Alive in Ant and Bee’, by Gillian Mears, and ‘Heart Felt’, by Carrie Tiffany. We look forward to publishing these entries in 2007.

Vale John Nieuwenhuizen (1961–2006)

We were greatly saddened to learn of the premature death of John Nieuwenhuizen. John, who wrote for ABR in the 1980s, packed much else into his short, enquiring life. He studied Music at the University of Melbourne and graduated with an Honours degree; he taught at Melbourne Grammar School; he reviewed books for various newspapers and magazines; he was a publisher with Reed, Editor of Australian Bookseller and Publisher, and Chair of the Melbourne Writers’ Festival; he was Managing Editor of the ABC’s 24 Hours and inaugural Director of the Sydney Writers’ Festival; and he served as Director of Marketing and Communications at his old university. Latterly, John spent four years in Abu Dhabi, holding a senior position in the educational sector. In January 2006 he and his wife, Zara Fox, returned to Melbourne with their three sons (aged four and under). He soon took up the position of General Manager, Strategic Marketing and Communication with Arts Victoria. He and his young family moved to Woodend just a week before his death on October 20.

Special gift offer for subscribers – save 40% off the cover price

Once again this year we are inviting current subscribers to present as many gift subscriptions as they like. We have pegged the special price at the old concession rate of $55 for ten issues – $20 less than the normal subscription rate, and forty per cent off the cover price. How can you resist? Full details of this special offer (which ends on December 31) appear on page two.

Luddites, reform!

Web-wary readers are missing out on ABR’s online-only Critic of the Month and Poet of the Month, not to mention the ABR blog, recently voted one of the top five Australian blogs on books and writing (Australian Writers’ Marketplace). Recent bloggers include Peter Rose and Jo Case, regular contributor Tamas Pataki, and ABR volunteers Rebecca Starford and Dan Toner.

243 thank-yous

It is the people who write for ABR that make the magazine, often around extremely busy jobs and for less money than they can earn from wealthy newspapers. We know from the recent reader survey that ABR readers share our high regard for our contributors. This year we published 243 writers in ten issues, more evidence of ABR’s commitment to diversity. We thank them all, as we do our board members, our editorial advisers, and our volunteers. To our readers, have a great holiday. We’ll be back in February, with more new voices and some fresh touches.