Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Vision of a world crippled by biological terrorism (May 16th 2012)

Jane Rogers the 59 year old UK novelist and teacher, best known for her novel ‘Mr Wroe’s Virgins and The Voyage Home’ has won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction, for her first novel  in the science fiction genre ‘The Testament of Jessie Lamb’, a narration by a fictional teenager. The award director Tom Hunter, stated “It wasn’t an obvious Arthur C Clarke winner – it’s not from a science fiction publisher but from a small Scottish press. But I don’t think anyone was surprised it was nominated. It really is a very good book and it has found a real audience in the science fiction readership, it offers a route into dealing with quite serious issues, about science, about maternity and about making choices.” Described by Alison Flood in The Guardian as a “vision of a world crippled by biological terrorism… Taking place in a world in which a deadly virus, Maternal Death Syndrome, affects all pregnant women, putting the future of the human race in jeopardy, The Testament of Jessie Lamb is the story of one 16-year-old who decides she wants to save humanity. She volunteers for a programme in which she will be injected with an immune embryo, but also put into a coma from which she will not recover.”

Inspired by Alison Flood http://ow.ly/aOQ6c image source United Agents http://ow.ly/aOPA9

Should become a protean movement of ideas (December 24th)

Arundhati Roy the 50 year old Indian novelist and Booker Prize winner has explained in an interview with Arun Gupta her sense of comfort from the Occupy Wall Street movement, stating “…it seems to me, intellectually and theoretically, quite predictable this was going to happen here at some point. But still I cannot deny myself the surprise and delight that it has happened.” In the interview Roy states, “I don’t think the whole protest is only about occupying physical territory, but about reigniting a new political imagination. I don’t think the state will allow people to occupy a particular space unless it feels that allowing that will end up in a kind of complacency, and the effectiveness and urgency of the protest will be lost… I think the movement will, or at least should, become a protean movement of ideas, as well as action, where the element of surprise remains with the protesters.”

Inspired by Arun Gupta http://ow.ly/82M2G image source Jean-Baptiste Labrune http://ow.ly/82Ma9

Yasmina Reza the 51 year old Tony Award winning French playwright renowned for her gifted plays that included “Life X 3″, “Art” and “God of Carnage” has been interviewed by Elaine Sciolino of the New York Times, who describes the encounter as probing as she attempted to break through the steely barrier to the underlying fragility that Reza wavers between, presenting “a determination to be judged by her work alone and a desire that it be understood and appreciated.” Reza is also an accomplished novelist with her works “Desolation”, “Adam Haberberg” and “Hammerklavier”; her 2007 book “Dawn Evening or Night” was an up close observers perspective of Nicolas Sarkozy’s run for the French presidency. Although having attained international fame, Reza still has the goal to have a play performed at the Comédie-Française”.

Inspired by Elaine Sciolino ow.ly/5aQrH image source arlindo-correia ow.ly/5aR6z

Philip Milton Roth the 78 year old US novelist renowned for his controversial 1969 sexually explicit psychoanalytical novel Portnoy’s Complaint, has won the prestigious Man Booker International Prize at the Sydney Writer’s Festival. Chairman of the judging panel Dr Rick Gekoski, praised Roth’s 50-year career as remarkable for starting at such a high level and continuing to improve with age when most other novelists decline, referencing Roth’s most recent 2010 publication ‘Nemesis’.  However not all judges on the panel agreed. Critic Carmen Callil founder of the feminist publishing house Virago retired from the panel in protest claiming Roth did not even deserve to make the shortlist, and did not wish for her name to be associated with the award to Roth. Roth’s work usually focuses on explicit male sexuality.

Inspired by Laura Roberts http://ow.ly/56uKE image source ulike http://ow.ly/56uUW

Téa Obreht the 25 year old Serbian American novelist described by the British press as a natural born storyteller with a compelling new voice, is the youngest person to have won the ‘Orange’ award for her first novel ‘The Tiger’s Wife’ a family saga of death in Balkans. Obreht took out the prestigious literary prize against an impressive shortlist of nominated novelists. Obreht’s work is steeped in Balkans’ mythology and superstition, learnt from her family’s oral histories and visits to the region. Despite Obreht’s youthfulness, brilliance and American upbringing, she lives a life constantly guarded by superstitious awareness, complying to the many macabre rituals that ensue. As a result Obreht is cautious in her excitement at winning the prestigious award, worried of potential downside that occurs in her world of opposites.

Inspired by Kira Cochrane ow.ly/5lFIm image source teaobreht.com ow.ly/5lFDY