The 2005 Books Alive campaign has begun. The following is extracted from the Australia Council website:
"Federal Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator Rod Kemp officially launched Books Alive 2005 at a public event this morning at Westfield Miranda in Sydney's southern suburbs.
"At the same time Deborah Thomas, Editorial Director of The Australian Women's Weekly, launched Hell Island the new short novel by Matthew Reilly written exclusively for this year's Books Alive.
"Until August 31 Books Alive will give away a free copy of Matthew Reilly's Hell Island with any book purchased from The 2005 Books Alive Great Read Guide.
"The Guide is the cornerstone of this year's promotion. A fresh, contemporary list of 50 great books for adults and children, it will be distributed to 2.5 million Australians throughout the campaign, encouraging them to buy a book. The Guide aims to simplify the world of books and empower occasional readers to make more satisfying reading choices.
"The 50 books include five celebrity choices:
Layne Beachley, Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsch
Liz Ellis, Dirt Music by Tim Winton
Mark Ferguson, Atonement by Ian McEwan
Rove McManus, The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay and
Ian Ross, Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.
"In addition to Matthew Reilly's book, over half the titles in The Books Alive Great Read Guide are by Australian writers, including Helen Garner, Andy Griffiths, David Malouf, John Marsden and Di Morrissey.
"Books Alive is the biggest promotion of books and reading staged in Australia. It is funded by the Australian Government, developed through the Australia Council for the Arts and supported by the Australian book industry.
"Books Alive runs from 27 July to 31 August 2005."
Don't you just love sentences like: "The Guide aims to simplify the world of books and empower occasional readers to make more satisfying reading choices"?
What's the word "empower" doing in there? This is just marketing-speak for "help" isn't it?
And the list of books? Forget it. Can't find it anywhere. You can get a copy in the August issue of "The Australian Women's Weekly". But surely it should be listed on the web somewhere. The Books Alive website doesn't help. It's generally referred to as "closing the loop".
[Update: a further web search has found the list of books on the Language Books Centre website, for which I am grateful.]
