One of the great things about reading weblogs is the different perspectives they provide: different from each other and, specifically, different from the mainstream media.
Anyone reading this weblog will be aware of the mentions that Australian literature gets in the local and national newspapers and magazines; basically not a lot. The only comparable form of human endeavour that I can think of that receives a similar coverage is science. The odd piece will turn up here and there, but they only serve to accentuate the relative absence of commentary, rather than providing adequate coverage.
So it's great to be able to read pieces like Jonathan Shaw's latest posting on his Family Life weblog. Jonathan attended the dinner on Monday night where the winners of the 2006 NSW Premiers' Literary Awards were announced, and has written his comments on the night's proceedings, including selected comments from the speeches. This is great stuff.
In the UK the Booker Prize dinner and presentation ceremony are televised live. Something I'd like to see in this country. In the meantime we have to rely on bloggers like Jonathan to deliver something like:
NSW Premier's Prize for Literary Scholarship won by Terry Collits, Postcolonial Conrad: Paradoxes of Empire (as tipped by me). He gave a very funny speech, in which he spoke about "pollies" and ended by suggesting that John Howard might consider The Life of Mr Polly as a possible title for an autobiography.
