AustLit

'Once in a while, a literary prize gets awarded to the most talented writer in the field. Admittedly this would happen a lot more often if the judges of such awards simply drew the prize-winner's name out of a hat. The Nobel committee, even if it occasionally pulled out the name of the hat-maker by mistake, would still obtain less bizarre results using the hat method than it does by applying its literary judgment. But still, when a literary award is given to the right winner for the right reason, you get a dim reminder of why such prizes were considered a good idea in the first place.'

'Australian writers love comic exaggeration. Presumably. What else can we make of their sustained hyperbole throughout the Productivity Commission inquiry into restrictions on the parallel importation of books (PIR)? To suffer impeccable stylists like Tim Winton and publishers as savvy as Louise Adler hysterically touting this dinosaurian trade barrier as their only cultural defence against populist barbarian invasion has been enough to suspend your belief in suspended disbelief. Drop restrictions as the Commission recommends, Winton warned, and surrender again to stultifying literary occupation!'

'Amateur theatre is an indictment of the subsidised theatres and subsidised play publishing houses for, wanting good parts and paying customers, they seldom choose new Australian plays from the deadlands. In amateur theatre there is no rush to present plays that have just been on in Sydney or Melbourne, especially those that have elicited rave reviews wherein the smell of bullshit is unmistakable. Audience hatred does not play well in amateur theatre.'