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M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD The Austrian Christine Nostlinger and the American Maurice Sendak have been awarded the first Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature. The SEK5m award, to [...]

The Russian Booker Prize for literature was awarded to 32-year-old Oleg Pavlov on 5 December for his novella 'Karagandinskie devyatiny' (Karaganda Nines), Russian news agencies reported. Pavlov was quoted by [...]

The Russian Booker Prize for literature was awarded to 32-year-old Oleg Pavlov on 5 December for his novella 'Karagandinskie devyatiny' (Karaganda Nines), Russian news agencies reported. Pavlov was quoted by [...]

M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2002 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Australian author and environmentalist Tim Low has won the inaugural Westfield/Waverley Library literary prize. The prize, which recognises outstanding research in fiction and non-fiction [...]

M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2002 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Lars Saabye Christensen has received the literature award of the Nordic Council. The Norwegian author was awarded the DKK350,000 prize for his book 'Halvbroren' [...]

The run-up to the decision on the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature has been marred by the fact that three of the members of the Swedish Academy committee responsible for making the decision have chosen not to participate. Particular controversy surrounds Swedish Academy Permanent Secretary Sture Allen, who has been accused of not reading the books nominated for the award and of lack of vision. It is very difficult to predict which author will be selected for the award, as the committee brings together people of very differing views.

The new Orange Prize, which will award 30,000 pounds sterling each year to the most outstanding female writer in the English language, has attracted mixed reactions. Some observers point out that women very rarely win other literary prizes, while others claim that there are many great women writers, and a prize is therefore not really necessary. It is clear that women writers are usually treated with less respect than their male counterparts, with writing being regarded as part of their everyday life, rather than a particular talent.

Emile Habiby is the first Israeli Arab novelist to win the Israel Prize for Literature presented on May 7 1992. Previously the prize has always gone to Hebrew writers so Habiby has mixed feelings about accepting the prize. Acceptance could be used against radical Arab factions but he will use it to promote the struggle for equality of the 740,000 Palestinians in Israel. His five novels written in Arabic convey the ambivalent position of Israeli Arabs. He grew up in Haifa in an Arab Christian family and represented the Palestine Communist Party in the Knesset. In 1948 his family's houses were confiscated, his brothers were expelled and he was beaten and refused the right to travel until military rule was lifted in 1966.