A round of applause

    I've spent all day today on work for Mindroom - all, that is, but the last hour which was devoted to getting the computer to 'recognise' the printer so that I could see the fruits of my labour in hard copy, and it did finally work, thank goodness - but I've no time or energy left for a long post. Instead, let's have a round of applause for some literary prize-winners:

    The Wellcome Trust Book Prize, which celebrates 'medicine in literature', has gone to Alice LaPlante for her first novel Turn of Mind, "a tale of a family’s secrets exposed by murder and a brilliant mind in terminal decline" - full details here - so many congratulations to her (and yes, I was rooting for Ann Patchett's State of Wonder because I was so taken with it, but as it is the only one of the shortlisted books I've read, I can't really 'compare and contrast'!).

    Meanwhile, the Dylan Thomas Prize has gone to Lucy Caldwell for her book The Meeting Point, "a beautifully written novel that manages to address the momentous subjects of love and loss, and faith and betrayal, with a calm and quiet grace". Annabel Pitcher's My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece which I was talking about (and from which David Tennant was reading) last week was also on the shortlist, but didn't take the prize.

    And finally today, lots of us here are big fans of Linda Gillard's books, so it's great to see that her popularity continues to grow as Amazon have selected her recent House of Silence (post on it here) as one of their Kindle Top 10 Best of 2011 in the Indie Author category, and well-deserved that is.

Comments

[adele geras]

Delighted to hear about Linda Gillard! That's brilliant news and encouraging for Kindlers. Also sad that Louisa Young didn't win Wellcome but good to be on the shortlist, right? Must read the winner now.

[Sandra]

I really like novels with medical themes and there seem to be more, and better ones, in recent times. Happy to know about The Wellcome Trust Awards. I enjoyed Patchett's book too.