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Last call for Dublin

ON a recent visit to Kuala Lumpur, Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Brian Cowen (pic) said that he was delighted by the continuing success of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for Young Malaysians essay competition.

“We, Irish, value language, and the competition offers a wonderful opportunity for young Malaysians to practise their communication and creative writing skills in English,” said Cowen.

“As today's young people are very well informed, thanks to the advent of technology, we look forward to them sharing their vision of Tomorrow's World, which is the title for this year's contest,” he added.

“I enjoy being involved with this essay competition and value its association with our capital city, Dublin,” said Ireland's ambassador to Malaysia, Eugene Hutchinson.

“English will still remain the medium of global communication in the foreseeable future.

“Thus, countries like Malaysia and Ireland, which have particular strengths in English, have a real advantage in the market-place,” Hutchinson added.

Now in its sixth year, the competition is organised by the Irish Embassy, The Star and the IMP AC management company, with support from the National Library of Malaysia and the Education Ministry.

It is run in partnership with the Irish Universities and Medical Schools Consortium, which represents Irish universities in Malaysia, the St Patrick's Society of Selangor, the Malaysian Irish Alumni Association and ETC International.

The competition is open to young Malaysians between the ages of 14 and 18.

The grand prize is a trip for two to Dublin to meet the finalists in the 2008 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the world's richest book prize.

There are also cash prizes up for grabs as well as a special prize for the winner's school.

Essays should be sent to IDLA 2008, 23A Persiaran Ara Kiri, Lucky Gardens, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, or by e-mail to:
write4idla@ gmail.com.

The closing date for the submission of entries has been extended to April 7.

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Jury Panel Announced for 15th Anniversary of Scotiabank Giller Prize
FOXBusiness - USA
... and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Governor General's Award, the Orange Prize, and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. ...
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Giller Prize boosted to $50000 for 15th anniversary
CBC.ca - Alberta, Canada
Irish author and IMPAC Dublin Literary Award-winner Colm Toibin. Liberal MP, former Ontario premier and arts promoter Bob Rae. The three jurors will have ...
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THE AUSTRALIAN

Rudd to reward Aussie writers

Corrie Perkin | December 05, 2007

AUSTRALIAN writers will from next year vie for one of the world's richest prizes with the Rudd Government to unveil the Prime Minister's Literary Prize for fiction and non-fiction books.

In a bold and affirming cultural statement, the annual awards will have just two categories: published fiction book of the year, and published non-fiction book of the year. Each prize is worth $100,000, tax-free, with a further $100,000 to be spent each year on promoting and administering the awards.

It will be among the richest prizes for literature in the world. It is surpassed among the major awards by only the pound stg. 100,000 ($236,000) International IMPAC Dublin Literary award and the Man Booker for writers from Commonwealth countries, which comes with a winner's cheque of pound stg. 50,000.

The $1.2 million commitment over four years, to start in 2007-08 and to be run through Arts Minister Peter Garrett's office, was part of the ALP's pre-election "Labor's Priorities to Australia's Future" document, which was not released during the campaign.

The Prime Minister's prize for Australian history, created by John Howard, ran into controversy this year when one judge, prominent historian Geoffrey Blainey, said he was upset with the handling of the inaugural $100,000 award.

There was a government representative on the judging panel, and some judges felt Peter Cochrane's Colonial Ambition should have been the sole winner rather than sharing the prize with Les Carlyon's The Great War.

Writers and publishers were overjoyed yesterday by the new Government's decision.

"It means that Australian literature is valued, at last," said Alexis Wright, winner of this year's Miles Franklin Award. "There's some realisation of how important literature is to the country, and it's marvellous to see this sort of support because it is such a struggle for writers to survive."

Melbourne writer Elliot Perlman, recently named one of the 50 most important writers in the world by French literary magazine Lire, said: "I don't just say this because I am a writer, but you need substantial prizemoney, not only to help writers but to make society care. Society finds it easy to appreciate things when there is a monetary value attached. "But in addition, there must be substantial money spent on promoting the award, both before the announcement in promoting the short list, and then promoting and publicising the winning book. That sort of assistance is essential for the health of the culture."

The $100,000 prizemoney for each award makes the Prime Minister's literary awards by far the richest in Australia. The annual Miles Franklin Award - given for the novel or play of the highest literary merit, which presents aspects of Australian life - has long been the most lucrative and is worth $42,000.

Details of the Prime Minister's awards, which also eclipse various state premier's literary prizes, are still to be confirmed, but it is expected that the "aspects of Australian life" qualification of the Franklin will not apply.

It is expected that the awards will embrace Australian writers working anywhere - or writing on any topic - in the world.

Three judges will be appointed for each category by the Arts Minister. The judges will then make recommendations to the Prime Minister.

Melbourne University Publishing's Louise Adler congratulated Mr Rudd on "his endorsement of Australian writing". "To have the PM's imprimatur couldn't be more important and of greater significance," she said.

Twice winner of the Miles Franklin, Alex Miller, said the award was "an enormous encouragement and acknowledgment", but added "I don't think many novelists or non-fiction writers do it for the money or are motivated by money".

Monday May 14, 2007

Essay written in NS camp wins

PETALING JAYA: A tale of a character with no hands won Lianne Letitia Ritchie the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for Young Malaysians 2007’s grand prize. 

“I wrote this essay when I was in national service camp,” said Lianne who received the award on Friday.  (Please view the essay at the end of this article.)

“I am shocked I won because I did not think my entry would get this far,” said the Taylor’s College School of Hospitality and Tourism student. 

Her essay, based on the topic “Helping Hands”, earned her and her mother a trip to Dublin to attend the ceremony of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2007. It also won a LCD projector for her school. 

Lianne took part in the competition last year and won a merit award. 

Irish Ambassador to Malaysia Eugene Hutchinson, who was on the judging panel, expressed hope that the competition would foster creativity among the country’s youth. 

“The purpose of this competition is to encourage the development of communication skills in English and stimulate creative and original thinking,” he said.  

Besides the grand prize and the special prize for the winner’s school, merit awards were presented for nine other essays and consolation prizes for 10 others. 

The merit award winners were Alison Lo Yin Pin, Hema Surendranathan, Hong Wen Jo, Jaipreet Kaur, Krystell Chiu Zhenya, Lim Jia Huey, Nicholas Wong Yoke Hin, Nurul Ihsan Arshad, Saranya Kathirvel and Tan Hsi Yi. 

In its fifth consecutive year, the competition was jointly organised by the Embassy of Ireland, IMPAC and The Star. 

Others on the judging panel included The Star group editorial/ education adviser Datuk Ng Poh Tip, honorary consul of Ireland Datuk Dr Peter Mooney, National Library deputy director of planning and corporate policy Rihanun Md Samin and Silverfish Books managing director Raman Krishnan. 

The sponsors were the National Library, Irish Universities and Medical Schools Consortium, St Patrick’s Society of Selangor and Malaysian Irish Alumni Association.  

1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)

 “Helping Hands”

by Lianne Letitia Ritchie

            It hangs on the gallery wall, gleaming brilliantly under the halogen light. The darkened background enhances the subject upon the canvas – a pair of human hands, painted so realistically you could almost feel their touch against your skin. This painting, aptly entitled “Helping Hands”, is presently valued at US$200 000.

On this day, the day of the great auction, I stand before its magnificence and reminisce. To me, it is not “the work of a genius” or “a dazzling masterpiece” as reviewers have labeled it. It is the realization of a desire that appeared distant, but is right now at my very fingertips.

Ironic that I should say fingertips, for I have none. I have no fingers, no hands, no arms, and it’s been like this for the entirety of my 27 years of life. Now, I find it more a blessing than a curse. But I didn’t always feel this way.

             I’ve always wondered what it was like – a life with hands. Throughout my childhood, I grew up believing that I was disadvantaged. No matter how much love my mother showered upon me, it was never enough. No matter how much attention my elder sister Vanessa gave me – letting me do as I please -- I was never satisfied. They failed to convince me that I was just like everyone else.

 All around me, I was reminded of my disability. Children held their mother’s hands to cross the street – I had to be carried in case I strayed away. Other boys my age crawled and clambered over playground equipment – they could hold on to swings, climb ladders, slide down the fireman’s pole. They could wave goodbye to their friends while I  stood aside, alone.

            We were poor and ignorant. Mother knew that children like me would not be accepted into mainstream schools, so she never sent me. I cringe every time I think of the empty days I spent in a home without a television, wandering around the house for something to do. Vanessa, being four years my senior, taught me basic skills – reading, writing, counting… She even borrowed books from her school library for me to read. Looking back, I must have broken her heart every time I told her, “You’re wasting your time.”

             My teenage years were full of angst, a build-up from the loneliness I suffered from my near-perpetual seclusion. I needed to channel my emotions towards something productive, and I realized it then, but had no idea what to do.

             Shafiq was the one who opened my eyes.

             He played football alone, scoring goals in an empty goalpost. I never really noticed him until one Wednesday afternoon, when the ball rolled up to the sidewalk where I was standing. I stopped it with my foot and we stared at each other.

             “Hey, can you play football?” he asked suddenly, breaking the awkward silence.

             “I don’t know.” I spoke icily, turning away.

             “Do you want to try?”

             I looked up to see him right in front of me, a gentle smile upon his face. His eyes didn’t burn down my sides as people’s usually did as they searched for the arms that weren’t there.

             That smile, that genuine smile. All the pent-up frustration of fifteen years of my life seemed to dissipate as I followed him onto the field, kicking a football for the first time in my life.

 It became our daily routine – I’d wait for him at the field at four o’clock every evening. He’d come, bringing his football, and we’d play until the sun set. Not many words were exchanged between us, but it was a comfortable silence that suited both of us very well.

 Then came a rainy day, and I stood out there at four, with a sinking feeling that he would not arrive. Meeting Shafiq was the highlight of my day, and I wasn’t going to let the chance go by. By 4.15, I felt like a disappointed fool.

 “Why are you standing in the rain?” Shafiq emerged with an umbrella in hand.

 “Can’t exactly carry an umbrella, can I?” I muttered bitterly.

 “Use a raincoat next time,” he said frankly, his signature smile upon his face. “Let’s go to my house. I want to show you something.”

 He grabbed me by the shoulder and led me down the street to his red-gated terrace house clad with an array of potted plants around the entrance. All the way I followed obediently, pondering over the rationality in his words.

 Contrast was the first thing that came to mind as I scanned his living room. The settee was shabby, the walls were peeling, and the ceiling stained with moisture. But the room was filled with spectacular paintings. Seldom had I seen art up close, and never in such variety. Shafiq beamed as I examined them with admiration.

 “You painted them?”

 “Nope, my abah did,” he said, his eyes shining with pride. He pointed to a painting right smack in the centre of the wall. “This is our family portrait; the last picture he painted.”

 Upon close inspection, I noticed how detailed the painting was and immediately recognized a younger version of Shafiq’s smile. I looked at his mother – a beautiful lady, then his father – with graying hair, soft eyes, and a sharp nose. I looked him down from his goatee to his blue shirt, down the sleeves where his arms were supposed to be.

 They weren’t there.

 “Your father had… no arms?” I gasped, squinting to see if I had made some mistake. In a corner of the canvas, I noticed the penned-in words, “a foot-painting by Shahir Hassan”

 “Yeah, just like you,” Shafiq said, standing beside me. “But abah never thought himself any different from everyone else. What they could do, he could do too – but in a different way. Why should we climb the mountain when we can just go around it? If one road is closed, we can take three other roads to reach the same destination. It’s all about being strong enough to walk a bit farther than the rest.”

 I looked at the painting again, and realized that there was nothing ‘disabled’ about it. It was a picture of three smiling faces – a family who loved one another for what they were inside and not for what they lacked.

 Then I realized which part of me had really been disabled.

 “Mak is an artist so she can teach you how to paint. Just come over and use abah’s stuff.”

 “Won’t he mind?”

 “Abah died when I was seven.”

 ~~~

 Today, I stand before the painting that completes me. Yes, those hands I painted are no ordinary hands – they are the hands that helped me become the person I am today. They are the hands of my mother, who lifted me up and gave me everything I needed. They are the hands of Vanessa, who taught me more than just English and Mathematics. They are the hands of Shafiq, who reached out to me and touched my heart.

 They are my hands – hands that will erase my past and sketch my future.

 My deepest desire has become a reality.

Google News Alert for: IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

Education is the key to success, or so the maxim goes. Business groups are pondering the state of the educational system. Companies are wondering where their next cadre of competent workers is coming from. Everyone wants to know: how do we fix this problem? How do we engage youth and encourage education?

There is, of course, no one answer. But maybe it’s a problem that can be attacked one small issue at a time, one small effort, one company, one man.

That’s, at least, what James Irwin is doing.

Irwin is the president of Litchfield-based Impac, an international productivity and management consulting company with thousands of employees across the globe. His company counts many of the world’s largest corporations among its clients. Understandably, Irwin has a need to hire lots of smart employees.

A decade ago, Impac surveyed its team members about their likes, dislikes, hobbies and more. Universally, Impac’s workers shared a love of reading. Irwin himself tells the tale of growing up with two parents who were avid readers, and who passed on that love of literature. On a trip to Dublin, Irwin had a chance to talk to the city’s Lord High Mayor, who also loved reading. That’s when Impac decided to create the International Impac Dublin Literary Award – the highest cash prize for literary achievement in the world. This year, authors such as Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes and Cormac McCarthy are all contenders for the prize.

But Irwin decided to try an experiment a little closer to home. He also founded the Impac Young Writers award, to promote and reward literary aspirations in high school students. The program here has since been adopted by the Connecticut State University System. On June 1, it made its latest choices of achievement in prose and poetry, sending two Connecticut high school students on an all-expense paid weeklong trip to Ireland to be part of the Dublin Award presentation. Earlier it presented checks for $1,000 to both prose and poetry high school authors in each of Connecticut’s eight counties.

In its decade-long history in Connecticut, the program has prompted more than 4,000 students across the state to push their literary limits. And it’s shown them that with effort comes reward. Over 10 years, the Impac Young Writers program has disbursed more than $150,000.

There is nothing more fundamental to education than the ability to read with understanding, to write with clarity of purpose and passion. In promoting literature, Impac isn’t just giving a boost to education, but to critical thought, to creativity and to freedom.

Clearly, Impac sees an impact from its efforts. Since it reached out to Connecticut youth in the mid-1990s, it has taken its young writer initiative across the world. The company now hosts similar competitions in Finland, Malaysia, Thailand and the Czech Republic.

Irwin’s work hasn’t solved the education problems we face. But we can all learn from him and his company, that even the smallest push can have ripples across the world.

©2007 Hartford Business Journal

[on news racks Sat. 6-9-07]
Hartford Courant
Sunday Arts Section
Page G2
www.courant.com

Ireland Bound


Now that you've won the 2007 IMPAC Connecticut State University Young Writers competition, Melanie Lieberman and Maya Polan, where are you going?

No, not to Disney World. To Dublin.

Lieberman, 16, of Vernon, who attends Rockville High School, and Polan, 18, of New Haven, who attends Educational Center for the Arts, were named top state winners in the prose and poetry categories, respectively, at the Young Writers Trust's annual dinner June 1 [at the Litchfield Inn]

Lieberman's story is "Mashed Potato Boy and My Fifth Grade Romance." Polan's poem is "Unruly Sonnets Written in a Midwestern Key."

Two winners in each category from each county have already won $1,000 prizes. The two top winners were also awarded all-expenses-paid trips to Dublin with a parent for events at the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and Dublin Writers Festival.

About 4,000 high school students have taken part in the program, which began in 1998. More than $150,000 in prizes have been awarded.

IMPAC, a productivity firm, endows the literary award of 100,000 euros, the world's largest award for a single work of fiction. The 2007 winner will be announced Thursday in Dublin from among eight finalists selected from 138 nominations by 169 libraries from 49 countries and 129 cities; 28 titles were translations from 15 non-English languages.

The finalists are: "A Long, Long Way," by Sebastian Barry, "Arthur & George," by Julian Barnes, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," by Jonathan Safran Foer, "No Country For Old Men," by Cormac McCarthy "Out Stealing Horses," by Per Petterson, "Shalimar the Clown," by Salman Rushdie, "Slow Man," by JM Coetzee and "The Short Dying Day," by Peter Hobbs.

--Carole Goldberg

Old News

Ex-Conn College professor gets parting honor
William J. Cibes is a former professor at Conn College

[NOTE: CT-N covered Cibes bash Fri. Jan. 6, 2006 at Litchfield Inn.
They taped and will show the event up to half a dozen times or so.
Schedule will be posted sometime this week @ www.ct-n.com
A.T.
Connecticut Network is the citizen’s source for complete and balanced coverage of Connecticutstate government and public policy. CT-N is available on most cable systems,and we continue to work toward availability on basic cable statewide.
Welcome to ct-n.com, our internet source for live webcasts, video-on-demand and other helpful resources.]

Read the full article here

2005 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Headlines ***Click to Read***

IMPAC News

Asia Control Systems IMPAC (M) Sdn Bhd (127151-A) is thrilled to advise that their current client Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd. was recently honored with the Malaysian Productivity Award 2004 by the National Productivity Corporation, an agency under the International trade and Industry Ministry of the Malaysian government.  Cees H. M. Ruygrok, Managing Director of Dutch Lady accepted this prestigious honor.  Our congratulations to all at Dutch Lady for this tremendous success.  The IMPAC Coordinator at Dutch Lady are Woon Siong Ker and Mr. Phoon Kok Theng.  Please review the enclosed article from the Star newspaper in Malaysia about this significant achievement...........Click here to go to the article.