Latest news with #Madeleine
SBS Australia
a day ago
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
Siang Lu just won Australia's most prestigious literary prize — more than 200 rejections later
Brisbane writer Siang Lu has won the Miles Franklin Literary Award for his novel Ghost Cities, after more than 200 publishers rejected the manuscript. The 39-year-old author said he was shocked to find out he had won the $60,000 prize after being shortlisted for the first time. "I just sat down and actually lost all feeling in my hands and legs, and I lost my voice," he said. "It was one of the first times in my life where I actually had to ask someone with complete seriousness, to just tell me that I wasn't dreaming." Australia's most prestigious literary award was announced at a ceremony in Sydney on Thursday night, at which Lu revealed that he finished the manuscript for Ghost Cities a decade ago in 2015, but it was rejected more than 200 times by publishers in Australia and overseas. Siang Lu accepted the $60,000 prize at an event in Sydney on Thursday night. Source: AAP / Jane Dempster "I used to print my rejections and Blu-Tack them on the glass pane between my office, and my bedroom. My youngest child, Madeleine, had just been born — she is nine now — and she would nap on that big bed while I worked and kept an eye on her," he said in his acceptance speech. "The rejections kept piling up. Eventually, they grew so numerous that I could no longer see through the glass, into the bedroom where my daughter slept." A 'landmark' in Australian literature Having finally been published by University of Queensland Press, the winning book has been described by critics as both intellectually ambitious and zany, and by the Miles Franklin judges as a "genuine landmark" in Australian literature. "Siang Lu's Ghost Cities is at once a grand farce and a haunting meditation on diaspora. Sitting within a tradition in Australian writing that explores failed expatriation and cultural fraud, Lu's novel is also something strikingly new," the judges said. "Shimmering with satire and wisdom, and with an absurdist bravura, Ghost Cities is a genuine landmark in Australian literature." Lu says his win changes things dramatically — not only financially, but in terms of recognition for the quality of his work. Ghost Cities was inspired by megacities built in China during the nation's real estate boom, many of which have been left uninhabited and falling into ruin. The manuscript for Ghost Cities was completed in 2015, but rejected more than 200 times by publishers in Australia and overseas. Source: AAP / Jane Dempster It weaves together multiple stories — including that of a young man who is fired from his job as a translator at the Chinese consulate in Sydney, when it is discovered he is monolingual and has been relying on Google Translate. There's also a chess automaton with a secret, and an ancient emperor who creates a thousand replicas of himself. Since his novel hit the shelves in 2024, Lu has found what he describes as a perverse joy in chatting to his readers, as they try to guess what Ghost Cities is actually saying. The answer is less complex than readers might imagine: "It is trying to be funny," he promises. Siang Lu's debut novel was 2022's The Whitewash, while his online tracking project The Beige Index — described as "the Bechdel Test for race" in the film industry — has found an audience worldwide. The 2025 shortlist was dominated by writers of colour, including veteran Brian Castro, who has made the shortlist four times, and two-time winner Michelle de Kretser. The six authors shortlisted for the Miles Franklin also receive $5,000 from the Copyright Agency's Cultural Fund.
Shafaq News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Activist ship Handala sails from Italy to Gaza
Shafaq News – Rome On Sunday, the international activist ship Handala set sail from the Italian port of Gallipoli en route to the Gaza Strip, in a symbolic attempt to break the Israeli blockade. After departing from Syracuse, Sicily, on July 13 and stopping in Gallipoli, the ship carries international volunteers, including activists, medics, lawyers, and parliamentarians. Organizers describe the mission as peaceful and emphasize that it aims to highlight the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza. European Parliament member Emma Fourreau told Al Jazeera that the mission reflects growing international outrage, accusing the European Parliament of complicity in the siege and destruction of Gaza. 'Netanyahu and his government are responsible for the suffering in Gaza,' she added. The ship is named after Handala, an iconic cartoon character created by the Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali in 1969. Handala is consistently depicted as a barefoot, ragged boy with his back to the viewer and his hands clasped behind him, a posture he maintains because he famously vowed not to show his face until Palestine is free. This distinctive stance symbolizes his refusal to acknowledge a world that has turned its back on the Palestinian people. The initiative is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a network of pro-Palestinian organizations that has launched several maritime missions over the past decade in defiance of Israeli naval restrictions. Prior to the Handala, the coalition launched at least two other vessels toward Gaza this year: the Conscience in May, which reportedly suffered a drone attack off Malta and was forced to abort its mission, and the Madeleine in June, which was intercepted in international waters by Israeli forces. The Madeleine, which carried humanitarian supplies and prominent activists including Greta Thunberg, had its crew detained and deported.
NZ Herald
13-07-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
AI start-up Speak eyes $4t market with personalised shopping tech
Madeleine and Ankit Patel, co-founders of Speak, a retail AI start-up hoping to build the infrastructure layer for retailers to power hyper-personalised shopping experiences. Madeleine Patel, co-founder of Speak, talks to Tom Raynel about changing the core of the business mid-development, and her hopes for the future of artificial intelligence and customer interaction. Each Monday, we interview a small business owner, which is now a regular feature of NZME's editorial campaign On The Up,
CTV News
12-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Fauquier-Strickland mayor joins CTV Your Morning to talk financial hardships
Northern Ontario Watch CTV Your Morning host Anne-Marie Mediwake talks with Fauquier-Strickland Mayor Madeleine about the town's financial hardships and potentially ceasing operations next month.
Days of Palestine
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
'Freedom Flotilla' Launches New Mission to Gaza
DaysofPal – The Freedom Flotilla Coalition announced it is preparing to launch a new aid mission to the besieged Gaza Strip, just weeks after Israeli forces intercepted and seized one of its vessels in international waters. In a statement shared on X, the coalition confirmed that its next boat, named 'Handala,' will depart from the Italian port of Siracusa on 13 July. 'The mission is for the children of Gaza,' the coalition declared, emphasizing the symbolic significance of the mission's name. The vessel is named after Handala, the iconic cartoon figure of a 10-year-old boy created by Palestinian artist Naji al-Ali, widely recognized as a symbol of Palestinian resistance and steadfastness. This announcement comes on the heels of the seizure of the 'Freedom Ship' (Madeleine) by Israeli forces at dawn on a Monday earlier this month. The ship, carrying humanitarian aid and international peace activists, was intercepted while sailing in international waters en route to Gaza in a bid to challenge Israel's 17-year-long blockade of the coastal enclave. The 'Madeleine' had set sail in early June from the Italian port of Catania, carrying 12 international activists, including Al Jazeera Mubasher journalist Omar Fayyad. On board were critical supplies of food, medicine, and medical equipment intended for civilians in Gaza who have been enduring one of the world's worst humanitarian catastrophes. The Israeli military later confirmed that the ship had been seized and transferred to one of its ports, in what human rights advocates have condemned as a violation of international maritime law. This was not the coalition's first attempt to defy Israel's naval blockade. The 'Madeleine' was the 36th vessel launched as part of the Freedom Flotilla, an international civil society campaign that has sought to break the siege on Gaza since it began in 2007. The vessel was named in honor of Madeleine Kulab, a young Palestinian woman who became the first female professional fisher in the Gaza Strip. She lost both her father and her livelihood in the wake of Israel's war on Gaza, which escalated drastically in October 2023. Her story has since become a powerful symbol of resilience under occupation and siege. Shortlink for this post:
