Tom Keneally in Praha: The Whistling Language Of Turkey May Be Endangered, But It’s Not Dead

"Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first."
— Steve Irwin via Tom

 The M(alchkin) Deli at Organic Bondi ... The only food domain Phil and Krick miss while they are in Slavic lands such as Slovenia and Bohemia  

A song from Tom

Next weekend Tom Keneally is due to get another award for his body of work, this time from the Prague-based Trebbia Foundation. It's going to a big affair, broadcast live on Czech and Slovak television. While the award is for a body of work, Keneally acknowledges that it's largely for Schindler's Ark, his powerful Booker-winning novel based on the story of Oskar Schindler and his factories, in which he saved hundreds of Jews from the Holocaust. One of the presenters of the award will be Daniel Low-Beer, whose grandfather owned the factory in Brnenec where Schindler moved his operations in July 1944 and who is trying to restore it as a museum.

Tom Keneally will sing at the Edinburgh book festival later this year.

Photo: Nick Wilson

Keneally knows how significant the book has been in his oeuvre and in terms of the many writing awards he has received. "That story is independent of me. It is free standing. In a way I would prefer if they looked at my children, rather the one I picked up in the street. But I am lucky to be honoured for anything. I am very lucky to get these before-you-fall-off the perch awards."

The irrepressible Keneally is also heading to Edinburgh for the book festival later in the year and has a treat in store for the audience: he is planning to sing (following the lead of another singing Booker winner, Margaret Atwood). "I'm going to sing a favourite song of Charles Dickens' son, Plorn. It's a Robbie Burns poem, Ae Fond Kiss, about a boy not being allowed to see the girl he loves."

Bookmarks: Keneally with a song in his heart

The suggestion that Tom is being taken on a pub crawl in
Prague is not exaggerated ;-)

Saturday, May 27, 2006

I cannot expect anyone else to understand why I feel so passionate about Sydney. Because, looking back and comparing my childhood time in High Tatra and amazing teenage years holidays with my two sisters Lidka and Eva in Prague it does not make sense to me either. I might even want to be buried with all my native and exiled friends here ;-) One reason could be that Sydney is getting friendlier as it gets older. It also has amazing sons like Andrew Tink who love the city to million pieces. No one is as keen on Sydney history as Andrew is and is so proud to show her off to Americans.Andrew was among the audience last night at the Town Hall and today I shared a wonderful conversation on the log over coffees as we listened to the one Australian writer who wrote about the Czech hero/villain in Schindler's Ark. Andrew's manuscript about Lord Sydney is also shaping up as a great read! Tomorrow is the last day so consider invading the Warf area as Harbour Foreshores has peppered the Sydney Circular Quay with painters from all over Australia this weekend and the Warf Theatre is just totally bohemian stocked with best reds in the world ...  Love Live Sydney

Awards | Trebbia Foundation

Trebbia International Nomination Committee 2019: BENKE AIKELL Owner and publisher of The Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine

Thomas Keneally's advice to writers: Just get it done - The Garret Podcast

Thomas Keneally - novelist, playwright, essayist - is a legend of the Australian literary scene. In this interview, he gives his advice to emerging ... 

Awards | Trebbia Foundation

New hopes of saving Schindler's Ark | Radio Prague

Everybody knows the story of Oskar and Emilie Schindler because of Thomas Keneally's novel Schindler's Ark 

The Whistling Language Of Turkey May Be Endangered, But It’s Not Dead

Kuş dili (“bird language”), used to communicate over long distances in a mountainous farming area near Turkey’s Black Sea coast, renders the entire Turkish language into variously pitched and articulated whistles. Cell phones may have made kuş diliredundant, but at least some of its speakers won’t give up on it. –The New York Times

Was 1999 The Best Year Ever For Movies?

Brian Raftery makes a persuasive, entertaining case for the enduring impact of a passel of classics, from “American Beauty” to “American Movie” to “American Pie.” Among them: “The Matrix,” “The Sixth Sense,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Three Kings,” “Being John Malkovich,” “The Best Man,” “The Insider,” “The Virgin Suicides,” “Magnolia” and “Election.” – The New York Times

Know This At Your Peril! How Knowledge Can Stand In The Way Of Truth

What more than true belief is required for knowledge? A natural thought is that your belief needs to be backed by good reasons. It can’t just be a guess that happens to turn out right. But this doesn’t seem enough either. – Aeon

Why The Printed Book Still Thrives

When people go on a digital cleanse, detoxing from the poison of too much screen time, one of the first things they do is bury themselves in a book — that is, one to have and to hold, to remind the senses of touching “Pat the Bunny” in infancy, a book to chew on. – The New York Times


New Report Suggests ‘High Likelihood of Human Civilization Coming to an End’ Starting in 2050 The climate change analysis was written by a former fossil fuel executive and backed by the former chief of Australia's military.Via nephew František: Prague Pub Crawl: The Mother of Pub Crawls