 First edition | |
| Author | Thea Astley |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Nelson Books, Australia |
Publication date | 1974 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 154 |
| ISBN | 0170050157 |
| Preceded by | The Acolyte |
| Followed by | An Item from the Late News |
A Kindness Cup (1974) is a novel by Australian author Thea Astley. [1] It won the 1975 The Age Book of the Year Award. [2]
The novel is set in a cane-country town on the north Queensland coast. It deals with a wave of racist brutality in the 1860s and the attempts, some twenty or so years later, to rectify the wrongs caused.
Malcolm Pettigrove in The Canberra Times was not overly impressed with the book stating: "When Miss Astley drops the prose of the stylist and begins to function simply as a writer with a tale to tell her work becomes stark, tense, and most effectively dramatic." [3]
Kate Grenville reread the book in 2018, upon it being reissued. She called Astley "ahead of her time" and that "Thirty years beforehand she had known what some of us were only just waking up to: that our own history provides a powerful engine for fiction, and that the voice of fiction can say the unspoken about that history." [4] Steve Walker, of Stuff wrote "Astley's work is characterised by her irony and her unflinching scrutiny of social injustice. In A Kindness Cup, she was at the top of her impressive form." [5]
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–1954), who is best known for writing the Australian classic My Brilliant Career (1901). She bequeathed her estate to fund this award. As of 2016, the award is valued at A$60,000.
Thea Beatrice May Astley was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She was a prolific writer who was published for over 40 years from 1958. At the time of her death, she had won more Miles Franklin Awards, Australia's major literary award, than any other writer. As well as being a writer, she taught at all levels of education – primary, secondary and tertiary.
Catherine Elizabeth Grenville is an Australian author. She has published fifteen books, including fiction, non-fiction, biography, and books about the writing process. In 2001, she won the Orange Prize for The Idea of Perfection, and in 2006 she won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for The Secret River. The Secret River was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Kaz Cooke is an Australian author, cartoonist and broadcaster. She has written several bestselling advice books for girls and women, including Real Gorgeous, Up the Duff, Kidwrangling. Girl Stuff and Women's Stuff, as well as a series of ebooks on women's health topics. Cooke has been a columnist for various Australian newspapers and magazines, including Dolly, The Age, The Australian, Who and The Canberra Times. A collection of her columns, Living with Crazy Buttocks, won the 2002 Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year. In 2008, Girl Stuff won the Australian Publishers Association's General Non-fiction Book of the Year, the Australian Booksellers Association Nielsen BookData Booksellers' Choice Award, and an honour prize from the Children’s Book Council of Australia.
The Secret River is a 2005 historical novel by Kate Grenville about an early 19th-century Englishman transported to Australia for theft. The story explores what might have happened when Europeans colonised land already inhabited by Aboriginal people. The book has been compared to Thomas Keneally's The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith and to Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang for its style and historical theme.
The Well Dressed Explorer (1962) is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel by Australian author Thea Astley. This novel shared the award with The Cupboard Under the Stairs by George Turner.
The Slow Natives (1965) is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel by Australian author Thea Astley.
The Acolyte is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel by Australian author Thea Astley first published in 1972.
Drylands (1999) is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel by Australian author Thea Astley. This novel shared the award with Benang by Kim Scott.
The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow (1996) is Thea Astley's second to last novel. It won The Age Book of the Year in 1996, and was shortlisted for the 1997 Miles Franklin Award.
Reaching Tin River (1990) is a novel by Australian author Thea Astley.
Coda is a 1994 novel by Australian author Thea Astley.
Beachmasters (1985) is a novel by Australian author Thea Astley. It won the 1986 ALS Gold Medal.
An Item from the Late News (1982) is a novel by Australian author Thea Astley.
A Boat Load of Home Folk (1968) is a novel by Australian author Thea Astley.
Girl with a Monkey (1958) is a novel by Australian author Thea Astley.
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1972.
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1974.
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1982.
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1985.
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