In 2004, when Australian writer Nam Le moved to Iowa City, he took up an unusual hobby: poker.that won the 2009 Prime Minister's Literary Award and designated Le as one of the brightest stars of Australian writing.
Le spent hours playing the game, closely observing his opponents and learning to read their tics and expressions.He also found the poker table strangely liberating; one of the few places where social divisions like class, gender and ethnicity held no sway."It felt to me, in a weird way, like the most joyful escape from so many of the strictures of society … It was a place where people had to deal with each other as they were.
"I also want to convey the work not as an answer, not as a means to a message, but more as an invitation to a process … how do I write in this language from this standpoint, and from this history?"In the poem , Le invites the reader to "think about the children" whose lives were disrupted by war, displacement and immigration to WEIRD countries.
He acknowledges trauma is the reason many writers are compelled to put pen to paper. "The wound is where you go if you want to find the energy."Our favourite new reads include pacy crime fiction from one of Australia's top journalists, a timely reimagining of an American masterpiece and an examination of gender by a ground-breaking philosopher.
"This notion of 'you can write it because of who you are, or some sort of line of epigenetic ancestry that you've uncovered' feels … very ripe for exploitation," he says.In Le's writing, place and character are intimately connected. "Where one stops and the other starts is completely unknown and ambiguous and probably unknowable," he tells
It was winter when Le arrived in "P-town", as it's affectionately known, and the tourist spot was deserted. "I was living in this three-storey barn, wind from the Atlantic tearing through all of the beams and boards," he recalls.
Nam Le The Boat Best Poetry Australian Poetry Best Books Best Books 2024 36 Ways Of Writing A Vietnamese Poem Best New Books The Bookshelf The Book Show
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: smh - 🏆 6. / 80 Read more »
Source: theage - 🏆 8. / 77 Read more »
Source: abcnews - 🏆 5. / 83 Read more »
Source: GuardianAus - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »
Source: 7NewsAustralia - 🏆 11. / 71 Read more »
Source: 9NewsAUS - 🏆 10. / 72 Read more »