Quote:
Originally Posted by Victoria
We meandered a bit off topic in the nomination thread, about who the greatest Canadian author was.
If anyone else cares to join in, it would interesting to hear who you regard as your greatest national author (or greatest author of another nationality).
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bookpossum
[...] Australians: David Malouf has to be up there with the best. I need to give this some thought!
|
Malouf got some serious consideration from me for the the current theme, there are several of his I have not yet caught up with.
One difficulty I can think of with Australian authors in particular is a matter of origin or subsequent address. For example, Wikipedia describe Kate Morton as one of Australia's "biggest publishing exports" - the point being that she might have been born here, but she doesn't live here any more. Contrast with Arthur Upfield who wasn't born here but who wrote so many distinctly Australian works.
I suppose, for me, looking for national authors tends to be about looking for authors that offer something distinct to their nationality. For this reason at least, Ion L. Idriess would be right up there for me. (On which grounds I guess Banjo Paterson would have to get a mention too.)
What I'd be most interested in with regard to Canadian authors is who offers the most distinctly Canadian experience.