Literary Non-Fiction Nominations • March 2014

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by issybird

You've got ten months until we pick.

I wanted to make sure everyone had plenty of time to nominate.

(original post now updated)

[issybird]

Originally Posted by desertblues

Thank you, Issybird, that sets my heart at ease.
I am reading some of the Dutch writers who either have been born or were raised in Indonesia, or have Indonesian roots.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hella_Haasse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriaan_van_Dis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Bloem
And I am preparing my traveljournal with an eye on the historical or rather colonial ties of the Netherlands and Indonesia. For a great part this is a painful story of love, hate and cruel things.

I read Haasse's The Tea Lords after you nominated it in some category. Fascinating on a topic about which I knew nothing at all, that of the Dutch in Indonesia.

[Bookpossum]

Congratulations on your book's publication from me too, desertblues.

Those writers sound so interesting ... oh dear! Indonesia is our neighbour to the north, so of interest and importance to Australia.

We have a somewhat fraught relationship, mainly because our current government is trying to turn back to Indonesia boats containing asylum seekers, and in some cases has put people into lifeboats and sent them back when their boat was sinking. Not amongst our proudest achievements.

(As an amusing aside, if it wasn't such a serious topic, the government's policy is called "Operation Sovereign Borders", but it has been revealed that there have been several inadvertent incursions over Indonesia's sea border by our naval vessels while doing this turning back of boats. Oops! Our borders are obviously more sovereign than anyone else's.)

[fantasyfan]

The selection is very interesting. Any one of the group would be an excellent choice.

[sun surfer]

Nominations are closed. The poll will be up soon.


ETA-And the poll is up here.