How "Peep Culture" is Changing Our Lives

Social critic Hal Niedzviecki explored the implications of blogging, social networks, and even reality TV, in The Peep Diaries.

We have entered the age of "Peep culture": a tell-all, show-all, know-all digital phenomenon that is dramatically altering notions of privacy, individuality, security and even humanity. Peep culture is Reality TV, YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, over-the-counter spy gear, blogs, chat rooms, amateur porn, surveillance technology, Dr. Phil, Borat, cellphone photos of your drunk friend making out with her ex-boyfriend, and more. In the age of Peep, core values and rights we once took for granted are rapidly being renegotiated, often without our even noticing.

With hilarious, exasperated acuity, social critic Hal Niedzviecki dives into Peep, starting his own blog, joining every social network that will have him, monitoring the movements of his wife, hiring private detective websites to investigate his father, spying on his neighbors, and trying out for Reality TV. Hal holds a Facebook party for his 800 online friends – only one shows up! – and goes drinking with a group of middle class empty nesters whose new hobby is posting their amateur porn to the 'Net. Part travelogue, part diary, part meditation and social history, The Peep Diaries explores a rapidly emerging digital phenomenon that is radically changing not just the entertainment landscape, but also the firmaments of our culture and society.

The Peep Diaries introduces the arrival of the Peep culture age and explores its implications on entertainment, society, sex, politics, and everyday life. Mixing first-rate reporting with sociological observations culled from the latest research, this book captures the shift from pop to peep and the way technology is turning gossip into documentary and peeping toms into entertainment journalists. Packed with stranger-than-fiction true-life characters and scenarios, The Peep Diaries reflects the aspirations and confusions of the growing number of people willing to trade the details of their private lives for catharsis, attention, and notoriety.

Read Chapter One.

Read Hal's blog, watch the trailer for the new documentary, Peep Me, and share your own Peep experiences at www.thepeepdiaries.com!

The Winner is....

On Thursday 18 June at a gala dinner held at the State Library of New South Wales. Tim Winton was announced as the 2009 Miles Franklin Literary Award winner for his novel Breath.

It is twenty-five years ago when Tim won his first Miles Franklin Literary Award for Shallows. This year's win means that he is the only writer ever to have won four times in his own right.

Education Review

Access the online edition of Education Review - Australia's National Education Publication for FREE.

Also look for the Education Review Technology Guide.

NSW Premier's Literary Awards

The NSW Premier’s Literary Awards honour both new and familiar writers, and the novels, poems, biographies, histories, plays and screenplays that have delighted readers of all ages since 1979.

The winners of the 2009 NSW Premier's Literary Awards and Translation Prize are:

Special Award ($20,000)
The Special Award is awarded either to a work not covered by the existing categories, or in recognition of a writer’s achievements. This year the judges nominated Ms Katharine Brisbane AM for her service to Australian literature and theatre.

People's Choice Award for fiction
Steve Toltz, A Fraction of the Whole, Penguin Group (Australia)

2008 Book of the Year Award (additional $10,000)
Nam Le, The Boat, Penguin Group (Australia)
Read the judges' comments here

Christina Stead Prize for fiction ($40,000)
Joan London, The Good Parents, Random House Australia Pty Ltd (Vintage)

Douglas Stewart Prize for non-fiction ($40,000)
Chloe Hooper, The Tall Man: death and life on Palm Island, Penguin Group (Australia)

Patricia Wrightson Prize for children's literature ($30,000)
Ursula Dubosarsky & Tohby Riddle (illus), The Word Spy, Penguin Group (Australia)

Ethel Turner Prize for young people's literature ($30,000)
Michelle Cooper, A Brief History of Montmaray, Random House Australia Pty Ltd

Kenneth Slessor Prize for poetry ($30,000)
L K Holt, Man Wolf Man, John Leonard Press

Script Writing Award ($30,000)
Louis Nowra, Rachel Perkins & Beck Cole, First Australians, Blackfella Films, SBS

Play Award ($30,000)
Daniel Keene, The Serpent’s Teeth, Sydney Theatre Company, Currency Press Pty Ltd

The Biennial NSW Premier’s Translation Prize and PEN Trophy ($30,000)
David Colmer for his translations from the Dutch.

Community Relations Commission Award ($15,000, sponsored by the CRC)
Eric Richards, Destination Australia: migration to Australia since 1901, University of New South Wales Press Ltd

Gleebooks Prize for critical writing ($10,000, sponsored by Gleebooks)
David Love, Unfinished Business: Paul Keating’s interrupted revolution, Scribe Publications Pty Ltd

UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing ($5,000, sponsored by UTS)
Nam Le, The Boat, Penguin Group (Australia)

The Slap wins Commonwealth Writers' Prize

Christos Tsiolkas has won the Overall Best Book Award for The Slap (watch The First Tuesday Book Club on ABC TV review the book here) in the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (CWP), announced on Saturday at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival. The Best First Book Award went to Pakistani author Mohammed Hanif for A Case of Exploding Mangoes.

The Governor-General of New Zealand, Hon Sir Anand Satyanand, presented the prizes, worth £10,000 (AU$20,025) and £5,000 (AU$10,012) respectively. Chair of the judging panel the Hon Justice Nicholas Hasluck called The Slap a ‘controversial and daring novel'.

Read more here....

A Case for Books!

I cannot imagine being curled up with a good computer screen.

"Younger generations are now more likely to have seen a movie version of Pride And Prejudice than they are to have read the book. Some people even describe themselves as Jane Austen fans without having opened any of her books. We're in danger of Keira Knightley being responsible for preserving one of the greatest literary legacies."

Read the rest of this thought provoking article at the Sydney Morning Herald site.

Miles Franklin Literary Award

The Miles Franklin Literary Award, our first and most prestigious literary award, was established in 1954 with a bequest from the author Miles Franklin. She was concerned to see Australian literature flourish and knew first hand the struggles most authors have in Australia.

The Miles Franklin Literary Award celebrates Australian character and creativity and nurtures the continuing life of literature about Australia. It is awarded for the novel of the year which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phase.

The Longlist

The ten novels selected for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2009 longlist are:

Novel	Author
Addition	Toni Jordan
A Fraction of the Whole	Steve Toltz
Breath	Tim Winton
fugitive blue	Claire Thomas
Ice	Louis Nowra
one foot wrong	Sofie Laguna
The Devil's Eye	Ian Townsend
The Pages	Murray Bail
The Slap	Christos Tsiolkas
Wanting	Richard Flanagan

The shortlist will be announced on the 16th April and the winner will be announced on the 18th June.

Orange Prize for Fiction

The Orange Prize for Fiction longlist was announced on March 18, 2009.

The Orange Prize for Fiction is awarded to the woman who, in the opinion of the judges, has written the best, eligible full-length novel in English.

The prize is open to any full length novel, written in English by a woman of any nationality, provided that the novel is published for the first time in the United Kingdom between 1 April of the year before the prize is awarded and 31 March of the year in which the prize is awarded.

Orange Prize for Fiction 2009 Longlist

Debra Adelaide The Household Guide to Dying
Gaynor Arnold Girl in a Blue Dress
Lissa Evans Their Finest Hour and a Half
Bernardine Evaristo Blonde Roots
Ellen Feldman Scottsboro
Laura Fish Strange Music
V.V. Ganeshananthan Love Marriage
Allegra Goodman Intuition
Samantha Harvey The Wilderness
Samantha Hunt The Invention of Everything Else
Michelle de Kretser The Lost Dog
Deirdre Madden Molly Fox’s Birthday
Toni Morrison A Mercy
Gina Ochsner The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight
Marilynne Robinson Home
Preeta Samarasan Evening is the Whole Day
Kamila Shamsie Burnt Shadows
Curtis Sittenfeld American Wife
Miriam Toews The Flying Troutmans
Ann Weisgarber The Personal History of Rachel DuPree

Recommended Reading

Cola is a Sudanese refugee who lives in Sydney.

He has just released a book, titled 'Cola's Journey', which tells of his extraordinary life. Though Cola's actual birthdate is unknown, he was born into the Dinka tribal group in southern Sudan in about 1981.

"I was 'officially' born in 1984, but I think the date is closer to 1981," he said. "There's no real way to know for sure."

In 1987, he was forcibly recruited into the Sudan People's Liberation Army as a child soldier. After two years in a military training camp, he escaped and began an extraordinary odyssey down the length of Africa. Cola lived illegally for the next 14 years, relying on strangers for help and scraping a living wherever he could, as well as educating himself to read and write along the way.

"I learned a little English in my travels, but it definitely improved when I got to Australia," he said.

Cola was granted official UN refugee status in 2003 and now lives in Sydney, where he hones his skills as a DJ. He also actively helps other Sudanese refugees find shelter and assimilate in Australia.

This book is the story of Cola’s extraordinary journey. Although set against a backdrop of brutality and suffering, it is a story of incredible resilience and, above all, of hope. Borrow it today.

Connect HSC English Students to Amazing Online Resources

The State Library of NSW has developed a free online guide to assist HSC English teachers and students with their studies.

Simple to use and accessible 24/7, the HSC English Guide connects NSW users to valuable reference books, articles, websites, online databases and catalogues - sourced and verified by library experts.

The Guide assists students to find information and articles on set texts and areas of study such as Belonging. There are also handy writing resources and tips on language and style.

Find out more by viewing the online HSC English Guide (listed under Research Guides) at the Library's website - www.sl.nsw.gov.au.

Share this amazing resource with your students!

In Honour of the Bushfire Victims