ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

I’m a staunch Republican and would much rather have a public holiday for something significant to Australians like Reconciliation Day perhaps, but until we ditch the Monarchy (bring it on, and before that fool Charlie gets the crown, please!) the Queen’s pseudo-birthday is one of two days that we dish out honours for our best and brightest.  (The other is on Australia Day in January, celebrating the date of First Settlement, or mourning it as the case may be…)

The literary community doesn’t often get acknowledged in these awards.  You’re more likely to get a gong for playing ping-pong than you are for being an author, but this year, there’s a long overdue and well-deserved Order of Australia for Peter Carey for his service to literature as a novelist, through international promotion of the Australian identity (AO).

There may be others (a woman perhaps??) but there’s nothing searchable available yet on the Governor-General’s website. (Where, I was intrigued to see, she does things ‘By Command’.  Hmmm.)