Nobel Literature Prize: could a new twist win over tradition?

by Nina Larson, STOCKHOLM, (AFP)

The Nobel Literature Prize has for decades gone to fiction writers and poets, but just days before this year's winner is revealed some say the prestigious prize could be awarded within a different genre altogether.

While the list of usual suspects appears to be largely the same as in recent years, featuring US novelists Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates, Ismael Kadare of Albania, Israeli Amos Oz and Swedish poet Tomas Transtroemer, the Swedish Academy might just have a surprise in store this year.

"The Academy has spoken of wanting to broaden the prize, which could open the door for instance for literary journalists like Polish Ryszard Kapuscinski," said Eva Bonnier, head of Sweden's Bonnier publishing house.

"Kapuscinski is a possibility. It would be very exciting if the Academy decides to go in that direction," agreed Ola Larsmo, a freelance literary critic who writes for Sweden's paper of record Dagens Nyheter.

He acknowledged however that "there are no clear-cut signs that this will happen", pointing out that the Academy has been tight-lipped about this year's laureate ahead of the announcement, expected on October 6 or the Thursday after.

If the Academy does decide to embrace a new genre, Larsmo said a prominent literary critic might also win.

"Someone like Roland Barthes, Maurice Blanchot or Susan Sontag. But they are all dead now (and the prize cannot be awarded posthumously), so I'm not quite sure who would be the most appropriate candidate today." Head of the Swedish Academy Horace Engdahl acknowledged that "it is important that the prize develops as literature develops".

And if the award ends up going to a non-fiction writer it would not be the first time, he said, pointing out that Alfred Nobel did not specify in his will that it had to go to a fiction writer.

Since the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901, several non-fiction writers and non-poets have won, including Bertrand Russell in 1950 for his philosophical writings and Winston Churchill three years later for his historical texts.

"It's been a long time since the prize has gone to someone like that. Esthetic literature has dominated because, I think, the modernist trend has been to frown upon scientific literature," Engdahl told AFP, adding that it might be time to re-evaluate the scope of the award.

Once prone to leaks, the Academy has in recent years been careful not to let the laureate's name slip out in advance.

"We have a very strict discipline now. No documents leave the building and the (Academy) members are not allowed to discuss the choice by email or with members of their family. So far this year, I have not seen any sign that there is a leak," Engdahl said.

As an indication that the system works, controversial Austrian author Elfriede Jelinek's name was not even mentioned among the possible laureates before she won the prize last year.

"I think this year's choice will be a much more expected choice than last year. Jelinek was extremely unexpected," observed Svante Weyler, the former head of Sweden's largest publishing house, Norstedt.

"The Academy tends to like to mix the expected with the unexpected choices," he said, putting his money on the likes of Roth, Oz and Algerian novelist, poet and filmmaker Assia Djebar.

Other clear candidates, according to Bonnier, include Dutch-language authors Cees Nooteboom and Hugo Claus, Somalia's Nuruddin Farah and Nigerian poet and novelist Ben Okri.

Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, who was recently charged in Turkey with "public denigration of the Turkish identity" for remarks he made about the country's massacre of Armenians, might also win the award, Weyler said.

"Pamuk is an obvious candidate," he said, adding however that the 53-year-old author's young age may count against him.

"The Academy may not want to give the prize to another young author" after honoring 57-year-old Jelinek.

Also making an older winner more likely is an Academy rule that it never gives the prize to someone figuring for the first time on its short-list of five potential winners.

"Candidates must figure on the short-list at least two years running to win," Engdahl said, insisting that the final vote is not influenced by considerations such as gender or geography.

"Fortunately it's not about such silly demands for fairness and balance but about good books," Larsmo said.

"The Academy is a bit unpredictable, and that's a good thing. The more unpredictable they are the better it is for literature," he added.

Team Avant-garde to meet art lovers at Lionel Wendt

We can call the decade 1990 the era of contemporary Sri Lankan visual artists who had explored new tendencies of art and sculpture. The energetic youths leaving completed under-graduate studies displayed their creativity in competitive and adventurous manner in field of visual arts. They challenged all the institution-based theories, systems and processors.

They thought out of the box and laid a foundation for a new era of visual arts. These artists were expanded the horizon of arts and by conducting individual and group based exhibitions. The dynamic contribution to the field of visual arts by these individuals should be appreciated although their activities were centralized and bounded to Colombo.

G43 was the first association of visual artists who gathered around Colombo 7. Their creations and activities were limited only to Colombo. Folks in Colombo who were experienced and educated in arts were privileged to have a glimpse of these works of art. The suburban community and the grass roots level of the general public were not fortunate to experience this wonder.

History repeats itself as artists and sculptors in our period their creativity but limited it to galleries based in Colombo. The contemporary and modern art displayed at the Lionel Wendt, Paradise, Serendip and Barefoot. Unchanged melodies of visual artists and arts were unable to change the attitude of the general public regarding their works. The visual artists of today yesteryear should be responsible for this tragic situation.

The team Avant-garde is appearing on stage with this as a backdrop. The five youth united to find an alternative to this scenario.

They are Anura Meegoda, Srilal Ranaweera, Chandana Ranathunga, Sarath Bandara, Hisantha Bandara.

They had emerged from the suburban areas marching forward slowly but steadily to see a new phenomenon in the visual arts. They have transformed their village arts and crafts workshop into an art gallery for the villagers.

They are conducting workshops in arts and crafts to schoolchildren, exhibitions for the general public. Their vision is to educate the mass community about the complexities of visual arts.

Team Avant-garde is also trying to visualize and present the individual self-expeditions of social and complex human relationships to the art lovers. As a further step in moving towards their vision, the team Avant-garde plans to introduce themselves to the art lovers at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery on October 7, 8 and 9, 2005.

Dath Kekulu Paalaa on DVD

A teledrama series that captured the interest of the teledrama fans some months ago - Dath Kekulu Paalaa - has now been produced and put out on DVD format by Torana Video Movies.

According to the story Weere ( Lakshman Wijesekera) a senior executive who is enjoying a happy family life and who is the envy of his office peers finds himself confronted with the mysterious death of his wife Padmini (Mangala Karunaratne).

Overnight his outlook towards life changes with his dreams shattered and facing a bleak life, unable to cope with the situation and to console his loving daughter (Shehani Koshila Jayasinghe) he decides to go overseas leaving the little girl in the care of his married and childless sister (Sriyani Amarasena).

Though the child is lovingly accustomed to her aunt, her uncle Sene (Lucky Dias) is not in favour of raising her, fearing his freedom as a photograpgher.

An incident that wins him the first prize of an exhibition because of the child brings them close to each other and eventually makes them inseparable much to the chagrin of his wife.

Unable to live without his daughter her father returns to the centre, which leads all the characters to many theatrics...

The series presented by Siri Amara Films, is Directed by Sudath Rohana and Produced by Sriyani Amarasena.

Sri Lankan elected President of Toastmasters International

Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif - Dilip Abayasekara of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, has been elected President of Toastmasters International. He is the top officer of the world's leading organisation devoted to teaching skills in public speaking and leadership.

Dr. Abayasekara was elected for a one-year term at the organisation's 74th Annual International Convention, held August 24-27 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a news release says. An active Toastmasters for 19 years, Abayasekara is a professional speaker, trainer and speech coach. His company, Speaker Services Unlimited, helps people and organisations change for the better.

He also serves as Special Assistant to the President at Central Pennsylvania College and is an adjunct faculty member of Eastern University's School of Professional Studies in the area of managerial and interpersonal communication.

A native of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Abayasekara attended College in the U.S., eventually earning a Ph.D in Chemistry. After working for 12 years as an industrial scientist, he surrendered to his avocation - connecting with others through the power of the spoken word.

He says the Toastmasters programme has helped him discover his unique gifts, which provided the impetus to choose his current profession.

"We help people gain the skills and confidence to be the best they can be in whatever they choose to do." For more information, visit www.toastmasters.org or contact [email protected].

Nihal and his band 'Ni Ro' ready for festive season

Nihal Fernando, the versatile musician who entertained various types of audiences with his expandable One Man Band for past 18 years is very much hopeful that the forthcoming festive season will be all right this year. "After the tsunami disaster last year, most of our musicians were out of work. But the scene has changed to some extent now and I hope and pray that everything will be back to normal pretty soon," says Nihal.

With his very wide repertoire of English and Sinhala mixed-bag of new and old songs, Nihal is capable of entertaining any type of audience. "I performed at Sri Lanka Cricket staff get-together at the 80 Club recently where our veteran cricketers like Bandula Warnapura, Anura Tennakoon, Duleep Mendis, Champaka Ramanayake and then had a great time trying their vocal chords with my music. It's a memorable event for me to back our veteran cricket heroes," added Nihal.

Thilak Perera and Rohan Manukulasuriya are the two additional musicians who join Nihal to expand his one man band to a duo or even to a trio as the demand arises. Thilak plays the rhythm guitar and sings both in Sinhala and English while Rohan plays the lead guitar and does the compering and vocals too.

Playing mostly at wedding receptions and get-togethers Nihal and his band 'Music Accurate' better known as 'Ni Ro' had performed at leading hotels for 'New Years Eve' dances. They are looking forward for a better deal this year.

Moratuwa Arts Forum is the brainchild of Thilak, while both Nihal and Thilak are former presidents of MAF.

Sebs Nite at MLH

With their 75th jubilee ushering in next year the Old Boy's Association of St. Sebastian's College, Moratuwa has organised a series of events towards the run up to the jubilee celebrations.

High in their events list is the Sebs Nite dinner dance scheduled for October 16 at the Empire Ball Room, Mount Lavinia Hotel to the accompaniment of letting an innovative musical fiesta of Gypsies with Sunil, who will keep the participants gyrating and spirits high up the peak.

Lions Christie Fernando, the President of the School development Society, who in his own inimitable way led the team for the successful main hall project of the college, heads the organising committee assisted by an experienced band of old boys who are determined to make this event a roaring success and a memorable evening for all participants for years to come.

With the college administration embarking on an ambitious building programme, the old boys are planning to raise funds for a swimming pool project commencing from the Sebs Nite.

Alliance Finance Company and Nawaloka Hospital are the main sponsors of this much awaited extravaganza.

Singer Fashion Designer of the Year: Attractive prizes in store for winners

by Prasad Abu Bakr

With October 5 fixed as the final day for receiving entries to the year's most prestigious event sponsored by Singer Sri Lanka in aid of the Vishaka Vidyalaya OGA 'The Designer of the Year' contest which is due to take place in December this year will carry attractive cash and gifts as prizes for contestants who will make themselves to the top, of course on the judgement made by a prestigious panel of judges, according to designer Chula Nanayakkara Ariyaratne who is organising and choreographing the event.

Talking to Daily News the designer also said that the panel of judges will have a difficult task at hand as there are many entries to choose.

Besides the large number of attractive prizes for the winner and the runners up, the assurance of the opportunity of receiving wide publicity and exposure through the many leading publications of the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited which is the principal media sponsor of the event has attracted many young people to send in their entries.

Entry forms for the competition appear in the Daily News and information about it is made available to readers through the other publications such as Sunday Observer and through Tharunee for the convenience of our Sinhala readers. Entries close on October 5 as stated earlier: so hurry with your entries and make use of this golden opportunity of stepping in to the limelight as a leading designer of today.