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Reflections of a working writer and reader

 

 

Presque vu XXXVI

john baker, December 23rd, 2007. One comment. Filed under politics, quotations.

Author Sean Taylor has refused to accept the prize money after winning the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize 2007. Taylor’s picture book When A Monster is Born, illustrated by Nick Sharratt, took the Gold Award in the under-fives category. But Taylor said he did not feel able to accept his half of the £2,500 prize, citing “questions surrounding Nestlé’s marketing of breast-milk substitutes.”

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AllAfrica.com report on two booksellers, Egyptian citizens in Sudan who have been charged with insulting Islam. A Sudanese court sentenced Abdel Fattah El-Sadany (30 years old) and Mahrous Mohammed Abdel-Azim (30 years old) to imprisonment for six months on charges of insulting the Islamic religion on the grounds that they had distributed a book about Al-Sayeda Aisha (the Prophet Mohammed’s wife) during their participation in the Khartoum International Book Fair.
The defendants were given “one of the fastest trials in history” – were found guilty and sentenced to six months in prison. The defendants did not have a lawyer.

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The Washington Post offers five books to throw across the room. Top of the list is Atonement.

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One Response to “Presque vu XXXVI”

  1. Cheryl Snell says:
    25th December 2007 at 2:22 am

    Oh man, and I just bought Atonement!
    I enjoyed your review of Lightman’s Einstein, John. I remember being favorably impressed when I first read it, and I’m inspired to take a second look.

    jb says: Hey, Cheryl, they could be wrong about Atonement. Have a good holiday.