John Baker’s Blog

I didn’t even know I thought until I was nominated for this award. Didn’t even know that thinking was something to do. But I’d like to thank my agent, my loving wife, my wonderful children, and my mother. Also my earthly guardian angel Mary Wilkinson (also my childhood sweetheart), and my grandpa Donald who, if [...]

Charles Deemer muses on writing awards and the people who make up the judging panels:
A writing award is the collision of a judge’s taste and a particular work. This was brought home to me a little over a year ago when I was one of three judges for a number of lucrative awards given to [...]

Per Petterson’s stunning fourth novel, Out Stealing Horses, translated by Anne Born, won the Independent’s Foreign Fiction Prize. To Siberia is the author’s second novel, published in 1998 and also translated by Anne Born.
To Siberia opens with the narrator, a little girl of six or seven, and her brother, Jesper, on the coast of North [...]