Hi Alphas,
Welcome to Alphaday 4, Season XVIII. The well-oiled Alpha machinery is purring smoothly and moving on in the familiar pattern which – however familiar – is full of surprises and new discoveries every time. As for familiarity, it’s part of our group’s vitality. We share our personal ambitions and efforts and that creates a bond of familiarity which deepens with time.
Every Alphaday we put together the Alpha material we’ve been working on, and present it to the group. Members take turns to collect and collate and we’re grateful for the efforts of the volunteers.
This Alphaday’s agenda is as follows:
- This bulletin from me
- The brief for Challenge 3 from Suzanne
- The collated entries for the Open Page Edition 1 from Sarah
- Results and feedback for the ‘story in reverse’ challenge from Phil
- The entries for Log 2, Season XVIII from Phil
- A Writers’ Reads prompt from Ros
The Log is where the latest Alpha news can be found and we look forward to reading it.
The General News these days is concerned with climate change and luckily the powers that be understand the seriousness of the problem and try to make a significant effort to minimise the harmful effects of our modern way of living. To do this they have to rise above the cacophony of petty squabbles that squeal loudly for attention.
There’s dignity and intellectual beauty on display – and thank goodness for that – as the Booker Prize shortlisted writers are gathered for the announcement of this year’s winner. The six shortlisted writers are presented in detail and praised for their creative and innovative talents. It’s a very impressive ceremony and when the winner is announced as the South African writer and playwright Damon Galgut for The Promise you feel awe-struck.
It’s his ninth novel and he said his next book will be a collection of short stories. I applaud that. The short story is as deserving a form as the novel and I’ve read and admired those written by the previous Booker Prize winners, Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie.
Each Prize winner will receive a special hand crafted edition of their novel which it took 150 hours to create. Wow! That’s without counting the hours it took to create what’s inside the beautiful covers.
Here in France they also award literary prizes today. The prestigious Prix Goncourt has been awarded to another African writer, the 31-year-old Senegalese novelist, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, for his fourth novel, “la Plus Secrète Mémoire des hommes “. For this he will receive a cheque for 10€ – yes, ten euros! It’s a symbolic gesture, and the financial advantages come from the sales that the award will engender. They say.
In Alpha we know what it feels like to win on the strength of a piece of writing we have created. It’s heart-warming to receive recognition for something that originated in one’s own imagination. I guess that’s a bit how they feel up there after receiving the Booker Prize.
Christine