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Bryan Brown, Tom Keneally & Jennifer Byrne |
220 friends and fans turned up to the
Westin Hotel to celebrate
Man Booker Prize winner
Tom Keneally's fifty years of publishing books. Plenty of amusing speeches by
Richard Flanagan, David Williamson, Bryan Brown and director
Fred Schepis.
It's amazing to think that when Tom wrote his first book Australia had no such things a literary agent and books were sent to the UK to be published,
No wonder as Richard Flanagan pointed out that the great
Henry Lawson said that anyone contemplating a career as a writer in Oz should fetch a revolver and shoot themselves.
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David & Kirsten Williamson with Richard Flanagan, ABC's Tony Jones & Fred Schepisi |
Delighted US and UK agents sent congratulatory videos as did
Kathy Lette but the most impressive was from director
Steven Spielberg (below) who credited Keneally with Spielberg winning a host of
Academy Awards for his adaption of Tom's
Schindler's Ark.