"Like his fictional protagonist, Andrew O'Connor divides his time between Japan and Australia"
Australian: Author's foreign intrigue a domestic hit
ANDREW O'Connor was a toddler when The Australian/Vogel Literary Award was launched 25 years ago. Yesterday, the 26-year-old Victorian took out the award with his sure-footed first novel, Tuvalu. A fresh-faced O'Connor confessed he was "still getting used to the idea" of winning the $20,000 prize, the nation's most respected award for an unpublished manuscript. Tuvalu is a tale of betrayal, love, lust and social dislocation set in Japan and Australia. It tells the story of a young Australian working in Japan and his relationships with two women - one Australian, one Japanese.
The book will be published next year.Our train trip out to sleek Odaiba was unremarkable, except for the fact Mami stole her ticket. While I was slotting change into the ticket machine, she set her face in a pout and strode up to the station-master. I had no inkling of what she was doing or why she was upset. Nor could I understand a word she was saying. But her pleading tone was clear. There was something she wanted from this fat balding man, something she was not meant to have. He peered through his window with the air of a harangued civil servant. Only when Mami shot him a stormy look did he shrug, print a ticket and slide it under the screen. He looked unhappy with the whole affair, but nevertheless bowed his head when thanked
