I never dreamt that I would be going to London to receive a book award. It was quite a shock to see my name included in the list of winners on the website of the London Book Festival. In fact, I checked a few times to make sure that I hadn’t made a mistake, and I even showed the list to my daughter and husband to verify that I wasn’t imagining it! After all, this was the first book I had written (and it had taken me ten years to complete), and I imagined that there were well established authors from all over the world who submitted their books, and so it would be difficult or impossible for a novice author to be considered.
Well to my great surprise and delight, my first book, Longing to Live: Journey with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia received an Honorable Mention in the London Book Festival awards. Accompanied by my daughter Alison, I travelled to London to participate at the awards ceremony that was held in the British Library. Being a Librarian in a previous career, receiving an award in the British Library was nothing short of awesome! This library, one of the greatest in the world, houses centuries-old documents, the Magna Carta, and the most intriguing for me, sacred texts from various religions, scribed and decorated, from the earliest times of record keeping.
Travelling some 14,000 kilometres from Darwin to London to receive a book award may seem crazy. However, being in the company of other award winning authors (for many of them, this was not their first award), and to be receiving a book award in the British Library, distance and an alternative means of receiving my book award did not seem to warrant much consideration at all. It was indeed a tremendous privilege to be able to make the journey and to be there.
Beyond the honour of the book award is, more importantly, the acknowledgement that struggle and chronic illness has featured among other more glamorous or more popular topics in the world of books and story-telling, and this is a window of hope for conditions that are poorly understood.
If the Honorable Mention book award for Longing to Live: Journey with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia can facilitate the book reaching more people, particularly those who struggle with these difficult conditions and also those who care for them in some capacity – family, friends, health professionals, work colleagues, etc., then much has been achieved in the support of others.
The following is a direct quote from Longing to Live: Journey with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia which I delivered in my speech in the British Library:
“We are forever changed by our major life experiences. Circumstances beyond our control may force changes in our lives that we do not like and many diminish our ability for engagement in many ways, but our intrinsic value as a human being remains nonetheless. Valuing our human beingness is more likely to lead us to acceptance and patience with our changed conditions, and be open to the opportunities that allow us to grow into the people that we are now able to become.”
Other winning authors that I was privileged to meet at the London Book Festival are listed below, along with the websites of their books, and I include my own at the end of this list:
- Mandy Flint/Elisabet Vinberg Hearn THE TEAM FORMULA
http://www.amazon.com/The-Team-Formula-Leadership-Found/dp/1780923473
- Page Martin PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0988641402/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_sBx6sb04AM480V1Q
- Charlotte Jones THE ENCHANTED GRANDFATHER’S CLOCK
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1291478086/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_hyx6sb0DM20GAVBP
- William Peace SABLE SHADOW AND THE PRESENCE
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1628572418/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_0yx6sb0KQVXGSSWS
- R.F. Tapsell THE YEAR OF THE HORSETAILS
- Lila Ivey ANCIENT WISDOM, MODERN MASTER
http://books.google.com/books/about/Ancient_Wisdom_Modern_Master.html?id=u6jhnAEACAAJ
- Katherine Reynolds UNDER THE RAINBOW
- Robin E. Lieske AN IDIOT’S TALE: THE LOST WRITINGS OF RAPUNZEL
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1492715700/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_TJx6sb1CFY2TFW0Y
- Christina Benjamin THE GENEVA PROJECT-TRUTH
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0988337517/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_WOx6sb1Q82YEY4CB
- Julie Kessler FIFTY/FIFTY,THE CLARITY OF HINDSIGHT
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1622122186/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_VKx6sb021GKVWBBG
- Dulce Rodrigues BARRY’S ADVENTURE
- Patricia A. Sloan WHERE DO THE MONDAYS GO?
- Margaret Lambert LONGING TO LIVE: JOURNEY WITH CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME AND FIBROMYALGIA
http://www.amazon.com/dp/174284300X/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_CMx6sb0QR4EJ2ZN6
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