New Zealand literature news

Leading New Zealand writers honoured

10 September 2008.

Three of New Zealand‘s most celebrated writers - WH (Bill) Oliver, Lloyd Jones and Elizabeth Smither were honoured at tonight's 2008 Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement at Premier House in Wellington.

Each writer receives $60,000 in recognition of their significant contribution to New Zealand literature. The Awards are administered by Creative New Zealand.

These three writers were recognised in the categories of Poetry [Elizabeth Smither], Fiction [Lloyd Jones] and Non-Fiction [WH Oliver].

Prime Minister Helen Clark said writers Bill Oliver, Lloyd Jones and Elizabeth Smither have all added something special to New Zealand's cultural landscape through their work.

"These awards were created to recognise those who have made an enduring contribution to literature in New Zealand. Their work reflects the nuances and subtleties of what it is to be a New Zealand writer. From the uniqueness of this country and the people who live here to worlds beyond these shores, their work adds depth and richness to our literary traditions."

Writer Dame Fiona Kidman was awarded the Creative New Zealand Michael King Writers' Fellowship earlier this year. She was also present at the ceremony where her achievements were acknowledged.

Creative New Zealand Chair Alastair Carruthers thanked the writers for the outstanding contribution they had all made to New Zealand literature.

"The calibre of this evening's recipients exemplifies New Zealand's strong literary tradition. Their body of work reinforces and enhances our unique culture which is in turn recognised internationally."

The Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement, along with the Creative New Zealand Michael King Writers' Fellowship, were established in 2003.

Every year, New Zealanders are invited to nominate their choice of an outstanding writer who has made a significant contribution to New Zealand literature in the genres of non-fiction, poetry and fiction. The nominations are assessed by an expert literary panel and recommendations forwarded to the Council of Creative New Zealand for approval.

The complete list of recipients to date is:

Fiction: Janet Frame (2003), Maurice Gee (2004), Margaret Mahy (2005), Patricia Grace (2006), Fiona Farrell (2007), Lloyd Jones (2008).
Poetry: Hone Tuwhare (2003), Kevin Ireland (2004), Alistair Te Ariki Campbell (2005), Vincent O'Sullivan (2006), Bill Manhire (2007), Elizabeth Smither (2008).
Non-fiction: Michael King (2003), Anne Salmond (2004), Philip Temple (2005), Judith Binney (2006), Dick Scott (2007), WH (Bill) Oliver (2008).

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International opportunities for New Zealand writers

14 April 2008.

Five New Zealand writers will take part in a range of international literary festivals and promotional activities this year with support from the New Zealand Book Council.

The writers are Emily Perkins (Auckland), Laurence Fearnley (Dunedin), Anna Mackenzie (Hawke's Bay), Rachael King (Wellington), Andrew Johnston (Paris) and Ian Wedde (Wellington).

The Book Council has supported the writers' travel costs through its International Writers' Programme, which aims to profile leading New Zealand writers and help build international markets for their work. It also fosters literary exchanges with other countries, particularly Australia.

Emily Perkins will head to Toronto in early May and then to Britain, where she will participate in two major festivals: the Guardian Hay Festival of Literature and Arts in Wales and the Charleston Festival in England. Her festival appearances will coincide with a publicity tour to promote her new book, Novel About My Wife (Bloomsbury), to be released in Britain in May and in New Zealand in June.

Laurence Fearnley, whose recent novel Edwin and Matilda (Penguin), has been featuring on the bestseller list, will travel to Sydney in May to take part in the Sydney Writers' Festival.

Anna Mackenzie's young adult novel, The Sea-wreck Stranger (Longacre Press), is shortlisted in the senior category of the 2008 New Zealand Post Book Awards. She will travel to Melbourne for the launch of the Australian edition by Text Publishing, and also plans to take part in literary events and school visits while she is in Melbourne.

Rachael King, author of The Sound of Butterflies (Black Swan), will travel to the United States in November for the Wordstock Festival in Portland, Oregon. The Sound of Butterflies won the NZSA Best First Book Award in the 2007 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. Published last year in hardback by William Morrow in the United States, it will be released there in paperback just prior to the Wordstock Festival.

Ian Wedde, in France and Britain until the end of April, is researching a book on artist Bill Culbert. He is also meeting with publishers to discuss a French language edition of the book. In Britain, he will give readings at the University of Northampton and the Centre for New Zealand Studies at Birkbeck. He will also meet with literary agency Rogers Coleridge and White about his new novel, Chinese Opera, to be published by Victoria University Press later this year. Poet Andrew Johnston received funding to travel from Paris to take part in two events (London and Edinburgh), launching the UK publication of his collection, SOL (Arc Publications).

The New Zealand Book Council's International Writers Programme is open to writers in the genres of fiction, poetry, children's literature and literary non-fiction.

Creative New Zealand funding enables the Book Council to deliver this programme.

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New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children & Young Adults shortlist announced

26 February 2008.

The New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children & Young Adults reward excellence in children's literature, recognising the best books for children and teenagers published annually in New Zealand. Awards for the New Zealand Post Book Awards are made in four categories: Young Adult Fiction, Junior Fiction, Non Fiction, and Picture Book.

Judges for the New Zealand Post Book Awards are selected from nominations put forward by a range of literary and book trade organisations with an interest in children's literature. Wherever possible one of the judges will be a practising writer. The 2008 judges are Dylan Owen, Fifi Colston, and Vince Ford.

Five finalists are selected for each category and from these a winner in each category is selected. The finalists are:

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Damien Wilkins awarded inaugural New Zealand Post Mansfield Prize

Wellington author Damien Wilkins has been awarded the $100,000 inaugural New Zealand Post Mansfield Prize, announced by the New Zealand Post Group and the Katherine Mansfield Menton Trust.

The new prize consists of return airfares for two to London and the prestigious Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship. Offered in conjunction with the Winn-Manson Menton Trust, the Fellowship enables a New Zealand author to work at the Villa Isola Bella in Menton, where writer Katherine Mansfield lived and wrote.

The prize and fellowship makes this the most valuable New Zealand international writer's residency programme. Damien Wilkins says it's an honour to be the first recipient of this prize.

"One of the most desirable addresses in New Zealand literature has always been the South of France. This fellowship, hugely enhanced by New Zealand Post with the addition of the prize, gives the writer the means to live and work in a wonderfully productive place. Katherine Mansfield, of course, went to Menton in the 1920s, as part of her cure for TB. The idea of a restorative environment still applies - and I do hope to get better - better as a writer."

A recent study by the New Zealand Society of Authors found the annual mean income of a New Zealand author, as a result of writing, is less than $15,500 a year. The New Zealand minimum wage is $23,400. New Zealand Post Chief Executive John Allen says writers in New Zealand often struggle financially.

"New Zealand Post acknowledges this, which is why it has significantly increased the size of the cash prize from previous sponsors' contributions. The Katherine Mansfield Fellowship has supported many authors over the years, including Janet Frame, Witi Ihimaera, Vincent O'Sullivan, Dame Fiona Kidman and recent Mann Booker prize shortlister, Lloyd Jones.

"I am personally very excited about this sponsorship and honoured to be part of such a fine New Zealand literary tradition. New Zealand Post has proudly supported the literary arts and literacy for many years, including Books in Homes, Children and Young Adults Book Awards and Literacy Aotearoa.

"We are pleased to be in a position to help New Zealanders develop the next chapter of the New Zealand story."

Chair of the Katherine Mansfield Menton Trust Richard Cathie says this prize is very significant. "A $100,000 prize takes the Fellowship, which has been supporting New Zealand writers, poets and playwrights for 37 years, to a new level. We expect to be able to really strengthen New Zealand's body of literary work and raise the profile of New Zealand authors around the world with this prize."

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Patricia Grace awarded Neustadt International Prize for Literature

4 October 2007.
Acclaimed New Zealand writer Patricia Grace was selected as the 2008 laureate of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, announced at a ceremony at the University of Oklahoma in the United States.

An international jury representing ten countries selected Grace as the winner of the US$50,000 prize, which is administered by the University of Oklahoma and its international magazine, World Literature Today.

Last year, Grace received the 2006 Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction, presented by Prime Minister Helen Clark and administered by Creative New Zealand. Her 2004 novel, Tu, won the Deutz Medal for Fiction in the 2005 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

Creative New Zealand Chief Executive Stephen Wainwright said the award was a "fantastic" achievement for a writer who has played a pivotal role in the development of New Zealand literature.

"Through her writing, Patricia expresses what it means to be Māori and of this country, and yet her work also reaches a wide international audience," he said. "I am delighted she has received this timely recognition."

The Neustadt International Prize for Literature is awarded every two years and is regarded as one of the most prestigious international prizes after the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Robert Con Davis-Undiano, Neustadt professor and executive director of World Literature Today, said: "This award is landmark recognition of an indigenous writer and gives a strong sense of the direction of important literature in the twenty-first century." Grace is the twentieth Neustadt laureate and the fourth woman to win the Neustadt Prize. She was nominated for the award by Muskoke Creek writer, poet, performer and musician Joy Harjo, who described her writing as a "brilliant weave of Māori oral storytelling contained within the more contemporary Western literary forms of the novel and short story".

Harjo also called Grace "an essential and key figure in the emergence of a unique Māori fiction".

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