Booknotes promo Oct2010

Let master storytellers coax you out of hibernation at the New Zealand’s Book Council’s cabaret-style storytelling event, True Stories Told Live – A Winter’s Tale, being held in Dunedin next month.

Local musician Martin Phillipps, and Dunedin writers Maxine Alterio and Karen Trebilcock will be joined by poet Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, from Christchurch, and children’s writer Kyle Mewburn, from Millers Flat, among others, for this exciting storytelling event.

This is unabashed storytelling, totally unscripted, where anything can happen.

With a theme of A Winter’s Tale, our storytellers will warm you up with their stories, making you laugh, groan and shiver through their 10-minute vignettes.

This event is supported by the Dunedin City Council. DCC Library Services Manager Bernie Hawke says he is “delighted with the exciting line-up of New Zealand authors, setting the stage for a thoroughly enjoyable evening”.

True Stories Told Live – A Winter’s Tale starts at 5.30pm on Wednesday 5 June, at the Dunedin City Library in Moray Place. We welcome a small koha to help us cover our costs.

For more information:
Sarah Forster
New Zealand Book Council
Phone 04 801 5546

Bernie Hawke
Library Services Manager
Phone 03 474 3657

New Zealand writer Zoe Meager has won the Pacific Region Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2013 for her story 'Things with Faces'. The winning entry from the Pacific region last year was also by a New Zealand writer, Emma Martin, who has just released her first collection of short stories, Two Girls in a Boat. The five 2013 regional winners are:

Africa
THE NEW CUSTOMERS, Julian Jackson (South Africa)

Asia
THE SARONG-MAN IN THE OLD HOUSE, AND AN INCUBUS FOR A RAINY NIGHT, Michael Mendis (Sri Lanka)

Canada and Europe
WE WALKED ON WATER, Eliza Robertson (Canada)

Caribbean
THE WHALE HOUSE, Sharon Millar (Trinidad & Tobago)

Pacific
THINGS WITH FACES, Zoe Meager (New Zealand)

Commonwealth Writers has partnered with Granta magazine to give regional winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize the opportunity to be published by Granta online during the week commencing 27 May.

John Freeman, Editor of Granta said: “The Commonwealth Short Story Prize searches across a vast territory with relentless curiosity to select the brightest new talent from each region, and this year is stronger than ever. With voices that arrest, affirm, disturb and illuminate, this new crop of writers turn our expectations for what a story can do, and of where they are calling from, inside out. This partnership is an example of what the magazine can be at best – a beacon for those writers we didn’t know we were missing out on – and we salute Commonwealth Writers in their continuing good work.”

For more information about the Prize and the regional winners visit the Commonwealth Writers website.

Forty years on from the publication of his groundbreaking novel Sons for the Return Home, world renowned writer and teacher Maualaivao Albert Wendt is being honoured for his enormous contribution to Pacific and New Zealand Literature.

Students under 18 years of age are being offered free entry to this significant event, which takes place at the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival. 5.30–6.45pm on Sunday 19 May.
Students over 18 are offered a special ticket price of $12.50.

The celebration includes:
- a song from the cast of the sell-out PI musical The Factory
- readings from Selina Tusitala Marsh, Witi Ihimaera and Bill Manhire
- an operatic aria from emerging Pacific singing star Isabella Moore.

Maualaivao Albert himself will talk about his life and work with poet Robert Sullivan (Ngapuhi/Irish), Director of the Manukau Institute of Technology Creative Writing programme.
Here are the Festival’s programme details for the event, also online at http://writersfestival.co.nz/Home/Programme/EventDetail/tabid/57/id/444/Default.aspx

HONOURED NEW ZEALAND WRITER 2013: ALBERT WENDT
In 1973 an emerging writer by the name of Albert Wendt delivered his first novel. Sons For The Return Home was groundbreaking, exploring love, freedom and racism in Aotearoa New Zealand. It was made into a film and became a secondary school text. Forty years on, in the largest Polynesian city in the world, Maualaivao Albert Wendt CNZM, Emeritus Professor of English at The University of Auckland, continues to break new ground as a novelist, poet, playwright, short story writer and artist. In 2012 alone he published the poetry collection From A Manoa Garden to Ponsonby and the short story collection Ancestry. Wendt’s contribution to the literary landscape is immense; his body of work an inspiration to generations of readers; his contribution to a Pacific literature unmatched. To celebrate his accomplishments, this session will bring the sounds of the Pacific to the stage: live Samoan music with sellout The Factory cast singing one of the hits from the show and emerging opera star Isabella Moore performing an aria ; excerpts from Wendt’s writing read by Bill Manhire, Selina Tusitala Marsh and Witimaera; and Wendt himself, who will distil his life and writing in conversation with Robert Sullivan.

AUCKLAND WRITER & READERS FESTIVAL, SUNDAY MAY 19 – 5.30-6.45PM
ASB THEATRE, AOTEA CENTRE

TICKETS: $20 EARLYBIRD, $12.50 STUDENTS OVER 18, FREE FOR AUDIENCE UNDER 18; www.buytickets.co.nz

Note: Under 18s are eligible for a free ticket to this event, to be booked through THE EDGE ticketing service.

Courtesy of Beattie's Book Blog.

When Robert Lord took up a Burns Fellowship at Otago University in 1987, he bought his first home - a small cottage close to the university and the town centre of Dunedin. His tragically few years in Titan Street were happy and productive ones.

Before he died Robert put in place a plan that the cottage would become a home for other writers who choose to come to Dunedin to write and a Trust was established to administer the plan.

Today, as was his plan, Robert Lord's worker's cottage (three furnished rooms and a courtyard garden) is run as a rent-free residency for writers.

To date, playwrights who have lived and worked there include Gary Henderson, Renee, Jan Bolwell, Vanessa Rhodes, Vincent O'Sullivan, Branwen Millar and Paul Rothwell.

APPLY: apply for the residencies in 2013 by sending your cv and a statement of the project you propose to work on to Murray Lynch,
director[@]playmarket.org.nz or call 04 382 8462

Applications from New Zealand residents for periods of 3 to 6 months are now being received.

Closing date for applications is 1 July 2013
(Please advise preferred dates and whether you have flexibility on dates.)

New app helps readers decide what to read next

Random House New Zealand is pleased to announce the Random House New Books App for iPad and iPhone is now available on the App Store. The new app will introduce readers to new books and features twelve guaranteed good reads, allowing book lovers to sample the first chapter before buying the book through the iBookstore.

Choosing which book to read can be a hard decision for many book buyers given the challenge of a myriad of book choices coupled with limited budgets and time constraints. Readers want to be assured of a good read and the Random House app for iPad will help make this decision easier. Readers can explore authors they may have heard of but weren’t willing to commit to, try prize winning authors that may have sparked their interest or review a book before recommending it to their book group. In addition, they can decide if it will make a good gift for a loved one.

Each month the app will update to include new authors and books for readers to trial. There will also be links to author interviews and webpages so readers can find out more about their favourite authors. The books will also be grouped by genre so they can delve more deeply into their preferred type of book.

The Random House New Books app is available for free from the App Store on iPad, iPhone or from iTunes.

The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc.) in association with Kobo Writing Life are proud to announce the launch of the Kobo/NZ Authors E-Publishing prize.

This competition offers two budding New Zealand authors the opportunity to be professionally published in e-book form through the Kobo Writing Life platform and offered for sale throughout New Zealand.

The competition allows applicants to enter a piece of writing of fiction or non-fiction between 30,000 and 120,000 words. Manuscripts are to be judged anonymously by a panel comprising representatives from Kobo, The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc.) and an independent bookseller. Members of the public will be able to vote for their favourite shortlisted manuscripts on-line and these winners will each receive a free Kobo reader.

Open to any New Zealand resident or citizen. So get that manuscript out of the bottom drawer, dust it off and send it in. Application forms and Terms and Conditions are available at www.authors.org.nz.

“Kobo Writing Life is all about removing barriers and providing authors with tools and resources to help get their best work into the market,” says Mark Lefebvre, Kobo’s Director of Self-Publishing & Author Relations. “Collaborating with the New Zealand Society of Authors in this effort to recognize excellence in writing is a great way to provide New Zealand writers a fantastic and unique opportunity.”

“This is such an exciting opportunity for two New Zealand writers” says Maggie Tarver, CEO of The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc.). “The idea grew following the success of the NZSA/Pindar Publishing Prize in 2010. This offered a print publication and it seemed a natural progression to move into e-publishing in the current environment. I approached Kobo with the idea of publishing a book, and they were so enthused by the idea they wanted to offer not one but two publication opportunities – one for fiction and one for non-fiction. We are delighted with this opportunity to work closely with Kobo and to offer this amazing opportunity to New Zealand writers. I urge everyone to send in their work – this could be the beginning of something wonderful.”

Win the opportunity to have your book professionally published through the Kobo Writing Life Platform and sold throughout New Zealand. Two prizes are offered – not one! Publication for a non-fiction and a fiction manuscript is available sponsored by Kobo and administered by The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc.), each prize is worth over $10,000.

Background

The NZ Authors established a print publishing prize in 2010 in order to create an opportunity for a New Zealand writer. This unique award was for an unpublished manuscript to be taken through to a published form and offered for sale in print form throughout New Zealand. The NZ Authors is delighted to be able offer the prize again in 2013 for two unpublished manuscripts to be published in e-book format through the Kobo Writing Life platform and offered for sale throughout New Zealand. Sponsored by Kobo the award is administered by the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZ Authors).


Aim of the Award

The award offers digital publication through the Kobo Writing Life Platform for two previously unpublished manuscripts - one fiction and one non-fiction. The purpose of this award is to create opportunity for authors to publish their work to a professional standard and to offer it for sale through trade channels in New Zealand. The award also aims to recognise excellence in creative writing and create a launching pad for writers’ careers.

Key Dates

Applications open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . .….…. May 2013
Applications close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... .... ….July 2013
Shortlist announced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …. September 2013
Online voting begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... ….. ..October 2013
Online voting closes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …….. .. … October 2013
Winner announced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... … November 2013
Book launch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …………March 2014

This winter BATS Theatre is partnering with the International Institute of Modern Letters to bring you three evenings of insight into the writers' workshop. Join students and graduates of the IIML as they workshop writing generated by prompts from Victoria University Press's The Exercise Book live and unrehearsed. It'll be fun; it could get interactive; and there’ll be plenty of stimulating talk about how to energise your prose, poetry and scripts.

Writer Pip Adam, who is stage-managing the show, says she’s very excited to have such a diverse range of writers involved. ‘We have published writers of proven ability and new, emerging voices all offering feedback on each other’s writing. The fact that the work under discussion is all “in progress” is also an exciting part of the show for me. It’s such an interesting insight to the writing process. Surprising things happen when work that is in this playful phase is talked about by a group of writers.’

She believes the show will be of interest to writers and readers. ‘One of the most commonly asked questions of writers is, “Where do you get your ideas?” I think this show will give an insight into this.’

The writing workshop forms the basis for the successful IIML programme. Lawrence Patchett, author of I Got His Blood On Me and IIML graduate, will be facilitating the live prose workshop.

He says, ‘The workshop has helped me so much, both as a writer and as a reader. It really is a case where contributing to a community can help you as an individual. I love the idea of showcasing this model so that more people can see how it works. Although on stage it might be a bit different - a bit edgier than usual.’

Award-winning writer and satirist Dave Armstrong, who is facilitating the live script-writing workshop, is also excited about the prospect of workshopping live. ‘I’m really looking forward to workshopping in front of an audience. One of the exercises I’m doing will involve the entire audience so I’m particularly looking forward to that.’

And what about the students who will be workshopping their writing? Morgan Bach, a current IIML MA poetry student says, ‘I am excited to be a part of the show for the sheer pleasure of the unknown - who knows what might happen? That's the beauty of a workshop, and the thing that kicks the “good fear” into you too. The best thing for writing (especially revision) is people I reckon, which is why a workshop situation is priceless. I think we'll all learn some new tricks - workshoppers and audience alike.’

Programme Manager at BATS Theatre, Cherie Jacobson, says The Exercise Book Live is a unique event for the theatre. ‘I haven’t seen anything quite like this on the BATS’ stage before, but I think it will really appeal to the BATS audience who are always ready and willing to try something new. And hopefully it will tempt some readers to see what happens when the page hits the stage!’

THE EXERCISE BOOK LIVE is on at BATS Theatre 8pm June 13,14,15
Tickets are $10 or $5 concession
http://exercisebooklive.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TheExerciseBookLive

Contact:
Lawrence Patchett
lawrencepatchett@gmail.com
Ph. 0273919695

THE EXERCISE BOOK LIVE
June 13
Starting the Engine - Poetry
Poet Helen Heath (Graft, Victoria University Press) facilitates a workshop with current MA poets Morgan Bach, Kirsten Le Harivel, Claire Orchard and MA graduate and poet Sarah Jane Barnett (A Man Runs into a Woman, Hue and Cry Press).

June 14
Jumping the Tracks - Prose
Writer Lawrence Patchett (I Got His Blood On Me, Victoria University Press) facilitates a workshop with current MA prose writers Rachel Kerr and Matthew Bialostocki, Adam Prize 2012 winner Kerry Donovan-Brown (Lamplighter) and 2012 Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner Emma Martin (Two Girls in a Boat, Victoria University Press).

June 15
BUILDING A SCRIPT
Award-winning script-writer and satirist Dave Armstrong facilitates a workshop with MA script writers Jane Fletcher, Beanie (Maryse) Ridler, Hamish Parkinson and Jacob Beullens.

We invite you to join New Zealand writers Kate De Goldi, Ellie Catton, Hamish Clayton and David Hill, Māori theatre director James Ashcroft and members of the Sydney Bridge Upside Down cast, for a panel discussion about Sydney Bridge Upside Down and the process of adaptation from page to stage. The panel discussion series is presented by Taki Rua and the New Zealand Book Council.

Sydney Bridge Upside Down by David Ballantyne has often been described as 'the great unread New Zealand novel'; this year however it seems this little known kiwi gem is finally getting the popular recognition it deserves!

Taki Rua Productions (TRP) have adapted Sydney Bridge Upside Down for the stage and along the way joined forces with the New Zealand Book Council (NZBC) to spread the word about a novel they believe all New Zealanders should read – you have all been a big part of this process through Harry’s Hikoi!

Together both NZBC and TRP have created a national tour of public panel discussions to be held whilst the production plays at venues throughout the country. Panel discussions feature New Zealand writers Kate De Goldi, Ellie Catton, Hamish Clayton and David Hill, Māori theatre director James Ashcroft and members of the Sydney Bridge Upside Down cast. Join them as they discuss why we should all read this novel, talk about its author David Ballantyne and explore the page to stage adaptation process.

This is a free event and everyone’s welcome. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic and answer any questions you may have about the writer, the book or the production.

Details / Locations / Dates
Please email esther@takirua.co.nz to register for a place.

New Plymouth, TSB Showplace, 9:30PM Friday 7th June
New Plymouth, Puke Ariki Museum, 1:00PM Saturday 8th June

Wellington, Downstage Theatre, 1:00PM Wednesday 26th June
Wellington, Downstage Theatre, 9:30PM Friday 5th July

Auckland, Q Theatre, 1:00PM Friday 9th August
Auckland, Q Theatre, 9:30PM Saturday 10th August

1st of April to the 31st of May 2013. And we’re inviting you to give it a go!

What makes us special?

Is ‘the No. 8 wire’ and ‘do-it-yourself spirit’ still alive and kicking and what kind of funny are we? How can we give our children a sense of who they are and their place in the world as globalisation washes over our not-so-isolated shores?

Are we really as dark as some of our some storytellers describe us and what part does our unique and beautiful environment play in how we define ourselves?
The Treaty of Waitangi, biculturalism and the Pacific Ocean adds another thread woven into our psyche. Auckland is not only our largest city but also the largest Polynesian city in the world.

These are questions that the Western Bay of Plenty Playcentre Association wants to explore through its first National Children’s Poetry Competition. We’re seeking poems that explore word play and metrical beat, such as activity and counting poems, and especially poems with New Zealand content. Most of all we want poems that are fun to read aloud and listen to. WBOP Playcentre Association is running this competition from the 1st of April to the 31st of May 2013. And we’re inviting you to give it a go!

Our competition judge is local poet and performer Marcel Currin, known for his own brand of funny, whose writing has been published in New Zealand magazines, literary journals and anthologies.

Marcel will be supported in this process by local storyteller Tommy ‘Kapai’ Wilson as we’re accepting poems in Te Reo and English, or a blend of both. Tommy Kapai works with and for children, and was the initiator of the Kapai series that includes Kapai the Kiwi and Kapai's Thermal Adventure. Since then he’s given us the Cuzzies series and the adventures of Scoop and Scribe.

For centuries writers have used rhythm and rhyme to create poems that both stimulate and please the minds of the young. Reading together is a well-known and effective means of introducing children to words and the world, and fosters closer relationships with parents and caregivers.

We want to produce books of children’s poetry that reflect what’s unique about us, our particular brand of fun; that celebrate families growing together. We’ll do this by publishing the fifteen winning poems from adult and secondary school writers decorated with artwork from our thirteen Playcentres within the Western Bay of Plenty.

For details on how to enter visit www.bayplay.org.nz or email Kaye Hubner at president@bayplay.org.nz.

The Aesthetica Creative Writing is now open for entry, offering both existing and aspiring writers the chance to showcase their work to a wider, international audience. Now in its sixth year, the competition celebrates creative writing and nurtures talent, inviting writers to submit imaginative work that pushes the boundaries of the two categories for entry: Poetry and Fiction. Submissions previously published elsewhere are accepted, and the deadline is 31 August 2013.

The selection of fantastic prizes includes:

• £500 prize money – Poetry winner
• £500 prize money – Short Fiction winner
• Publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual
• Complimentary copy of the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual
• A selection of books from competition partners

For more information please visit: www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativewriting

Encouraging New Zealanders to write something beautiful.

The 2013 BNZ Literary Awards are now open. New Zealand's most distinguished short story competition is back for its 54th year.

With categories for both aspiring and established writers, everyone has the chance to join an impressive lineage of past winners, including Frank Sargeson, Keri Hulme, Maurice Shadbolt, Charlotte Grimshaw, and CK Stead.

You can enter our 150-word Short Short Story competition through Facebook or enter any of the other categories below. There's no time like the present to start writing something beautiful for the BNZ Literary Awards.

Entries for all the award categories are open until 30 June 2013. Winners will be announced in September 2013.

To enter, meet the judges and for more information visit the awards website.

Let your imagination flow like the Rangitikei River…

You are invited to submit a piece of writing of up to 2,000 words for the Rangitikei District Libraries Writing Competition – Postcards from the Rangitikei.
Each piece must have a link or reference to Rangitikei region or river and anyone over 16 years of age and living in the Rangitikei or surrounding regions of Manawatu, Whanganui and Ruapehu is eligible to enter.

Six works will be selected and authors will have the opportunity to work with professional tutor, writer and editor Maria Polglase Clement before publication.
Writers must reside in one of the following areas: Rangitikei, Whanganui, Manawatu and Ruapehu, and the work must contain some reference or link to the Rangitikei region or river.

Prose, essay, poem, recipe, musing, story, anecdote, memory or letter… I It’s up to you!

Since 2005, Rangitikei Libraries, with support from the JBS Dudding Trust, have published books of short stories, poems and essays under the title New Writings from the Rangitikei.

This year we’re doing things a little differently. Six writers will be selected and will have the opportunity to work with Marton-based editor and creative writing tutor Maria Polglase Clement before publication.

The authors will see their work published online and in print, and a series of postcards will be available with excerpts from each of the selected texts.

‘Our aim is to support local writers and to celebrate the many facets of life in this district,’ says Melanie Bovey, District Librarian. ‘We want people from this area to share their stories and anecdotes, and our new approach will also give writers an opportunity to improve their practice. We’re hoping publication will give beginning writers more confidence.’

The selected pieces will be published on paper (as a quality, fold-out A3) and online, and will be available as downloads on the library website. All free.
We will also print postcards, with excerpts from the selected entries, which will be widely available.

For more information:
Melanie Bovey, District Librarian - Rangitikei District Council, 06 327 0080 martlib@rangitikei.govt.nz

Entry forms are available from the Libraries and online.

Entrants must reside in the Rangitikei, Manawatu, Whanganui or Ruapehu districts and be over 16 years on 31 May 2013. Closing date is 31 May at 5pm. No entries will be received after that date.

The winners have been announced for the 2013 Caselberg Trust International Poetry Prize, which was judged this year by Wellington poet, painter and curator Gregory O’Brien.

For the second year in succession, First Prize has been won by Palmerston North writer Tim Upperton. His winning entry, ‘Everything is possible’, was praised by the judge for having a ‘lightly handled rhyme scheme and a cruisy tone and rhythm’.

The Judge awarded Second Prize to Laurice Gilbert, of Wellington, for her ‘droll and endearing’ poem ‘Ten Things I Want To Tell You About My Ducks’.

The prize-winners will receive $500 and $250 respectively, and their poems will appear in Landfall 225, published in May by Otago University Press.

The five Highly Commended entries were: ‘Reading Moby Dick the week of Peter Bethune’s trial’, by Janet Newman (Levin); ‘Karl’s Double Yo-Yo’, by Caroline Lark (Dunedin); ‘Cloud analysis’, by Sandi Sartorelli (Upper Hutt); ‘If Wellington Harbour is a laundry’, by Nicola Easthope (Raumati South); and ‘Cranium’, by Natasha Dennerstein (Wellington).

The third annual Caselberg Trust competition, for which entries were as usual judged blind, attracted entries from around New Zealand as well as from Australia and farther afield.

The Caselberg Trust has for seven years operated a residence for writers and artists at Broad Bay on the Otago Peninsula. Its ‘Creative Connections’ Residency for 2013 will be the Auckland-based musicians Pacific Underground, founded in 1993 by Tanya Muagututi’a and Posenai Mavaega.

Courtesy of Beattie's Book blog.

$35,000 to write your non-fiction book.

Applications are now open for the 2013 CLNZ Writers’ Awards. The most generous literary award of its kind. Two winners receive $35,000 apiece to complete their non-fiction work.

Applications close 26 June 2013.

For more information visit the Copyright Licensing website: www.copyright.co.nz/Writers-Awards/ or telephone 0800 480 271

New Zealand’s most cherished children’s author will be commemorated with the renaming of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards’ top honour.

From this year, the best children’s book will receive the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award.

Margaret Mahy’s quirky imagination touched every Kiwi who read one of her books and placed New Zealand’s children and young adult literature on the international stage. She passed away at the age of 76, last year.

The Chair of the Book Awards Governance Group, Sam Elworthy said renaming the top children’s book award is a way of commemorating the huge impact Margaret Mahy had as one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed literary figures.

“For over five decades, Margaret Mahy has captured children’s imaginations at home and around the world. Her unparalleled commitment to children’s literature will continue to live on in our hearts and minds for many years to come.

We felt there could be no more appropriate name for the Book of the Year award than one that honors such an influential and well-loved New Zealand writer.”
Margaret Mahy was a previous finalist and winner of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards and is a finalist in this year’s picture book category for her book Mister Whistler.

Her daughter, Bridget Mahy said the Mahy family was “immensely pleased” that she was being recognised for her lifetime’s work.

“Margaret was a spirited and generous person who loved supporting and celebrating fellow writers. She would be the first to stand up and cheer for nominees who had worked so hard at successfully crafting their work for a young audience.

Sam Elworthy said it was great to be able to hold the Awards in Margaret Mahy’s home town of Christchurch and to have the Mahy family able to attend in her honour.

Don’t miss your opportunity to support an outstanding New Zealand writer, whose work has entertained, moved or inspired you.

Nominations for the 2013 Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement close on Friday 3 May.

Every year, New Zealanders are invited to nominate their choice of a writer who has made a significant contribution to New Zealand literature in the genres of non-fiction, poetry and fiction.

New Zealand writers are also able to nominate themselves for these awards, which are valued at $60,000 for each of the genres.

The nominations are assessed by an expert literary panel and recommendations forwarded to Creative New Zealand for approval, with the award recipients announced at a ceremony in Premier House.

In 2012, Albert Wendt was awarded for Fiction; Sam Hunt for Poetry and Gregory O’Brien for Non-Fiction. To nominate a writer or to see previous winners, go to:
http://creativenz.govt.nz/en/results-of-our-work/award-winners/prime-minister-s-awards-for-literary-achievement

Nominations close on Friday, 3 May at 5pm.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Rebecca Lancashire, Senior Communications Adviser, T +64 4 473 0880 | DDI +64 4 498 0725| M +64 (0) 27 677 8070

Seresin Estate and Otago University Press are delighted to announce the winner of the 2013 Seresin Landfall Residency.

The fifth recipient of the Seresin Landfall Residency is writer Maxine Alterio, who plans to use the Residency to work on her second collection of short stories Stories Bodies Tell which explores ‘the physical betrayal of bodies, the ramifications of something lost, and the emotional consequences that arise, not just for the protagonists, but also for those connected to them.’ The title story has already anthologised in Best New Zealand Fiction 3 edited by Fiona Kidman (Random House, 2006).

‘It’s a thrill and an honour to be awarded this residency, my first, which makes it doubly exciting. The timing of this gift is perfect for me.’

Maxine Alterio’s publications include: Live News and Other Stories (Steele Roberts, 2005), Ribbons of Grace (Penguin Books, 2007) and her most recent novel, Lives We Leave Behind (Penguin Books, 2012) written during the course of doing a PhD at the International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University. The PhD also included a study that focused on the memoirs of First World War nurses.

Reviewing in the Otago Daily Times, Willie Campbell described Lives We Leave Behind as ‘a finely crafted novel that gives a depth of insight into human needs and responses in times of crisis’. Alterio has also published a work of non-fiction Learning Through Storytelling in Higher Education: Using reflection and experience to improve learning (Kogan Press, UK, 2003).

‘I’m very grateful to Seresin Estate and Landfall/Otago University Press for the opportunity to concentrate fully on this writing project’ says Alterio. ‘I envisage few distractions during my six weeks in this remote and beautiful part of the South Island … since land and seascapes often appear almost as characters in my work, I expect aspects of Waterfall Bay will find their way into my writing during my stay and possibly long after I leave.’

Former residency winners
The inaugural Seresin Landfall Residency recipient was C.K. Stead in 2009, with an additional residency being made available that year to Jenna Shaw. The subsequent recipients have been: Wystan Curnow, 2010; Serie Barford, 2011; and Pat White in 2012.

Entries for the 2014 Seresin Landfall Residency close on 31 January 2014.

For further information, please contact: Rhian Gallagher, Otago University Press
publicity@otago.ac.nz (03) 479 9094

Lake Wanaka, New Zealand (April 18, 2013) – A fascinating debate about US-led conflicts past, present and future contrasted sharply with the beauty and power of contemporary dance during a varied programme on day three of the Southern Lakes Festival of Colour.

Leading US investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh presented ‘Invitation to another war’ as part of the festival’s Aspiring Conversations series. In a far-reaching review of US foreign policy chaired by NZ broadcaster Finlay McDonald, Hersh had a packed audience captivated with his quick-fire delivery and detailed grasp of the realities of modern US politics.

Moving from the terrible events in Boston this week through to America’s relationship with Israel, Hersh breathlessly dissected conflicts in Afghanistan (“not a victory”), Iraq (“we’re facing the consequences today of that decision [to go to war]; they [the US government under George W. Bush] made an immoral decision”), Libya and Syria (“the biggest mess”).

Asked about whether the current US electoral system was causing some of the perceived failures in the country’s foreign policy, Hersh tellingly concluded: “Very good people are leaving the Senate and the House”.

He was, however, no apologist for the current President and was highly critical of Barack Obama’s failure to match 2009 inauguration promises on the detainee camp at Guantanamo and his deference to the military.

Hersh’s most moving passage came when discussing the events of the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War in 1969. The audience fell silent not just as he recounted the build up to the massacre and events on the day itself but also when he tracked down one of the protagonists, a young infantryman later invalided out of the war, in his home village south of Chicago. Meeting his mother first, she told him: “I gave them a good boy and they sent back a murderer.”

In a complete change of mood, Black Grace brought their contemporary dance spectacular Vaka to the Lake Wanaka Centre later in the evening. The first show to sell out at this year’s festival, Neil Ieremia’s supremely athletic company and powerful choreography inspired the audience. This was truly a five-star festival highlight.

In ‘Living this Life’, the first Aspiring Conversations session of the day, nonagenarian Lloyd Geering examined the pursuit of happiness in an increasingly secular world. Thought provoking and reflective, Geering laid out his personal take on modern living.

“We used to be concerned about life after death, now we’re concerned about how we live life before death. Our chief purpose in life… is to enjoy it,” he said.

Beat generation play Beautiful Losers opened its Festival of Colour season tonight at Hawea Flat Hall. Inspired by Jack Kerouac’s ground-breaking novel On The Road this two-man comedy-drama exploded with words, laughter, music and madness as Kerouac and his crazy companion, Neal Cassady burn through fifties America. This excellent production plays Cromwell on Saturday and Wanaka on Sunday.

Last up, the two-man musical extravaganza Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells for Two had its first airing of the festival at the Queenstown Memorial Centre before moving to Wanaka tomorrow night, while the Yoots brought the house down at the Central Lakes Trust Crystal Palace with their high-energy calypso ska. Led by Fat Freddy’s Drop trombonist, Hopepa, this band of many talents fused the essence of Maori waiata with dance-floor rhythms to leave the audience dancing out of the door

Sadly, Moana Jackson’s Aspiring Conversations session ‘Who owns water?’, originally scheduled for 10am tomorrow (Friday), has been cancelled due to a family bereavement. Ticket holders can receive a full refund by presenting their tickets at the Central Lakes Trust Crystal Palace between 9.30 and 11am on Friday.

The 2013 Southern Lakes Festival of Colour runs until Sunday 21 April and is generously supported by Central Lakes Trust, The Community Trust of Otago, Creative New Zealand and Aurora Energy. For further information and ticket sales visit www.festivalofcolour.co.nz.

A 23-year-old Chinese writer will take up the first Rewi Alley Writing Fellowship in New Zealand. Ms Huo Yan, a Ph.D student at Beijing Normal University, arrives in Auckland on April 29 for a two-month writing project that she hopes will include meeting local Chinese writers and experiencing Maori culture.

The new award is offered by the New Zealand China Friendship Association in partnership with the Michael King Writers’ Centre. It inaugurates the first regular and significant literary exchange between New Zealand and China, and is expected to include a New Zealand writer going to China in alternate years.

The chair of the Michael King Writers Centre, Sam Elworthy, said Ms Huo was one of China’s rising literary stars. “She has a track record of prize-winning short stories and the selection committee all found her prose startling, original and compelling. We expect her to have a big future as a writer both in China and around the world.”

The chair of the Auckland Branch of the NZ China Friendship Society George Andrews said Ms Huo’s was the most exciting proposal. “The fact she is only 23 augurs well for the future. Her fellowship continues our society’s proud tradition of fostering cultural links with China that began in the 1950s.”

Ms Huo was chosen by a joint panel of Michael King Centre trustees and New Zealand China Friendship Society members from a short-list of six put forward by the Chinese Writers’ Association. All applicants had to submit a writing proposal, an excerpt of published work, and their literary CVs. Ms Huo will stay at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in Devonport during the fellowship and will visit other parts of the country.

Ms Huo’s 2013 Fellowship will be matched in 2014 by a Shanghai Writers’ Association invitation for a New Zealand writer to visit that city. The Fellowship is then expected to develop into a reciprocal opportunity for Chinese and New Zealand writers to alternate with visits to each other’s country, year by year.

The award was named in honour of the poet, teacher, and social activist Rewi Alley, a New Zealand sheep farmer who went to China in 1927. It is funded from the Rewi Alley Friendship Exchange Fund set up by the Chinese Government in 2012. Alley led the movement to relocate China’s coastal industries from Japanese destruction during World War II. He also founded the Bailie Schools, which still exist in China’s northwest, and the co-operative movement known as “Gung Ho” or “work together”. He died in 1987.

New Zealand authors will attend high-profile international literary festivals and share our literary culture and heritage on the world stage with assistance from New Zealand Book Council/Creative New Zealand International Travel Fund grants.

Eleanor Catton, Aki Fukuoka, Charlotte Grimshaw, C.K. Stead, Fiona Kidman, Kate De Goldi, Dylan Horrocks, and Rhiann Gallagher will be supported through the Book Council’s/Creative New Zealand's International Programme to attend a range of upcoming international literary events. The purpose of the fund is to support and showcase New Zealand writing talent at a range of key international writing festivals.

Last year the programme supported five writers to attend high-profile international literary events. Emily Perkins attended the Sydney Writers Festival and Hay-on-Wye Festival. Perkins wrote about her experience at the Sydney Writers Festival for the Book Council blog, comprising an account of the minutes before a session:

The publicist breaks first. ‘What’s your approach?’
‘The usual,’ the chair says. ‘The writing process.’
‘Any angles on the book? Any themes? How do you want to introduce Emily?’
‘Oh,’ says the chair, who is after all a professional broadcaster and should be trusted, ‘I’ll wing it.’
‘Great,’ I say, in a voice octaves higher than my own.’

Read her piece in full here.

Since 2009 the programme has made a more targeted approach to enhancing the profile of New Zealand writing overseas by developing long term relationships with a specific range of international festivals. Strong relationships have been developed with close neighbour Australia and important international English language festivals in the UK, Canada and the United States.

For further information about the International Writers' Programme visit the Book Council website www.bookcouncil.org.nz or contact Book Council Chief Executive Catriona Ferguson by email: director@bookcouncil.org.nz or phone: +64 4 801 5546

2013 International Writers' Fund grants:

Edinburgh International Book Festival
Eleanor Catton
$3000

Melbourne Writers Festival
Aki Fukuoka
$500

IFOA International Festival of Authors, Vancouver International Writers Festival & Wordfest in Banff-Calgary
Charlotte Grimshaw and C.K. Stead
$6500

IFOA International Festival of Authors
Fiona Kidman
$3250

Brisbane Writers Festival
Kate De Goldi and Dylan Horrocks
$1250

Various UK and Europe Festivals
C.K. Stead
$500

King’s Lynn Poetry Festival and UK readings
Rhiann Gallagher
$2500

Closing Date 21 June 2013

Ora Nui - Maori Literary Journal - Issue 2 - 2014

Ora Nui is a new biennial Maori literary journal first published in 2012. The journal aims to showcase the full range of contemporary Maori literature.

Issue 2 will be a collaborative venture with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Writers Network and include entries from Maori and Aboriginal writers. We are now seeking submissions of up to 5000 words from Maori and Aboriginal Writers in the following literary forms:

- Poetry; - Prose; - Fiction; - Non-fiction; - Scripts for radio, television, theatre and film.

Please email your submissions by 5pm, Friday 21 June 2013 to:

Maori Writers – blankanton61@gmail.com
Aboriginal Writers – kuracca@bigpond.net.au

Courtesy of NZSA newsletter.

The University of Otago invites applications for the Children's Writer in Residence for the year 2014 from writers who are New Zealanders or normally resident in New Zealand.

The University of Otago is the only tertiary institute in New Zealand which offers a residency for a children's writer. Begun by the Dunedin College of Education in 1992, it allows writers to work full time in a compatible environment among colleagues who are concerned with the teaching of reading and literature to children. Remuneration of $28,000 is jointly funded by the University and Creative New Zealand.

The residency is open to established children's writers who are normally resident in New Zealand. The annual residency is for a six month period between February and August and includes an office within the College.

The residency is offered in association with the Robert Lord Trust which provides rent-free accommodation to writers in the historic Titan Street cottage bequeathed by the late playwright Robert Lord.
Applications close 1 June 2013.

For more invormation visit http://www.otago.ac.nz/otagofellows/writer.html

Courtesy of the NZSA newsletter.

The University of Otago invites applications for the Robert Burns Fellowship for the year 2014 from serious writers who are New Zealanders or normally resident in New Zealand.

The Robert Burns Fellowship is New Zealand's premier literary residency. It was established in 1958 by a group of anonymous Dunedin citizens to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Robert Burns, and to perpetuate the community's appreciation of the part played by the related Dunedin family of Dr Thomas Burns in the early settlement of Otago. The Fellowship aims to encourage and promote imaginative New Zealand literature and to associate writers with the University.

The annual, 12-month Fellowship provides an office in the English Department and not less than the minimum salary of a full-time university lecturer. It is open to writers of poetry, drama, fiction, biography, autobiography, essays or literary criticism who are normally resident in New Zealand, and who, in the opinion of the Selection Committee, have established by their published work, or otherwise, that their writing would benefit from their holding the Fellowship.
Applications close 1 June 2013.

For more information visit http://www.otago.ac.nz/otagofellows/burns.html

Courtesy of the NZSA newsletter.

The works of great living Australian writers have been recognised with the announcement today of the shortlists for the 2013 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, including the biennial NSW Premier’s Translation Prize.

28 judges considered hundreds of entries across 10 prize categories.

Minister George Souris MP, Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Hospitality and Racing, Minister for the Arts welcomed the announcement of the shortlist.
“For the past 33 years, the NSW Premiers Literary Awards have supported and promoted Australia’s dynamic literary community; it is talented writers like those shortlisted today that have greatly contributed to the national and international recognition of Australian literature,” said Mr Souris.

Dark Night: Walking With McCahon by New Zealand author Martin Edmond has been shortlisted for the Douglas Stewart Prize (Non‐fiction, $40,000). The winners will be announced in May 2013.

Shortlist: 2013 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards

Christina Stead Prize (Fiction, $40,000)
The Voyage, Murray Bail (Text Publishing)
The Daughters of Mars, Tom Keneally (Random House Australia)
Foal’s Bread, Gillian Mears (Allen & Unwin)
Cold Light, Frank Moorhouse (Random House Australia)
Mateship with Birds, Carrie Tiffany (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Animal People, Charlotte Wood (Allen & Unwin)

UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing ($5,000)
Eleven Seasons, Paul D. Carter (Allen & Unwin)
The Burial, Courtney Collins (Allen & Unwin)
Sufficient Grace, Amy Espeseth (Scribe)
Running Dogs, Ruby Murray (Scribe)
The Weight of a Human Heart, Ryan O’Neill (Black Inc.)
The Last Thread, Michael Sala (Affirm Press)

Douglas Stewart Prize (Non‐fiction, $40,000)
Exile: The Lives and Hopes of Werner Pelz, Roger Averill (Transit Lounge)
Ben Jonson: A Life, Ian Donaldson (Oxford University Press)
Dark Night: Walking with McCahon, Martin Emond (Auckland University Press)
The Biggest Estate on Earth, Bill Gammage (Allen & Unwin)
Double Entry, Jane Gleeson‐White (Allen & Unwin)
The Office: A Hard Working History, Gideon Haigh (Melbourne University Publishing)

Kenneth Slessor Prize (Poetry, $30,000)
Ruby Moonlight, Ali Cobby‐Eckermann (Magabala Books)
First Light, Kate Fagan (Giramondo)
Open sesame, Michael Farrell (Giramondo)
The Welfare of My Enemy, Anthony Lawrence (Puncher & Wattman)
Ladylike, Kate Lilly (UWA Publishing)
Here, There and Elsewhere, Vivian Smith (Giramondo)

Patricia Wrightson Prize (Children’s Literature, $30,000)
The Ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon, Aaron Blabey (Penguin Group Australia)
Brotherband 1: The Outcasts, John Flanagan (Random House Australia)
Pookie Aleera is Not My Boyfriend, Steven Herrick (University of Queensland Press)
A Bear and a Tree, Stephen Michael King (Penguin Group Australia)
The Tender Moments of Saffron Silk: Kingdom of Silk Series # 6, Glenda Millard and illustrator
Stephen Michael King (HarperCollins Australia)
Dragonkeeper Book 4: Blood Brothers, Carole Wilkinson (Walker Books Australia)

Ethel Turner Prize (Young People’s Literature, $30,000)
Three Summers, Judith Clarke (Allen & Unwin)
The Ink Bridge, Neil Grant (Allen & Unwin)
Sea Hearts, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin)
A Corner of White, Jaclyn Moriarty (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Into that Forest, Louis Nowra (Allen & Unwin)
Unforgotten, Tohby Riddle (Allen & Unwin)

Nick Enright Prize (Playwriting, $30,000)
The Damned, Reg Cribb (Black Swan State Theatre Company)
Return to Earth, Lally Katz (Currency Press, Melbourne Theatre Company)
Day One, A Hotel, Evening, Joanna Murray‐Smith (Red Stitch Actor’s Theatre)
Happy Ending, Melissa Reeves (Melbourne Theatre Company)
Food, Steve Rogers (Belvoir St Theatre/Force Majuere)
A Hoax, Rick Viede (Currency Press, La Boit Theatre Co/ Griffin Theatre Co)

Betty Roland Prize (Scriptwriting, $30,000)
The Left to Die Boat, Sharon Davis & Geoffrey Parish (ABC Radio National)
Dead Europe, Louise Fox (See‐saw films)
Rake (Season 2 Episode 4): R v Floyd, Andrew Knight (ABC TV / Essential Media &
Entertainment)
Burning Man, Jonathan Teplitzky (Meercat films)

Community Relations Commission for a multicultural NSW Award ($20,000)
All windows open and other stories by Hariklia Heristandinidis (Clouds of Magellan)
Don’t Go Back to Where You Came From, Tim Soutphommasane (New South Publishing)
Beneath the Darkening Sky, Majok Tulba (Penguin Group Australia)
Anguli Ma: A Gothic Tale, Chi Vu (Giramondo)

NSW Premier’s Translation Prize
Mr Peter Boyle
Ms Alison Entrekin
Professor Brian Nelson
Professor Ouyang Yu

The NSW Premier's Translation Prize is offered biennially. The Prize is intended to acknowledge the contribution made to literary culture by Australian translators. Proposed by the International PEN Sydney, it is funded by the NSW Government and the Community Relations Commission for a multicultural NSW, with a commemorative medallion sponsored by Sydney PEN.

Applications for the 2014-5 M Writer's Residencies are now open. The Programme funds three-month residencies in Bangalore and Shanghai for writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry or dramatic prose. (The residency in India is at Sangam House, which can also be applied to separately www.sangamhouse.org).

An Application Form and Residency Guidelines can be found on the residency website.

Applications close on June 1, 2013.

The M Writer's Residencies have been established to disseminate a broader knowledge of contemporary life and writing in India and China today and to foster deeper intellectual, cultural and artistic links across individuals and communities.

Two CLNZ/NZSA Research Grants are now open for 2013 applications.

The first of the grants (for either fiction or non-fiction) will be for a fellowship at the Stout Centre in Wellington. In addition to the $3500 this grant offers a residential fellowship at the Stout Research Centre at Victoria University of Wellington for up to three months. The SRC is adjacent to the International Institute of Modern Letters and offers a lively research environment for postgraduate students, international scholars and independent New Zealand researchers and writers.

The open research grant, also for a $3,500 award for either fiction or non-fiction, will be awarded to a project-based application where the applicant is able to specify where the research is to take place.

Last year the grants went to Warkworth writer Kelly Ana Morey for a literary novella about Phar Lap and Wellington writer David McGill for a biographical exploration of his great grandfather who became the mayor of Auckland. David says he found the grant invaluable.

“The grant gave me the freedom to travel from Kapiti and open up further references, which now take me back to National Archives and the ATL in Wellington. There is the added inspiration of meeting new and informed people. I am almost ready now to convert notes into an mss.”

Selection panel: Geoff Walker, Jane Carswell, Dr. Susanna Lyle

Deadline: 26th June 2013

For an application form, criteria and guidelines please download from our website www.authors.org.nz or contact NZSA National Office: programmes@nzauthors.org.nz

A number of Australian and New Zealand writers have been shortlisted for the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
Books by Australian authors shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize are:

Floundering (Romy Ash, Text)
Mazin Grace (Dylan Coleman, UQP)
A Tiger in Eden (Chris Flynn, Text)
The Last Thread (Michael Sala, Affirm)
Beneath the Darkening Sky (Majok Tulba, Penguin).

Works by Australian and New Zealand writers shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are:

Not for Publication (Rachel Bush, New Zealand)
Things with Faces (Zoe Meager, New Zealand)
Mortal Sins (Sinead Roarty, Australia)
Tug of War (Deborah Rogers, New Zealand)
Raven (Tom Williams, Australia).

The winners of this year’s awards will be announced in May. To see the full shortlists, click here.

The Commonwealth Book Prize is open to writers whose first novel was published during 2012. The overall winner receives £10,000 (A$14,644). Regional winners (in Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, Caribbean, and the Pacific) receive £2500 (A$3661). The short story prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction between 200-5000 words. The overall winner receives £5000 (A$7322) and the regional winners receive £1000 (A$1464). The regional and overall winners of the short story prize will also have the opportunity to have their stories published online by Granta.

As previously reported by Books+Publishing, New Zealand writer Emma Martin won the Pacific region category and overall Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2012 for her story ‘Two Girls in a Boat’. Australian author Cory Taylor won the Pacific region of the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize for Me and Mr Booker (Text). The overall prize was awarded to Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka for Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew (Vintage)

Courtesy of Beattie's Book Blog and Bookseller & Publisher

Don’t miss your opportunity to support an outstanding New Zealand writer, whose work has entertained, moved or inspired you. Nominations are now open for the 2013 Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement.

Every year, New Zealanders are invited to nominate their choice of a writer who has made a significant contribution to New Zealand literature in the genres of non-fiction, poetry and fiction.

New Zealand writers are also able to nominate themselves for these awards, which are valued at $60,000 for each of the genres.

The nominations are assessed by an expert literary panel and recommendations forwarded to Creative New Zealand for approval, with the award recipients announced at a ceremony in Premier House.

In 2012, Albert Wendt was awarded for Fiction; Sam Hunt for Poetry and Gregory O’Brien for Non-Fiction.

Look here for previous winners and a nomination form.

Nominations close on Friday, 3 May at 5pm.

Courtesy of NZSA newsletter.

Award-winning American poet Mary Ruefle will appear in conversation with Bill Manhire next week, at a one-off event presented by Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML), in partnership with City Gallery Wellington.

Ruefle is the recipient of numerous honours, including the William Carlos Williams Award, an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Guggenheim fellowship. She currently teaches in the Master of Fine Arts in Writing programme at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and is a visiting professor at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Ruefle has published ten books of poetry, a book of short prose titled The Most of It and a comic book titled Go Home and Go to Bed. Her book of essays on poetry and life, Madness, Rack, and Honey earned her a shortlisting for this year’s prestigious National Book Critics' Circle Awards.

Ruefle is also an erasure artist, whose treatments of nineteenth-century texts have been exhibited in museums and galleries, and published in the book
A Little White Shadow.

Ruefle has been described by American poet and writer Tony Hoagland as one of the best American poets. He describes her body of work as remarkable for its spiritual force, intelligence, stylistic virtuosity, and adventurousness.

In addition to her public event with Bill Manhire, Ruefle will hold a masterclass for IIML creative writing students.

Event: Writers on Mondays: Mary Ruefle
When: Monday 15 April 2013, 12.15–1.15pm

Venue: City Gallery Wellington, Civic Square 

This event is free and open to the public.

Read the Book Council's Five Easy Questions with Mary Ruefle here.

LIANZA is pleased to announce a panel of librarians with a wealth of knowledge of children’s books to judge the 2013 LIANZA Children’s Book Awards.
Before the finalists are announced on Friday 24 May, the judges will enjoy reading a harvest of over 100 New Zealand children’s books to determine the winners for the best junior fiction, young adult fiction, non fiction, illustrated works and books written in te reo Māori.

These judges make recommendations to young readers in their libraries on a daily basis and readers can be assured the finalists and winners this year will be the pick of the annual bunch.

The 2013 LIANZA Children’s Book Awards judges are:
Panel Convenor Pene Walsh is the Library Manager for Gisborne District and is an experienced judge of children’s books and art related awards. This is her third year judging the LIANZA awards and she has previously judged the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Award (now New Zealand Book Awards).
Pene has always maintained a strong involvement in children’s literature; she has been a supporter of NZ Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults for the Gisborne area, an assessor of unpublished manuscripts (including material written for children) for the Margaret King Spencer Writer’s Trust and acted as MC at children’s book launches.

Pene says “these are my favourite awards because people who understand what children love to read are reading the books with them in mind. Librarians link books and children every day and the bond between book and child is often so strong it is indelibly linked in memory of the librarian who gave it to them.”
“Book awards chosen by librarians are so important for young people as they can be the kickstarter to free a child’s mind and encourage their literary development” she says.

Pam Jones is the District Children’s & Young Adult Librarian for South Taranaki and in her library role she has developed a number of programmes for children designed to enrich their lives, challenge their ideas and provide powerful characterization and strong plots.
Pam is passionate about children’s literature and says it is “vital that we support great writing for children if we want to encourage young readers and develop in them a love of reading”.

She has spent years distinguishing library merit in books and her experience includes five years as Regional Coordinator for NZ Post Children’s Book Awards, Coordinator of the Taranaki Children’s Book Festival for two years, Coordinator of the Ronald Hugh Morrieson Literary Awards and annual Summer Reading Programme for the past 10 years and Librarian for the Tots to Teens Magazine.
Pam is an avid reader, managing three children’s books per week, and is familiar with a wide range of books that reflect the characteristics and variety of New Zealand literature.

Amanda McFadden is the Children and Teenagers Librarian at Tauranga City Libraries where she is responsible for selecting fiction and nonfiction materials for the Children and Teenager’s collections for their four libraries and mobile bus.
Amanda is widely read and has a particular passion for the teenage fiction genre. She keeps abreast of current trends through professional journals, blogs and author web pages.

Amanda’s focus is on Teenage Services and Outreach; she has developed holiday activities for the libraries including the Summer Reading Programme , she presents book talks to schools and is a reviewer for Magpies magazine and USA-based Voya magazine.

Amanda says “reading is the basis of all language, visual and listening skills which transfer into schooling and carry on to enhance life long learning. These awards allow us to acknowledge the best work produced for young readers in New Zealand.”

Te Rangi Rangi Tangohau will convene a panel to judge Te Kura Pounamu. She is Principal Librarian Children’s Services at HB Williams Memorial Library, Gisborne and is a member of Te Rōpū Whakahau, the organisation uniting Maori librarians and information specialists in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Te Rangi Rangi has been Regional Co-ordinator for the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards and Regional Co-ordinator for Duffy Books in Homes and Public Libraries. She has coordinated activities for te Wiki o te reo Maori (Maori language week 2012) and Ra – Hui: Event – Recovery and organised an assisted reading programme for nga tamariki o Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Mangatuna where senior students, ex Kohanga reo and Kura Kaupapa, assist with children’s reading.

Te Rangi Rangi says “it is so important to publish quality te reo materials for children. Through consistent basic language repetition children are able to build vocabulary, recognition and sentence structure”.

Te Rangi Rangi is proud to be involved with these awards, she says “in judging Te Kura Pounamu we are defining what stories Librarians value and signify in this moment as worthy of the award and this will set the standard for future authors and illustrators”.

LIANZA Children's Book Awards
LIANZA Junior Fiction Award - Esther Glen Medal
For the most distinguished contribution to literature for children aged 0-15.
LIANZA Illustration Award - Russell Clark Medal
For the most distinguished illustrations in a children's book.
LIANZA Young Adult Fiction Award
Recognises the distinguished contribution to literature for children and young adults aged 13 years and above.
LIANZA Non-Fiction Award - Elsie Locke Medal
For a work that is considered to be a distinguished contribution to non-fiction for young people.
Te Kura Pounamu (te reo Māori)
Awarded to the author of a work, written in Te Reo Māori, which makes a distinguished contribution to literature for children or young people.
For further information about the LIANZA Children’s Book Awards:
http://www.lianza.org.nz/awards/lianza-childrens-book-awards

The Storylines Children's Literature Charitable Trust is please to announe the 2013 Storylines Notable Books List (for children's and young adult novels, picture books and non-fiction published in 2012).

The list was announced at the Storylines annual Margaret Mahy Day in Auckland on Saturday 6 April.
______________________________________
Storylines Notable Picture Books 2013:
Books for children and/or young adults where the narrative is carried equally by pictures and story.

• Manukura: The White Kiwi by Joy Cowley, illustrated by Bruce Potter (Random House)
• Slinky Malinki, Early Bird by Lynley Dodd (Penguin)
• Le Quesnoy: The Story of the Town New Zealand Saved by Glyn Harper, illustrated by Jenny Cooper (Penguin)
• The Red Poppy by David Hill, illustrated by Fifi Colston (Scholastic)
• Colour the Stars by Dawn McMillan, illustrated by Keinyo White (Scholastic)
• Mister Whistler by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Gavin Bishop (Gecko Press)
• A Great Cake by Tina Matthews (Walker Books)
• Melu by Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Ali Teo and John O'Reilly (Scholastic)
• Demolition by Sally Sutton, illustrated by Brian Lovelock (Walker Books)
• Farmer John's Tractor by Sally Sutton, illustrated by Robyn Belton (Walker Books)

________________________________________
Storylines Notable Junior Fiction:
Fiction suitable for primary and intermediate-aged children.

• The Drover's Quest by Susan Brocker (HarperCollins)
• Dead Harry by Ken Catran (Scholastic)
• When Empire Calls by Ken Catran (Scholastic)
• The ACB with Honora Lee by Kate De Goldi, illustrated by Gregory O'Brien (Random House)
• The Queen and the Nobody Boy by Barbara Else, illustrated by Sam Broad (Gecko Press)
• Maddy West and the Tongue Taker by Brian Falkner, illustrated by Donovan Bixley (Walker Books)
• Telling Lies by Tricia Glensor (HarperCollins)
• Red Rocks by Rachael King (Random House)
• The Mysterious Magical Shop by Elizabeth Pulford, illustrated by Rachel Driscoll (Scholastic)
• Iris’s Ukulele by Kathy Taylor (Scholastic)
• Special mention: Read Me Another One, Please selected by Belynda Smith and Dorothy Dudek Vinicombe (Whitcoulls). It is wonderful to see the increase in quality beginning fiction books, especially Fishing Fame (Melanie Drewery, illustrated John Bennett; published Scholastic) and Ophelia Wild, Secret Spy (Elena de Roo, illustrated Tracy Duncan; published Walker Books).

________________________________________
Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction:
Fiction suitable for upper intermediate and secondary school students.

• The Boy in the Olive Grove by Fleur Beale (Random House)
• Trapped Outside a Cage by Ken Benn (Penguin)
• Earth Dragon, Fire Hare by Ken Catran (HarperCollins)
• The Nature of Ash by Mandy Hager (Random House)
• My Brother’s War by David Hill (Penguin)
• Ransomwood by Sherryl Jordan (Scholastic)
• How to Sell Toothpaste by Leonie Thorpe (HarperCollins)

____________________________________
Storylines Notable Non-Fiction:
For authoritative, well-designed information books accessible to children and young adults.

• 100 Amazing Tales from Aotearoa (Te Papa Press)
• Taketakerau: The Millennium Tree by Marnie Anstis, illustrated by Patricia Howitt and Kelly Spencer (Steele Roberts)
• Sirocco: The Rock Star Kakapo by Sarah Ell (Random House)
• Kiwi: The Real Story by Annemarie Florian, illustrated by Heather Hunt (New Holland)
• Eruption!: Discovering New Zealand Volcanoes by Maria Gill (New Holland)
• How Do You Say 'Thank You'? by Karamia Muller, illustrated by Mark Paterson (Beatnik Publishing)

The 2012 issue of Best New Zealand Poems (www.victoria.ac.nz/bestnzpoems) has been published online, and takes readers on a journey from Turangi to Greece, via Buddhism, and back to Taranaki and Cathedral Square.

The editor is New Zealand's Poet Laureate Ian Wedde, the author of 14 poetry books, as well as several novels and essay collections.

Wedde says he was drawn to an enticing element in the poems he selected—their tendency to resist and thwart. “I want poetry to do what other kinds of writing don’t, or can’t—I prefer subversion to propriety.”

Many of the poems in his selection are also energised by cross-cultural influences. Murray Edmond uses the Japanese ‘tanka’ form; C K Stead translates the Italian poet Eugenio Montale; Albert Wendt writes of a Hawaiian mountain; and Serbian-NZ poet Aleksandra Lane channels the spirit of the inventor Nikola Tesla in a series of ‘found poems’.

Series editor, poet and Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters Senior Lecturer Chris Price says: “Best New Zealand Poems reveals that our poets are as much at home in the world as the country they live in.”

A number of the poems are also available as audio recordings. Christchurch’s Frankie McMillan, teacher of creative writing at the Christchurch Polytechnic and the Hagley Writers’ Institute, is among a number of poets who can be heard reading their work on the site.

Best New Zealand Poems was first published online in 2001, and features a different editor each year. In 2011 Victoria University Press published The Best of the Best New Zealand Poems, a selection from the first 10 years of the collection in book form.

Best New Zealand Poems 2012 can be viewed at www.victoria.ac.nz/bestnzpoems and is published with the support of Creative New Zealand, and hosted by the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre at Victoria University.

Margaret Mahy Medal Award Lecture and Annual General Meeting
Saturday 6 April 2013 9.30am – 12.45pm
King’s School, 258 Remuera Road, Remuera, Auckland 1050
Registration commences at 9.00am

Bill Nagelkerke - Recipient of the Margaret Mahy Medal 2013
Christchurch writer, librarian, reviewer and international children’s book judge Bill Nagelkerke is the 2013 winner of the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal for his outstanding contribution to New Zealand writing for children and young adults. Come and hear Bill's Margaret Mahy Lecture.

Also presented on the day are the Gaelyn Gordon, Joy Cowley, Tom Fitzgibbon, Gavin Bishop and Tessa Duder Awards, with book launches from two of last years winners. We'll also be presenting the Notable Books List for 2013.

Programme of events:

9.00am Registration
9.30am Welcome and Annual General Meeting
10.00am Presentation of Gaelyn Gordon Award 2013
Presentation of Joy Cowley Award 2013
Presentation of Tom Fitzgibbon Award 2013
Presentation of Tessa Duder Award 2013
Launch of Tessa Duder Award Winner 2012
A Necklace of Souls by R L Stedman
Presentation of Gavin Bishop Award 2013
Presentation Notable Books List 2013
Remember That November Lindy Fisher and Jennifer Beck
11.00am Morning Tea
11.30am Margaret Mahy Award Lecture: Bill Nagelkerke

Cost: $20 for members; $30 for Non-members; $15 for Children/Student with ID (lecture only)

Registration information is available online

Cathy Downes achieved significant success in the UK, NZ and Australia with her award winning production The Case of Katherine Mansfield.

Some decades later, she discusses and performs highlights from the earlier play, offering new insights into its themes, illuminated by a selection of Katherine Mansfield’s finest short stories, including the much-loved The Doll’s House. Following a season at Wellington’s Circa Theatre, Arts On Tour NZ is proud to present a nationwide tour of Talking of Katherine Mansfield, featuring an intimate evening with Cathy Downes. See itinerary below.

For more information contact:
Diana Moir, AOTNZ media publicist, 03 355 2691, 021 126 5738, dhmoir@xtra.co.nz
Steve Thomas, Arts On Tour NZ Trust, aotnz@xtra.co.nz www.aotnz.co.nz
Like AOTNZ on Facebook

Catherine Downes, MNZM
Cathy Downes graduated from the Queen Elizabeth II Drama School (now Toi Whakaari).

After several years of professional stage and screen work in NZ, Cathy moved to Europe where she established two theatre companies (in Amsterdam and London). She developed The Case of Katherine Mansfield, with which she won awards in Britain, NZ and then Australia where she was embraced by the performance industry and stayed for several years.

Cathy returned to NZ and was appointed Artistic Director of The Court Theatre, then Director of Downstage Theatre.

She now lives on Waiheke Island and works throughout NZ as a freelance actor and director.

Cathy is a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to the Arts.

Her most recent roles include ‘Joan Didion’ in The Year of Magical Thinking (Circa), ‘Emma Darwin’ in Arthur Meek's Collapsing Creation (NZ tour), ‘Alison’ in both Circa and Centrepoint’s productions of Roger Hall's 4 Flat Whites In Italy, ‘Marie’ in Auckland Theatre Company’s Calendar Girls and ‘Janet’ in both Fortune, ATC and Circa Theatre’s productions of A Shortcut To Happiness. In July this year, Cathy will perform a further season of Talking of Katherine Mansfield in Singapore.

Itinerary
Friday 5 April Whangarei
The Riverbank Centre, Reyburn House Lane 7.30pm
$20 Book: www.whangareitheatrecompany.org.nz
Whangarei Suit Hire, Rust Ave

Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 April Devonport
The Victoria Theatre, 48-56 Victoria Rd 7.30pm
$30; Students and community card holders $25
Book: www.thevic.co.nz

Friday 12 April Hamilton
The Playhouse Theatre, Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts,
University of Waikato, 7.30pm
$25; concession $20; Students (tertiary and secondary) $10
Book: www.ticketek.co.nz; 0800TICKETEK; or in person at Academy or Ticketek outlets

Saturday 13 April Tauranga
Tauranga Art Gallery 7.00pm
Adult $25; Student/youth/friend of the gallery $20
Book: Tauranga Art Gallery

Sunday 14 April Gisborne
Dome Room, Poverty Bay Club 7.30pm
$25 Book: Mediterranean Living

Wednesday 17 April New Plymouth
Alexandra Room, TSB Showplace 7.30pm
Adult $25; Senior/Student $20 (service fees apply)
Book: www.ticketmaster.co.nz; or 0800 111 999; or TSB Showplace office

Thursday 18 April Wanganui
Royal Wanganui Opera House 7.30pm
Adult $25; senior $23; FOH $20; Student $15; School group of 10 or more $5
Note: 1 teacher per 10 students also at $5; Additional non-students normal price

Saturday 20 April Takaka

Tuesday 23 April Franz Josef Glacier
St James’ Church 7.30pm
$25 Book: Glacier Motors cash/eftpos or Bella Vista Motel

Wednesday 24 April Arrowtown

Thursday 25 April Invercargill
Repertory House, Esk/Jed Streets 7.30pm
$25/$18 Book: Invercargill i-Site
A Southland Festival of the Arts Presentation

Friday 26 April Oamaru
Oamaru Opera House 7.30pm
Adults $25; Seniors/students $20
Book: Oamaru Opera House; www.ticketdirect.co.nz; 0800 4 TICKET

Saturday 27 April Geraldine
The Lodge Theatre 7.30pm
Adults $25; Students $15
Book: Tresjoli Giftware

Sunday 28 April Ashburton

Arts On Tour New Zealand
Arts On Tour New Zealand (AOTNZ) organises tours of outstanding New Zealand performers to rural and smaller centres in New Zealand. The trust receives funding from Creative New Zealand and liaises with local arts councils, repertory theatres and community groups to bring the best of musical and other talent to country districts. www.aotnz.co.nz

An impressive variety of books make up the finalists of this year’s New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. And Chief Judge Bernard Beckett says it suggests we have a group of New Zealand writers who are confident enough to pursue their own interests.

In all, 19 books have been selected as finalists across four categories: best picture book, junior fiction, young adult and non-fiction. The winners from each category will be announced in June.

War was a dominant theme among this year’s entries - a year before the centenary of the start of the First World War.

Bernard said: “As judges, we were pleased to see coverage given to conflicts less likely to be known to young readers such as The Boer War or the conflict in Malaysia. Prominence was also given to the bravery of those who resisted armed conflict, both in World War One and at Parihaka – that strikes us as tremendously important.”

The finalists were chosen from hundreds of entries read by the panel of three judges - children’s literature expert and author Eirlys Hunter, presenter of Radio New Zealand’s Arts on Sunday programme, Lynn Freeman and author Bernard Beckett.

The judges said it was a privilege to read and assess New Zealand’s best books for children and young adults in 2012.

However, the judges raised concerns over the many entries that had great potential but didn’t meet the standard required to become a finalist.

“A large number of books were crying out for a more considered editing or design process: books with clear potential that needed only another careful draft; delightful children’s stories let down by the illustrations or design layout. To see such possibilities unrealised was a clear frustration for us.”

“We were also surprised to see how few strong female characters there were in these pages. Young girls are in danger of seeing themselves once again as serving only decorative roles in stories, and we hope this is more a blip than the beginning of a retrograde trend.”

School-aged children and young adults can now vote for their favourite books from among the finalists for the coveted Children’s Choice Award - this option will be available later today.

THE FINALISTS ARE...

Picture Book
A Great Cake
by Tina Matthews (Walker Books)

Melu
by Kyle Mewburn, Ali Teo & John O’Reilly (Scholastic NZ)

Mister Whistler
by Margaret Mahy & Gavin Bishop (Gecko Press)

Mr Bear Branches and the Cloud Conundrum
by Terri Rose Baynton (HarperCollins)

Remember That November / Maumahara ki tērā Nōema
by Jennifer Beck, Lindy Fisher & Kawata Teepa (Huia)

Junior Fiction
The ACB with Honora Lee
by Kate De Goldi & Gregory O’Brien (Random House NZ)

The Queen and the Nobody Boy (A Tale of Fontania)
by Barbara Else (Gecko Press)

My Brother's War
by David Hill (Penguin Books)

Red Rocks
by Rachael King (Random House)

Uncle Trev and His Whistling Bull
by Jack Lasenby (Gecko Press)

Young Adult Fiction
Earth Dragon, Fire Hare
by Ken Catran (HarperCollins)

Into the River
by Ted Dawe (MUP)

The Nature of Ash
by Mandy Hager (Random House)

Reach
by Hugh Brown (HarperCollins)

Snakes and Ladders
by Mary-anne Scott (Scholastic)

Non-fiction
100 Amazing Tales From Aotearoa
by Simon Morton & Riria Hotere (Te Papa Press)

Kiwi: the real story
by Annemarie Florian & Heather Hunt (New Holland)

Taketakerau, The Millennium Tree
by Marnie Anstis, Patricia Howitt & Kelly Spencer (Marnie Anstis in association with Steele Roberts Aotearoa)

At the Beach: Explore & discover the New Zealand seashore
by Ned Barraud & Gillian Candler (Craig Potton Publishing)

Note: Four finalists were selected in the non-fiction category, compared to five in the other categories. The judges felt the books selected represented the best on offer.

The three books shortlisted for the 2013 Royal Society of New Zealand Science Book Prize have been announced today (2 April) and the topics include New Zealand’s extinct moa, the science of Antarctica and a collection of poetry.

The three shortlisted titles for the 2013 Science Book Prize are:
• Graft by Helen Heath (Victoria University Press).
• Science on Ice: Discovering the Secrets of Antarctica by Veronika Meduna (Auckland University Press)
• Moa: The Life and Death of New Zealand’s Legendary Bird by Quinn Berentson (Craig Potton Publishing).

The judges were Professor Michael Corballis, The University of Auckland; Professor Shaun Hendy, Victoria University of Wellington and Alison Ballance, Radio New Zealand.

On Graft, the judges said “Helen Heath seats poems that are explicitly about science and scientists alongside poems that explore a more internal world of family, emotion and travel.

“In doing so she blurs boundaries and masterfully reminds us that science is not a separate and remote entity but is part of the vital continuum of life, and that indeed science itself encompasses many aspects from the social to the physical.”

On Science on Ice, the judges commented “Veronika Meduna skilfully weaves together a multitude of stories to present a comprehensively readable account of the wide range of science that takes place in the Antarctic.

“The book explores what research has and is being done, what it's like to work in such a physically challenging environment, and what insights it has given us about the frozen continent itself as well as how it has contributed to our wider understanding of global processes and issues such as climate change.

“Together the text and photos present a compelling case for why both science and Antarctica matter.”

On Moa: The Life and Death of New Zealand’s Legendary Bird, the judges said “Quinn Berentson's book is a scholarly and entertaining insight into the history and natural history of an extraordinary yet enigmatic extinct bird.

“It features larger than life historical personalities alongside the giant birds themselves, and provides great insights into Victorian science.

“It’s a good-looking book that goes in search of a multitude of tiny bits of historical and contemporary information about moa, and pulls them all into a revelatory and satisfying whole.”

The 2013 overall winner will be announced at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival on Saturday 18 May 2013 following the session ‘Bad Science, Bad Pharma’ by best-selling author and medical doctor from the UK, Ben Goldacre.

This will be the third time the Science Book Prize has been awarded. The winner of the inaugural Science Book Prize in 2009 was Rebecca Priestley for her book The Awa Book of New Zealand Science (Awa Press) and the winner of the prize in 2011 was Kakapo: Rescued from the Brink of Extinction (Craig Potton Publishing) by Alison Ballance.

The Royal Society of New Zealand, the national science academy, established the biennial prize for popular science books in 2009 to celebrate the very best in this genre. It aims to encourage the writing, publishing and reading of good and accessible popular science books. The prize is $5,000 for the winning author.

A previously unknown piece by celebrated literary giant D. H. Lawrence has been discovered in papers recently made available by the Alexander Turnbull Library.

The discovery, by noted Lawrence scholar Dr Andrew Harrison of the University of Nottingham, comes after significant new works by Katherine Mansfield, including a complete and previously unseen story, were found in the same collection of papers.

“The Mansfield and Lawrence material is part of a large collection of John Middleton Murry papers purchased last year by the Alexander Turnbull Library,” said Dr Fiona Oliver, the Turnbull’s Curator of New Zealand and Pacific Publications.

“Murry was Katherine Mansfield’s husband and both were friends of D. H. Lawrence and his wife Frieda. There are many letters and papers relating to the Lawrences among the papers.”

The previously unknown, and unpublished, article by Lawrence is a response to an article called the "Ugliness of Women" which appeared in 1924 in the Adelphi magazine that Murry edited.

“The original article, by ‘J. H. R.’, who Lawrence identified as an electrical engineer named Mr Rider, was a particularly misogynistic piece, despite perhaps an intention to be tongue-in-cheek,” Dr Oliver said.

“Mr Rider wanted to explain why he eventually found even beautiful women ugly and among other things, decides it was because ‘in every woman born there is a seed of terrible, unmentionable evil’”.

Lawrence's response was a strong attack on such sexist attitudes.

He suggests that the “ugliness” in question “lurks” in Mr Rider’s soul and concludes that, if Rider were to approach women as human beings instead of “a piece of lurid meat” he would avoid the “horrors” he is experiencing.

Dr Harrison has just published an article, with a full transcript of the Lawrence piece, in the English literary paper, the Times Literary Supplement. He contends that Lawrence’s very strong response shows his impatience with contemporary attitudes to sexuality. He concludes that “few other writers in the 1920s could have focused so sharply or with such directness on the nature of male desire or its implicit objectification of women”.

Dr Harrison suggests the piece wasn’t published because Murry may have considered the tone of the article too aggressive and potentially libellous for the pages of the Adelphi.

“The discovery of this new piece of writing is extremely exciting”, says Dr Oliver.

“We had a fairly good idea that the Murry papers might contain a wealth of such previously unseen material, which was one reason we were so keen to acquire it. Discoveries like this are likely to encourage researchers to delve even deeper into our collections.”

The Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL), which is part of the National Library of New Zealand within the Department of Internal Affairs, is New Zealand’s most important research library.

Each year the language specialists at the International Youth Library (IYL), in Munich, Germany, select newly published books from around the world that they consider to be especially noteworthy.

The White Raven label is given to books that deserve worldwide attention because of their universal themes and/or their exceptional and often innovative artistic and literary style and design.

This year three New Zealand books have made the grade. They are:

Uncle Trev and his whistling bull by Jack Lasenby (Gecko Press, 2012)

The Word Witch by Margaret Mahy (text); Tessa Duder (ed.) and David Elliot (illus.) (HarperCollins, 2012)

Melu by Kyle Mewburn (text); Ali Teo and John O’Reilly (illus.) (Scholastic, 2012)

The titles are drawn from the books that the IYL receives as review or donation copies from publishers and organizations around the world. The White Ravens Online Catalogue currently includes:

3557 books
from 84 countries
in 60 languages

History of The White Ravens
This list of books is compiled into the annual White Ravens Catalogue, which is introduced each year at the Bologna (Italy) Children's Book Fair. The White Ravens Online Catalogue, which includes all titles from 1993 through 2007, was created by ICDL researchers in collaboration with the IYL and is available on the ICDL web site with the permission of the International Youth Library.

Courtesy of Booksellers NZ

The New Zealand Society of Authors has decided to extend the deadline for its Youth Mentorship Programme so it aligns with secondary schools’ term dates.

The programme will now close on Friday 19th April.

The NZSA Youth Mentoring Programme is offered annually to three secondary school students (15-18) nationally and offers an exceptional opportunity to young writers.

The intent of the programme is to foster and develop emerging writing talent with the support of established authors. The NZSA has run a highly successful mentoring programme for writers since 1999 and it is sponsored by Creative New Zealand.

One of the 2012 recipients was Ashlee-Ann Sneller of Kaitaia who devoted her time with poet Siobhan Harvey to a poetry collection. She says the mentorship was an amazing experience and helped her secure an English scholarship for Auckland University, not to mention a page dedicated to her writing in her school year book.

New Deadline: 19th April 2013

Forms are available on our website: http://www.authors.org.nz
Or email: programmes@nzauthors.org.nz
National Office: PO Box 7701, Wellesley Street, Auckland 1141 Tel: (09) 379 4801

Submissions Due 1 April 2013 - we will accept late submissions!
Working Title: ‘The Commons’
Freerange Vol.7 is being edited by Jessie Moss, Joe Cederwall and Tim Gregory.

This edition will aim to explore the issue of “The Commons” from many different angles, perspectives, disciplines and media. The concept of ‘the commons’ has particular relevance in light of the multiple crises we face for the environmental, financial and social future of our planet. We want this edition to be an exploration of how the commons are actually being utilised and engaged by communities in reality in today’s transforming society. We want to get down to the nitty gritty of the concept and look at workable commons models both past and future. It will be a celebration and exploration of this transformative vision as applied in practice all around us.

A succinct definition of ‘the commons’ is elusive, but the following is as good an attempt as any by commons academic David Bollier:

‘The commons is….
• A social system for the long-term stewardship of resources that preserves shared values and community identity.
• A self-organized system by which communities manage resources (both depletable and and replenishable) with minimal or no reliance on the Market or State.
• The wealth that we inherit or create together and must pass on, undiminished or enhanced, to our children. Our collective wealth includes the gifts of nature, civic infrastructure, cultural works and traditions, and knowledge.
• A sector of the economy (and life!) that generates value in ways that are often taken for granted – and often jeopardized by the Market-State.’

Full article
The concept is very broad and has relevance to topics as diverse as Architecture and design / Art and culture / Intellectual property / The open internet / Community control / Sustainability and environment / Resilience / Politics / Gender / History / Town planning / History / Architecture / Anthropology / Sociology & Psychology / Intellectual property / Indigenous culture / The local food movement / Academia / Science.

We are happy to work with contributors to find or refine a topic to suit the overall blend.
Please email Expression of Interest in submissions by Monday 1st of April
EOI should be max. one A4 page with an explanation of what you’d like to write about, and any relevant experience writing or working in the topic before.
Please email: commons@projectfreerange.com

Further suggested reading for inspiration:
• 12 Reasons you’ll be hearing more about the commons
• The commons and re-imagining Urban design and city life
• Commons as a transformative vision
• Common paradigm for social movements

Wellington based children's publisher Gecko Press has won the 'Bologna Prize for the Best Children's Publisher of the Year in Oceania' at a ceremony last night in the 250 year-old Teatro Communale, the famous Bologna Opera House. The awards were initiated this year as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Bologna Children's Book Fair.

The awards went to publishers in each region of Europe, Africa, Asia, central-South America, North America and Oceania, for courageous and innovative publishing in the past year.

Exhibitors at the Bologna Children's Book Fair voted for the winners.

Publisher Julia Marshall was honored to receive the award. "We are very grateful to all the originating publishers of the books we choose to translate for our list, and to all our very special Gecko Press authors, illustrators and publishing team. We are extraordinarily proud to be recognized for publishing curiously good children's books, as we enter our eighth year in publishing."

Publisher Julia Marshall is available for interview. Please contact publicist Angela Radford.

www.geckopress.com

Angela Radford Publicity | Ph 09 5797351 | mob: 0275401104 | angelaradford@xtra.co.nz

A Devonport family has donated a major collection of New Zealand books to the Michael King Writers’ Centre.

The collection was built up over many years by distinguished scientist Ray Bailey, from Palmerston North, who funded much of it by collecting agar seaweed.

The collection donated to the Michael King Writers’ Centre includes more than 500 books and literary journals, some dating as early as 1896. It features many rare, unusual and interesting items, such as a collection of fiction writing about farming. The books have been gifted to the centre by Ray Bailey’s daughters, Alison and Penny Bailey. Penny Bailey and her husband David Plummer live in Devonport.

Ray Bailey, who was born in 1923 and died in 2004, collected about 10,000 books during his life. His scientific career focussed on biochemistry applied to New Zealand agriculture. He wrote more than 75 scientific papers and was Director of the Applied Biochemistry Division at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in Palmerston North until his retirement in 1993.

In his retirement he continued to research and publish and he developed his life-long interest in literature as an avid reader and book collector. He built an impressive and often ecletic collection of New Zealand novels, poetry, short stories, and periodicals.
His family says his library overflowed the family home “with the patient tolerance of his lovely wife, the late Patrica.”
“Most of the books were purchased through garage sales, church fairs, auctions, and fossicking through obscure bookshops. Ray funded much of his collection through collecting agar seaweed (used for food, medical, and scientific purposes) from the beach at the family bach at Akitio in the Wairarapa.”
Ray had a personal friendship with Michael King and they shared an interest in the works of Frank Sargeson and Janet Frame.
Alison and Penny Bailey said it seems very appropriate to gift a significant part of their father’s New Zealand collection to the Michael King Writer’s Centre so that others may enjoy the works well into the future.
Michael King Writers’ Centre manager Karren Beanland said the centre was thrilled and excited to receive the collection.

“We are building up a collection of books by New Zealand writers and about New Zealand writing. We already have about 500 books and these books from the Bailey collection are a magnificent addition. There are books written in the 1920s and 1930s by authors who we never hear of today, books by most of our leading writers, including very early works, literary journals from small and obscure publishing houses, and books of great historical interest. There are books about important historical figures such as Samuel Butler and Samuel Marsden through to an almost complete set of works by Barry Crump.

“Our volunteers Lynn Dawson and Jan Dickens are going through the collection, but it’s very slow work as we keep being amazed at what we find and want to stop to savour each book.

“It is a fabulous collection which will be a wonderful resource for writers and researchers. We are very grateful to the Bailey and Plummer families for such a generous gift.”

A book plate is being developed to go into each book and the centre has received a grant from the Chisholm Whitney Family Charitable Trust to pay for bookshelves.

Books in the Michael King Writers’ Centre library are being catalogued as part of the Auckland Library collections. The library is a reference collection. People who want to use it can make an appointment to visit the centre.

From poets to pirates, photos and stories about NZ Book Month events have been flooding our inboxes over the past week.

Paige’s Book Gallery was boarded by pirates bearing popcorn on Saturday 16, with the launch of new Fatcat and Fishface book The Wreck of the Diddley. Illustrator Stephen Templer signed books, and prizes were given out for the best-dressed pirates. Whanganui is also hosting the month-long Word on the Street installation of literary artworks. The installations are displayed in Guyton Street shop fronts and include work by Stephen Templer and other local artists. For more information and images from Word on the Street, visit their website.

On Monday 18, Mairangi Writers hosted an author talk with Roger Hall, Graeme Lay and Rae Roadley. Mairangi Writers, based in Browns Bay, are a collective of independent authors who have over 30 titles available, including children’s stories, social history, romance novels, murder mysteries and laugh-out-loud comedies. Members of the public were invited to share coffee and talk with local writers about their experiences writing and publishing. Organiser Vicky Adin talks about the event on her blog.

Poetry with a Pulse immersed a Dunedin audience in the poetic brilliance of Sue Wootton and Bill Manhire on Thursday 14, with an evening of readings at the City Library.

And on Thursday 21 March, four new plaques were unveiled on the Wellington Writers’ Walk to commemorate the work of four prominent New Zealand writers: Joy Cowley, Elizabeth Knox, Jack Lasenby and James McNeish.

This is just a small sample of events from around the country. To see more photos and stories shared with us by events activists around the country, check out our Facebook page.

Let’s take a look at what’s lined up for the final week of NZ Book Month …

We are pleased to announce that our NZ Book Month ambassador Libby Crawford will be visiting Avonside Girls’ High School to speak to Year 11 students about what inspired her love of reading and why she chose to become an ambassador. Students will have the chance to talk with Libby about her background, what sorts of reading she does and why, and why she recommends reading to other people.

Elsewhere in Christchurch on Thursday 28, YA writer Karen Healey will be visiting Central Library 5-6pm to talk about writing, baking and superhero comics. Karen Healey is the author of three sci fi and fantasy books for young adults. More information here.

On Sunday 24, poetry lovers in Central Otago can head to Maude Vineyard on Maungawera Road in Wanaka to hear Glenn Colquhoun and local poets perform from 4pm. Tickets are $20 presale or $25 at the door. Glenn is also running a poetry workshop earlier in the day (10-12) but spaces are very limited! Entry to the workshop is $35; please email poeticjusticewanaka@gmail.com to register.

Book your tickets now to join Kate de Goldi at the Pah Homestead in Hillsborough, Auckland for a Garden Party Fundraiser on Saturday 23. This elegant early evening soiree features acclaimed author Kate De Goldi, Operatunity, and the DSCH String Quartet, all set to the backdrop of the magnificent Pah Homestead. Your ticket includes exclusive access to the homestead and the TSB Wallace Art Centre’s latest exhibition, featuring works by some of New Zealand’s most well-known artists. Proceeds go to the Alzheimers Auckland Charitable Trust, making life better for all people affected by dementia. Tickets are presale-only, and available via Eventfinder for $65.

Also on Tuesday 26, Scorpio Books in Christchurch is hosting a panel discussion with the authors of Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV at 5.45pm. Christchurch: The Transitional City Part IV documents 153 transitional and temporary projects that have occurred since the earthquake. The book demonstrates the various responses to the destruction caused and the myriad of ways in which the people of Christchurch have tried to reconstitute the city during extraordinary times. The panel will discuss what happens next, and what the legacy of all these creative and temporary projects might be.

Aucklanders, Tuesday 26 is the day to make your way to the Central City Library any time from 10am to 4pm to enjoy round-the-clock live readings from the Anthology of New Zealand Literature. From 5.30 to 8pm the readings continue, this time by the anthologized authors themselves and accompanied by a glass of wine. The library has a stellar list of authors lined up for the evening readings, including the former and current poet laureates Michele Leggott and Ian Wedde, along with Robert Sullivan, Iain Sharp, John Newton, Janet Charman, Dylan Horrocks and Susanna Andrew reading for Nigel Cox. Be sure to book your place for the evening event with Karen Craig at 09 377 0209 or karen.craig@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz.

And last but not least ...

Follow the life and death of a creature whose rediscovery has been characterized by an unbelievable amount of controversy and intrigue: the Moa! Quinn Berentson will be speaking at Dunedin City Library on Wednesday 27 about his book MOA, published by Craig Potton.

While the Moa is now long gone, New Zealand Book Month lingers on for just a little while longer. Make sure you catch one of the many book-related events happening nationwide this March.

And hey don’t forget about those wonderful $5 vouchers either. Pick a voucher up from your local BNZ or Caltex or just pop into a participating bookstore. With the New Zealand winter setting in, there’s never been a better time to stock up on your reading. Preparation is everything!

By Marie Hodgkinson, NZ Book Month Project Assistant

150 guests from New Zealand and around the world will appear in more than 100 events in the largest programme of writers and sessions yet presented at New Zealand’s premiere festival of literature and ideas, the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.

Headed up by superstars Kate Atkinson, William Dalrymple, Sir Max Hastings, Anita Desai, Ben Goldacre, Patrick Ness, Jackie Kay, Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Fleur Adcock, the event will kick off with two days of schools’ programming, a political debate on the rule of the West and the traditional storytelling gala opening, and will spread its tentacles across five days, ending with the celebration of Pacific writing legend Albert Wendt complete with live music and readings.

Fiction, poetry, politics, food and wine, sport, conflict, science, music, travel, history, gardening, architecture and health will all feature in the wide-ranging programme.

“A Festival is a chance to immerse yourself in a diverse range of experiences – writers you know, writers you don’t, familiar subject matter and new worlds, thought-provoking ideas and sheer fun – and this year’s programme is designed to do all of that in spades. There is something for everyone in this unmissable event,” says Festival Director Anne O’Brien.

Alongside the usual in conversation and discussion formats, and the debate which will feature internationals Pankaj Mishra (India) and Sylvia Nasar (Germany / US) with William Dalrymple and Max Hastings, this year the Festival introduces two small musical concerts.

The first features Leonard Cohen biographer Sylvie Simmons on ukulele with local guitar playing hero Don McGlashan, and the second a jazz trio presenting Bill Manhire’s poetry set to music.

There will also be a free book valuing event; live playwriting in the Aotea Centre foyer; two days of sessions at the Auckland Art Gallery; a cricket lunch with Australian cricket writer Gideon Haigh; and three free readings sessions each day bringing together New Zealand and international writers around themes.

Other guests include novelists Diego Marani (Italy), CK Stead (NZ), Scarlett Thomas (England), Wayne Macauley (Australia), Edward Rutherfurd (England) and Kate De Goldi (New Zealand); Poet Laureate Ian Wedde in conversation and Lloyd Geering presenting the Michael King Lecture; literature lover Ramona Koval (Australia); dementia specialist Dr Helena Popovic (Australia); and non-fiction writers Aleks Krotoski (United States)on the internet, Masha Gessen (Russia) on Vladimir Putin, James McNeish on his memoir, Rebecca Priestley on New Zealand’s love affair with radium, Jarrod Gilbert on the history of gangs in New Zealand; and Sir Don McKinnon on his time as Commonwealth Secretary General.

The Auckland Writers & Readers Festival takes place 15-19 May in and around the Aotea Centre in Auckland, with ticketed sessions on sale from Thursday 21 March from $15 at www.buytickets.co.nz. Further information on the programme is available at www.writersfestival.co.nz

The Auckland Writers & Readers Festival Charitable Trust warmly thanks:
Our Gold Sponsors Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development Ltd, New Zealand Listener, The University of Auckland.
Foundations, Trusts and Grantmakers: ASB Community Trust, Creative New Zealand, The Lion Foundation,
And all our Silver, Bronze and Supporting Partners as detailed on www.writersfestival.co.nz.

Four new benchmark sculptures will be added to the popular Wellington Writers Walk when they are unveiled by the Governor General Sir Jerry Mateparae on Thursday 21st March.

The benchmarks, created by well-known Wellington architect and designer Fiona Christeller, feature quotes by prominent New Zealand writers, Joy Cowley, Elizabeth Knox, Jack Lasenby and James McNeish and bring to 23 the number of New Zealand writers celebrated on the harbour-side walk.

The Wellington Writers Walk opened in 2002 and combines a stroll along Wellington’s waterfront with the discovery of sculptural quotations from New Zealand writers – like a series of intriguing pronouncements – often in surprising and unexpected places. The sculptures take the form of text on concrete plaques and inlaid metal on wooden ‘benchmarks’.

There are currently 19 authors, past and contemporary, sited on the walk, including poets, novelists, playwrights and prose writers. The walk celebrates and commemorates the place of Wellington in these writers’ lives, and their place in the life of Wellington. Besides providing recognition to some of New Zealand’s most noted writers, the walk promotes New Zealand literature to a wider public, particularly tourists and visitors to the capital.

A public walk leaving from the courtyard outside Circa Theatre at 6.30 pm on Thursday evening will allow Wellingtonians to join the celebrations as the benchmarks are revealed.

Wellington Writers Walk is a project of the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN) Inc.

Courtesy of Beattie's Book Blog

The Frankfurt Guest of Honour Programme delivered all that New Zealand hoped for, and more, writes Anne de Lautour.

The New Zealand Guest of Honour at Frankfurt Book Fair ended on the Sunday of the 2012 Fair, when we handed the Guest Scroll to Brazil, the incoming GoH.

Much of the time since then has been spent in winding up our operation and preparing a report to our Ministry for Culture and Heritage, the ministry ultimately responsible for the overall programme.

The Books and Writers programme, operated by the Publishers Association of New Zealand, has now reported, and runs to 483 pages. From PANZ's point-of-view, the GoH experience has been an overwhelmingly positive one. When Frankfurt first approached us in 2009, we created an initial pitch document that we took to the NZ Government. In it we talked about not only author visits and events, but a programme of performing arts and visual arts, a film festival, trade events in areas such as wine, food, tourism and education, and a political element.

In our final report we have been able to record that all of these things were delivered. It was a larger, more colourful, and more widely received celebration of New Zealand throughout Germany than we would have thought possible. And books, authors and publishing were at the centre of it all. Even the food and wine events were built around authors in those genres.

For PANZ itself, we were given the responsibility of the Books and Writers programme. Right at the beginning (June 2011) we set ourselves some goals: 80 author visits to Germany over the year of GoH, and 100 titles translated into German between Frankfurt 2011 and Frankfurt 2013. Despite operating initially with a budget one-third below what we needed, we have achieved both those goals. In addition, we provided the spine for the rest of the programme, and raised over €200,000 in separate sponsorship.

Our authors have been enhanced, our cultural sector has new opportunities, and various trade bodies are much advanced on their previous positions. Even award-winning Weta Workshop stated that GoH had opened doors they had been knocking on for years.

As I write, our Frankfurt GoH programme manager, Sarah Ropata, is on her way to the Leipzig Book Fair to conduct follow-up meetings with publishers and festivals that were our important partners. Ensuring legacy value from the considerable investment (about €4 million) is important to us and government, so the scroll handover cannot signal an end to activity.

The New Zealand team looks back fondly on our GoH experience. We made many friends, especially at Frankfurt Book Fair, and feel that we delivered for our country an outcome far exceeding expectations. We wish Brazil and future guests well, and hope that they get as much from the experience as we have.

Anne de Lautour is Director of the Publishers Association of Australia and New Zealand

Courtesy of Beattie's Book Blog

The Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Awards, in association with the NZ Society of Authors, are now open for applications. The awards aim to recognise excellence in authorship for literature in the mind, body and spirit, or ‘new-age’ genre.

Two awards are offered. An award of $10,000 will be given to the winning author of the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Unpublished Manuscript, and another award of $10,000 will be awarded to the winner of the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Book Award.

The deadline for unpublished manuscripts is 31 March 2013, and should be between 20,000 and 100,000 words in length.

The deadline for the published book award is 31 May 2013. To be eligible books must have been published between 1 April 2012 and 31st March 2013.

For submission forms, conditions and details of eligibility criteria visit www.authors.org.nz or email office@nzauthors.org.nz or call (09) 379 4801

How Maui Slowed the Sun by Peter Gossage was first published in 1983. This April its longevity and place in the canon of well-loved New Zealand Children’s Literature will be celebrated when it is awarded the Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a much-loved book.

The Maui series by Peter Gossage, and in particular, How Maui Slowed the Sun (now published by Puffin, New Zealand), is one of the staples of library and home bookshelves around New Zealand. Gossage retells the traditional tales of Maui the trickster with economic and expressive language and bold, graphic illustrations that create a powerful mythological landscape. With sales of the Maui books in the tens of thousands, Gossage is surely one of New Zealand’s most widely read storytellers of Maori legends.

Peter Gossage is a graphic designer and artist who has worked in commercial and creative artistic fields for more than forty years. His first job on leaving school was at an advertising agency and he later worked as a display artist at the Auckland War Memorial Museum and as a graphic and scenic artist at TV2. When his drawings of Maori motifs on a television commercial drew interest from a publisher in the 1970s, he went on to write and illustrate his famous Maui series. Gossage now lives in Auckland and is the author and illustrator of more than 20 titles.

The Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award was established in 1999 to honour the memory and contribution to children’s literature of teacher and writer the late Gaelyn Gordon. The award is made annually for a work of fiction seen by Storylines as one which has stood the test of time and which is recognised as a successful, enduring children’s book. The award is for a book by a living author that is still in print and that has not won a major New Zealand award.

Dr Libby Limbrick, chair of Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust commented that, ‘Storylines is delighted to have the Gaelyn Gordon Award to recognise books that are enduring children’s classics in New Zealand. Most books only have the chance to receive this sort of recognition at the time of publication and it is so important to acknowledge the success of books like How Maui Slowed the Sun, which has now influenced generations of New Zealand children.’

Remember, this is just one of the awards to be acknowledged and celebrated at the Storylines Margaret Mahy Day on 6 April. Book your tickets now.

Also among the awards presented, are those for unpublished manuscripts:

The shortlist for the Storylines Tom Fitzgibbon Award is:

‘The Pirate, the Prophet and the Truth’ by Brydie Bain
‘The Keeper of Spirit Hill’ by Juliet Jacka
‘The Night of the Perigee Moon” by Juliet Jacka

The shortlist for the Storylines Joy Cowley Award is:

‘The Grub-a-lub’ by Morganne Collier
‘The Rubbish Bin Cat’ by Jennifer Healey
‘Big Blue Eye’ by Sharyn Jones
‘Metal Fred’ by Sabrina Malcolm
‘The Origami Door’ by Sabrina Malcolm
‘I Can’t Imagine How it Happened’ by Aimee McNaughton
‘The Animals’ World Cup’ by Heidi Poimatagi

The Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly The Orange Prize) longlist has been announced and includes New Zealand writer Emily Perkins.

The longlist is:

Kitty Aldridge - A Trick I Learned From Dead Men (Jonathan Cape)
Kate Atkinson - Life After Life (Doubleday)
Ros Barber - The Marlow Papers (Sceptre)
Shani Boianjiu - The People of Forever are Not Afraid (Hogarth)
Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Sheila Heti - How Should a Person Be? (Harvill Secker)
A M Homes - May We Be Forgiven (Granta)
Barbara Kingslover - Flight Behaviour (Faber & Faber)
Deborah Copaken Kogen - The Red Book (Virago)
Hilary Mantel - Bring Up the Bodies (Fourth Estate)
Bonnie Nadzam - Lamb (Hutchinson)

Emily Perkins - The Forrests (Bloomsbury Circus)

Michèle Roberts - Ignorance (Bloomsbury)
Francesca Segal - The Innocents (Chatto & Windus)
Maria Semple - Where’d You Go, Bernadette (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Elif Shafak - Honour (Viking)
Zadie Smith - NW (Hamish Hamilton)
M L Stedman - The Light Between Oceans (Doubleday)
Carrie Tiffany - Mateship with Birds (Picador)
G Willow Wilson - Alif the Unseen (Corvus Books)

The shortlist will be announced on 16 April and the winner will be announced on 5 June.

Courtesy of Booksellers NZ and Beattie's Book Blog.

Taki Rua and the New Zealand Book Council have joined forces to bring you one mighty NZ Book Month event!

We call it Harry’s Hikoi! This nationwide initiative will see 300 free copies of kiwi writer David Ballantyne’s Sydney Bridge Upside Down distributed throughout New Zealand. We’re hoping to reach a wide range of readers, from youth in rural communities to New Zealand personalities like Laughton Kora, Peter Hambleton and Rawiri Paratene. We’re challenging readers to use a “pay it forward” approach and share their free copy with as many people, plus the more shares readers get the more chances there are to win a range of awesome prizes.

Harry’s Hikoi was launched on the 11th of March 2013 and will run for 12 weeks throughout Aotearoa!

Here’s what you need to do, know and get ready for if you’d like to take part.

To participate in our exciting new initiative you need to send your postal address to esther@takirua.co.nz. We then send you a copy of David Ballantyne’s Sydney Bridge Upside Down, you read it, tell us what you think of it on our Harry’s Hikoi Facebook page and then pass it on to a friend, colleague or whanau member. Easy as that!

We’ll contact you directly when you register to take part with any other info you need to know to join in the fun.

Come the week of the 31st of May we’ll tally up which copies have reached the most readers and announce the top five “sharers” and their prizes on Harry’s Hikoi Facebook page.

Each week you can use Facebook to track the progress of all 300 books that are making their way around Aotearoa, catch updates from readers like Laughton Kora, Peter Hambleton and Te Kohe Tuhaka, see photos and hear the thoughts of other readers.

Wish us luck as we spread the word and keep your eye out for updates on our Facebook page, website and newsletters.

Clear the clutter for 2013! It’s time to make way for the new and rid your cupboards of good quality pre-loved books, games, CDs, DVDs and puzzles. Variety – The Children’s Charity will happily accept donations for its annual Variety Monster Book Fair which will be held from 25 - 28 July at the Alexander Park Function Centre.

The book fair committee is hard at work sorting the donations into over 200 categories of different subjects, enabling purchaser’s easy access to their specific areas of interest.

Funds raised from the Fair will go towards providing grants for books, computers and literacy aides to benefit children nationwide. In 2012, sales exceeded $85,000.

Books can be either dropped off to Variety’s office at 290 Great South Road, Greenlane from 8.30am – 5.00pm or Variety’s special ‘Book Bus’ can pick them up if requested. Please call the Variety office on 520-4111. The Book Bus will pick up in areas within a 20km radius of Greenlane.


For further information, high-res images or an interview please contact:
Emily Findlay, Marketing & Communications Executive, Variety – The Children’s Charity.
Tel: 09 522 3743 or mobile 027 341 3249
Email: emily@variety.org.nz
Website: www.variety.org.nz
Facebook: Variety – The Children’s Charity of New Zealand
Twitter: VarietyNZ
LinkedIn: Variety NZ – The Children’s Charity

Variety - The Children’s Charity levels the playing field for disadvantaged Kiwi kids. Every year we help over 10,000 local children - we meet their unmet health and educational needs providing them with brighter futures.

We work alongside schools, agencies and the government, tackling child poverty so the Kiwi kids who urgently need our life-changing assistance are set up to reach their full potential in life.

With strong roots in entertainment, we’re now famous for unique fundraising events and campaigns. Every day all sorts of people get the Variety feel-good factor helping all sorts of children in need. Please join us and help create brighter futures for Kiwi kids.

Sir James Wallace has presented the first Sir James Wallace Masters in Creative Writing Award and scholarships at a ceremony held at The University of Auckland.

Margie Thomson, 2012 Masters in Creative Writing graduate, was announced the inaugural award winner, with 2013 Masters students Tessa Priest and Liz Langbrown announced the scholarship winners.

“I was delighted to present these awards to three very deserving women, and look forward to hearing both of their successes, and that of future graduates from The University of Auckland’s Masters of Creative Writing. The University holds a strong history of powerful literary voices impacting both nationally and internationally,” says Sir James Wallace.

Award winner Margie Thomson was deeply grateful and appreciative of the prize.

“It is a great honour to be the first recipient of such a prestigious award. The Masters in Creative Writing has left me with a massive manuscript which needs to be re-thought and rewritten. My goal is to complete a second draft by the end of the year so the $5000 from the Sir James Wallace award is greatly appreciated – I will feel a lot less guilty giving time to my manuscript,” says Margie

Margie hails from a journalism background having worked for the NZ Herald for many years as both features writer and then books editor for Canvas magazine, as books editor for the Herald on Sunday and Next magazine, and most recently for the Dominion Post's Your Weekend magazine. Now a contract writer to various international publishers, Margie has written books for a variety of New Zealand celebrities.

“Writing fiction is a very different proposition from journalism and contract writing.

“The Masters in Creative Writing provided me with a strong context to just keep on going and get the words down. Without such a structure there is no deadline, and no rein on perfectionism and self doubt. The MCW was tremendously helpful in this way. It is a ‘gift economy’ - you learn from talking about and critiquing each others' work,” says Margie.

The awards aim to encourage developing writers with high potential into the Masters in Creative Writing, and to provide the opportunity for the top-performing student to spend the months needed to turn a course project into a publishable book. The two fees scholarships were awarded to students with the best portfolios in the 2013 intake, and the $5,000 award to the student who submitted the best end-of-year work for the 2012 programme.
Distinguished Professor Brian Boyd says he speaks for his Department of English and for the University in welcoming these awards as a way of boosting the talent already in Auckland and of drawing still more to the city.
“Margie Thomson has been well known as a journalist in Auckland and has also been a ghostwriter for Auckland publishers. How wonderful that her award will help her turn what she learned here as a creative writer into a work of fiction in her own name.
“And how splendid that Liz Langbrown, just arrived in Auckland from Wellington, and Tessa Priest, just arrived here from Whanganui, fulfill the aim of the scholarship, to draw talent from across the country, in its very first year. As both mothers of children just getting old enough to allow them more writing time to themselves, they’ll appreciate this support enormously,” says Professor Boyd.
The Masters of Creative Writing adds further strength to The University of Auckland English Department, which has fostered talent from Allen Curnow, C. K. Stead and Maurice Gee through to Toa Fraser, Glenn Colquhoun and Selina Tusitala Marsh.
Ends.

Contact
Tanya Trower
Acting Senior Communications Adviser
The University of Auckland
Ph +64 9 923 7698 or 021 926 408
Email Tanya.trower@auckland.ac.nz

A reminder that the deadline for entering the Cathay Pacific Travel Media Awards is just one week away - Friday 8 March.

The supreme winners of the Cathay Pacific Travel Writer of the Year and Cathay Pacific Travel Photographer of the Year awards will each receive a return ticket to Hong Kong, travelling with Cathay Pacific, plus three nights at the renowned Peninsula Hong Kong.

All winners will be announced at a gala dinner awards evening on Tuesday, 7 May 2013 at the Heritage Auckland’s Grand Tearoom.

Writing awards:

• Cathay Pacific Travel Writer of the Year Award for overall best writing.
• Auckland Airport Award for the Best Magazine Travel Story. $2,000 prize.
• Westpac Award for the Best Newspaper Travel Story. $2,000 prize.
• Heritage Hotels Award for the Best Travel Story about New Zealand. Seven room nights at Heritage or CityLife hotels.
• Interislander Award for the Best Story about a Journey. Return crossing on the Interislander and $1,000 prize.
• British High Commission and Tourism Ireland Award for the Best Travel Story about Britain and/or Ireland. Waterford Wedgewood worth $1,000, plus $1,000.
• NZ Maori Tourism Award for the Best Travel Story about a Maori Tourism Experience. $2,000 prize.
• Rhys Brookbanks memorial award. $1,000 prize.
• AA Directions New Travel Writer of the Year Award. $1,000 prize.

Photography awards
• Cathay Pacific Travel Photographer of the Year Award for overall best photography.
• Auckland Airport Award for the Best Travel Image taken in New Zealand. $2,000 prize.
• Fujifilm X Award for the Best Travel Image Taken Outside New Zealand. Fujifilm X20 Digital Camera prize.
• AA Directions Magazine Award for the Best Travel Image with People. $1,500 prize plus the winning image will be published in AA Directions Magazine.
• Heritage Boutique Collection Award for the Best Unpublished Travel Image. Five room nights at Heritage Boutique Collection.
• NZ Maori Tourism Award for the Best Travel Image that captures the essence of Maori. $2,000 prize.

How to enter: download entry forms directly from www.travelcommunicators.co.nz , plus I've added Tips on Entering. Or to receive entry forms by email helen.davies@clear.net.nz

Entry Deadline: Friday 8 March 2013

About Travcom
Travcom is a not-for-profit association of travel writers, photographers, broadcasters and travel-related communicators involved in promoting a high standard of travel writing and travel photography and in publicising New Zealand and international tourism. To reinforce the aim of encouraging excellence in travel writing and photography Travcom organises the annual Cathay Pacific Travel Media Awards. Find out more about the awards, prizes, entry criteria, forms, previous winners and how to join Travcom at www.travelcommunicators.co.nz. For more information please contact Helen Davies on helen.davies@clear.net.nz or call 021 1781 384.

New Zealand writers with a special interest in the mind, body, spirit genre are encouraged to enter their work into the 2013 Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literature Awards.

The Awards recognise both budding and published writers by offering two of the largest prizes awarded for literature in New Zealand.

The Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust, in association with The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc.) (NZSA) will present two prizes of $10,000 each to the winning unpublished manuscript and published book authors.

Adonia Wylie, spokesperson for the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust, is encouraging writers from all over the country to enter the Awards.

“The Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literature Awards recognise some of the best literary talent in New Zealand and we would encourage writers to submit their work whether they are a burgeoning writer or an established author.”

Ms. Wylie says the Trust’s founder, Ashton Wylie, was an Auckland businessman and philanthropist with a passion for spiritual awareness and promoting loving relationships.

“The Awards are a continuation of The Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust’s dedication to education in the mind, body, spirit field. We are looking for written works which will educate, enlighten, engage and uplift the reader.”


Last year Alan Dawe of Pakuranga won the $10,000 award in the Book category for his work The God Franchise, A Theory of Everything and Lower Hutt resident Lionel Sharman won the $10,000 award in the Unpublished Manuscript category for his work entitled Science for Vicars.

Maggie Tarver, Chief Executive Officer, The New Zealand Society of Authors, says that the category of mind, body, spirit literature continues to gain momentum in New Zealand.

“Last year we received 115 entries into the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literature Awards, which indicates a strong number of New Zealand writers are exploring the mind, body, spirit field.”

To be eligible for the awards, writers must be New Zealand citizens residing in the country. Unpublished manuscripts must be submitted by 31 March 2013, and be between 20,000 and 100,000 words in length. Published books must be submitted by 31 May 2013, should be 48 pages or longer and must have been published between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013.

The Awards will be presented in a ceremony at the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust’s own venue, Hopetoun Alpha in Auckland on 16 August 2013.

Submission forms and entry details are available from www.authors.org.nz or The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc.) national office, phone: 09 379 4801, e-mail: office@nzauthors.org.nz or post: PO Box 7701, Wellesley Street, Auckland 1141.

Dame Anne Salmond, Distinguished Professor of Māori Studies and Anthropology from The University of Auckland’s Faculty of Arts, and renowned New Zealand author, has been named New Zealander of the Year.

Honouring the achievements and contributions of an inspirational Kiwi, the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year is awarded to someone who has given outstanding service to the country, and provided inspiration to New Zealanders through their achievements.

Dame Anne received the title for her services in Māori and Pacific studies, with the award presented at a gala dinner held at Auckland’s Langham Hotel 28 February.

“It was so moving and so special to me because it came from the grassroots and flaxroots of New Zealand. It was an extraordinary evening,” says Dame Anne.

Professor Stuart McCutcheon, Vice-Chancellor of The University of Auckland expressed The University’s pride at Dame Anne’s achievement: “We are delighted for Anne, and extremely proud of this very deserving acknowledgement of her outstanding service to New Zealand, and New Zealanders. It is an honour to have her on our staff at the University, and on behalf of her many colleagues and friends I offer her our heartfelt congratulations.”

Dame Anne is author of seven award-winning books and a myriad of articles on Māori life, cross-cultural encounters in New Zealand and the Pacific. She has many honours and titles to her name, and has served on a number of boards including chair of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, and is a former Pro Vice-Chancellor (Equal Opportunities) at The University of Auckland. She is Project Sponsor for the Starpath Partnership for Excellence, which aims to ensure that Māori, Pacific and low income students achieve their potential through education.

Dame Anne received a custom made New Zealand trophy and $5000 towards her work from principal sponsor Kiwibank.

Sir James Wallace, renowned patron of the New Zealand arts through The Wallace Arts Trust, will present the first Sir James Wallace Masters in Creative Writing Award (2012), and two scholarships (2013), at an inaugural ceremony at The University of Auckland on 28 February.

“The University of Auckland’s Masters of Creative Writing is one of the country’s main programmes for nurturing New Zealand’s literary talent. I am pleased to support this with the Sir James Wallace Masters in Creative Writing Award and two scholarships, and look forward to seeing future graduates succeed as powerful literary voices both nationally and internationally,” says Sir James Wallace.

The awards aim to encourage developing writers with high potential into the Masters in Creative Writing, and to provide the opportunity for the top-performing student to spend the months needed to turn a course project into a publishable book.

Sir James Wallace, an alumnus of the Auckland Law School, will return to campus to present the first of the annual awards on Thursday 28 February: two fees scholarships to students with the best portfolios in the 2013 intake, and a $5,000 award for the student who submitted the best end-of-year work for the 2012 programme.

Distinguished Professor Brian Boyd sees these awards as a priceless support for unfolding literary talent and a welcome echo of the successes Auckland writers have had within the English Department, the University, and the city. He notes that we should expect Auckland to continue as the major centre for New Zealand writing, in view of Auckland’s share of the national population, its prominence in the local publishing industry, and the University’s ongoing sponsorship of the country’s foremost literary event, the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival.

“We hope the Sir James Wallace awards will support emerging writers to continue the strong literary tradition of University of Auckland English graduates; one that runs from Allen Curnow, Maurice Gee and C. K. Stead, to novelist Emily Perkins, playwright Toa Fraser and poets Robert Sullivan and Glenn Colquhoun,” says Professor Boyd.

The University of Auckland’s English Department is well known for pioneering the teaching of New Zealand and Pacific literature. Major New Zealand writers in the Auckland English Department include such former members as Curnow, Stead, W. H. (Bill) Pearson, Michael Joseph, Kendrick Smithyman, Albert Wendt, Witi Ihimaera, and current writers and teachers like Michele Leggott, Murray Edmond, Lisa Samuels and Selina Tusitala Marsh.

The achievement of The University of Auckland’s Masters in Creative Writing programme is evident in recent graduates’ successes in the 2012 BNZ Literary Awards (former Katherine Mansfield Awards). Julie Helean was awarded winner, Nicole Tan received the Novice Writer Award, and Alex Jespersen gained Highly Commended in the short fiction section.

To be delivered by well known novelist and biographer, President of Honour for The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc.) Sir James McNeish

The annual Janet Frame Memorial Lecture is intended to provide an overview of the state of the nation for literature and writing in New Zealand. Sir James’ address entitled Two Cheers for Eccentricity is a non-academic approach to the theme of creative non-fiction.

Sir James will be introduced by Dame Fiona Kidman.

ENTRY IS FREE
OPEN TO EVERYONE
This is a major event on the literary calendar and not to be missed.

When: Monday 11 March
Where: City Gallery, Civic Square, 101 Wakefield Street, Wellington
Time: Starting 6.00pm

This event is jointly sponsored by The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc.) and NZ Book Month.

The 2013 Pikihuia Awards are now in their 10th year of promoting Māori stories and writers, and the judges for this year’s Awards have now been confirmed.
The judges for the five categories are:

• Sir Mason Durie — Emeritus Professor at Massey University — will judge the Best Short Story written in English;
• Hana O’Regan — Director Māori & Pasifika and Director of Student Services at the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology — will judge the Best Short Story written in Māori;
• Larry Parr — producer, writer and director of films and television — will judge the Best Short Film Script written in English;
• Reina Whaitiri — writer, researcher and editor — will judge the Best Novel Extract written in English;
• Brian Morris — teacher, former principal of Te Aute College and Māori Language Publishing Manager at Huia Publishers — will judge the Best Short Story written in Māori or English by a Secondary School Student.

Entrants will be in with a chance to win $2000 in each category except the Best Short Story written in Māori or English by a Secondary School Student. Secondary school students are eligible to win a cash prize of $500 and $250 worth of HUIA books for their school.

The competition closes on 15 April 2013. Entry forms are available online at www.huia.co.nz/pikihuia2013.

Submissions are now open for issue 31 of JAAM literary journal: The 2013 Issue. This is an open-themed JAAM. We want to hear what The 2013 Issue is for you.
JAAM considers poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, essays, photography and other artwork.

We are delighted to announce that JAAM 31 will be jointly edited by first-time guest editor, poet and teacher Harvey Molloy, along with JAAM‘s co-managing editor Clare Needham, who has previously been the prose editor for JAAM 24 and JAAM 28.

Harvey’s poetry has appeared in various literary journals. His first book of poems, Moonshot, was published by Steele Roberts in 2008. He says: ‘This is an open issue, so there is no set theme. That said, I do have a particular interest in the year 2013 as a set of simple questions: What is special about where we are now? What are our choices and our values? These questions are to encourage rather than deter. I’m really just looking for poems which are well-crafted and engaging.’

Clare is excited to edit the prose for JAAM 31 and to discover what issues are occupying the minds of writers in 2013. Clare is particularly interested in receiving creative non-fiction submissions, including essays. She says: ‘If you’re a new writer and hoping for first time publication, JAAM is a great place to submit. We believe in nurturing new writing and showcasing it alongside the work of more established artists.’

JAAM prefers emailed submissions. Send to jaammagazine@yahoo.co.nz, using ‘JAAM submission’ (or similar) in your subject line, so we know it’s not spam. Include your submission(s) in the body of your email. If you have particular formatting, you can also include your submissions in an attachment (.doc, .rtf, .pdf or any image file type is ok for images). If you don’t have email, you can post submissions to:

JAAM
PO Box 25239
Wellington 6146
New Zealand

Make sure you include a stamped self-addressed envelope for reply.

The deadline for submissions is 31 March 2013, and JAAM 31 will be published in or around September 2013.

Review Revue with Pride
Wednesday 27 February, 6pm for a 6.30pm start
Level 2, Central City Library, Auckland,
A free event

Join us as we highlight the world of LGBTI writing with a lively and unpredictable evening of stand-up reviewing from an eclectic cast which includes actor and director Michael Hurst and Gay Express book reviewer Andrew Rumbles.

Welcome glass of wine at 6:00 pm courtesy of Glengarry Wines.
This event is proudly presented by Auckland Libraries in conjunction with the New Zealand Book Council, with the support of Literaturhaus.

Pick up a discount voucher at the event to get $4 off the price of parking at the Victoria St. Car Park. Park after 5pm, pay when you return to your car, insert the discount voucher into the machine after you have inserted your ticket and $3.50 will be deducted from the standard $7.50 price.

18.02.13: New Zealand poet and children's author Paula Green has opened Poetry Box, a website focused on engaging children with reading and creating poetry. The blog will be a meeting place for children, teachers, parents, writers and readers who love reading and writing poetry for children.

Says Paula in her introductory post, "For the next two years I will dedicate myself to poetry for children. I will be busy editing an anthology of poems for children, writing poems, visiting schools, organising events, sharing information.

I will post poems by children each week.

I will stage a competition once a month.

I will post poetry tips and poetry challenges each week.

I am happy to post children’s letters about poetry.

I am happy to be interviewed by children.

I will talk about children’s poetry books I love (old and new).

I will post some of my own poems for children.

I will post details of New Zealand poetry events for children.

I will interview authors who write poetry for children."

Explore the Poetry Box yourself here, and learn more about Poetry Box's first Fabulous Poetry Competition for Children.

Creative New Zealand is calling for applications from ‘rising stars’ and ‘established’ New Zealand writers to take part in the renowned University of Iowa International Writing Program (IWP) in the United States.

The result of a 20-year partnership between Creative New Zealand and the university, the three-month residency is open to applications from fiction and non-fiction writers, poets and playwrights. They need to have achieved literary distinction, demonstrated literary talent and broad appeal, and have an interest in contributing to a creative writing culture.

Each ‘Fall’ 30-35 writers from all over the world are hosted in Iowa City to work on their own projects, give readings and lectures, and take part in literary activities, field trips and excursions with other writers.

IWP writers share their literary cultures with others and establish contacts with publishers in the United States.

The program seeks candidates who are comfortable with cross-cultural dynamics and interested in close interaction with artists from diverse cultures. Participants also have unstructured time to develop their own schedule so flexibility and tolerance should be matched with independence and self-motivation.

In 2012 the residency was awarded to Christchurch-based poet Jeffrey Paparoa Holman to work on two new books of poems.

The residency includes travel costs, accommodation and a stipend. It will run from late August to mid-November, 2013 and the recipient will be expected to have completed, or substantially completed, a body of writing.

The deadline for applications is 5pm Friday 8 March 2012. To find out more about how to apply please go to the Creative New Zealand website (www.creativenz.govt.nz) and also check out the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program online (http://iwp.uiowa.edu/index.html).

For more information please contact:

Helen Isbister
Communications Manager
Creative New Zealand
T +64 4 473 0880 | DDI +64 04 473 0187 | M 021 244 4016 | F +64 4 471 2865

IT Itch invites entries for its inaugural prize in web poetry. Designed as an opportunity for amateur digital communicators to share their work and for tech-minded professionals to dabble in a creative art-form, the prize is open to everyone. Entry is free and first prize is $300. For further details and an entry form please visit: http://ititch.com and search for 'poetry competition'.

Closing Date: 1 December 2013

Paula Green is editing an anthology of poems for children to be published by Random House in 2014.

She would like to include five poems by children and is inviting primary schools the length and breadth of New Zealand to enter poems.

The five winning poems will be included in A Treasury of New Zealand Poetry for Children.

The five winning poets will also receive a copy of the book.

Conditions of Entry
*Eligibility: Year 3 to Year 8 students enrolled in NZ primary schools
*Closing Date: April 30th 2013
*Send to: Paula Green PO Box 95078 Swanson Waitakere 0653
*Please include: Name of student and school, school year, age, contact name and email address of teacher on entry form
*Poems can be on any subject, in any form but no more than 20 lines.
*The poem must be original and the work of the student.
*Copyright remains with the individual writers. Random House reserves the right to publish the prize-winning entries without further payment.
*Schools will be notified of the results by June 30th 2013.
*Entries must be accompanied by an entry form (please photocopy form).
* Further queries: paulajoygreen@gmail.com
* My new blog for teachers, children, parents, writers and readers will go live mid February. Poetry Box is a New Zealand poetry page for children. I will post poems by children, run other competitions, answer letters, offer poetry tips and challenges, and review new books. nzpoetrybox.wordpress.com

ENTRY FORM
Please print clearly.

STUDENT
First Name:
Last Name:
Gender:
School Year: 3 4 5 6 7 8 (please circle)
Age:
Address:
Home/Mobile Telephone:
Email Address:
Title of Poem:
Name and Phone Number/Email address of a Parent/Guardian:


SCHOOL
Name of School:
Telephone:
Email:
Contact teacher name and email:
Please confirm that this is the original work of the student:

Get your poems ready! The not-for-profit Montreal International Poetry Prize is offering $20,000 for one original, unpublished poem of no longer than 40 lines written in any English dialect. Competition open from January 15 to May 15, 2013. Online entries only. Entry fees vary. Please see montrealprize.com for details.

Here’s how the competition works: Approximately 50 poems will be published in the Montreal Prize’s 2013 Global Poetry Anthology. As editors of the anthology, 10 poets from across the globe sort through submissions blindly (without seeing author names) and select poems for the collection (which serves as a shortlist). The prize judge then reads a blind copy of the manuscript of the anthology and selects the $20,000 poem. The 2013 Prize Judge is Don Paterson.

History of the competition: The Montreal Prize launched its first poetry competition in March 2011 and awarded $50,000 to Australian poet Mark Tredinnick. The 2011 Global Poetry Anthology is a solid collection that garnered positive reviews. It includes unknown voices alongside celebrated poets from around the world. Internationally acclaimed American artist Eric Fischl responded to one poem in the anthology with a watercolour painting.

To find out more about the competition and more about who the 2013 editors are, please visit montrealprize.com.

This award is independently managed and funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand and seeks to promote popular science writing in New Zealand. It is open to all books published in 2011 and 2012 provided they fall within the eligibility criteria outlined in the Call for Entries information below.

Key dates:
Submission deadline 8 February 2013
Finalist list announced 1 April 2013
Announcement of winner 17-19 May 2013 (date tba), at Auckland Writers and Readers Festival
Submission Process:

To complete your submission, please complete one Entry Form [www.royalsociety.org.nz] to cover all titles submitted and one Title Submission Form for each title submitted. Send to the Royal Society of New Zealand with five copies of the book, to arrive no later than 8 February. If, for some reason, you are unable to comply with this process, please contact Faith Atkins to discuss.

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact Faith Atkins on 04 470 5781 or faith.atkins@royalsociety.org.nz

Two leading New Zealand fiction writers have been announced as the recipients of the annual Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship for 2013. The two new fellows, Hamish Clayton and Tanya Moir, will each spend five months in residence at the Sargeson Centre in central Auckland and receive a $20,000 grant.

Buddle Findlay National Chairman Peter Chemis says the fellowship is about giving New Zealand writers the freedom to craft their stories.
“It has given creative space to some of New Zealand's most notable writers, allowing them time to develop and polish their ideas into works that become part of our heritage" he said.

"Being a writer can be a difficult task, it requires a lot of self sacrifice. Our involvement with the fellowship acknowledges this".

Hamish Clayton holds degrees in Art History and English Literature from Victoria University of Wellington, where he is currently working on a PhD in English Literature. He writes regularly for Art New Zealand and New Zealand Books and was the writer in residence at the Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt from September to October 2012. His first novel Wulf (Penguin 2011) won the 2012 NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction.

"To be selected as one of the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellows for 2013 is a real honour and a wonderful opportunity. It allows me to take some brief time away from my PhD commitments and to honour my other great passion which is fiction writing. I feel very privileged and lucky to be given this support and encouragement", says Hamish.

Hamish will move into the Sargeson Centre in February and will spend his time on a new novel which he began soon after finishing his first. "It’s a story with a contemporary setting, unlike the historical Wulf, but it plays with similar themes. It’s concerned with the gaps between art and reality, and between memory and history. With the time and space the fellowship allows, I’m looking forward to settling in and finishing it and hopefully doing it the justice that I think it deserves."

The second fellow, Tanya Moir, a novelist based at Muriwai in Auckland, had her first novel La Rochelle's Road published by Random House New Zealand in 2011 and her second novel Anticipation is due to be published in March 2013. Tanya has previously been long-listed for the Commonwealth Book Prize. Her career, prior to writing novels, included stints as a radio copywriter, print journalist and television promo producer.

Tanya says of the fellowship "I'm hugely excited to be given the chance to sit down to five months of uninterrupted, guilt-free work on my new project. After some years of living and writing in relatively remote locations, it will be fabulous to have not only the quiet of the Sargeson Centre in which to work, but research facilities like the Central and Auckland University Libraries on my doorstep".

Tanya plans to use her time at the Sargeson Centre to work on the first draft of her new novel, a contemporary western about an 'outlaw' and would-be cowboy who has gone to ground in the hills of Central Otago.

About the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship
The Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship is a national literary fellowship offered annually in partnership with The Frank Sargeson Trust. The fellowship provides the opportunity for outstanding published New Zealand writers to write full-time in residence at the Sargeson Centre, adjacent to the University of Auckland, with an annual stipend of NZ$40,000 (the stipend is shared if there are two fellows).

The Frank Sargeson Trust established the fellowship in 1987 to commemorate Frank Sargeson and provide assistance for New Zealand writers. In 1997 Buddle Findlay became the commercial sponsor of the fellowship, and is proud to support the literary future of New Zealand.

For more information please visit http://www.buddlefindlay.com/who-we-are/buddle-findlay-sargeson-fellowship