Booknotes promo Oct2010

Wellington writer Fleur Beale has won the 2012 Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal for her outstanding contribution to New Zealand writing for children and young adults.

The award, given annually by the Storylines Children's Literature Trust, is New Zealand's top award for achievement in children's literature.

"Fleur Beale's books have won her a large following among young readers," says Storylines Trust chair, Dr Libby Limbrick. "Since her first book Slide the Corner in 1993 she has published a significant body of more than thirty works of fiction. Many have been shortlisted for awards, with her more recent books, such as the Esther Glenn winner Juno of Taris and 2011 New Zealand Post Senior Fiction winner Fierce September, taking top prizes."

A former secondary school teacher in Hamilton, Fleur Beale is also widely known as a popular creative writing teacher and mentor to young and new writers. She regular visits schools for the New Zealand Book Council. She has two adult daughters.

Her thirty books, many published in America and England, include the classic I am Not Esther, winner of the Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved Book.

The Margaret Mahy Medal was instituted in 1991. Among its recipients have been writers Joy Cowley, William Taylor, Maurice Gee, David Hill and Kate De Goldi, publisher Ann Mallinson and illustrators Gavin Bishop and Lynley Dodd.

Fleur Beale will deliver her Mahy Lecture and the Storylines’ annual Margaret Mahy Day being held in Auckland on Saturday 31 March 2012.

Fleur Beale is available for interview by arrangement.

To arrange interview or for more information, please contact:

Storylines Administrator Vicki Cunningham, childlitnz@storylines.org.nz

Eight of New Zealand’s best poets will take part in a live performance poetry event in New York City at the end of February.

For two years Jim Wilson travelled to cities and towns throughout the USA and put poem posters by Kiwi poets on poles, walls and in cafes and stores.

Then a dedicated group of volunteers also put these poem posters up in cities around the world from London, Glasgow, Paris and Vienna through to Sydney, Australia.

Back home in New Zealand, Wilson’s company Phantom Billstickers Ltd has put up thousands of Kiwi poems on walls and poster bollards from Invercargill to Whangarei. The Phantom Billstickers Poems on Posters initiative has attracted much interest and attention from radio stations, newspaper columns, and blogs, but more importantly (much more importantly) the poems themselves have been read on the streets. The poems on posters capture the interest of the passer-by and this is what makes all the difference.

Now eight of New Zealand’s finest poets bring their voices, hearts, and words to a unique poetry event in New York.

These leading performers on the Aotearoa New Zealand spoken word scene are hand-picked rugged individualists, energetic imagineers, who will bring you poetry in motion from far-flung degrees of latitude, with a Kiwi-consciousness-raising cabaret, by turns eclectic, electric, comic, melancholic, idiosyncratic and euphoric. Spiraling out of the South Pacific to stand and deliver stories and lyrics about oceanic love, environmental vigilance, and the dramatic dilemmas of identity, this flying circus of Kiwiana activists, Pasifika scene-painters, fretboard-fingering songsters, acrobatic word-jugglers and megaphone motormouths promises to carry you across the date-line and re-orientate your inner global positioning satellite, all in the course of just one colorful evening.

The Poets From New Zealand to Perform in New York on February 28, 2012 are: Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, David Eggleton, Hinemoana Baker, Sandra Bell, Jay Clarkson, Pamela Gordon (reading Janet Frame), Otis Mace and Tusiata Avia.

Many other Kiwi poets have lent their voice to this project since its inception in 2009. Several prominent American poets have also participated.

Two American Poets Making a Special Guest Appearance at this Event are: Gerald Stern (National Book Award winner) and Jeffrey McCaleb (The Bard of Cookeville, Tennessee).

Jim Wilson founded Phantom Billstickers, New Zealand's premier poster and street-media company in 1982, to give musicians, the arts, and creative people in New Zealand a voice, and to use posters on walls to put “Bums on Seats”. Now his aim is to use posters to share the heart of the Kiwi poet with people outside of New Zealand. Simple.

Poets from New Zealand and the United States who have had their work featured on poem posters as a part of this project include: Aroha Harris, Becky Woodall, Ben Brown, Bernadette Hall, Bill Direen, Bill Manhire, Brett Lupton, Brian Turner, Campbell McKay, Chris Price, Chris Knox, David Eggleton, Dylan Kemp, Elizabeth Smither, Frankie McMillan, Gary Langford, Gary McCormick, Geoff Cochrane, Gerald Stern, Hilaire Campbell, Hinemoana Baker, Hone Tuwhare, Jackie Steincamp, James K Baxter, James Milne (aka Lawrence Arabia), Janet Frame, Jay Clarkson, Jeffery McCaleb, Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, Jody Lloyd, Joe Treceno, Jordan Luck, Josie McQuail, Keri Hulme, Laurence Arabia, Marcie Sims, Marty Smith, Michael White, Michele Leggott, Nicholas Thomas, Otis Mace, Pablo Nova, Patrick Connors, Rhian Gallagher, Robert Creeley, Robert Pinsky, Roger Hickin, Sam Hunt, Sandra Bell, Selina Marsh, Serie Barford, Sonja Yelich, Stephen Oliver and Tusiata Avia.

We hope that many more will be able to participate as the project continues.

You can read about the Phantom Billstickers Poems on Posters project as well as Jim Wilson’s articles on postering in cities across the USA at http://www.0800phantom.co.nz/blog/poetry

True stories of family holidays are full of highs and lows: laughter, singing, lost shoes, swimming, ice creams, heat stroke and the occasional allergic reaction.

Seven brave souls – Barbara Else, Fleur Beale, Catherine Robertson, Harry Ricketts, Pip Adam, Colin Morris and Ray Ahipene-Mercer – dish on their family holidays at True Stories Told Live in Wellington next week.

This is a new year fundraising event for Writers in Schools. Join us for holiday pain and glory – and help us create happy young readers while you listen.

“Amazing to be in the presence of people remembering, shaping stories in the moment. Funny, awkward, moving, beautiful.” - Emily Perkins

True Stories Told Live: Monday 13th February, 6.15pm at Meow Café, 9 Edward Street, Wellington.

Ticketing: Book your tickets now: $10 ($5 for members)

Award-winning Christchurch writer and poet Helen Lowe will have her own office at the University of Canterbury for the next six months after being named one of two Ursula Bethell Writers in Residence for 2012.

Ms Lowe writes fantasy/science fiction novels as well as poetry and short fiction. Her first book, Thornspell, was published in 2008 and won the Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand’s Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel: Young Adult in 2009.

She is currently working on a four book epic fantasy called The Wall of Night series. The first volume in the series, The Heir of Night, was published in 2010 and won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel in 2011. The Heir of Night is currently longlisted for the Gemmell Awards in the United Kingdom. Volume two in the series, The Gathering of the Lost, is due to be published in April this year.

As well as writing, Ms Lowe also reviews books and interviews authors on Plains FM’s Women on Air programme.

The second residency will be taken up in August by performance poet and writer David Eggleton.

TheUrsula Bethell Residency in Creative Writing was established by the University of Canterbury in 1979 to provide support for New Zealand writers and foster New Zealand writing. Jointly funded by the University’s College of Arts and Creative New Zealand, the residency gives writers a chance to work on a project within an academic environment. It is named in recognition of Christchurch poet and artist Ursula Bethell (1874-1945) who is considered one of the pioneers of modern New Zealand poetry.

Previous recipients of the residency include Owen Marshall (1981), Margaret Mahy (1984), Keri Hulme (1985), Fiona Farrell (1992), Sue McCauley (1993), Catherine Chidgey (2003), Charlotte Randall (2005), Carl Nixon (2006) and Rachael King (2008).

Courtesy of Beattie's Book Blog.

The Temporary Literaturhaus (7 - 11 February 2012) will create a hub for readers and writers to explore New Zealand’s literary connections with the rest of the world, focusing initially on literary links with Germany in the run-up to New Zealand’s guest of honour appearance at the 2012 Frankfurt Fair.

The Literaturhaus concept was first developed in Berlin in the late 1980s and has since been adopted in numerous cities in Germany and beyond. Literaturhäuser are at the heart of literary life in Germany, providing a venue for innovative literary events and education and a meeting place for all those interested in books. Their central mission is to communicate and promote interest in literature in all its forms among diverse readerships. The concept has since been introduced in Scandinavia with great success.

The Temporary Literaturhaus in Wellington will provide a flexible and mobile platform for literary events that bring together different communities of readers and writers. Following an intensive series of launch events organized in collaboration with the New Zealand Book Council, the New Zealand Centre for Literary Translation and Wellington City Libraries, the Temporary Literaturhaus will reappear on a monthly basis at different venues in Wellington and connect with other literary institutions and initiatives in the city (supported by a grant from CNZ).

In the tradition of the German Literaturhäuser, the Temporary Literaturhaus will focus on innovative programming, moving away from conventional readings to focus on “live” literature and providing a welcoming and stimulating atmosphere for people to engage in the wider conversation about literature, translation and books.

Programme Launch Week 7 - 11 February.

For full event details please visit our events calendar.

Information courtesy of the Goethe-Institut in New Zealand.

A dynamic and diverse group of the finest international and national writers will converge on Wellington in March for the New Zealand International Arts Festival’s Writers and Readers Week. This eagerly anticipated Festival week begins with world-leading environmentalist Tim Flannery who will open the Town Hall Talks. Inspirational feminist Germaine Greer will deliver a life and times session, and three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman will give the closing address.

Wellington’s Embassy Theatre, home base for Writers and Readers Week, hosts an impressive array of writers discussing secrets and crimes, says Programme Manager, Anne Chamberlain. “Secrets about writing, secret histories, and secrets about exploring the world in fact, fiction and fantasy.”

Man Booker prize-winner Alan Hollinghurst discusses his recently released highly-acclaimed novel The Stranger’s Child; British biographer Selina Hastings reveals The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham; Kate Grenville and Kim Scott dig deep into Australia’s past; German writer Jenny Erpenbeck explores Germany’s dark history; Columbian writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez discusses The Secret History of Costaguana; Ron Rash reveals life in the moody, rugged Appalachians and Kelly Link explores other worldly realms of fantasy and magic realism.

British screenwriter and playwright Robert Shearman discusses how he famously returned the Dalek to Doctor Who in 2005, in an episode initially viewed by 8.6 million people. This session includes a screening of his Dalek episode.

International best-selling Norwegian Jo Nesbø heads up a crime strand including Scottish novelist Denise Mina and three of New Zealand’s own crime writers - Paul Cleave, Vanda Symon and Paul Thomas.

British poet and translator Michael Hulse, Toronto’s Poet Laureate Dionne Brand and New Zealand poet Harry Ricketts share their poetry. New Zealand’s first Poet Laureate Bill Manhire hosts a public poetry masterclass, and the famous dead poet is included in a session where Germaine Greer examines the life of women in Shakespeare’s day.

Where Were You in 72? brings together Germaine Greer, Marilyn Waring and Sandra Coney to discuss past, current and future social and political issues. Chris Bourke uncovers the history of New Zealand’s popular music and Auckland scientist Michael Corballis journeys around the human mind. I New Zealand fiction writers include Patrick Evans delving into the imagined world of Janet Frame and Frank Sargeson, Fiona Farrell on working and living with the Christchurch quakes, and Paula Morris and Linda Olsson discussing their life and work. Also featured are emerging writers Eleanor Catton, Hamish Clayton and Craig Cliff.

The Festival’s Art on the Move programme includes sessions with New Zealand’s Emerging Writers in Masterton and International Poets at Paekakariki Dionne Brand and Michael Hulse.

Tim Flannery will also address secondary school students at the Wellington Town Hall on Friday 9 March. Other Schools Day writers are Elizabeth Knox, American fantasy slipstream writer Kelly Link, and award-winning New Zealand young adult fiction writers Bernard Beckett and Jane Higgins.

Young Writers and Readers Day at Downstage Theatre on Sunday 11 March provides a rare opportunity to experience three of New Zealand’s most-loved children’s writers - Lynley Dodd, Gavin Bishop and Margaret Mahy.

Three lunchtime sessions at Downstage focus on the business of writing - Why Isn’t Theatre Dead Yet?, The Art of Translation and Are We the Last Real Book Readers?

The Town Hall Talks; Young Writers and Readers Day; Art on the Move; Schools Day; Bookmark Pass and Take Five Pass are on sale now. The multi-passes offer generous discounts to Embassy and Downstage sessions, with The Bookmark Pass entitling holders to a preferential booking period from Friday 27 January 2012. Public bookings for Embassy and Downstage sessions open at 9am on Friday 3 February.

Teachers can make Schools Day bookings directly through the Festival website (festival.co.nz/schoolfest). Tickets to all other Writers and Readers Week events are available through Ticketek.

Writers and Readers Week is supported by the Lion Foundation, Victoria University of Wellington, Unity Books, Museum Art Hotel, Australian High Commission, Canada Council for the Arts, Embassy of Spain, Goethe Institut, John F Kennedy Memorial Fellowship and Instituto Cervantes.

Creative New Zealand is calling for applications from New Zealand fiction and non-fiction writers, poets and playwrights to take part in the renowned University of Iowa International Writing Program in the United States.

The result of a 20-year partnership between Creative New Zealand and the university, the three-month residency is an opportunity for writers to participate in a programme which has hosted more than 1400 writers from a 140 countries since its inception in 1967.

Emerging or established writers, with a publishing track record, will have time to work on an approved project and take part in literary activities, field trips and excursions with other writers from all over the world.

New Zealand’s 2010 recipient writer David Hill described the programme as a “writer’s paradise”. “For three months I was able to write in a state of financial security, intellectual stimulation and professional collegiality.”

The residency includes travel costs, accommodation, a stipend and is supported by Creative New Zealand. It will run from late August to mid-November, 2012 and the recipient will be expected to have completed, or substantially completed, a body of writing.

The deadline for applications is Friday 9 March 2012. To find out more about how to apply please go to our website.

About the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program.

Sound like the beginning of a good story?

Come along to True Stories Told Live on Monday 13 February and hear some fantastic stories, told by local politician Ray Ahipene-Mercer, renowned music store owner and reviewer Colin Morris, and authors Barbara Else, Fleur Beale, Catherine Robertson, Harry Ricketts and Pip Adam.

True Stories Told Live events brim with live, unrehearsed tales, told by people with a flair for storytelling. Stories make us laugh, cry and crinkle our foreheads – there is no better way to energise a quiet Monday evening.

The event, with the theme of family holidays, will raise funds for the Book Council’s Writers in Schools programme, which has been bringing books, authors and children together since 1973.

Education Manager Sarah Forster says ‘Family holidays bring out the best and the worst in people. Prepare to be enthralled and dismayed at the antics of these brilliant creative people.’

The Book Council’s True Stories Told Live has seen personal events and hilarious recounts, prose poems and a photo essay. People from all walks of life come to distil an anecdote into a story. The length is too short to be boring and yet long enough for plot, pace, adventure and humour to captivate the listener.

'At True Stories Told Live, the story must have a beginning, middle and an end, and it must be true, but that’s all’, says the Book Council’s Susanna Andrew.

Tickets are $15 for members of the Book Council, or $20 for non-members.

Go to www.bookcouncil.org.nz to book your tickets.
True Stories Told Live – Family Holidays
Where: Meow Café, 9 Edward St, Wellington
When: 6.15pm, Monday 13 February

For all media and further information please contact:
Sarah Forster or Noel Murphy
sarah@bookcouncil.org.nz or noel@bookcouncil.org.nz ph: (04) 801 5546

More information about our storytellers:

Pip Adam is a PhD student in Creative Writing at the IIML. Her first book, Everything we hoped for, won the 2011 Best First Book award in the New Zealand Post Book Awards. Paula Green says, ‘Adam knows how to brew a story to its essence and to infuse an emotional undercurrent that is deeply affecting’.

Ray Ahipene-Mercer (Ngai Tara, Ngati Ira, Ngati Kuhungunu, Ngai Tahu) has been serving as city councillor in Wellington since 2000, only the second Māori councillor to be elected to the Wellington City Council. He is also a guitar-maker, musician, and well-known environmentalist.

Fleur Beale is an award-winning children and young adult writer of more than thirty books. She most recently won the 2011 New Zealand Post Children’s Young Adult Book award for her YA novel, Fierce September.

Barbara Else is a playwright and fiction writer, and has also worked as a literary agent, editor and fiction consultant. Else was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature in 2005. Else’s most recent book is junior fiction book The Travelling Restaurant, which was selected as the IBBY New Zealand Honour Book for Writing.

Colin Morris is an ex-pat Brit who has been in the NZ music industry since 1967. He currently runs a mail-order music business, Colin Morris Records, and works part-time at Unity Bookshop. He is very accident-prone, and loves music, books, films, and his wife of 40 years.

Harry Ricketts is a poet, academic, editor and reviewer. He is HOD English at Victoria University, and Editor of New Zealand Books. His most recent publications are 99 Ways Into New Zealand Poetry with Paula Green (Vintage New Zealand); and Strange Meetings:The Poets of the Great War (Chatto and Windus).

Catherine Robertson’s debut chick-lit novel, The Sweet Second Life of Darrell Kincaid, topped the New Zealand Bestsellers list. Kerry Woodham reviewed Darrell Kincaid on TVNZ’s Good Morning as ‘better than Marian Keyes’.

Two leading New Zealand fiction writers have been announced as the recipients of the annual Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship for 2012.

The two new fellows, David Lyndon Brown and Anna Taylor, 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 continues to play a key role in developing New Zealand’s literary talent.

“We offer our congratulations to David and Anna and, as with so many high quality fellows who have gone before them, we’re sure they’ll make great use of the freedom from distractions the Sargeson Centre provides,” he said.

Anna Taylor completed a MA in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters in 2006. Her writing has been published widely in literary journals and anthologies including Sport, Turbine, and The Penguin Book of New Zealand Short Stories (2009).

Anna’s first collection of short stories, Relief, was published by Victoria University Press in 2009 and won the 2010 NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction.

"I feel incredibly privileged to be given this opportunity,” said Ms Taylor.

“Time and money are the two major obstacles when it comes to fitting writing into my life. This fellowship eases the financial pressure, as well as providing space and solitude to get words down on paper,” she said.

Ms Taylor said she would spend her time at the Sargeson Centre writing the second draft of a collection of three linked novellas.

David Lyndon Brown studied at the Elam School of Fine Arts from 1969 under the tutorage of Colin McCahon. He is the author of Calling the Fish and Other Stories (2001, University of Otago Press), Marked Men (2007, Titus Books) and Skin Hunger (2009, Titus Books).

David has also taught expressive writing to various groups including the elderly, mental health patients, recovering addicts, Maori and Pacifica writers and at the University of Auckland's Centre for Continuing Education.

Mr Brown said he is excited and honoured to have been awarded the fellowship.

“It’s every writer’s dream – an oasis of time. I have several projects in mind, some of which have been simmering for a while, and a recent trip to Samoa has also stirred something. When I am writing I become totally immersed and this fellowship will allow me the freedom to plunge with no distractions or diversions,” said Mr Brown.

ENDS

Poet, short story writer, columnist and editor Michael Morrissey is Waikato University's writer in residence for 2012.

Poet, short story writer, columnist and editor Michael Morrissey is the University of Waikato's writer in residence for 2012.

Morrissey, a multi-award winner, has written more than 80 short stories, ten volumes of poetry, two novellas and more recently has received attention for his memoir Taming the Tiger which deals with his experience with manic depression, or bipolar disorder.
Planned Work

During his year at Waikato, Morrissey plans to revise a semi-autobiographical novel titled State of Grace. “The novel is set around 1950 against the background of one of the last polio epidemics before the vaccine was discovered,” says Morrissey.

“I’ll also be working on a new novel called Spiro Goes to Mars which focuses on New Zealand’s most violent anti-Vietnam war protest in Auckland in 1970. Apparently there were numerous FBI and CIA agents around at the time and so, using that as a springboard I have my set out characters out to lace Vice President Agnew’s water with LSD, only things don’t go according to plan.”
Relief

Michael Morrissey says he’s thrilled to have been awarded the residency as it enables him to concentrate on major writing projects for a whole year free of financial worry. While staying in Hamilton, he hopes to explore the cultural life of the University of Waikato and the city.

He will begin his residence at the beginning of February and says if he can stick to his schedule, he’ll also work on a new book of poems entitled To Kiss this Rough World.

Waikato University’s writer in residence is funded by the university and Creative New Zealand. Dr Sarah Shieff from the University’s English Programme says she’s delighted Michael Morrissey is taking up the residency.

“We had lots of strong applications for the position, but Michael's application was particularly exciting. We're very lucky to have someone of his calibre and experience on campus for the year.”

Courtesy of Waikato Univeristy news page.

Robyn Bargh hopes the next two decades will bring more international recognition for Maori authors.

As managing director of Wellington publishing company Huia, Ms Bargh has spent the past two decades fostering Maori writers of fiction and non-fiction and is proud of the company's success.

For her efforts, she was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year honours – something she felt belonged to everyone who had helped her.

"Publishing is a group effort; a book can't get out with just one person. One person has the idea but to make it happen takes a lot of people."

Huia was formed by Ms Bargh and her husband, Brian Bargh, in 1991, and publishes resources and books, both in Maori and English, written by Maori writers. Resources include videos, magazines and journals, along with fiction and non-fiction books.

Ms Bargh, who lives in Karori, said more people were learning Maori and it was important there were books and resources in Maori to help them.

"In the next 20 years we need to consolidate and develop more [Maori language resources]. There are so few books, so few novels written in Maori," she said.

For the language to grow it was important for it to be better represented in New Zealand literature.

After visiting the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, she met people who were interested in indigenous stories, including those of Maori, and others who did not know where New Zealand was, let alone who Maori were.

Ms Bargh said upon receiving a letter from the governor-general informing her of the honour, she had to check on the internet to see what it meant.

"It's a mixture of feelings. I'm feeling surprised, if not amazed, to tell you the truth. It's an honour."

- Fairfax NZ News

by Sophie Speer, www.stuff.co.nz

Mark Tredinnick, an Australian poet, has been awarded the $50,000 Montreal International Poetry Prize for his poem, "Walking Underwater."

The winning poem was selected by former UK poet laureate Andrew Motion from a shortlist of nearly 50 poems. "This is a bold, big-thinking poem, in which ancient themes (especially the theme of our human relationship with landscape) are re-cast and re-kindled. It well deserves its eminence as a prize winner," said Motion. The poem has been published on the Montreal Prize website at www.montrealprize.com.

The nonprofit Montreal International Poetry Prize represents a new approach to major literary awards. It is the first major literary prize to be awarded "blind," meaning the author's identity is not revealed to the judge until after the winner has been selected. It is also based on a crowd-funding model, as it aims to be sustained directly by the community of poets who participate in the process by entering their work in the competition.

"Both our 'blind' judging process and our community-funding model represent a significant revolution in the field of major literary awards," says Montreal Prize co-founder, Len Epp, who holds a doctorate in English Literature from the University of Oxford. "Our project represents a challenge to the traditional hierarchies and conservative instincts that characterize much of the modern literary world."

The advisory board of the Montreal Prize reflects its global approach, and includes Jamaican-born poet Valerie Bloom, Scottish poet Don Paterson, Nigerian poet and novelist Ben Okri, Indian poet Jeet Thayil, and Australian poet John Kinsella, editor of The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry.

A second poem was selected from the shortlist by Eric Fischl, the renowned U.S. painter and sculptor, as the basis for a "broadside," or illustrated poem. Fischl's selection, "The Grasshoppers' Silence" by Canadian poet Linda Rogers, is inspired by the true story of Rumana Monzur, who was tragically blinded in an attack by her husband in Bangladesh in June. "I've chosen this poem because the image of the one-legged grasshopper won't let me sleep," said Fischl of his selection.

The 50 shortlisted poems, previously unpublished and chosen from 3,200 entries, will be published in a global poetry anthology. The poems were selected by a group of ten accomplished poets from Australia, Canada, Guyana, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Malawi, Nigeria, the U.K., and the U.S. According to Asa Boxer, a Montreal-based poet and another prize co-founder, "Our anthology may represent the first opportunity many readers have had to see a truly global collection of previously unpublished poetry."

All the poems that made the 2011 Montreal Prize longlist have been published in a separate e-anthology, available for free download at www.montrealprize.com. The 2011 Global Poetry Anthology will be published early in the new year. Both anthologies are being published under the Signal Editions imprint of Montreal's Véhicule Press.

The Auckland Writers & Readers Festival is delighted to announce that former spy chief Dame Stella Rimington (UK), Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle (Ireland) and beloved Young Adult writer Emily Rodda (Australia) will attend the May 2012 Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.

Dame Stella Rimington DCB, who will headline the Festival’s highly popular Soul Bar Lunch event alongside main programme appearances, is the British author of a number of gripping ‘insider’ spy novels, most recently RipTide (2011). She is also well-known as the first female and the first publicised Director General of MI5, a position she held from 1992 to 1996.

Irish novelist and Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle, whose 1987 novel The Commitments was made into the hit movie of the same name, is also a dramatist and screenwriter. He has a long list of popular writing credits and, in 2011, published the short story collection Bull Fighting, alongside his novel for younger readers, A Greyhound of a Girl.

Among Emily Rodda’s many books for children, her Deltora Quest and Rowan of Rin series books are loved and devoured by YA readers. She comes to the Festival in May with the support of the Australia Council, following the publication of The Golden Door, the first novel in a new trilogy. Rodda, who also writes crime under her real name Jennifer Rowe, will be appearing in both the schools’ programme on 9-10 May and the main programme. “It’s such a pleasure to reveal this taster of the rich line-up planned for May 2012,” says Artistic Director Anne O’Brien.

“Dame Stella Rimington, Roddy Doyle and Emily Rodda will all bring fine craft, great minds and broad experiences to Auckland, not to mention providing the perfect Christmas reads, setting the tone for what will undeniably be another outstanding Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.”

The Auckland Writers & Readers Festival is New Zealand’s largest literary and ideas festival. In 2012 AWRF will run Wednesday 9 May to Sunday 13 May and will present another exciting list of international and New Zealand writers in more than 70 events, guaranteed to excite and stimulate hungry minds. The schools programme will be available in February 2012 with the full programme announced in the second!half of March 2012 and tickets on sale from that time at www.buytickets.co.nz.

2012 AUCKLAND WRITERS & READERS FESTIVAL 09 - 13 MAY | AOTEA CENTRE, THE EDGE | WWW.WRITERSFESTIVAL.CO.NZ

This year’s edition of the online literary journal Turbine features an eclectic mix of new writing by New Zealand literary talent.

Turbine is published once a year by Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) and can be viewed online at www.victoria.ac.nz/turbine.

Guest edited by IIML Master’s students Hera Bradburn and Christopher Howe, this year’s Turbine showcases work by established and emerging writers.

“There’s an exciting mix of poetry and fiction, as well as revealing extracts from the reading journals of a number of this year’s MA students,” says IIML Senior Lecturer Damien Wilkins.

The feature interview is with current Victoria University Writer in Residence, playwright Albert Belz, who opens up on writing for Shortland Street, the legacy of Billy T James and taking feedback from actors.

Many of this year’s IIML Master’s students have work on display, including poetry from Adam Foundation Prize winner, Hera Bradburn, and an excerpt from the reading journal of the Biggs Poetry Prize winner, Rachel Sawaya.

Among the fiction contributors, prize-winning poet Airini Beautrais publishes her first short story—a comic tale about the terrors of teaching; and Wellington-based Indian novelist Rajorshi Chakraborti is published for the first time in New Zealand.

Wilkins says the journal is a vivid witness to the range and vitality of current writing in New Zealand.

“It’s a great place to sample voices and to scramble any notion that there’s a dominant way of writing. I can’t see a pattern, just a lot of strong work.”

For more information contact Damien Wilkins on (04) 463 6905 or damien.wilkins@vuw.ac.nz

The Novella Project: an Australian-New Zealand competition for original novella-length fiction.

A collaborative venture between Griffith REVIEW & the Copyright Agency Ltd

In recent years, publishing costs and market pressures have contributed to the demise of the novella in print. However, thanks to advances in digital publishing and the rise of social media and e-readers, some industry experts are predicting that this may be the beginning of a ‘golden age’ for novellas.

Griffith REVIEW is pleased to announce a competition open to all residents and citizens of Australia and New Zealand, calling for submissions for The Novella Project, a new publishing initiative supported by the Copyright Agency Ltd.

Submissions will be evaluated by a panel of judges and the winning selections will be featured in late 2012 in Griffith REVIEW’s fourth annual New Fiction Edition.

In addition to publication, winners will receive a share of the prize pool of $30,000 plus a share of royalties from digital sales of each novella sold separately as an eSingle.

Terms, conditions, how to enter etc here.

Griffith REVIEW | www.griffithreview.com

A collection of prose poetry which explores love, science and the imagination, has won the prestigious Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing for 2011. This year's winner is Hera Lindsay Bird for And Together We Fight Crime.

Supported by Wellingtonians Denis and Verna Adam through the Victoria University Foundation, the $3000 prize is awarded annually to an outstanding student in the Master’s in Creative Writing programme at Victoria's International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML).

Bernadette Hall, co-convenor of the Master’s programme, was struck by the energy and originality of Hera’s work.

“Hera’s poetry is as refreshing as spearmint toothpaste. It’s vigorous, sparky and assured. It’s contemporary culture hooked into real depth of thinking. It’s also hugely funny.”

Hera has close connections with the IIML, having completed several undergraduate writing courses, and winning both the Maurice Gee prize in Children’s Writing and the Story! Inc poetry prize. In 2010 she received an advanced Diploma in Creative Writing from Whitireia Polytechnic.

Award-winning writer Chris Price, one of the examiners for Hera’s thesis, found this way of describing the prose poem.

“One of the genre’s contemporary masters, Charles Simic, has said, 'They look like prose and act like poems, because, despite the odds, they make themselves into fly-traps for our imagination.'”

“While having an immediacy all of its own, Hera’s collection also shows the popularity of this form and takes its place alongside the published books of writers such as Airini Beautrais and Joan Fleming.”

Damien Wilkins, Senior Lecturer at the IIML, says the standard of folios this year was again extremely high.

"Hera’s wonderful work deserves to be championed and this award will provide a great boost, but there were several writers similarly placed and it wasn’t an easy decision."

Previous Adam Foundation Prize recipients include acclaimed authors Catherine Chidgey, Paula Morris, William Brandt and Eleanor Catton.

The Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage today announced funding of $1 million for New Zealand writers and their publishers to ensure they are able to make the most of New Zealand’s Guest of Honour role at the 2012 Frankfurt Book Fair.

The funding is to enhance New Zealand writers’ international profiles and to increase translation of New Zealand books. German publishers will be able to apply for subsidies to translate New Zealand books as part of the funding scheme, while a portion of the funds will be used to support New Zealand writers and publishers to attend German literary events in 2012.

“This funding will enable more New Zealand works to be translated into German and grow an international audience and appetite for our work,” said New Zealand’s Frankfurt Book Fair Project Director Tanea Heke.

The first of the German literary events is the Leipzig Book Fair in March 2012 which will showcase nine New Zealand writers supported by the fund.

In many cases these writers already have books translated into German or the German translation rights have recently been purchased. Six New Zealand publishers will also attend the fair.

“The Leipzig Book Fair in March is an important launch for the programme. We are taking authors to Leipzig who have already gained interest from German publishers. This is in part a success of the rights catalogue the industry produced for the Frankfurt Book fair this year. We hope their presence at Leipzig will secure further translation deals for New Zealand,” said PANZ President, Kevin Chapman.

To find out more about New Zealand’s role at the 2012 Frankfurt Book Fair:

For publisher and author funding information and criteria: http://www.publishers.org.nz

For New Zealand’s 2012 Frankfurt Book Fair Guest of Honour role and activities: www.nzatfrankfurt.govt.nz

For the Frankfurt Book Fair history and overview:

http://www.book-fair.com/en/

PANZ press release.

An agreement signed this week will enable New Zealanders (and others) to purchase from the first collection of New Zealand ebooks through a New Zealand retailer. Great NZ Ebooks, a collection of digital books, made possible through the investment of Copyright Licensing Limited and Creative New Zealand, will soon be able to be purchased from Wheelers.

Prior to this agreement being signed, New Zealand readers had no local online retailers to buy their ebooks from. Wheelers, New Zealand’s largest online new book supplier to schools and libraries, have invested in an ebook delivery platform equivalent to those operated by some of the significant international ebook retailers.

Paula Browning, CEO of Copyright Licensing Limited, says “We are thrilled that we have been able to partner with a reputable New Zealand supplier for our New Zealand ebooks. We know that New Zealanders like to “buy New Zealand made” and the Wheelers system will ensure that the retail market for ebooks generates a return to a New Zealand company as well as to New Zealand authors and publishers.”

The launch of www.greatnzebooks.co.nz is planned to ensure that New Zealanders can be reading New Zealand ebooks by Christmas this year.

Wellington researcher Charlotte Williams has been awarded the 2012 Friends of the Turnbull Library Research Grant of $10,000 to assist in completing her current project, A History of Relations between Māori and the National Party 1936-1996.

“We are extremely pleased to contribute to this major aspect of New Zealand’s political history which will be of considerable public interest,” said Rachel Underwood, President of the Friends of the Turnbull Library. “Charlotte will have access to the rich and diverse collections held in the Alexander Turnbull Library, including oral archives, major collections such as the personal papers of Sir Apirana Ngata, as well as papers and files of both the New Zealand Māori Council and the National Party.”

The Friends of the Turnbull Library Research Grant is intended to emphasise the distinctive contribution that a research and heritage library makes to public knowledge. It celebrates the significant role of ongoing research and publication based on the Alexander Turnbull Library collections and the knowledge of the staff. It is funded from income derived from two generous bequests, by David Bilbrough and Wesley (Bill) Secker.

Charlotte Williams is an independent researcher and public policy analyst with degrees from Oxford University and Princeton. A former member of the Council of Lincoln University (1987-205), she is the eighth recipient of the FoTL Research Grant.

Previous grants have been awarded to Philip Norman for his biography of Douglas Lilburn; Tim Beaglehole for a biography of the historian JC Beaglehole; Alex Bremner to complete a study of colonial Anglican architecture; Paul Diamond for his photo-biography of Makareti (Maggie Papakura); Jennifer Shennan for her biography of dancer Poul Gnatt; Paul Meredith for a book based on the journey to England of the Māori King Te Rata in 1914; and to Philip Simpson for his book, Totara: Te Mahi a Rauru.

Further enquiries: Rachel Underwood, 04-475-9394. www.turnbullfriends.org.nz

The winner of the 2011 Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems, run by International Writers' Workshop NZ Inc, has been announced.

Judges Selina Tusitala Marsh and Stu Bagby were unanimous on their decision that Wellington poet Jillian Sullivan be awarded the $2500 prize.

The sequence, 'how to live it' chronicles 2010's middle-age triple whammy: the loss of a parent, the youngest child leaving home, the end of a marriage. Sullivan wrote the 16 poems as the year unfolded. "They read as a kind of story that I didn't know how would end," she says.

Stu Bagby commented, "Well constructed, sustained my interest with an honest voice that didn't get in the way despite literary references … very good work."
Selina Tusitala Marsh commented, "A sensitively connected sequence … held my attention from beginning to end with its tender, understated sophistication. Wide ranging in technique, experimental without losing its personal voice."

Previously Sullivan has published four novels, three collections of short stories and a creative non-fiction book on the writing process, Fishing from the Boat Ramp – a Guide to Creating (Steele Roberts).

Two entrants were Highly Commended. Both from Auckland they are Siobhan Harvey for 'Where Clouds are Spoken Of' and Aysha Vitapa-Aspinall for 'Walking, Walking (?) in Resonance'.

International Writers' Workshop NZ Inc (IWW) was founded in 1976 by poet Hilda B Whyte and meets twice a month from February to November at the Lake House Arts Centre in Takapuna. IWW's main aim is to inspire writers by means of workshops and competitions.

The Kathleen Grattan Prize for a Sequence of Poems has been made possible by a bequest from the Jocelyn Grattan Charitable Trust. It was a specific request of the late Jocelyn Grattan that her mother be recognised through an annual competition in recognition of her love for poetry and that the competition be for a sequence or cycle of poems with no limit on the length of the poems. It is one of two poetry competitions funded by the Trust, the other being the prestigious Kathleen Grattan Award run by the publishers of Landfall magazine.

In 2009 Alice Hooton was the inaugural winner of the Prize for her sequence 'America'.

In 2010 joint winners were declared. They were Janet Charman for her sequence 'Mother won't come to us', and Rosetta Allan for her sequence 'Capricious Memory'.

For more information about the Prize and the International Writers' Workshop please visit www.iww.co.nz

A relationship drama set in early 1990s Dublin, has won a Victoria University of Wellington student the annual David Carson-Parker Embassy Prize in Scriptwriting.

Barbara Burke’s script Orla is a story that interweaves pseudo-family relationships with some of the societal pressures of the time.

A Master’s student in the Creative Writing programme at Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML), Barbara received the $3000 prize at a function at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington on Tuesday night. The annual prize is awarded to the best script written during the Master’s course.

Barbara was both surprised and thrilled to receive the prize.

“When I started at the IIML, I was planning to write all kinds of other-wordly stories. But with some gentle coercion from Ken, I was convinced to write something a lot closer to my heart—a story of two women, both at different critical points in their lives, amid some of Dublin’s harsher realities.

Barbara grew up in Ireland and studied in both Dublin and Edinburgh. In 2005, she moved to New Zealand with the intention of staying a year. Nearly seven years on, Wellington remains her home.

Over that time, she has mostly worked in communications roles. She took up writing fiction several years ago in her spare time, and was delighted to be part of the 2011 scriptwriting class at the IIML, where she has worked on Orla.

“I loved the class, I loved the learning and the writing. It was, hands down, one of the best years of my life.”

Barbara says that as well as working on other projects, she plans to continue working on Orla over the next year in the hopes it may one day make it to screen.

“I want to get through another couple of drafts next year before taking Orla out into the world.”

Michael Hirschfeld Director of Scriptwriting at the IIML, Ken Duncum, was highly impressed with the script.

“Orla is a relationship drama, extremely well realised by Barbara, who has a flair for evoking place and time, and finding the dramatic in the details of her characters’ lives.

“In reading the script there is a feeling of total immersion in the Dublin of the mid-1990s and the concerns, dilemmas and growth of her central character. Barbara is an exciting new writer with verve and ability—and I look forward to following the future of Orla and of Barbara’s career with interest.”

Funded through the Victoria University Foundation, the David Carson-Parker Embassy Prize in Scriptwriting was first established by the Embassy Theatre Trust and is now funded by arts philanthropist David Carson-Parker.

Is your poetry worth £5,000?

The 2012 Cardiff International Poetry Competition is now open for entries. The First Prize-winner will walk way with a cheque for £5,000 for just one poem.

Further prizes available are £500 for second place, £250 for third plus five runners up will receive £50 each. The competition is accessible to all; it doesn’t matter if you are an established poet or just dabble with verse now and then. All entries to the competition will be judged anonymously, so this is a great opportunity to have your poetry judged on its own merits.

The hard tasking of judging the 2012 competition is down to poets Sinéad Morrissey, Patrick McGuinness and filter judge Samatha Wynne-Rhydderch.

If you think you have what it takes to delight the judges and get your hands on the top prize of £5,000, then send us your poems now. Just make sure your poem is no longer than 50 lines long, is unpublished, in English and is not a translation of another author’s work then send it, along with your entry form and payment, to Literature Wales.

The closing date for entries is: Friday 2 March 2012

To download an entry form, click here. To receive an entry form through the post send a stamped, self addressed envelope to: Literature Wales, CIPC12 Entry Form, Mount Stuart House, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff, Wales, CF10 5FQ.

For further details contact Literature Wales: 029 2047 2266 / post@literaturewales.org

Courtesy of Literature Wales and their website.

The New Zealand Society of Authors is pleased to announce that the recipient of the Lillian Ida Smith Award is Auckland writer John MacKinven.

The award attracted 59 applications but judging panel convenor Robert Elliot says John’s manuscript outline stood out for meeting the most critical elements of the criteria set for the award and his entry deserved the opportunity to move closer to completion.

John’s project, a literary crime novel, grew out of a story of the same name ('Snow on the Desert Road') that came first equal in the Heartland short story competition in 2008.

John says he is delighted and honoured to be the recipient of this award and describes it as a vote of confidence in his work so far.

"It's a tremendous psychological boost. And the financial assistance will allow me to make a big leap forward to my goal of completing the first draft before the New Year, and the final draft by April 2012."

The bi-annual Lillian Ida Smith Award was originally established in 1986 when Wanganui music teacher, Lillian Ida Smith bequested part of her estate to assist people aged 35 years or over to embark upon or further a literary career. Ida Smith had long been a passionate supporter of the arts and it was her wish that this award would be used to assist someone embarking on a career or who had not yet had sufficient opportunity to fulfil his/her potential.

Selection Panel: Rae McGregor, Adrian Blackburn, Robert Elliot

The Takahe Editorial Committee and Takahe Collective are pleased to announce that the winner of its 2011 Poetry Competition judged by poet and fiction writer, Sue Wootton is Christchurch poet, Jan Hutchison for her poem, Reading the Book Aloud. Hutchison wins $250 for her poem.

“This poem is an elegant synthesis of form and subject,” Wootton says of the prize-winning poem. “Images, syntax, metaphors, even the placement of the words on the page, all are integrated into this poem’s living ecosystem.”

Jan Hutchison is the author of the poetry collection Days among Trees (Steele Roberts, 2005).

2011 Takahe Poetry Competition’s second-place and winner of $100 goes to Susanna Gendall for her poem, Love about which Wootton says, “Not your usual love poem, this plain-speaking poem explores ‘that particular variety of noun-verb’. Clear-eyed, witty, arch – ah yes, and tender – this is a delightful prose poem with great comic timing.” Love will appear in Takahe 75.

The two runners-up prizes, a year’s subscription to the magazine, go to Auckland’s Michael Botur for Coulda Said and Wellington poet, Jo Thorpe’s Phoebe and her charge at the Café Bella Figura.

The 2011 Takahe Poetry Competition attracted over 400 entries. The Judge’s full report and Jan Hutchison’s winning entry can be read in the current issue of the magazine, Takahe 74 which has just been released.

Ten awards were presented at the Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand Arts Awards including five $50,000 Laureate Awards, three $25,000 New Generation Awards, the $25,000 Marti Friedlander Photographic Award and the inaugural $10,000 Mallinson Rendel Award for children's book illustrators.

Laureates announced are musician - Whirimako Black , photographer - Fiona Pardington , writer - Emily Perkins , filmmaker - Leanne Pooley and choreographer/director - Lemi Ponifasio . Musician/artist - Sam Hamilton , who is currently on tour with Lemi in Europe, received a New Generation Award alongside photographer - Ben Cauchi and playwright - Eli Kent . Fiona Pardington's brother Neil Pardinton received the Marti Friedlander Photographic Award and the inaugural recipient of the Mallinson Rendel Award is David Elliot.

Congratulations to New Generation artists Ben Cauchi, Eli Kent and Sam Hamilton; to the inaugural recipient of the Mallinson Rendel Book Illustrators Award, David Elliot; to the Marti Friedlander Photographic Award recipient - Neil Pardington and to Laureates, Whirimako Black, Emily Perkins, Fiona Pardington, Leanne Pooley and Lemi Ponifasio.

The five hundred guests at the awards were greeted by a gallery of works by artists previous Arts Foundation award recipients and artists who have been commissioned by the Foundation for award trophies. Sculpture, paintings and photographs were joined by a live theatre and digital sound art installation in an amazing display of New Zealand depth of artistic achievement. The ceremony concluded with 2010 New Generation Award recipient Anna Leese performing Zueignung by Richard Strauss. Anna sung as the curtains of the event centre were draw to reveal performers silhouetted by the nights sky surrounding the venue and then blasted by aviation search lights. The design of the extraordinary finish was donated by Marie Adams and Mike Mizrahi from Inside Out Productions.

Arts Foundation Chair, Fran Ricketts, said "the Arts Awards are an occasion for New Zealand to focus on the national and international achievements of our finest artists. She also said that the Awards were an opportunity to celebrate and grow philanthropic support for the arts. All of our awards are privately funded or secured. We expect to grow the amount of donations to artists presented at these awards through private partnerships and are already in discussion with a number of philanthropists about establishing new awards".

The Arts Foundation was a winner on the night. Ian Witters, Head of Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand, announced that in addition to naming rights to the New Zealand Arts Awards, Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand will be the Arts Foundation's Principal Partner. "The Arts Foundation's investment in talented New Zealanders and bringing us together as a nation, through these awards, is applauded by Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand", said Ian. "We are thrilled to be able to partner with the Foundation to show our commitment to New Zealand and the entrepreneurial spirit embraced by the arts".

In conjunction with the Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand Arts Awards the Foundation is producing a series of events on the Auckland Waterfront. The Wynyard Quarter Arts Series features a writers walk, outdoor cinema, a concert in silo park, a series of events in the Stoneleigh ‘pop up' container bar an information hub where viewers can watch the TVNZ 7 series The Artists and there is a literary sandpit for children featuring the writing of Arts Foundation Icon, Margaret Mahy with illustrations by David Elliot. "The Series is introducing New Zealanders to our finest artists and ensuring public access to the celebration of the Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand Arts Awards", said Fran Ricketts.

The New Zealand Book Council’s storytelling event, featuring seven top Wellington storytellers, is no longer going ahead due to complications with the venue.

We would be grateful if you could remove this event, which was set to feature Dame Fiona Kidman, Miranda Harcourt, Colin Morris, Fifi Colston, Catherine Robertson and Fleur Beale, from your event listings and remove the press release from your site.

Thank you for your support. We will be promoting a similar event in February next year. All of our storytellers were very disappointed, and they are excited about helping us to support and promote our Writers in Schools programme early next year.

ENDS

Independent education and publishing consultant, Gillian Candler will convene this year’s New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards judging panel.

The former secondary school teacher, editor and chief executive of state-owned education publishing company, Learning Media says she is looking forward to a long, enjoyable summer of reading great kiwi books.

“I’m a passionate believer that good books change lives. It is therefore an honour and a pleasure to convene this year’s New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards judging panel.

”I’ll be on the lookout for books that capture my imagination; books that entice and teach, books with characters that draw me in and leave me wanting more.”

Two other children’s literature experts join Ms Candler on the judging panel: school curriculum advisor, librarian and bookseller Annemarie Florian and award-winning writer and illustrator Bob Kerr.

Together they will read more than 130 books in the search for the best of this country’s children’s books - across all age groups - published in 2011.

They will be choosing finalists, and ultimately winners across five categories: picture book, non-fiction, junior fiction, young adult fiction and best first book.

Each Category Award winner receives $7,500. The winner of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book of the Year Award takes home an additional $7,500. The winner of the Best First Book Award and the Children’s Choice Award receive prize money of $2,000 each.

New Zealand Post is proud to be principle sponsor of the New Zealand Book Awards and the Children’s Book Awards. New Zealand Post is committed to promoting and assisting literacy in our communities and supporting excellence in literature. Working closely with Booksellers NZ, New Zealand Post and other dedicated segments of the community actively encourage New Zealanders to read and enjoy books.

The New Zealand Post Book Awards 2012 are also funded by Creative New Zealand. The Awards are overseen by the New Zealand Post Book Awards Governance Group, administered by Booksellers NZ and supported by the New Zealand Society of Authors and Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd.

ENDS

For further information about the Awards, and biographical information about the judges please go to http://www.booksellers.co.nz/awards

Last year Chris Bourke took home the country’s top literary honour – the New Zealand Post Book of the Year Award – for his work Blue Smoke: the Lost Dawn of New Zealand Popular Music 1918-1964. This year he heads up the judging panel for the same award.

A respected writer, reviewer, music historian and radio producer, Chris is well known as a former long-time producer for Radio New Zealand National’s Saturday Morning programme and as a staff writer and arts and books editor for print publications including The Listener.

Mr Bourke says he has just cleared several book shelves to make space for the entries in the 2012 New Zealand Post Book Awards, and his first impression is: “never mind the width, feel the quality.

“New Zealand’s book creation industry is in full flight, with debutantes taking on seasoned authors, the self-published challenging the extravagantly produced. The year has seen fiction and poetry collections from many of our leading writers, and non-fiction seems to have recovered its strength with a plethora of well-researched, elegantly written and designed books in the general and illustrated categories.

“Ahead lie six months of demanding but exhilarating reading, about New Zealand in all its diversity.”

Joining Chris Bourke on the judging panel are: multi-award winning poet, writer, critic and journalist David Eggleton, writer, publisher, book designer and typesetter Mary Egan, poet, reviewer, writer and anthologist Paula Green, writer and Maori and Pacific literature specialist Reina Whaitiri (Kai Tahu).

Judges are selected for the broad range of skills they bring to the judging process ensuring there is a diversity of writing styles and reading preferences. The judging panel as a whole represents the wealth of diversity and depth in New Zealand writing and publishing.

They will read more than 160 submitted books published in 2011 before selecting the finalists and, ultimately the winners, including the holder of the much-sought-after the New Zealand Post Book of the Year trophy.

There will be four judging categories this year comprising Poetry, Fiction, Illustrated Non-fiction and General Non-fiction. There will be 16 finalist books in total (three finalists each in the Fiction and Poetry categories and five each in the Illustrated Non-Fiction and General Non-Fiction categories).

The overall New Zealand Post Book of the Year Award winner receives $15,000. Winners of the four Category Awards will each receive $10,000, the Māori Language Award $10,000, Readers’ Choice Award $5,000, and the winners of the three New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Best First Book Awards $2,500 each.

ENDS

For further information about dates for the awards, and for information about the judges, please go to www.booksellers.co.nz/awards

The 2011 Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand Arts Awards winners include novelist Emily Perkins, playwright Eli Kent and illustrator David Elliot.

Search lights beamed through the glass walls of the Viaduct Event Centre on Auckland's Waterfront as the final notes sounded at the Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand Arts Awards. The Arts Foundation has launched New Zealand's first national arts awards and donated $360,000 to New Zealand artists.

Ten awards were presented at the red carpet event including five $50,000 Laureate Awards, three $25,000 New Generation Awards, the $25,000 Marti Friedlander Photographic Award and the inaugural $10,000 Mallinson Rendel Award for children's book illustrators.

Laureates announced include musician - Whirimako Black, photographer - Fiona Pardington, writer - Emily Perkins, filmmaker - Leanne Pooley and choreographer/director - Lemi Ponifasio. Musician/artist - Sam Hamilton, who is currently on tour with Lemi in Europe, received a New Generation Award alongside photographer - Ben Cauchi and playwright - Eli Kent. Fiona Pardington's brother Neil Pardinton received the Marti Friedlander Photographic Award and the inaugural recipient of the Mallinson Rendel Award is David Elliot.

The five hundred guests at the awards were greeted by a gallery of works by artists previous Arts Foundation award recipients and artists who have been commissioned by the Foundation for award trophies. Sculpture, paintings and photographs showed alongside a live theatre and digital sound art installation in an amazing display of New Zealand artistic achievement. The ceremony concluded with 2010 New Generation Award recipient Anna Leese performing Zueignung by Richard Strauss. Anna sung as the curtains of the event centre were draw to reveal performers silhouetted by the nights sky surrounding the venue and then highlighted by aviation search lights. The design of the finish was donated by Marie Adams and Mike Mizrahi from Inside Out Productions.

Congratulations to New Generation artists Ben Cauchi, Eli Kent and Sam Hamilton; to the inaugural recipient of the Mallinson Rendel Book Illustrators Award; to the Marti Friedlander Photographic Award recipient - Neil Pardington and to Laureates, Whirimako Black, Emily Perkins, Fiona Pardington, Leanne Pooley and Lemi Ponifasio

Arts Foundation Chair, Fran Ricketts, said "the Arts Awards are an occasion for New Zealand to focus on the national and international achievements of our finest artists. She also said that the Awards were an opportunity to celebrate and grow philanthropic support for the arts. All of our awards are privately funded or secured. We expect to grow the amount of donations to artists presented at these awards through private partnerships and are already in discussion with a number of philanthropists about establishing new awards".

The Arts Foundation was a winner on the night. Ian Witters, Head of Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand, announced that in addition to naming rights to the New Zealand Arts Awards, Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand will be the Arts Foundation's Principal Partner. "The Arts Foundation's investment in talented New Zealanders and bringing us together as a nation, through these awards, is applauded by Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand", said Ian. "We are thrilled to be able to partner with the Foundation to show our commitment to New Zealand and the entrepreneurial spirit embraced by the arts".

Christchurch author and curator Justin Paton has been awarded the 2012 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship. Currently Senior Curator at Christchurch Art Gallery, Justin is best known to New Zealanders as the author of the acclaimed book How to Look at a Painting and as the presenter of the accompanying television series, seen this year on TV1.

Paton, who has been described as ‘New Zealand’s most readable art critic’, has written widely about the visual arts. In Menton, however, he plans to turn his attention to a book about ‘shelter, memory, belonging and place’.

‘Art will play a part, but the focus is broader. Being in Christchurch this year has got me thinking about the meaning of “home”. Not just the physical sense of home, but all the intangible stuff – the values and memories – bound up in the idea. That’s what I want to explore.’

On receiving the Fellowship, Paton says: ‘It’s an amazing thing to have to look forward to. It means time and it means perspective – a chance to reflect on “home” while away from home. It means experiencing a part of the world I don’t know. And it’s scary in a good way – trying to live up to the honour.’

The Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship, previously known as the New Zealand Post Mansfield Prize, is one of New Zealand's longest-standing and most prestigious literary opportunities for established and mid-career New Zealand writers.

The Chair of the Winn-Manson Menton Trust Richard Cathie expressed the trustees' delight at Paton's selection. `Justin plans some interesting work in Menton. His application was compelling and he is a fitting addition to the long line of distinguished writers who have benefitted from time working there.'

Justin Paton is one of New Zealand's foremost curators and art writers and between 1999 and 2005 was editor of the journal of arts and letters Landfall. The author of books on artists including Ricky Swallow, Jeffrey Harris, Julia Morison and Jude Rae, he has written for many catalogues and publications in New Zealand and internationally. His books about Jeffrey Harris and Julia Morison were both finalists in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards and in 2006 his book How to Look at a Painting (Awa Press) won the Lifestyle and Contemporary Culture category in the awards.

Paton is also a highly respected curator, whose recent exhibitions include De-Building at Christchurch Art Gallery and Unguided Tours at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney.

The fellowship offers a residency of at least six months in Menton, France and NZ$75,000. The support of the city of Menton enables a New Zealand author to work at the Villa Isola Bella where Katherine Mansfield lived and wrote during the latter part of her life.

Established in 1970, there have been 42 recipients of this fellowship including: Janet Frame, Michael King, Lloyd Jones, Witi Ihimaera, Vincent O'Sullivan, Owen Marshall, Philip Temple Dame Fiona Kidman, Jenny Pattrick, Ken Duncum and the 2011 recipient Chris Price.

This is an initiative of the Winn-Manson Menton Trust and is administered by Creative New Zealand.

The Trust gratefully acknowledges a $25,000 grant from the New Zealand/France Friendship Fund and a $10,000 grant from Creative New Zealand towards the 2012 residency.

Auckland – 29 November 2011 – Travcom (New Zealand Travel Communicators) is calling for entries to its annual Cathay Pacific Travel Media Awards.

The supreme winners of the Cathay Pacific Travel Writer of the Year and Cathay Pacific Travel Photographer of the Year awards will each receive two return tickets to Rome, Italy travelling with Cathay Pacific, $500 towards travel expenses and a Mediterranean cruise with Royal Caribbean Cruises.

“We’re delighted this year to be announcing a new, one-off award,” says Travcom president Pamela Wade. “The Rhys Brookbanks Memorial Award remembers a young Travcom member who died in the February earthquake. The best travel story published about Canterbury, or highlighting Christchurch as a gateway to the South Island, will receive $1,000. It’s a small way of acknowledging Rhys, and of supporting the rebuilding of tourism in Canterbury.

“I am also excited to welcome NZ Maori Tourism to our family of sponsors, which opens a new category to the awards with terrific prizes. The NZ Maori Tourism Award will give $2,000 to the best travel story about a Maori tourism experience, and $2,000 for the best travel image that captures the essence of Maori.

“Maori tourism is a rapidly growing segment of our travel industry. Experiences of our indigenous culture adds richness to any tourist visit, and helps set Aotearoa New Zealand apart from the rest of the world. We are delighted to be able to recognise excellence in travel writing and photography focused on this sector,” says Pamela.

All winners will be announced at a gala dinner awards evening on Tuesday, 20 March 2012 at the Heritage Auckland’s Grand Tearoom.
“This year’s grand prizes are particularly enviable and we’re gratified by the ongoing generosity of our sponsors,” adds Pamela.

“As the professional association of the travel media industry, Travcom aims to encourage high standards of travel writing and photography in both domestic and international content. Our awards are the premier forum for recognising excellence in the professions of travel writing and photography.”

Full list of categories and prizes

Writing awards:
Cathay Pacific Travel Writer of the Year Award for overall best writing
The winner receives two economy class tickets to Rome travelling with Cathay Pacific plus $500 towards travel expenses and a 10 or 11 day Mediterranean cruise (depending on date chosen), provided by Celebrity Cruises on Celebrity Equinox, departing from Rome and sailing to destinations in Italy, the Greek Islands and Turkey.

Auckland Airport Award for the Best Magazine Travel Story
The winner receives $2,000 cash.

Heritage Boutique Collection Award for the Best Newspaper Travel Story
The prize is five room night vouchers for a one bedroom deluxe suite or equivalent which can be redeemed across the stylish Heritage Boutique Collection throughout New Zealand.

Heritage Hotels Award for the Best Travel Story about New Zealand
The winner receives seven room nights with breakfast for two to stay at any one of the pre-eminent range of Heritage or CityLife hotels located throughout New Zealand.

Interislander Award for the Best Story about a Journey
The winner receives a return crossing on the Interislander for a car and two passengers (including driver), and $1,000. This is not a destination piece, but a story of a journey describing experiences and sights seen while travelling.

British High Commission and Tourism Ireland Award for the Best Travel Story about Britain and/or Ireland
The winner may choose stunning collection pieces from Waterford Wedgewood worth $1,000, plus $1,000 cash.

NZ Maori Tourism Award for the Best Travel Story about a Maori Tourism Experience
The winner receives $2,000 cash.

The Rhys Brookbanks memorial award
The winner receives $1,000 cash for the best travel story published about Canterbury, or highlighting Christchurch as a gateway to South Island travel. The aim of this one-off award is to support in the rebuilding of tourism in the region.

AA Directions New Travel Writer of the Year Award
The winner receives $1,000 cash.

Travcom Travel book of the year
The winner receives marketing rights to publicise itself as the winner of this category.

For the Photography awards and more information click here.

How to enter
Download entry forms for the Cathay Pacific Travel Media Awards directly from www.travelcommunicators.co.nz, or to receive entry forms by email or post contact helen.davies@clear.net.nz.

Please note that separate entry forms are required for the AA Directions Magazine new travel writer of the year award and the Travcom travel book of the year award.

Entry deadlines
16 December 2011: travel book award entry deadline
3 February 2012: photography and writing entry deadline
11 February 2012: AA Directions New Travel Writer entry deadline

Courtesy of Beattie's Book Blog.

JAAM 29 celebrates the Pacific: “this vast region we slosh about in”.

When award-winning writer Anne Kennedy agreed to guest edit the 29th issue of JAAM, she knew she wanted it to reflect New Zealand’s position as a country in the Pacific, and connections with the Pacific.

She says: “After living in Hawai`i for seven of the last eight years, I see Aotearoa as part of the Pacific in a way I didn’t appreciate before. Yes, I always knew what our lat. and long. were – but our similarities, our instabilities, our connections brought about by travel across this ocean, are clearer to me now.”

“So I am delighted that JAAM 29 has a range, not only across genre, with poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and including established and new writers, but across the expanse of this vast region we slosh about in. JAAM 29 showcases writers, visual artists – and even a composer – from Aotearoa, Hawai`i, Australia and California, with connections to Samoa, Tonga and the Philippines. This mix is inherently eclectic in aesthetic, in ideas and in Englishes.”

Over the last year New Zealand has been changed by the devastating earthquakes in Canterbury, and because of this the issue opens with a number of pieces by Christchurch writers who “bear testament to the solidarity, bravery, and artistic spirit of the people of that city”. They include a poem by Fiona Farrell about trying to deal with one of the many issues caused by the quakes – a leaking roof. Tusiata Avia’s series of poems about the quake includes the arresting ‘Finding Sepela: 22 February,’ which recreates her anxious journey to find her three-year-old daughter: “There are giant worms/ under the ground/ as big as Cairo/ they eat the fish and chip shop”.

Kennedy has drawn together work by many of New Zealand’s most-celebrated writers, including Albert Wendt, Elizabeth Smither, Murray Edmond and Michele Leggott. And alongside them is work by many new and up-and-coming writers, such as Lynn Jenner, winner of the 2010 best first book of poetry, and Selina Tusitala Marsh, who won the same award the year before.

The cover features a striking photogram from a sequence of portraits by Auckland photographer Jocelyn Carlin – six more from the series are reproduced inside. Drawings by Ya-Wen Ho are accompanied by poems by Renee Liang and illustrate ‘The Seven Sisters of Industry’, a Chinese name for Matariki or The Pleiades. And, in a first for JAAM, a page of a handwritten music manuscript by celebrated composer John Psathas is reproduced.

Kennedy, who now teaches creative writing, had originally studied music. Her own writing spans many forms – she’s published poetry, short fiction, novels and a novella, and has written for film. Her poetry book Sing-Song won the Montana Award for Poetry in 2004.

JAAM is published by the independent JAAM Collective based in Wellington, and is supported by funding from Creative New Zealand.

JAAM is available from good bookshops or by subscription. For subscription information, visit http://jaam.wordpress.com/subscribe/

A stellar line-up including a dame, a leading actor and an award-winning writer will tell their Christmas tales at the Book Council’s True Stories Told Live fundraiser event in Wellington.

The Book Council’s True Stories Told Live events have been exhilarating and entertaining sell-out audiences for the past two years. Now, Christmas and book lovers can rejoice as the first-ever Christmas True Stories event kicks off the literary festive season on December 8.

Dame Fiona Kidman, Miranda Harcourt, Fleur Beale, Catherine Robertson, Fifi Colston and two other special guests will have ten minutes each to speak on the theme ‘Twas the Night before Christmas. No notes. No readings. No questions. Just true stories that promise to inspire, entrance and entertain.

'At True Stories Told Live, the story must have a beginning, middle and an end, and it must be true, but that’s all’, says the Book Council’s Susanna Andrew.

Andrew says that past True Stories events prove that something happens in the exchange of a story. ‘What makes these events so special is not just the confessional quality of the performance. It's also the suspension of judgement that's required, a critical faculty we would normally employ, consciously or not, when we embark on a novel, start a film, or sit down in the theatre.’

Book Council CEO Noel Murphy says he is excited to have some of the biggest names in New Zealand come out to raise money for Writers in Schools. ‘From the Nativity Story to A Christmas Carol, Christmas is a time that brings out the best in storytellers. We are looking forward to hearing the Christmas tales of our varied storytellers.’

The event at Meow Café on Edward St will raise funds for the Book Council’s Writers in Schools programme, which has been bringing books, authors and children together since 1973. Come along and have a drink with us and listen to our storytellers while helping us to create happy young readers.

END

True Stories Told Live – ‘Twas the Night before Christmas
Where: Meow Café, 9 Edward St, Wellington
When: DECEMBER 8th, Starts 6.15pm (parking on Victoria St is free after 6pm!)
Tickets: $20.00 or $15.00 for NZBC members, on the door or online here

For all media and further information please contact:
Sarah Forster or Noel Murphy
education@bookcouncil.org.nz or noel@bookcouncil.org.nz
PH: 04 801 5546

Images: Elizabeth Knox waxes lyrical at the last Wellington True Stories event, and the audience watches in quiet awe. Both copyright Alan Knowles

Further Information

Storytellers

Dame Fiona Kidman is a leading New Zealand novelist. She has won numerous awards and been the recipient of fellowships, grants and other significant honours, as well as being a consistent advocate for New Zealand writers and literature. She is the President of Honour for the New Zealand Book Council, and has been awarded an OBE and a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to literature.

Miranda Harcourt is a well-known theatre and screen actor, director and acting coach. She has appeared in Gloss, Topless Women Talk about Their Lives and Toi Whakaari’s behind the scenes TV series Tough Act. In 2002 Harcourt was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for her services to the theatre and the community.

Fleur Beale is an award-winning children and young adult writer of more than thirty books. She most recently won the 2011 New Zealand Post Children’s Young Adult Book award for Fierce September.

Catherine Robinson’s debut chick-lit novel, The Sweet Second Life of Darrell Kincaid, topped the New Zealand Bestsellers list. Kerry Woodham reviewed Darrell Kincaid on TVNZ’s Good Morning as ‘better than Marian Keyes’.

Fifi Colston has illustrated over twenty-five books, and is the author of three junior fiction novels. She is also a poet, TV presenter and occasional columnist. She currently presents the arts and crafts section on TVNZ’s Good Morning.
 

The 200th anniversary of the birth of William Colenso last week was marked by five days and nights of events. The programme included the official bicentenary launch, two-day conference; the launch of The Hungry Heart, Journeys with William Colenso by author Peter Wells, Choral Evensong, a special Sunday Service at the Waiapu Cathedral. Other events included a pilgrimage to significant Colenso sites in Napier, a tramp to the foot of Colenso Spur in the Ruahines and an exhibition, floor talk and workshop by Hawke’s Bay botanical artist Terrie Reddish at the Hastings City Art Gallery. For the ‘Colensophiles’ that gathered in Hawke’s Bay - including many of William Colenso’s descendants - the bicentenary was an exhilarating few days of impassioned discussion and dissection of all things Colenso.

The unveiling of a new portrait of William Colenso by Gavin Hurley was the highlight of the launch party, with the Hon Chris Finlayson, Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage, acknowledging the contribution of Colenso not only to Hawke’s Bay, but also New Zealand and the British Empire.

The two day conference attracted a superb range of speakers, including an evocative opening keynote paper by author Peter Wells, enveloping us in Colenso’s world, and allowing a glimpse inside his personal journey with the man while writing his new book, The Hungry Heart. While Jim Endersby, the conference’s second keynote speaker, was not able to attend in person, his paper on the relationship between Colenso and Joseph Hooker, Director of Britain’s national botanic gardens at Kew, was presented by video link to a captivated audience of more than 90 delegates.

A highlight of the celebrations was the bringing together of many of William Colenso’s descendants. Family travelled from as far afield as Penzance in the United Kingdom (Colenso’s home town), Australia and Canada, with the youngest generation of descendents – Alex and Leah Bell, twins in their early teens - travelling from Waitomo to learn more about their fourth Great Grandfather.

The launch of a bold new book, The Hungry Heart, Journeys with William Colenso, by Napier author Peter Wells was a defining moment of the celebrations. As the first new publication devoted to Colenso since the 1948 Bagnall and Petersen biography, it provides a remarkable new perspective on William Colenso. Part biography, autobiography, travelogue, historical study and social critique, Francis McWhannell of Bethune’s in launching The Hungry Heart called it “eminently, delightfully readable”.

Wells writes of his five year journey with Colenso with such elegance and passion, the book is a must read for anyone with an interest in the story of our country.

The Colenso Pilgrimage took over 50 people on a journey to sites of significance in Colenso’s life in Hawke’s Bay, first visiting Waitangi, near Clive, the site of Colenso’s mission house and first home on arriving in Hawke’s Bay in 1844. Next, the group travelled on to Napier’s Botanical Gardens to discover the importance of the site in the national and international botanical networks of the 19th Century. This lead to the exploration of Colenso cottage, Colenso’s second Hawke’s Bay home on Hospital Hill and, finally, to his grave in the Napier Hill Cemetery.

The grave, now gleaming white - thanks to Mayor Barbara Arnott arranging for it to be cleaned in time for the bicentenary - was a fitting place to end the pilgrimage and remember Colenso’s connection to Hawke’s Bay, a place he loved and lived in for most of his life. 18 intrepid adventurers also embarked on a day tramp (which included over 20 river crossings) in the Ruahine Ranges to the Colenso Cairn at the foot of Colenso Spur. The Cairn marks the route of Colenso’s first crossing of the Ruahines in 1845.

The public were also treated to a traditional Choral Evensong and Choral Eucharist at the Waiapu Cathedral – services similar to those Colenso would have experienced in his lifetime. The beautiful voices of the Cathedral choir helped create two very moving occasions.

I think there was something for everyone and William would have been very pleased, if not a little taken aback by the enthusiastic discussion and acknowledgment of so many people, in so many different ways captivated by the man, his life and times.
~ Pam Joyce, Marketing Team Leader

The Hawke’s Bay Museums Trust holds the most significant collection of objects and archives relating to William Colenso in New Zealand. As part of the bicentenary, two significant collections were gifted to the trust. The first is a selection of what are thought to be among the earliest letters written by children in New Zealand. The five letters, written to William by his children Fanny and Latimer were generously donated by Christopher Parr during the conference. Neville Smith donated two composing sticks used in letterpress printing and typesetting, which are believed to have been used by William Colenso.

Due to popular demand we are pleased to announce Peter Wells will be delivering his keynote paper again, at a public lecture in March 2012 date to be announced. We also hope to run another Colenso pilgrimage in 2012. Keep an eye out on the www.hbmag.co.nz website for more information about these two events.

A talented group of writers will take up residencies at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in Devonport next year.

The centre received applications from nearly 70 writers for its residency programme in 2012. Three eight-week residencies were offered, together with one six-month residency run in partnership with The University of Auckland.

Whiti Hereaka, a Wellington playwright, novelist and screenwriter, who has been admitted to the High Court as barrister and solicitor and works for the Ministry of Culture and Heritage in her day job, has been selected for the Summer Residency starting in January. She plans to write a play about making rewena, exploring the idea of hospitality, of Maori and Pakeha “breaking bread” and how breadmaking is a part of colonial history that has been embraced by Maoridom.

Whiti’s first novel, The Graphologist’s Apprentice, was shortlised for the Commonwealth Writers First Book awards this year and she has won several awards for her plays.

Well-known Lower Hutt author, Chris Else, has been awarded the Autumn Residency to work on a major new novel which explores how society began to change in the 1960s and 1970s. Chris has had eight books published, has contributed to numerous anthologies and magazines, and written for screen and stage. He has won numerous awards and is currently chairman of Copyright Licensing Ltd.

Te Awhina Arahanga from Christchurch has been awarded the Maori Writer’s Residency in May to work on a collection of short stories. She has extensive experience as a writer and researcher of historical, heritage, natural history and Te Ao Maori. She is currently working on a social history about fish and chips and the new Kaikoura Museum, which is due to open toward the end of 2012. She holds a Ministerial appointment to the Aoraki Conservation Board.

Each residency, offered with support from Creative New Zealand, is for eight weeks. The writers have free accommodation and working space at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in Devonport, and receive an $8,000 stipend. The aim of the residencies is to support New Zealand writers and to promote New Zealand literature by providing an opportunity for the writers to work full-time on a major project. Eleanor Catton from Christchurch has been awarded a six-month residency from July 2012, which is offered in partnership with The University of Auckland.

A delightful story by Wellington based Singaporean/Chinese writer Rosabel Tan took first prize at the inaugural NZSA Asian Short Story Award ceremony in Auckland on Friday evening. Paper Butterflies won the first prize of $3,000 which was kindly sponsored by Creative New Zealand.

A pleasing 42 entries were received and overall the judges were delighted with the quality. “The majority of stories showed understanding of the fundamentals of good writing, compelling storytelling and character development” commented Renee Laing. “Many of these stories, with good editing, could be submitted for further competitions/publication.”

“It was especially wonderful to see the broad representation of stories and characters from South Asia, South East Asia and North East Asia. Overall, we enjoyed a rich collection of stories – many centred on NZ with strong themes of finding identity, coming to terms with family relationships, adapting to a new country, leaving an old country, or realizing a change in society, country or self."

Second place was awarded to Angelique Kasmara for her story Asians with Perms. Angelique received a cheque for $1,000. Equal third was given to Lee Murray for The Red Cardigan and Latika Vasil for her story, Open Home. The four stories are available on www.authors.org.nz.

The judging panel comprised Renee Laing, Sue Gee and Steven Eldred-Grigg.

Two 2012 NZSA Mentor Programmes are now open for applications.

NZSA Mentor Programme 2012

The NZSA’s Mentor Programme is calling for applications! This highly successful programme is available only to members of the NZSA and offers new authors the opportunity to spend 20 hours working alongside some of New Zealand’s best-known authors.

Previous NZSA surveys indicate that the majority of mentees achieve the goals they set at the beginning of their mentorship, whether it was completing a first draft or having work accepted for publication. If you are serious about your writing career, need feedback and coaching, this programme is for you.

Application forms can be downloaded from our website: www.authors.org.nz
Alternatively, contact the NZSA national office at programmes@nzauthors.org.nz or send a SAE to
Programme Manager
PO Box 7701
Wellesley Street
Auckland 1141

Please note, the 2012 deadline for applications is different to previous years.
Deadline for applications: 5pm Monday 27 February.
Funded by Creative New Zealand.

NZSA Youth Mentor Programme 2012

The NZ Society of Authors is calling for applications for a mentoring programme aimed at encouraging senior creative writing students. There are 3 places available to Year 11, 12 and 13 students nationwide. Each of the successful students will work alongside one of New Zealand’s best-known authors in a 10 hour mentorship during Terms 2 and 3. This is an exciting opportunity for young writers to work with an experienced writing mentor and hone their skills.

The programme is based on the NZSA’s successful mentoring programme which has been running since 1999. For more information and application form contact programmes@nzauthors.org.nz or download form from our website: www.authors.org.nz

Deadline: 5pm, 2nd April 2012
Funded by Creative New Zealand.

Publishers put their best educational books forward for the CLL Educational Publishing Awards presented on 17 November in Auckland.

Topics covered everything from HR, accounting, foodservice, English, mathematics, science, and history – one presented as a graphic novel – over the three book awards for Higher Education, Secondary and Primary sectors. In keeping with the growing importance of the area, a Digital Publishing award was also made.

This is the second year of the Copyright Licensing Ltd sponsored awards for which the winning publishers in each section received a $5,000 cheque.

Gillian Candler, convener of the CLL Educational Awards judging panel, said that the judges were impressed with the wide range of topics provided by New Zealand publishers to schools and tertiary education institutes and the high standard of design and content of books and resources. Candler, an education and publishing consultant was joined on the panel by Libby Limbrick, Faculty of Education, University of Auckland and David Greeney, former academic textbook manager at Lexis Nexis.

“The x factors that helped titles make the shortlist included exemplary pedagogical approaches and important New Zealand content presented in accessible and inspiring ways,” said Gillian Candler. “The winners combined these factors with excellent instructional design, illustrative flair, and ease of use.”

Best Book in Higher Education Winner
Contested Ground Te Whenua I Tohea: The Taranaki Wars 1860–1881 ed. Kelvin Day, published by Huia Publishers. “A valuable text that makes good use of original material, draws together experts, presents fresh insight,” said the judges.

Best Book or Series in Secondary Education Winner
Gamma Mathematics: NCEA Level 1 by David Barton, published by Pearson. “A good use of colour and layout along with clear explanations and New Zealand examples make this text appealing to students.”

Best Book or Series in Primary Education Winner
School Journal Part 4 Number 3 2010 and Part 3 Number 3 2010 ed. Susan Paris, published by Learning Media. “These two issues of the School Journal are dedicated to the Moriori people… a significant contribution to our knowledge and understanding of an important group of New Zealanders.”

Best Digital Publishing Solution
Sails Shared Interactive published by Pearson. “Engaging and easy to use, a product which will be loved by both students and teachers.”

The judges also gave Highly Commended Awards in three categories:

Higher Education Highly Commended: Teaching Primary School Mathematics and Statistics: Evidence-Based Practice ed. Robin Averill and Roger Harvey, published by NZCER Press

Secondary Education Highly Commended: Ngarimu: Te Tohu Toa by Kawata Teepa, published by Huia Publishers

Primary Education Highly Commended: Hina ed. Hana Pomare, published by Hana Limited

The CLL Educational Publishing Awards acknowledge excellence in presentation, content and appropriateness for New Zealand schools and tertiary institutions.

The judges further commented, “There is a good range of publications which have not just a New Zealand flavour but strong New Zealand content that helps students and teachers develop deeper knowledge and understanding of important topics for our nation.”

The two winning entries in the Royal Society of New Zealand Manhire Prize for Creative Writing were announced on Wednesday night with Bridget Stocker from Wellington being awarded the fiction prize and Joanna Wojnar from Auckland winning the non-fiction category.

They were each presented with $2500 at the New Zealand Research Honours event hosted by the Royal Society of New Zealand at Te Papa in Wellington. Their winning entries will be published in the Listener.

The theme of this year’s competition was ‘Chemical World’ and was chosen to coincide with the 2011 International Year of Chemistry. Entrants took their inspiration from the Vincent O’Sullivan quote “I unhem creation a little, to work out the stitch”.

Both winning writers are chemists and have PhDs, with Dr Bridget Stocker working at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in Wellington and Dr Joanna Wojnar at The University of Auckland.

Stocker’s winning fiction piece, Radium – A Love Story, is about world famous chemist Marie Curie and told from her point of view. About her story Stocker says: “I felt compelled to write this story given that I’d taken part in the Marie Curie lecture series by the Royal Society of New Zealand, and then been featured on the cover of a chemistry magazine celebrating the life of Marie Curie. That said, I almost didn’t enter because I was running out of time, but I’m glad that I did!”

In the non-fiction category Wojnar’s winning piece is entitled 100% Chemical Free and is about the misuse of the term ‘chemical free’. In it she asks the question ‘When exactly did chemistry become synonymous with poison, and chemical with toxic?’

Wojnar says: “My writing so far has been solely scientific publications in my field. The competition entry therefore was a change in pace for me, but it was quite fun to write as it’s one of my pet peeves. The other one is the misuse of the word ‘organic’, but that’s the topic of another article!”

The Manhire Prize for Creative Science Writing is an annual competition organised by the Royal Society of New Zealand in association with the New Zealand Listener magazine and the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington, headed by Professor Bill Manhire.

The judge, Jo Randerson, is a Wellington-based writer, theatre maker and cross media artist.

The two winning entries will be published in the New Zealand Listener and are currently on the Royal Society of New Zealand’s website together with all 21 shortlisted entries: at www.royalsociety.org.nz

Read the winning entries at http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/competitions/manhire-prize/2011/

Here are Jo Randerson’s comments on the entries submitted and the winners:

Fiction category, winning entry is “Radium – A Love Story” by Bridget Stocker

“There was a clear thematic to this year’s fiction entries, and it stems from the evocative terminology which colours the world of chemistry. Reactions, bonds, lone pairs – many of the stories were based around relationships, which is totally in keeping with the chemist’s theme. How does this element relate to that one? Does it attract, repel, share electrons or fall into a stable or unstable structure? It was a stable structure that I looked for amongst the contenders for the prize. There were some lovely ideas and concepts in the shortlist, but with short fiction we need to feel a well-shaped ride.

“The winning entry took a direct approach by setting itself right in the heart of Curie’s world, and impressed with its simplicity and poetry. It took me to a new world which is now a permanent part of my consciousness.”

Non-fiction category, winning entry is “100% Chemical Free” by Joanna Wojnar

“As for the non-fiction, again there were some strong entries. Above all, I sought a cohesive argument and writing that flowed easily from idea to idea, as well as thorough and notated research.

“The winning essay has the clearest and most interesting argument – that the terms ‘natural’ and ‘chemical’ have become un-necessarily polarised. It’s a relevant and timely thesis to consider, it speaks to the world we are familiar with, it is a defender of chemistry. The writing is strongly voiced and conveys its points easily and convincingly.”

Courtesy of The Royal Society of New Zealand.

Jim Flynn, author of the best-selling book The Torchlight List and a recognised international expert on intelligence and IQ, has won a top new award. The Royal Society of New Zealand presented Professor Flynn with its inaugural Humanities Aronui Medal at the society's Research Honours dinner on Wednesday, November 16.

The University of Otago professor was cited for his work in political philosophy, particularly his world-renowned research on IQ that led to his discovery of what has become known as the 'Flynn Effect', the phenomenon of IQ scores increasing over time in many countries.

'Professor Flynn's finding has had far-reaching implications and continues to be one of the most highly cited discoveries to originate from New Zealand in the twentieth century,' the Royal Society said.

While Flynn (right) has written many academic books The Torchlight List was his first for the general reader. Published by Awa Press, it has been widely praised for regenerating interest in the educative power of reading great works of literature.

A runaway success when it was released last year, it has since been reprinted several times. A number of secondary schools have adopted it as a way of inspiring its students to read more widely.

The book's sequel, Fate and Philosophy, a beginner's guide to understanding moral issues and why individuals make the choices they do, is to be published by Awa Press early in 2012.

Courtesy of Beatties Book Blog.

A few weeks remain for writers to enter the new Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize. The prizes are part of a new initiative, Commonwealth Writers, an online hub to inspire, inform and create a community of writers from all over the world. Together with the prizes, Commonwealth Writers unearths, develops and promotes the best new fiction from across the Commonwealth.

Commonwealth Short Story Prize: Wednesday 30 November 2011 (5pm GMT)
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction in English (2000-5000 words). Regional winners receive £1,000 and the overall winner receives £5,000.

Commonwealth Book Prize: Friday 9 December 2011 (5pm GMT)
Awarded for best first book, the Commonwealth Book Prize is open to writers who have had their first novel (full length work of fiction in English) published between 1 January and 31 December 2011. Regional winners receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives £10,000.

Enter online at www.commonwealthwriters.org.

A rising star of New Zealand fiction writing whose first novel had a big international impact has been awarded a six-month residency in Auckland in 2012.

Eleanor Catton’s first novel The Rehearsal was released in New Zealand and the United Kingdom in 2008-09, and translation rights have been sold in 12 languages. It won multiple New Zealand and international awards, including the Amazon.ca Best First Book Award (2011). It was on the longlist for the Orange Prize and for the International Dublin Writer’s Award, and on the shortlist for the Guardian First Book Award and the Dylan Thomas Award.

Eleanor Catton won the 2007 Sunday Star-Times short story competition and then two fellowships at the prestigious University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop (2008 to 2010). She has appeared at numerous writers’ festivals around the world. She currently holds the Ursula Bethell Residency at the University of Canterbury.

Eleanor has been awarded the six-month University of Auckland residency at the Michael King Writers’ Centre, which runs from July 2012. She plans to work on a quartet of novels for young adults, which will read as “fantastical thrillers”. They will be based on the seventeenth century Enlightenment, conceiving that period in Western history as the death of magic and the beginning of a new world order, a transition from a feudal worldview into a more democratic one.

The residency is a partnership among The University of Auckland, Creative New Zealand and the Michael King Writers’ Centre. It aims to foster New Zealand writing by providing an opportunity for an author to work full-time on a major project in an academic environment. The residency comes with a $30,000 stipend, together with free accommodation and a studio working space at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in Devonport, Auckland.

The Michael King Writers’ Centre will host three more residencies, each of eight weeks, next year. An announcement about these residencies will be made soon.

For further information contact:
Karren Beanland, Michael King Writers’ Centre
Ph/fax: (09) 445 8451, 021 496 488, administrator@writerscentre.org.nz

Danelle Clayton, Communications Adviser to the Faculty of Arts
Ph +64 9 923 7383 or 021 416 396 d.clayton@auckland.ac.nz

The annual literary journal 4th Floor is releasing its 2011 edition along with an ebook anthology of writing from the first six years of the journal. Both will be celebrated with a live event on 20 November in Wellington.

4th Floor is the literary journal of Whitireia New Zealand’s writing programme, and is published online each year. This year, however, some of the writers are bringing it live to their audience with music, poetry and prose in performance at The Ballroom Café in Newtown, Wellington on Sunday 20 November.

The event, which begins with an open mic, will feature music by the publications’ editor, poet and musician Hinemoana Baker, and readings by local writers James Brown, Adrienne Jansen, Natasha Dennerstein and Rob Hack among others.

“I’m thrilled to be releasing 4th Floor with this big, busy live event this year,” says Baker. “The celebration is a great way to bring these e-publications - which are less tangible than print books - into the writing community.”

4th Floor publishes poems and prose by students and mentors of the Whitireia writing programme.

Baker has edited the literary journal for four years and says it’s the diversity she enjoys most about the publication. That diversity was apparent again when selecting the work for the retrospective anthology and this year’s edition.

“There’s definitely a lively frisson when these works are gathered together. Everything from pig-hunting to Elvis Presley. It’s a vibrant and wonderful mix,” says Baker.

Both 4th Floor and 4th Floor Since ’05 are collaborations between the writing and publishing programmes at Whitireia New Zealand. All the technical and production work for the ebook and website is undertaken by publishing students completing their year-long course in book publishing.

4th Floor 2011 is now live at: www.whitireia.ac.nz/4thfloor/ The ebook 4th Floor Since ’05 is available as a free download from 21 November at:

www.whitireia.ac.nz/4thfloor/ebook.html

The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc.) is delighted to announce that Waikato based fiction writer Catherine Chidgey is the recipient of the 2012 NZSA Beatson Fellowship.

The Beatson Fellowship is an annual award that has been offered since 2002 and is generously sponsored by Peter and Dianne Beatson of Palmerston North. This year Catherine receives a stipend of $7,000 and the option of a months stay at the Beatson`s Foxton Beach House.

“I am thrilled to be the holder of the 2012 NZSA Beatson Fellowship” said Catherine “Of course I am grateful for the financial support, but also for the blessing of a quiet space in which to work, free from distractions of everyday life. I look forward to devoting myself to my writing in Foxton, and I thank the Beatsons for their generosity.”

The Top of the South branch of the NZSA made the final decision this year. The committee felt that Catherine’s application fitted the criteria both in content, style and writing quality and also as a commercially viable work of national significance. “In fact we are all waiting impatiently for the release of her novel so we can read the res of it!” said selection panel convenor Jeanette Cook.

Previous recipients of the award have included Chris Else, Marilyn Duckworth and Carl Nixon.

Courtesy of NZSA e-newsletter.

Do you think you, or the communities you represent and work with, should have to pay to use their local public library?

No? Neither do we. And you can help us to keep public libraries free for everyone.

We are running the “Keep Public Libraries Free” Campaign to lobby the New Zealand Government to introduce legislation to protect public libraries. Libraries should be free to the whole community and without legislation in place there is a real danger local authorities will impose charges for basic library services in this tight economic climate.

LIANZA is asking for your support because we believe your organisation holds similar core values and interests to us: a commitment to human rights, literacy, and education as well as progression for everyone, regardless of their background or financial situation. Organisations such as yours are uniquely placed in their communities to make people aware of, and to encourage participation in, this campaign. You can also help us to make MPs and electoral candidates aware of how high levels of public support are for this.

How you can help

· Write to your local MP or General Election 2011 Electoral Candidate. You can either use our template letter, available via the LIANZA web page:
http://www.lianza.org.nz/help-keep-public-libraries-free#write
· Or even better, write a personal letter - explain what impact library charges will have on your specific interest group as well as you, your family and your local community.
· Use your personal, work and community contacts to encourage as many people and community organisations as possible to do the same.
· Demonstrate your support by agreeing to feature your logo and an optional supportive comment on our ‘Campaign Supporters Page’ webpage. This will help to illustrate the breadth and significance of community support for this important concern.

Why now?

The lead up to the General Election 2011 on 26th November provides an ideal opportunity to raise the profile of this crucial issue.

Many public libraries throughout New Zealand are finding themselves in challenging circumstances, with councils wanting to impose charges on free core services such as book borrowing. These and other cost-saving measures are being proposed at a number of local authorities as the squeeze goes on to reduce costs and increase revenue. Community response so far has been critical to ensuring that proposals have been either withdrawn or scaled back.

In 2009, over 100,000 “New Zealanders Love Libraries” postcards urging politicians to define public libraries as a core local authority service were sent to Parliament by public library supporters throughout New Zealand. As a direct result of this action, Public Libraries are now defined as a core service in the Local Government Act 2002. This positive outcome illustrates how public opinion can influence legislation. It is time to take the next step and lobby to get free public libraries protected by legislation as they are in countries like Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

What is LIANZA?
LIANZA is the Library and Information Association of Aotearoa New Zealand - the professional organisation for the New Zealand library and information management profession. Our membership comprises of professional staff in every library sector including public, tertiary, business, health & medical, law, central government, school and theological libraries.

Additional information about the campaign is available on the LIANZA website:
http://www.lianza.org.nz/news-events/keep-public-libraries-free

Public Libraries have huge support in New Zealand with over 37.5 million visits last year - let’s make sure that politicians get the message to Keep Public Libraries Free loud and clear!

Auckland GP Dr Robin Kelly has won Science Book of the Year at the 2011 USA Best Books Awards, for his third book The Human Hologram.

His second book also won Science Book of the Year in 2008. The winners of the awards, in its ninth year, were announced by USABookNews.com, an online magazine and review website for publishing houses.

Jeffrey Keen, president and CEO of USA Book News, said in a statement that this year's contest yielded an unprecedented number of entries. “The 2011 results represent a phenomenal mix of books from a wide array of publishers throughout the United States.”

Other winners included Anne Geddes for Beginnings (photography and e books non-fiction), Anthony Menginie and Kerrie Droban for Prodigal Father Pagan Son (autobiography/memoirs), Kitty Kelley for Oprah: A Biography (biography), and Jane Kirkpatrick for The Daughter's Walk (general fiction).

Dr Kelly says his book explores “fairly mind-stretching scientific theories. For example, are there other realities or dimensions beyond those we perceive with our five senses? Are we holographic beings in a holographic universe? And if all this is so, what does this mean for our health and our future in general? ”

The Human Hologram is written in an easy-to-read style for the general public, with many stories and case studies from Dr Kelly’s 30 years in general practice on Auckland’s North Shore.

Courtesy of Scoop.

It is a milestone year for Ngā Kupu Ora 2011, the third Māori Book Awards. For the first time the awards will celebrate a winner for fiction, and a book written completely in te reo has taken out the Te Reo Māori category.

Tina Makereti has won the first-ever Fiction award for Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa, a book of short stories that puts traditional Māori myths and legends into a contemporary context. Makereti is thrilled to be recognised for her first book.

“I’m really excited because, in New Zealand, there are very limited ways for fiction to get recognised,” she says. “And you can’t underestimate the value an award can bring in the world of publishing.”

Awards judge and Massey University senior lecturer Spencer Lilley says it was particularly satisfying to have a Fiction category because, in previous years, there had been a shortage of Māori fiction published for sophisticated readers.

“Previously prolific authors like Patricia Grace have not published adult fiction in recent years,” says Lilley. “So it was especially pleasing to not only have a Fiction category for the first time, but to also find there were young, first-time writers producing work of a high quality.”

The calibre of this year’s te reo Māori finalists also impressed the judges. 2011 is the first year that the winning book has been written completely in te reo, reflecting the growing diversity of books published in the Māori language. The Te Reo Māori category also produced the competition’s first e-book finalist.

Chris Winitana won the Te Reo Māori award for Tōku reo, Tōku Ohooho (My Language, My Inspiration), a book about the revitalisation of the Māori language that has also been published in English.

“Many Ngā Kupu Ora award winners are established Māori literary academics,” says Winitana. “I don’t have any sort of degree so I’m tickled pink to be in such esteemed company. It’s a great honour and I hope it opens up the possibility in the minds of other writers who have a passion for their particular subject.”

Three further books were also recognised by the judging panel. The head of Massey University’s School of Māori Studies, Robert Jahnke, won the Arts category with Tirohanga o Mua: Looking Back; the Biography award was won by Joseph Pere for Wiremu Pere; and Te Taiao: Māori and the Natural World, published by Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, won the Non-Fiction award.

The judges congratulated the 2011 winners on the quality of their work, and for their contribution to Māori knowledge. “In addition to excellent content and production, each of the winning books advanced our knowledge and understanding in new and different ways,” they said in their judge’s statement.

This year’s ceremony will also include a special award for Mana Magazine, which published its 100th issue in May 2011. The award is to acknowledge Mana’s role in encouraging Māori literature, and to celebrate a milestone in Māori publishing.

Mana editor Derek Fox says he was very surprised, but proud, that Massey had decided to honour his magazine. He also sees parallels between the objectives of the Ngā Kupu Ora Awards and his own publication.

“I've long felt that Māori need to celebrate our efforts and successes,” he explains, “and, to a large degree, Mana does that by telling Māori success stories that may not appear elsewhere.”

The Ngā Kupu Ora Māori Book Awards were established in 2009 by Massey University to mark Māori Language Week and to celebrate and encourage excellence in Māori publishing. At that time, it was felt that Māori books were being overlooked by mainstream competitions.

Internationally-recognised author Patricia Grace, who won the Biography category for her first work of non-fiction at last year’s Ngā Kupu Ora Awards, says: “This wonderful initiative by Massey University in creating book awards for Māori writers gives an opportunity for recognition not always available in general awards.”

The awards are named after the library collection of Māori resources established by Massey University in 2005. Ngā Kupu Ora translates as ‘the living words’.

The awards for this year’s winners will be presented on November 29, 2011 at a ceremony at Te Pūtahi-a-toi, Massey University’s School of Māori Studies in Palmerston North.

Courtesy of Massey University.

Caselberg Trust International Poetry Prize 2012
Judge: James Brown

First Prize $500, second Prize $250
Plus five highly-commended (no monetary prizes)
Entry fee: $5 for one poem, $10 for up to three poems
Entries close 31 December 2011

The first- and second-placed poems will be published
in Landfall, May 2012

For Conditions and Entry Form, go to www.caselbergtrust.org

Novels by New Zealand authors Patrick Evans, Laurence Fearnley, Kevin Ireland, Lloyd Jones, Carl Nixon and Tim Wilson are among 147 titles that have been nominated by libraries worldwide for the €100,000 International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award, the world’s most valuable annual literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English. The 2012 Award was launched on November 7, by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr. Andrew Montague, Patron of the Award, at a ceremony in The Dublin City Library & Archive.

Other novels nominated for the 2012 Award include A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Memory of Love by Animatta Forna, winner of the 2011 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize and Cool Water by Dianne Warren, winner of the Governor General’s Award for Fiction 2010.

The 147 eligible nominations come from 122 cities and 45 countries worldwide. 34 are titles in translation, spanning 18 languages and 31 are first novels. Among the 34 translated authors are; Isabel Allende, David Grossman, Daniel Kehlmann, Per Petterson and Bernhard Schlink.

Emma Donoghue’s Room received the greatest number of nominations from libraries worldwide for the 2012 award and with 20 nominations; Room is one of the most nominated titles, in the seventeen years since the Award began in 1996.

Expressing her delight that three Irish authors were selected by 23 libraries worldwide, Margaret Hayes, Dublin City Librarian, said that the Award is presented annually with the objective of promoting excellence in world literature. “The success of the three Irish authors in being nominated by so many libraries reinforces Dublin’s UNESCO City of Literature status and Emma Donoghue’s success in achieving 20 nominations from libraries worldwide, demonstrates once again, the international appeal of Irish writing.”

Lord Mayor, Andrew Montague urged Dubliners to borrow nominated novels from their local Dublin public library. “You will find books and authors, particularly those novels in translation that you might otherwise never come across and you can pick your own favourites, before I announce the winner on 13th June next year”, he said.

The 2012 Judging Panel comprises Irish author, Mike McCormack; Elizabeth Nunez, writer and academic from Trinidad & Tobago, based at Hunter College, New York; Tim Parks, British writer, translator and academic; Evelyn Schlag, Austrian poet and writer and Dubravka Ugresic, freelance writer based in Amsterdam. The Non-voting Chairperson is Eugene R. Sullivan.

The shortlist will be made public on 12th April 2012 and the Lord Mayor will announce the winner on 13th June.

Details courtesy of International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award. Full details can be viewed on www.impacdublinaward.ie

One of New Zealand’s best writers for young adults will be the 2012 Writer in Residence at Victoria University of Wellington.

Bernard Beckett is a children's writer and secondary school teacher, whose knowledge of teenage culture is reflected in his believable adolescent characters.

He has published 10 books, and won several awards for his fiction, including the Young Adult Fiction category of the 2005 New Zealand Post Book Awards and the 2005 Esther Glen Award at the LIANZA Children’s Book Awards. His novel Genesis, which won the Young Adult category in the 2007 New Zealand Post Book Awards, made publishing history when UK publisher Quercus Books offered the largest advance ever for a young adult novel in New Zealand.

During 2012, Beckett will work at the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria where he plans to concentrate on his latest novel Lullaby.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for me. Often, with the constraints of work and other bits and pieces, I find I’m unable to give my writing the focus it probably needs,” says Beckett.

Following the success of Genesis Beckett’s career is taking off in Australia and internationally, and he believes the residency will give him the opportunity to produce his best work yet.

“Lullaby has the potential to be that, so I’m very excited to have the space to be able to write.”

Institute Director, Professor Bill Manhire, says Beckett’s appointment is an exciting prospect.

“Young adult fiction is something that New Zealand writers have become especially good at, and Bernard Beckett is one of our leading lights. He’s a writer on the cusp of a brilliant international career, and we’re delighted that he’ll be spending the year with us.”

The Writer in Residence position is jointly funded by Victoria University and Creative New Zealand.

The 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival brings 24 extraordinary days of arts events to Wellington. With more than 300 incredible performances to savour, the Festival takes audiences from fairy tales to opera, from Shakespeare to salsa, from the Sahara Desert to a circus tent – and beyond.

One of the world’s great festival cities, around 300,000 festival-goers will converge on Wellington to enjoy the best music, theatre, dance, literature and visual arts from New Zealand and the world.

Wellington’s waterfront will be transformed for 2012, with a new Festival hub on the waterfront. Michel Tuffery’s vibrant multi-media artwork First Contact 2012 will turn Te Papa into a huge moving canvas every night at dusk; the Ronaldo circus dynasty’s vintage Big Top will be pitched on the foreshore; a giant acrobatic spectacle will bring crowds to Waitangi Park and our home-grown Spiegeltent, the TelstraClear Festival Club, will be set right in the heart of the action in Odlin’s Plaza, with acts including the Topp Twins and Finnish accordion rock star Kimmo Pohjonen.

“I am excited to launch the 2012 Festival programme,’’ says Artistic Director Lissa Twomey. “The 2012 Festival is full of exuberance, energy and physicality with performances to stir the heart and stimulate the senses. We welcome Festival favourites, including the National Theatre of Scotland with Beautiful Burnout (their Black Watch was a hit of the 2008 Festival). Renowned choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (Sutra) returns with his dazzling new work TeZukA, inspired by Japanese comic books. James Thiérrée (The Junebug Symphony, Bright Abyss) astounds in Raoul and Britain’s Kneehigh theatre company brings their delightful fairy tale, The Wild Bride. Transporting and fun – the 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival will bring audacious arts to Aoteoroa.’’

“The New Zealand work for 2012 is distinctively of and from Aotearoa,’’ Ms Twomey says. “The stand-out programme of Māori and Pacific Island work embraces the past while forging new and exciting futures. We are proud to present a brand-new opera Hōhepa, with NBR New Zealand Opera; other highlights include Lemi Ponifasio’s extraordinary dance work, Birds with Skymirrors; Patricia Grace’s award-winning novel Tu, brought to the stage by Hone Kouka, and The Conch’s Masi, a delightful Wellington cross-cultural love story, featuring special effects by Paul Kieve, magic adviser to the Harry Potter movies.”

There are nine world premieres for 2012. Also new are the Town Hall Gigs, including US indie sensations Bon Iver and a co-production with the Sydney Festival featuring five indigenous divas. Experience Shakespeare five ways with the Bard Wired series: performances include the UK’s acclaimed all-male Shakespeare company, Propeller. A Te Reo version of Troilus and Cressida premieres at the Festival before its season at London’s Globe Theatre. In an Irish Hamlet, a Great Dane threatens to steal the show. Downstage Solos celebrate this most demanding of art forms, including Taki Rua’s Michael James Manaia and Germany’s anti-gravity phenomenon, Leo.

Writers and Readers Week brings leading commentators and writers to Wellington from 9-14 March. Writer and academic Germaine Greer, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of our time; Australian environmentalist, scientist and author Tim Flannery; three-time Pulitzer-Prize winning author Thomas Friedman; Man Booker Prize-winner Alan Hollinghurst;

Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbø and New Zealand’s own Margaret Mahy are among the impressive international and national line-up.
Tickets for most shows start at $38-$48 and there are many free events and great value packages. “The 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival offers everything from Cantina, a sultry late-night circus for grown-ups, to White, an utterly charming theatre experience for the very young,’’ Ms Twomey says.

For festival highlights and more, go to www.festival.co.nz

More than a hundred young writers from across Auckland and Whangarei gathered at Starship Hospital today to officially launch their newly published book: Superhero Pukeko & 7 Winning Stories.

The compilation book of eight short stories written by children aged 5 to 12 years old, including illustrations by rugby’s Keven Mealamu, was published by real estate firm Barfoot & Thompson to raise funds for the Starship Foundation.

Peter Thompson, Managing Director of Barfoot & Thompson said he was delighted to see the theme of ‘heroes’ naturally develop as the book’s winning short stories came together.

“This theme is so fitting to the contributors and benefactors of this book. These students have achieved a heroic feat they can be very proud of, creating something that will help raise much needed funds to assist the young heroes battling in Starship’s wards every day.”

The overall winning story, ‘The Pukeko who wanted to be a Super-hero’, by Room 8 of St Heliers School, tells the great tale of a bird with a mistaken identity, on his search to find a licence to be a super hero. It is accompanied by seven other tales:

• Ararimu School, Ben Langheim of Room 1 – ‘A Brothers Battle’; a touching tale of a brother’s diagnosis with leukaemia.
• Birkdale Intermediate, Room 11 – ‘Déjà vu’; the unexplainable feeling one boy has in avoiding a car crash.
• Howick Intermediate, students from Room 20 – ‘A Paper’s Life Story’; the emotional ride one tree has on the way to becoming a book.
• Hurupaki School, Pod 7 – ‘Heroes of Antarctica – A Husky Tale’; the tough journey one husky handler and his dogs have on the way to Scott Base.
• Somerville Intermediate, Room 22 – ‘The Wolf That Got Punked’; the amusing and unexpected triumph one awkward donkey has over a hungry wolf.
• Victoria Ave Primary, Zoe Fong of Room 6 – ‘The Boy Who Danced’; the struggle of a boy’s choice between rugby and ballet.
• Willowbank Primary, Room 5 – ‘Never Judge a Book by its Cover’; the start of one Prince’s unusual quest to find love.

Every cent from book sales will be donated to the Starship Foundation, with funds supporting the purchase of brain monitoring equipment.

Today’s launch event was an opportunity for the young talents from across the region to come together and celebrate their success, as well as shake hands with a sporting hero, Keven Mealamu.

This is the fourth Barfoot & Thompson title Keven has illustrated for the company’s Young Authors Challenge in support of Starship.

This year’s book was more challenging than previous ones for Keven, with the need to develop a fresh style and new characters for each of the eight stories, and some images receiving finishing touches between big games in September and October.

A selection of the original artworks from this year’s book are available from today on auction website Trade Me, also benefiting Starship.

In addition to rubbing shoulders with a leading sportsman, the winning classes were also treated to writing workshops with established authors Paula Green and John Parker, who helped them refine their stories.

“The aim of the Young Authors Challenge is to support children’s love for reading and writing, whether they are in the classroom or the hospital,” says Mr Thompson.

“It’s a unique competition and feedback from teachers has been extremely positive, with more than 100 entries received this year. It is a fun project that also provides a real-life outcome, increasing students’ enthusiasm for the learning task at hand.

“We were humbled by the calibre of the entries, and it is our hope that the Young Authors Challenge and the resulting books continue to inspire students.”

The past three story books have helped Barfoot & Thompson raise a combined $80,000 for Starship. Through the Barfoot & Thompson Magic of Reading programme, copies of the books are also provided to Starship Children’s Hospital and Whangarei Hospital’s Children’s Ward where they are given to young patients to read and take home.

Superhero Pukeko & 7 Winning Stories is available from www.barfoot.co.nz and your local Barfoot & Thompson branch for $15.00. Eight of Keven’s original artworks have been launched on Trade Me and can be found by searching ‘signed Keven Mealamu illustration’ at www.trademe.co.nz

ENDS

Barfoot & Thompson knows Auckland best. It is the city’s leading real estate company, selling around one in three Auckland residential homes, significantly ahead of all other competitor brands. The Young Authors Challenge is part of the Barfoot & Thompson Magic of Reading programme, which is fully funded by the company. It sees thousands raised for the Starship Foundation and 15,000 books put in the hands of young patients each year.

Keven Mealamu is Barfoot & Thompson’s Sponsorship Ambassador. As well as being a talented rugby player, Keven is also a keen amateur artist. John Parker is one of New Zealand’s best known authors, having written nearly 130 books for children and teens. Paula Green is a highly regarded poet and writer, and began writing for children after being awarded the University of Auckland Literacy Fellowship in 2005.

 

Digital images from the launch and of the book are available on request. Please contact Jess Miller (details below) for these and for further interview opportunities.

For further information about the Magic of Reading Young Authors Challenge, contact Peter Thompson, Barfoot & Thompson, telephone 09 307 5523 or 027 453 5931. www.barfoot.co.nz

Who says boys don’t read? Greenhithe Primary School students Liam Clarke (7) and Keiran Lance (7) have translated a passion for great writing into award-winning book reviews. The two boys have come first and second respectively in their sections of the Scholastic Book Review Competition, while Greenhithe Primary School has won a school membership and author visit for 2012.

Another Greenhithe student, Drew Fletcher (11), also won her section of the competition with a sensitive review of Beyond Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys. She had been on tenterhooks, wondering how she had done in the competition, for which the intermediate section drew nearly 40 entries:

“When [teacher] Mrs Treeby said that I had won I was shocked, but excited, as I let my mind wonder what I had won. I enjoyed telling my parents because proud smiles spread across their faces which made me feel happy.”

The winner of the 13+ year section this month was Isobel Pepper (14) from Palmerston North Girls’ High School, with a review of Passion by Lauren Kate. Isobel had entered a 500-word review in the previous competition, which went over our word limit, but upon getting it down to size she won her section:

“I love reading the reviews and I get good book ideas from reading them. But writing a book review under 200 words is a challenge!”

The competition was initiated in 2010 by the Book Council, with Scholastic enthusiastically agreeing to come on board by providing brilliant book packs to the winner of each section of the competition – junior, intermediate and senior.

The students read action books, romance books, and even a couple of pony books. More than once, the judges have been sent scrambling to the computer when a review is so good that it sounds like it is the actual blurb from the book!

“So often we find ourselves so engaged by the review, that we have to seek out the book ourselves”, says Sarah Forster, Education Manager, and erstwhile head judge.

“We hope to see this competition continue to flourish in our member schools, and look forward to giving out a great many more school memberships and a great many more excellent Scholastic books.”

The next competition will be next year, closing on Monday 27 February. Get your students reading over the holidays and be in to win next year.

ENDS

For further information, contact Sarah Forster, New Zealand Book Council, Ph: (04) 801 5546, or education@bookcouncil.org.nz

The 2012 poetry competition will be judged by Kay McKenzie Cooke

1st prize: $175 2nd prize: $125 3rd prize: $75
D Scene best Dunedin poet prize: $75

Poems in the Waiting Room (NZ) is a Dunedin based arts in health charity. Our aim is to provide a free source of well-chosen poetry for: patients waiting for medical appointments: rest home residents waiting for meals, outings or appointments: hospice patients and their families: and prison inmates.

Unpublished poems of up to 25 lines on any theme suitable for a waiting room environment will be accepted.

Entry Fee: $5.00 per poem or $10.00 for up to three poems.

Each poem should be printed on one side of A4 paper and posted to Poems in the Waiting Room (NZ), 19 Hunt St, Dunedin 9013 to be received no later than 29 February 2012. No email entries, please.


For full entry conditions please check online: www.waitingroompoems.wordpress.com




With thanks to Sylvia (Tui) Badcock, Speech Communication Assn. Otago,
and D Scene for sponsoring the prizes.

Historic Randell Cottage in Thorndon, which hosts a French-NZ writers’ residency turning ten next year, is in the midst of its summer changeover with writers leaving and arriving, and applications closing for next year’s NZ writer.

The NZ writer in residence Peter Walker is packing up to leave on November 1 just three days before applications close for the NZ writer for 2012, and three weeks before the annual Open Day on November 19 when Wellingtonians are invited to look over the 1867 Thorndon cottage. Shortly after that, the French writer in residence arrives to begin her six months at the cottage. She is Florence Cadier who writes for children and young adults.

Co-ordinator of the applications for the 2012 Creative NZ Randell Cottage Writer in Residence is writer Maggie Rainey-Smith. She says she’s accepting NZ writer submissions until midnight on Friday November 4, ‘Last year there were a number of last minute applications encouraged by a flurry of tweeting. This year’s writer, Peter Walker, didn’t have time to send his by mail from London, so he gave it to a friend who was flying to NZ. His friend flew in and raced to the home of Randell Cottage trustee Fiona Kidman, handing it to her hours before the deadline!’

Rainey-Smith says the residency dates have changed slightly, so that from next year the NZ writer will start later in the year in July, finishing up in December, and the French Writer won’t arrive until the end of the following January, leaving in June. She says application forms can be downloaded off the website www.randellcottage.co.nz, or email her at info@randellcottage.co.nz

The Randell Cottage Open Day is on Saturday November 19, 11- 4 pm, at 14 St Mary St Thorndon, and the Randell trustees are encouraging Wellingtonians to come and view the historic cottage, and to find out more about the writer residency which was set up in 2001 but selected its first writer – New Zealander Peter Wells – in 2002. Working with the French Government, the Randell Cottage Writers Trust has hosted 19 writers from New Zealand and France for six-monthly stints, and is about to welcome its 20th.

Trust Chair David Underwood says, ‘We could always do with more support especially with our tenth birthday coming up. People can join the active Randell Cottage Friends group which helps look after the writers and keep the cottage running. Details are on our website.’

Peter Walker –who works as a journalist in London – says he has made good use of his six months in Randell Cottage completing a draft of his second novel. He says being able to live and work in the cottage, as well as the $20,000 stipend, has paid dividends for his writing as well as allowing him to catch up with friends and family and get to know Wellington again. Walker’s previous books are: the non-fiction The Fox Boy and a novel, The Couriers Tale, both published by Bloomsbury.

The incoming French writer in residence, Florence Cadier, is also a journalist by profession. Many of her books have been translated including Ils divorcent (They are getting divorced) and Dessine avec Mila (Drawing with Mila). She was awarded a number of prizes, including the town of Poitiers’ historic novel award and the Literary Al Terre Ado prize, for Le rêve de Sam (Sam’s Dream). Her most recent novel is L’été des amours (Summer of loves), published in March 2011.

During her six-month stay in Wellington, Florence will lecture, attend conferences and taking writing workshops at Alliances Françaises, universities and schools. Finally, in conjunction with the Tjibaou Centre in Noumea, Florence Cadier, will tour New Caledonia.