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Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage, Christopher Finlayson tonight honoured historian Judith Binney with the country’s highest literary accolade, the New Zealand Post Book of the Year, for her work Encircled Lands, a book about Tūhoe’s quest for self-government of their lands, granted to them in law more than a century ago.

Tūhoe, represented by kaumatua Wharehuia Milroy and Pou Temara, responded in numbers to the presentation at the gala awards ceremony held in Auckland’s tonight. Last year, Tūhoe bestowed Binney with the name Tomoirangi o Te Aroha (a little cloud of rain from heaven) in recognition of her work.

New Zealand Post Book Awards judge, Paul Diamond, described the winning work as one that will profoundly change our understanding of our shared history.

‘Encircled Lands is an exhaustive, comprehensive history of Te Rohe Pōtae o Te Urewera, the only autonomous tribal district that was recognised in law. Not only does it fulfill the author’s hopes of revealing an almost unknown history to a new audience, it also deftly illustrates why the history of the Urewera and its people continues to resonate.’

Debut novelist, Alison Wong won the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Award for Fiction for her book, As The Earth Turns Silver, ahead of established writers, Fiona Farrell and Owen Marshall.

Charmaine Pountney, who joined Diamond with Elizabeth Smither, Paul Diamond, Neville Peat and convenor, Stephen Stratford on the Awards judging panel, said Wong brings a powerful new voice and new themes to New Zealand fiction.

‘Based on meticulous research, this novel opens new windows on the development of our nation; it also opens our hearts to the anguish caused by racism, ignorance, failures in family relationship and communication, and war. The book is a delight to look at and hold, as well as deeply moving to read,’ says Pountney.

Brian Turner, a leading biographer, essayist, poet and conservationist, was presented with the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Award for Poetry for his collection, Just This, described by judge Elizabeth Smither as a life’s work in its reach, its depth and its deceptive plainness of surface.

He took the prize ahead of fellow Mainlanders Bernadette Hall (Bank’s Peninsula) and Michael Harlow (Alexandra).

‘Just This dares to ask the profoundest questions about place and human existence, how we live now and how we hand the world on. It is dangerous poetry because it addresses ethics but at the same time it is leavened with a sweet and sly self-awareness as it searches for “something you can have faith in, swear by”. The journey from the first poem to the last is a revelation,’ says Smither.

In a tightly fought contest that had judges reaching for superlatives, co-owner of Wellington’s famed Logan Brown restaurant, celebrity chef and passionate fisherman, Al Brown won the Illustrated Non-fiction category for his book Go Fish: Recipes and stories from the New Zealand Coast.

Awards’ judge Neville Peat described Go Fish as a seafood recipe book with edge and attitude.

‘Colourful images pour from the pages and spicing up the illustrative side are busy montages demonstrating how to prepare crayfish, crab and paua, and how to fillet a flounder – no mean feat, any of this. The recipes themselves, easy to follow, employ an engaging mix of type sizes and layout techniques. For a cookbook, it’s a remarkable page-turner,’ says Peat.

Go Fish also won this year’s coveted People’s Choice Award as voted by thousands of readers nationwide.

The full list of 2010 New Zealand Post Book Awards winners is as follows:

New Zealand Post Book of the Year and General Non-fiction Award winner:
Encircled Lands: Te Urewera, 1820-1921 by Judith Binney (Bridget Williams Books)

Fiction Award winner:
As the Earth Turns Silver by Alison Wong (Penguin Group (NZ))

Poetry Award winner:
Just This by Brian Turner (Victoria University Press)

Illustrated Non-fiction Award and People’s Choice Award winner:
Go Fish: Recipes and stories from the New Zealand Coast by Al Brown (Random House NZ)

In a substantially increased prize-pool from previous years, the New Zealand Post Book of the Year Award winner received $15,000. Winners of the four Category Awards each received $10,000 and the People’s Choice Award winner $5,000.

This year’s New Zealand Post Book Awards winners will appear at two free events:

On Saturday 28 August from 11.00am – 12.30pm at the Langham Hotel in Auckland, hosted by Maggie Barry. On Sunday 5 September from 1.00 – 2.30pm at Te Papa Marae, hosted by Kim Hill. Go to www.nzpostbookawards.co.nz for more information.

The winners of the 2010 New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Best First Book Awards - announced earlier this year - were also honoured tonight. They are:

NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction:
Anna Taylor for Relief (Victoria University Press).

NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry:
Selina Tusitala Marsh for her collection Fast Talking PI (Auckland University Press).

NZSA E.H. McCormick Best First Book Award for Non-Fiction:
Pip Desmond for Trust: A True Story of Women & Gangs (Random House NZ).

Each NZSA Best First Book Awards category winner received $2,500.

New Zealand Post Group’s sponsorship of the country’s national book awards is symbolic of their strong and active support of the country’s literature. As sponsor of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards for 15 years, this new sponsorship highlights the company’s commitment to making literature accessible and promoting literary excellence. 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 2010 are also funded by Creative New Zealand. The Awards are managed by Booksellers NZ and supported by the New Zealand Society of Authors and Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd.

Budding young Canterbury writers will take the fast lane to New Zealand’s top creative talent when they get to “speed date” a room of authors next week.

Nearly 60 talented senior high-school students will enjoy advice from some top YA fiction, poetry and fiction writers at the New Zealand Book Council’s Speed Date and Author event in Christchurch on Friday 10 September.

Six top writers taking part in The Press Christchurch Writers’ Festival will coach groups of students for 20 minutes each on a key aspect of writing. International guests Emily Maguire and Karen Healey, along with local talent Tusiata Avia, James Norcliffe, Helen Lowe and Ben Brown will workshop characterisation, beginnings and endings, adding depth to writing, exploiting memory in writing, writing unfamiliar characters and writing from the senses in their speed-dating sessions with the children.

The Speed-dating event will take place at Hagley Community College, which is keen to further its reputation as a venue for writing excellence. Throughout the year, the School for Young Writers and Hagley Writers’ Institute is run from the College campus. Deputy Principal Mike Fowler says:

‘We're delighted to host 'Speed Date an Author' as part of The Press Christchurch Writers Festival. The idea of speed dating an author for 20 minutes sounds fascinating, particularly given the calibre of the authors. After three hours of dating nearly 60 of the region's top secondary school writers, these six authors will definitely need a break!’

Students from schools as far afield as Darfield and Akaroa will be taking part in the event.

The Speed Date an Author event is in association with The Press Christchurch Writers’ Festival, and all authors will also be speaking in festival events over the period from 10-12 September.

For further information, contact Emma Gallagher, New Zealand Book Council Education Coordinator, ph: (04) 499 1569, email: emma@bookcouncil.org.nz.

Victoria University’s 2010 Ian Gordon Fellow is—among other things—an expert in swearing and the linguistic taboos of the English language.

Speaking in Wellington on 7 September, Professor Kate Burridge, who is Chair of Linguistics in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University, Melbourne, will tackle the topic of swearing and taboo language in antipodean English.

She says swearing is a “particularly rich area of creativity” engaged in by ordinary New Zealand and Australian English speakers.

“Bad language has always been characterised as an earmark of Australian and New Zealand English. I’d like to ask the question how uniquely antipodean it is,” she says.

Professor Burridge, who is in New Zealand for three public lectures, says she will provide an account of antipodean swearing patterns, based on examples from written and spoken data. In her other free public lectures she will discuss the French influence on English, and the ways English is changing and developing.

Her visit to Victoria University is courtesy of the Ian Gordon Fellowship, which was set up to support and promote the study of English language and linguistics at Victoria.

Professor Burridge is currently co-editor of the Australian Journal of Linguistics, as well as being a regular presenter of language segments on ABC Radio and Australian television.

She will be at Victoria between 6 and 17 September, participating in informal meetings with staff and postgraduate students, in addition to her three public lectures.

The Ian Gordon Fellowship was established through an endowed gift of $500,000 made by the late Professor Ian Gordon to the Victoria University Foundation in 2003.

Professor Gordon held the Chair of English Language and Literature at Victoria from 1936 to 1974. He was instrumental in establishing at Victoria the study of the structure, history and use of English, and the teaching of the English language. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of New Zealand from 1947 to 1952, Chair of the New Zealand Literary Fund from 1950 to 1974 and was made a CBE in 1971.

What: Frequent Coarse Language: Swearing and taboo language in antipodean English. Public Lecture by Professor Kate Burridge, 2010 Ian Gordon Fellow
Where: Student Union Memorial Theatre, Victoria University of Wellington
When: 6pm, 7 September 2010

What: The French influence on English: How different would it be if William had lost at the Battle of Hastings? Public Lecture by Professor Kate Burridge.
Where: Student Union Memorial Theatre, Victoria University of Wellington
When: 6pm, 9 September 2010

What: Blooming English — 'in forme of speche is change.' Public Lecture by Professor Kate Burridge.
Where: Student Union Memorial Theatre, Victoria University of Wellington
When: 6pm, 14 September 2010

For more information about Professor Kate Burridge visit http://arts.monash.edu.au/linguistics/staff/kburridge.php

For other media enquiries please contact Professor Janet Holmes on (04) 463 5614 or at janet.holmes@vuw.ac.nz

While others are talking themselves hoarse, Victoria University Press and mebooks.co.nz have quietly been going about publishing some ebooks. They’ve been joined by VicBooks, who are leading the way for independent booksellers.

For ebooks to become established in New Zealand doesn’t require a tipping-point event such as the entry of a big international player or a sexy new device. This is a process that has been happening gradually for more than 20 years, and the barriers to entry, and costs, are now low.

We released four books in July, and a further 10 this week. They are a mixture of New Zealand history, novels, short stories and poetry. We have not restricted ourselves to obvious bestsellers, but have chosen a diverse range of books in order to test the interest from different parts of the community.

Most of the books are available throughout the world, but some carry territorial restrictions, such as The Vintner’s Luck, which is available only in New Zealand.

Forthcoming novels Gifted by Patrick Evans, The Collector’s Dream by Pierre Furlan and Their Faces Were Shining by Tim Wilson will be published simultaneously as print books and ebooks.

The nature of the internet means that it is as easy, quick and safe to buy an ebook from mebooks.co.nz as it is from a major retailer, and VUP’s ebooks are available in both industry standard ePub format, which works on most readers, and mobi, which works on Amazon’s Kindle.

Useful information on ebook readers and reading ebooks on your computer can be found by clicking the ‘ebook readers’ banner at the lower left of every mebooks.co.nz page.

At present VUP’s ebooks are available directly not only from mebooks.co.nz, also via vicbooks.co.nz or victoria.ac.nz/vup. In time they will be available from other retailers as well.

ENDS

For more information, please contact
Craig Gamble at Victoria University Press ph 04 4636580

Mid-career writers have been an area of focus for the Society for some time now, and we are pleased to be able to offer an award to recognise the oeuvre of published work by a mid-career writer. The purpose of the award is to offer recognition to an author who has made a contribution to New Zealand literature, but who may not necessarily have achieved a high level of publicity for their work.

Anecdotally, the mid-career of a writer can be slow; new writers often tend to garner more media interest for their publications, and unless a writer is shortlisted for an award, their work can quickly become neglected. The NZSA hopes, by offering this award, to go some way to redressing such issues, at least for one writer each year, by offering both some monetary assistance and recognition of their work.

The award will be open to writers of fiction, poetry, short fiction collections, drama and literary non-fiction, and is worth $3,500. For the purposes of this award, a mid-career writer is defined as being one who has published a minimum of 3 books, and has been actively writing and publishing for a minimum of 5 years; a playwright will have had at least 3 works either performed or published.

The inaugural recipient of the award was the poet David Howard. Based at Port Chalmers, David is the author of five collections of poetry, including Shebang (Steele Roberts, 2000), and The Word Went Round (Otago University Press, 2006).

The closing date for the award is 15 October. For a nomination form email programmes@nzauthors.org.nz or visit our website.

Kapiti Island's Kaitiaki o Kapiti Trust announced today that writer Nuki Takao will be Kapiti Island’s resident writer this year.

The 'Tau mai e Kapiti' Maori Writers' Residency 2010, funded by Te Waka Toi / Creative New Zealand and hosted by Kaitiaki o Kapiti Trust, offers a grant and allows an up-and-coming M!ori writer to live and work on the northern end of Kapiti Island for eight weeks. This year the residency will run from 23 August to 17 October 2010.

Nuki Takao (Ngati Rarua – Turangapeke, Te Ati Awa – Otaraua, Ngai Tuhoe - Tamakaimoana) says living on Kapiti will be like 'moving back through the mists of time'.
‘To reside on Kapiti, on the island that stands apart from this world, will be more than a dream come true,’ says Nuki. ‘To tread in the undisturbed footsteps of the old ones, to spend time with the ahi ka, with those few who have held unbroken the thread down through the generations, will be an honour.’

During the residency Nuki plans to work on a children's book, in Maori and English, which she hopes to eventually develop into a series. She says the story will be an 'historical, mythical, magical story based around Kapiti Island, its environs and its people. A hero's tale with a child at its heart.'

The 'Tau Mai e Kapiti' residency is open annually to authors from all genres writing in English and/or in Maori. John Barrett and whanau, who live on Kapiti Island and run the Kapiti Nature Lodge, will be hosting Nuki during the eight week residency.

'We're delighted to be sharing Matariki and Kapiti with Nuki, our third resident writer,' he says. 'We're very grateful to our supporters for seeing the residency through for another year. We're very much hoping it will become an annual thing, as this is the only residency in the country created and run by Maori for Maori writers.'

The Michael King Writers’ Centre is pleased to announce its 2011 residency programme and applications timetable.

The centre plans to offer four supported residencies, ranging between eight weeks and six months.

The residency programme aims to foster New Zealand literature by providing opportunities for writers to work full-time on a major project. Authors receive a stipend, free accommodation and studio working space at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in Devonport, Auckland.

The residency opportunities planned for 2011 are:

• The Summer Residency, eight weeks from January 12 (stipend $8,000);
• The Autumn Residency, eight weeks from March 14 (stipend $8,000)
• The Maori Writer’s Residency, eight weeks from May 12 (stipend $8,000)
• The University of Auckland Residency, six months from July (stipend $30,000)
The centre is now calling for applications for the Summer and Autumn residencies, which are supported by a grant from Creative New Zealand. Applications close on October 8, 2010, and selections will be made by the end of October.

The Maori Writer’s Residency and The University of Auckland Residency are pending confirmation of funding. The centre is inviting expressions of interest in these opportunities. Provided funding is confirmed, the closing date for applications will be Tuesday December 7, 2010, for The University of Auckland Residency and Friday December 17 for the Maori Writer’s Residency. The University selection is expected to be made before Christmas and the selection for the Maori Writer’s Residency will be made by late January 2011.

Selected authors stay at the Michael King Writers’ Centre for the duration of the residency and may be invited to take part in local cultural activities. Writers who normally live in Auckland are welcome to apply and may opt to have a part-time living or working arrangement at the centre.

Fourteen New Zealand writers have now held residencies at the centre. The current writer-in-residence is musician, poet and experimental author Bill Direen, who holds The University of Auckland/Creative New Zealand Residency for 2010.

The centre is also able to assist writers who do not qualify for its supported residency programme. It has a second bedroom which is let at a modest rate to writers who need a quiet place to work.

Detailed information and application forms for the 2011 residency opportunities are available on the centre’s website www.writerscentre.org.nz under the section Writers in Residence, or contact the centre.

For further information, please contact the Michael King Writers’ Centre:

Ph/fax: 445 8451
Email: administrator@writerscentre.org.nz

Book-lovers, mark your page now: the New Zealand Post Book Award-winning writers of 2010 will be speaking at two free author events in Auckland and Wellington.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear New Zealand’s best writers come together to discuss their books, love of writing, inspirations and challenges and the books currently on their own ‘must-read’ lists.

The winners of our major literary awards for contemporary writing will be announced at a gala dinner ceremony on Friday 27 August.

Readers can hear the Book of the Year winner, Fiction winner, Poetry winner, Illustrated Non-fiction winner, General Non-fiction winner and People’s Choice Award winner live in conversation with Maggie Barry in Auckland the following day, and with Kim Hill in Wellington the following weekend.

Booksellers NZ Chief Executive, Lincoln Gould says readers should hurry to secure seats by pre-registering online. ‘You would be unlikely to find the authors of this year’s best books all together in a single event again, this is a rare opportunity.’

The writers will be talking about their books, research, writing, new projects, what inspires them, and what they’re reading now. An audience question and answer session will follow, and copies of the authors’ Award-winning books will be available for purchase and signing at both events.

‘Meet the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Awards Winners’
– in conversation with Maggie Barry
Auckland, The Langham Hotel, 83 Symonds St, Saturday 28 August, 11am-12.30pm, Free entry.

‘Meet the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Awards Winners
– in conversation with Kim Hill
Wellington, Te Papa (on the Marae) Sunday 5 September, 1-2.30pm, Free entry.

Register online to attend and you’ll be in to win a set of the winning books.

The Library & Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa launched the start of Library Week at Wellington’s Caffe L’affare this evening with the winners announced for the 2010 LIANZA Children’s Book Awards.

Gavin Bishop’s There was a Crooked Man (Gecko Press) was named the winner of the LIANZA Russell Clark Award.

The LIANZA Russell Clark Award was established in 1975 and celebrates a distinguished contribution to illustrated children’s books. The judges said “this is a vibrant and funky board book that speaks to children through rhyme with aspects of the New Zealand landscape complementing a most traditional English rhyme”. A superb production by Gecko Press with rounded corners and a robust smooth cover ticked all the boxes for the all librarian judging panel. Gavin Bishop has previously won the LIANZA Russell Clark Award in 1982 for illustrations in Mrs McGinty and the Bizarre Plant, 2006 for Kiwi Moon and in 2008 for Rats!

A soldier’s diary of daily life as a prisoner of war in WWII captivated the judges from the very beginning to win the LIANZA Elsie Locke Award for Non Fiction. The prize, presented to Dear Alison, edited by Simon Pollard (Penguin Group NZ) reveals the realities of war gently to its young audience with entertaining and accessible illustrations, written by Dudley Muff for his young niece Alison back in New Zealand. The judges thought “this book would be treasured by all generations, from grandparents to today’s youngest, with relevance to all”.

The Billionaires Curse by Richard Newsome (Text Publishing) received New Zealand’s oldest book accolade, the LIANZA Esther Glen Award for junior fiction, first established in 1944. Belynda Smith, panel convenor, loved the buzz from start to finish and believes that readers who experience this style of writing today will be life long readers of thrillers and murder mysteries. “With a girl and boy as protagonists in the story, this will appeal to a majority of readers and is what children are searching for when they ask for a ‘good book’”.

LIANZA presented its inaugural Young Adult Award to Tania Roxborogh, a Dunedin based writer, for Banquo’s Son (Penguin Group NZ). All the entries in this category were of a very high caliber and endorsed the introduction for this new award.

The judges were delighted with this historic and adventurous novel set in Scotland in the years after the MacBeth’s rule, making Shakespeare accessible to readers who might not always be so intrigued. “While the novel introduced new characters, there were some recognisable ones – it was like coming across an old friend when characters from MacBeth appeared.”

Contributions to te reo Māori children’s literature were extremely high this year with quality and diverse publications. Te Kura Pounamu was presented to the novel, Hewa, written by Darryn Joseph (Pearson (NZ) Ltd). Alice Heather, Panel Convenor Te Kura Pounamu, felt “Hewa has all the elements of a great fantasy story set in te reo Māori, with captivating language developing the setting. There were many humorous moments and this fantasy novel fills a definite gap for the age group in te reo Māori”.

Four new awards re-introduced by Te Rōpū Whakahau in 2009, the organisation uniting Māori librarians and information specialists, to enable the recognition of both nonfiction and fiction across all age levels as part of Te Kura Pounamu award, were also presented.

Te Tohu Hoani Whatahoro, donated by the whanau of Hoani Te Whatahoro Jury in memory of his work, for te waihanga Pukapuka Pono (the nonfiction section) was presented to the Ngā Rākau series by Huia Publishers.

Te Tohu Pounamu, donated by Buddy Tainui of Ngai Tahu and Aoraki LIANZA, for te wahanga Kaiwhakamaori was awarded to the graphic novel Hautipua Rererangi edited by Julian Arahanga and illustrated by Andrew Burdan (Huia Publishers).

Te Tohu Taurapa, donated by Palmerston North City Libraries - Te Ara Whanui o te Ao, for te wahanga Pukapuka Pikitia (the picture book section) was presented to Hūhū Horoheke by Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Rachel Driscoll and translated by Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira (Scholastic).

Te Tohu Nga Kete e toru was donated by the Wellington Region LIANZA Bicultural Special Interest Group. This award is for mo te waihanga Pukapuka Paki (the fiction section) and was presented to Hewa by Darryn Joseph (Pearson NZ Ltd).

Together, the LIANZA Children’s Book Awards and the Te Rōpū Whakahau awards celebrate the unique contribution New Zealand authors and illustrators make to our cultural heritage and national identity. Award recipients are selected from a shortlist of five titles and receive a medal or taonga and prize money.

The LIANZA Children’s Book Awards are sponsored by Fishpond Ltd and Caffe L’affare.

About LIANZA

The Library & Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa: Te Rau Herenga o Aotearoa (LIANZA) serves and promotes the interests of library and information industry professionals by providing continuing professional development, awards and recognition, publications and resources, advocacy and collegial support. LIANZA plays a key coordination role in the industry and through its regional and special interest group infrastructure provides organisational structure for members seeking mutual support. LIANZA is a member of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). For further information about LIANZA visit http://www.lianza.org.nz/

Nine-year-old Lydia Whyte from Carncot School has won the hotly-contested Manawatu Speed Date an Author writing competition.

Speed Date an Author, part of the New Zealand Book Council’s Writers in Schools programme, gathers six top New Zealand authors and illustrators speak to groups of school students about the craft of writing. Following the latest Speed Date event, 37 intermediate-aged children from 13 schools entered the Speed Date an Author writing challenge.

The writers and illustrators at the June 16 event in Palmerston North were Fleur Beale, David Hill, Janice Marriott, Fifi Colston, Diana Neild, and local literacy trainer Marion Orme. The young writers who entered the Speed Date an Author writing competition had to use six words chosen by the authors in their story: ‘fossick’, ‘creep’, ‘pomegranate’, ‘effusive’, ‘steal’ and ‘chasm’. Lydia Whyte, and the two runners-up, Jotham Harris (Levin East School) and Frances Harnett-Darlington (Tiritea School, Palmerston North) deftly wove the words into their winning stories.

Lydia Whyte used the six words with a flair that also showed how much she’d learned from the workshop writers. Lydia’s story transported the judges to wartime London, where a young girl hunts for treasure in the ruins before the air raid siren sends her scurrying for cover. The judges were particularly impressed with her skill in setting the scene, and creating realistic scenarios, enacted against an attention-grabbing historical backdrop.

Lydia was delighted with her win, saying:

‘It was a real thrill to win such a big competition. I really loved the Speed Date an Author workshops and tried to take in what I learnt there. I hope we get to do it again!’

Lydia has won $100 worth of Booksellers’ vouchers, a certificate, and a huge pile of books donated by the writers’ publishers. The two runners-up also received a pile of books each, along with a certificate recognizing their achievements.

Speed Date an Author was sponsored by Booksellers NZ, McKenzie Booksellers, Random House NZ, Scholastic NZ, and Penguin NZ. The event was run in partnership with Ross Intermediate School (special thanks to Keith Butler), and the National Library of New Zealand.

ENDS

Contact: Sarah Forster at the New Zealand Book Council on 04 499 1569, or email education@bookcouncil.org.nz.

Background
School membership of the New Zealand Book Council allows schools to request a free author visit through the Writers in Schools programme, which sees leading New Zealand writers reach 50,000 students each year. Since its inception in 1974, many of New Zealand’s leading writers have inspired and motivated students in their reading and creative writing across the country.

The three finalists for the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, which will be presented at a ceremony at the upcoming The Press Christchurch Writers’ Festival in September, have now been confirmed. The award is made for the best crime, mystery, or thriller novel written by a New Zealand citizen or resident, published in New Zealand during 2009.

A panel of seven local and international judges has been considering the best of locally written crime and thriller fiction published last year.

The three finalists are:

• Cut & Run by Alix Bosco (Penguin);
• Burial by Neil Cross (Simon & Schuster); and
• Containment by Vanda Symon (Penguin)

The winner of the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel will be announced at a ceremony at the conclusion of the “Setting the Stage for Murder” event at the Festival on the evening of Friday 10 September 2010.

The international judges said Cut & Run was “complex and suspenseful” and had “scenes and incidents which are jaw-droppingly good”, that Burial “maintained the tension and the atmosphere from beginning to end, keeping the atmosphere creepy”, and that Containment had “an attractive series heroine (feisty but vulnerable)” while starting with a “superb” opening scene that by itself would make the judge “want to read more Vanda Symon”.

“There were a number of high-quality crime novels published last year, and it has been a tough decision for the judges,” said Judging Convenor Craig Sisterson. “It is fantastic to see crime writing of this quality being produced by New Zealand writers, and great that the Award recognises both the best of our current authors, while also honouring the memory of one of our country’s true literary legends, who we have perhaps underappreciated in the past.”

The Awards namesake, Dame Ngaio Marsh, is renowned worldwide as one of the four “Queens of Crime” of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, having published 32 novels featuring Inspector Roderick Alleyn between 1934 and her death in 1982. With sales in the millions, and her books still in print to this day, Dame Ngaio is possibly New Zealand’s bestselling author, ever.

For more information, please contact:
Craig Sisterson, Judging Convenor: craigsisterson@hotmail.com or (021) 184 1206

Each year the University of Waikato invites applications for the position of Writer in Residence, tenable for twelve months normally from February. The emolument is currently $45,000 jointly funded by the University of Waikato and Creative New Zealand, the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa. The position is open to poets, novelists, short story writers, dramatists, and writers of serious non-fiction. The appointment will be made on the basis of a record of publications of high quality.

The Writer is required to live in Hamilton during the tenure of the award. There are no teaching or lecturing duties attached to the award, the sole purpose of which is to give the Writer the freedom to write. It is expected the Writer will participate in the cultural life of the University. On occasion the writer will be able to take up residence in and make use of the Michael King Writers Retreat in Opoutere.

Enquiries can be made to Dr Sarah Shieff, telephone 07 8562889 extension 8425, email: sshieff@waikato.ac.nz

Closing date: 1 October 2010 Vacancy number: 300249

For more information and to apply, visit www.jobs.waikato.ac.nz

Ko te Tangata – For the People

At the University of Waikato we define ourselves by our academic and research excellence and the strength of our international connections. Our distinctiveness is driven by our focus on sustainability, our commitment to Māori learning and research, and our role as leaders and innovators.

Our motto, Ko te Tangata, underlines our acknowledgement of the Treaty of Waitangi, equal opportunity for all, the importance of collegiality, and the individuals who are our staff, students and stakeholders.

E herea ana te Whare Wānanga ki te kaupapa kia whakaratohia te mea angitū ōrite ki ngā tāngata katoa.

The Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust in conjunction with the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA), offers one of the largest monetary prizes for literature in the country with two awards of $10,000 value.

The Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Unpublished Manuscript Award, and the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Book Award recognise outstanding writers who have made a significant contribution to the mind, body, spirit genre.

Now celebrating its seventh year, the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust literature awards received 45 book and 50 manuscript entries from writers throughout the New Zealand.

Tina Shaw, Programme Manager, New Zealand Society of Authors, says she was impressed by both the variety and quality of works submitted by New Zealand writers for the 2010 awards. “The judging panel was blown away by the diversity of the literature and the calibre of the writing entered into the awards,” says Ms Shaw. “The mind, body, spirit genre is a growing category for New Zealand writers and we were pleased to see the effort, understanding and passion that went into each of the finalists’ work.”

Judges were Bob Ross, Gillian Tewsley and Adonia Wylie.

The finalists are:

Unpublished Manuscript Award:
Compost - Warwick Harvey
Notes on the Mysterium Tremendum - Hugh Major
Pearls - Jennifer McIntosh
Love and Live - Ann Barron

Book Award:
Such is Life! A close encounter with Ecclesiastes - Lloyd Geering
Staying in Love - Robyn Salisbury
Under The Huang Jiao Tree: Two journeys in China - Jane Carswell
The Way Through - A guide to psychosynthesis in everyday life - Jay Ray
Walking to Africa - Jessica Le Bas

Congratulations to all the writers. The winners will be announced at a function in Auckland on 20 August.

The Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust was set up following the death of Auckland businessman Ashton Wylie in 1999 with the mandate of having human relationships as its focus, and its main intent being to promote more loving relationships.

/ENDS

Get your students to review their favourite books to be on the New Zealand Book Council website and win great prizes from Scholastic!

Your school and students will each be in to win a fantastic prize pack of books from Scholastic NZ every two months, with the first selections to be made on Friday 27 August – this date has been extended due to low entries.

The best reviewer aged between 5-7 years, 8–12 years, and 13+ will each receive a pack of books courtesy of Scholastic NZ. These reviews will also be published in The School Library, the Book Council’s reviews publication sent to member schools.

The top three students from each age group who submit reviews for the website will also be rewarded. Their reviews will be published on the Book Council site in the ‘Your Reviews’ section of the Kids’ Education site. (http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Education/Shiny-and-New/Reviews-by-Children.htm)

The school that encourages the largest number of entries from their students in relation to its size will receive a pack of new release Scholastic NZ books for their library. Schools do not need to be a member of the Book Council to enter.

To submit a review or three and be in to win these fantastic books, simply email Sarah at education@bookcouncil.org.nz with your entries, each attached to the entry form attached, as a word or PDF document. There is a word limit of 200 words for all entries.

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For further information please contact Sarah Forster, Education Manager, education@bookcouncil.org.nz, ph:(04)499 1569, fax:(04)499 1424

The titles that the Book Council will give away courtesy of Scholastic NZ are:

For 5 – 7 year olds
Piggity-Wiggity Jiggity Jig by Diana Nield, illustrated by Philip Webb
Hester's Blister by Chris Gurney and Sarah N Anderson
Finnigan & the Pirates by Sherryl Jordan
Denzil: The Wednesday Wizard by Sherryl Jordan
The Mad Tadpole Adventure by Melanie Drewery, illustrated by Jenny Cooper

For 8 – 12 year olds
A Crack in the Sky by Kyle Mewburn
Jonty and Choc by Vince Ford
Viola Vincent Reporting by Anna Kenna
Salt River by Elizabeth Hegarty
Conspiracy 365 January by Gabrielle Lord

For teen readers
The Chronicles of Stone: Scorched Bone by Vincent Ford
The Chronicles of Stone: Set in Stone by Vincent Ford
The Chronicles of Stone: Tribal Ash by Vincent Ford
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Rocco by Sherryl Jordan

For schools
Hester's Blister by Chris Gurney and Sarah N Anderson
Finnigan & the Pirates by Sherryl Jordan
The Mad Tadpole Adventure by Melanie Drewery and Jenny Cooper
Denzil: The Wednesday Wizard by Sherryl Jordan
A Crack in the Sky by Kyle Mewburn
Jonty and Choc by Vince Ford
Viola Vincent Reporting by Anna Kenna
Salt River by Elizabeth Hegarty

Winners of Massey University's second annual Ngä Kupu Ora Mäori Book Awards have been decided by public vote and include a Massey PhD candidate, an internationally renowned author and a book commemorating the Taranaki land wars.

Voting in the awards, held to coincide with Mäori Language Week, closed last night and attracted more than double the number of votes as last year.

Awards organiser University Kaihautü Mäori (Mäori Library Services Manager) Spencer Lilley says the idea for book awards to recognise and celebrate Mäori literature was a result of other major book awards failing to do so.

“It’s heartening to see the growing interest and the continuing high calibre of finalists", Mr Lilley says. “Although there were fewer categories than the six included at the inaugural awards last year it was pleasing to see that voting figures more than doubled.”

Books on Mäori topics published between June last year and May 30 were selected as finalists in four categories: art, architecture and design; biography; history; and te reo Mäori.

Massey PhD candidate and graduate Julie Paama-Pengelley is the winner of the award for art, architecture and design for her book Mäori Art and Design: Weaving painting, carving and architecture, which traces the origins and evolution of art and design in historic Mäori culture.

Internationally-acclaimed fiction writer Patricia Grace took out the biography award for her book Ned and Katina, the love story between Ned Nathan, a soldier in the 28th Mäori Battalion and his wife Katina, whom he met in Crete in 1941.

Two of the winning books, the history and te reo Mäori award winners, were published by Massey alumni Robyn and Brian Bargh of Huia Publishers in Wellington.

The history award was won by Contested Ground: Te Whenua i Tohea, The Taranaki Land Wars 1860-1881 edited by Kelvin Day and published to coincide with an exhibition commemorating the 150th anniversary of the outbreak of the wars.

The te reo Mäori award was won by People of the Land: Images and Mäori Proverbs of Aotearoa New Zealand written by Sir Hirini Moko Mead and Lady June Te Rina Mead. The book contains pepehä and imagery and is aimed at those wishing to gain an insight into Mäori wisdom and values.

Winners will be celebrated at a ceremony to be held at the Manawatu campus on Mäori Language Day, September 14.

Winners:

Art, Architecture and Design
Maori Art and Design: Weaving, painting, carving and architecture by Julia Paama-Pengelly (New Holland).

Biography
Ned & Katina: A True Love Story by Patricia Grace (Penguin).

History
Contested Ground: Te Whenua i Tohea. The Taranaki Wars, 1860-1881 by Kelvin Day (Puke Ariki New Plymouth District Council/TSB Community Trust/Huia Publishers).

Te Reo Mäori
People of the Land: Images and Mäori Proverbs of Aotearoa New Zealand by Sir Hirini Moko Mead and June Mead (Huia Publishers).

"Mother, your footsteps falter outside my window where you have waited fifty years for your children to return The moon comes out lovely as a mother's face over a sleeping child The trade winds are your fingers on my eyelids" (from "Trade Winds" by Alistair Te Ariki Campbell)

In the upcoming public radio feature "The Returning" Radio NZ pays tribute to two notable New Zealand poets who have recently passed away.

For over forty years Alistair Te Ariki Campbell and Meg Campbell composed poetry while living on the rugged cliff-tops above Pukerua Bay, just north of Wellington. Many of the recordings in "The Returning" were captured at their home as they reflected on their lives and work. These interviews are sympathetically inter-cut with archival footage of the poets reading their own work.

"We are so fortunate that Sound Archives/Nga Taonga Korero and Radio New Zealand Concert systematically kept recordings of Meg and Alistair over the years - some dating back to the late 1940s" says producer Gareth Watkins. "It was such a pleasure to listen to, and construct a portrait of these two important New Zealanders solely through archival material."

Alistair died on the 17th August 2009. He was a prolific writer who had four novels and seventeen collections of poetry published in his lifetime. Alistair was born in Rarotonga in 1925. His early life was spent on his mother's island of Tongareva - the most remote and largest atoll of the 15 Cook Islands. At the age of 7, after both his parents died, he was sent with his sister and two brothers to live in New Zealand.

In 1957 he met and fell in love with Aline Margaret Andersen, who later became Meg Campbell. Meg was born in Palmerston North in 1937. During her life she had six collections of poetry published. Vivienne Jepsen wrote that in Meg's poems "The image of suffering is precisely poised between the momentous and the everyday." Meg died on the 17th November 2007.

"An important part of this feature's production was the taking back of sound recordings and photographs to the Campbell family" says Watkins. "Over a period of years I was fortunate to record and photograph Alistair and Meg. It was really special to be able to return copies of those historic images and voices to the whanau who still live above Pukerua Bay."

"Ultimately this feature is about returning things - memories - to their rightful place, just like Alistair and Meg who now rest atop the cliff-tops of Pukerua Bay, looking out to Kapiti Island, surrounded by whanau."

"The Returning" broadcasts on Radio New Zealand Concert at 7pm on Thursday 12 August and on Radio New Zealand National at 4:06pm on Sunday 15 August.
Listeners will also be able to hear the feature again and view images of the Campbells online at http://www.radionz.co.nz/thereturning

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (The Māori Language Commission) encourages up and coming Māori language writers aged between 8-13 to participate in the Library Information Association of New Zealand and Aotearoa (LIANZA) te reo online interactive story competition being launched as part of Māori Language Week celebratory activities.

The competition will end in Library Week which will take place from 16-22 August.

Young Māori language speakers and writers are asked to submit a paragraph and add to the story that is already on the LIANZA website. Each week from now until Library Week a winning paragraph will be chosen, with the winners receiving books and other prizes. The writer of the overall winning paragraph will win a new Māori language graphic novel entitled Hautipua Rererangi.

'Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori is pleased to support this initiative, as quite often during Māori Language Week our focus is somewhat skewed towards wider societal messages for the language. The opportunity to support an initiative that acknowledges our up and coming writers for whom te reo is an everyday enterprise, was just too good an opportunity to miss as a promotional drive during Māori Language Week', says Chief Executive Glenis Philip-Barbara.

'While Māori Language Week is an opportunity for everyone to celebrate and use the language, we are mindful of the need to pay special recognition to the language heroes and champions for whom daily te reo Māori use is the norm and we acknowledge them for the difference they are making in our communities', says Glenis Philip-Barbara.

'We also congratulate LIANZA for adding this to their annual Library Week celebrations'.

To check out the interactive story, go to the Library Week website on www.libraryweek.org.nz

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Contact:
Debra Jensen
04 4716725
0272314297
debra@tetaurawhiri.govt.nz

There will be no Māori Language Award given this year in the country’s most prestigious book awards – the New Zealand Post Book Awards - as there were no books submitted into that category; a sign, says Te Reo advisor and Awards’ judge, Paul Diamond that there are still very few books being written or published for adults in Māori.

Mr Diamond further commented that while it was disappointing there were no submissions this year, he knows of ground-breaking works currently in production that, given the research and expertise involved, have a long gestation period.

‘There are clear signs that writing in Te Reo Māori is flourishing in other areas, especially writing for film, television and publishing on the web. The Māori Language Award aims to foster and celebrate books in Te Reo and to show publishers that there is support for them.

‘I anticipate the market for books written in Te Reo for adults will grow exponentially with the next generation of fluent Te Reo speakers.

‘My vision for the future is to see Te Reo fiction in every bookshop in the country. Let’s see Te Reo ‘chick-lit’, Te Reo mystery series’ and thrillers. It would be great to also see Te Reo cookbooks, histories, biographies and more.’

A Māori Language Award was presented for the first time in 2008 to editors Piripi Walker and Huriana Raven for their book Te Tū a Te Toka: He Ieretanga nō ngā Tai e Whā. In 2009 He Pātaka Kupu - te kai a te rangatira, the first-ever dictionary written entirely in Te Reo Māori was honoured with the award.

This year the monetary prize for the Māori Language Award winner doubled in value to $10,000.

The Category Award winners, People’s Choice Award and the overall New Zealand Post Book of the Year will be announced at a gala dinner held in Auckland’s Langham Hotel on 27 August 2010.

New Zealand Post Group’s sponsorship of the country’s national book awards is symbolic of their strong and active support of the country’s literature. As sponsor of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards for 15 years, this new sponsorship highlights the company’s commitment to promoting literary excellence. 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 2010 are also funded by Creative New Zealand. The Awards are managed by Booksellers NZ and supported by the New Zealand Society of Authors and Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd.

Kore tohu Māori i Ngā Tohu Pukapuka a-Motu
Kāore he Tohu reo Māori mō tēnei tau – i Ngā Tohu Pukapuka a-Motu- nā te mea kīhai he pukapuka i tukuna mō taua wāhanga; e ai ki a Paul Diamond, kaiwhakawā kaitohutohu Māori mō te tohu, kei te ruarua tonu ngā pukapuka e tuhia ana, e tāia ana rānei, mā te hunga pakeke i roto i te reo Māori.

Hei tā Paul Diamond anō, ahakoa he mea pouri te kore pukapuka i te tau nei, ki tana mōhio kei te haere i nāianei ētahi tino mahi tuhi, heoi nā te rahi o te rangahau me te waihanga, he roa te wā e whakatō ana.

‘Kei te ora te reo i ētahi atu wāhi, pērā i te tuhi kiriata, te tuhi mō te pouaka whakaata me te ipurangi. Ko tētahi o ngā whāinga a Te Tohu Reo Māori, he atawhai, he whakanui i ngā pukapuka kei roto i te reo Māori, ā, he whakahau i ngā kaiwhakatā kei te tautokona rātou.

‘Ko taku mahara, ka tipu ake ngā pukapuka reo Māori mā te pakeke, i te reanga e heke matatau mai nei i te reo.

‘Ka tāku e wawata ai mō āmua, kia tau ki roto i ngā wharehoko pukapuka katoa o te motu, ngā pakiwaitara reo Māori. Kia kite tātou i roto i te reo ngā mea ‘paki wāhine’, ngā kōrero muna me te whakaihihi. Ka pai hoki ki te kitea ngā pukapuka taka kai, ngā hītori, me ngā kōrero koioranga, me ētahi atu anō.

Ko te tau 2008 te wā tuatahi i tukuna he Tohu Reo Māori ki ngā etitā a Piripi Walker rāua ko Huriana Raven mō tā rāua pukapuka Te Tū a Te Toka: He Ieretanga nō ngā Tai e Whā. I riro te tohu i te tau 2009, i a He Pātaka Kupu – te kai a te rangatira, he pukapuka taki kupu i roto katoa i te reo Māori .

I te tau nei, i piki tuarua te utu o Te Tohu Reo Māori ki te $10,000.

Ka pānuitia ngā toa mō Te Tohu o te Wāhanga, Te Tohu a Te Iwi me te Pukapuka a New Zealand Post mō Te Tau ki te hākari nui ka pupuritia i te hōtera Langham a te 27 Akuhata 2010.

Kitea ai i ngā tohu pukapuka a-motu nei, te kaha tautoko a te Huinga o New Zealand Post i ngā tuhinga o te whenua. Kua 15 tau i nāianei a New Zealand Post e tautoko ana i ngā Tohu Pukapuka mā ngā Tamariki, ā, nā tēnei kaupapa hou ka kitea anō te ngākaunui o te kamupene ki te awhi i te putanga ake o te tuhi rangatira.

Mā te mahitahi me Booksellers NZ, whakahau ai a New Zealand Post me ērā wāhanga piripono o te iwi, i te katoa o te motu kia pānui, kia harikoa te kōrero pukapuka. He āwhina anō tā Creative NZ i te tahua mō Ngā Tohu Pukapuka a New Zealand Post. Whakahaerea ai ngā tohu e Booksellers NZ, tautokona ai e te New Zealand Society of Authors and Book Tokens.

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For further information, or an interview with Paul Diamond please contact: Penny Hartill, Hartill Communications Ltd, 09 445 7525, 021 721 424, phartill@xtra.co.nz
www.nzpostbookawards.co.nz

Book designer Keely O’Shannessy was announced Awa Press Young Designer of the Year at last night’s annual Book Design Awards ceremony, run by the Publishers Association of New Zealand .

Runner-up for the same award last year, O’Shannessy was described by judges Dexter Fry and Katy Yiakmis as the ‘stand-out winner’ of 2010 and her designs, ‘effortlessly hit the nail on the head every time.’

O’Shannessy’s exceptional talent was acknowledged in three categories this year. In addition to the Young Designer Award, she won the award for best non-illustrated book with Mirabile Dictu and was highly commended with her cover for As the Earth Turns Silver.

A freelance graphic designer, O’Shannessy considers herself lucky to be working in the field she is most passionate about: book design. She has a degree in Visual Arts from AUT and has completed postgraduate studies in art curatorship and interactive media. She describes her entry to the field of book design as ‘a lucky break’:

‘I find designing books really rewarding because it brings together many of the things I love – reading, researching, conceptual/creative thinking and also an amazing freedom to experiment with a diverse range of mediums’

Last year’s winner, Spencer Levine, says ‘the awards have brought me to the attention of more publishers and these new partnerships have produced some great results so far.’

Sarah Healey and Kalee Jackson were shortlisted alongside O’Shannessy and were Highly Commended at the awards.

The Awa Press Young Designer of the Year award is in its second year and recognises exceptional talent in book design by a designer under 35. They are judged on artistic merit, innovation of form and appropriateness to the intended market.

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Initial contact for enquiries – Nyssa Brown bookdesignawards@whitireianz.ac.nz | 027 284 9639

Poetry lovers in Winton and Te Anau will be among the first to hear new work from Poet Laureate Cilla McQueen when she visits next month.

McQueen will be performing at public library events in Winton and Te Anau on August 10 and 11. She will read a selection of her earlier work as well as poetry which will appear in her forthcoming new collection, her first since being named Laureate last year.

The Bluff poet says she particularly enjoys reading to Southland audiences.

“We have in common the beautiful landscape and history that surrounds and nurtures us all. They’ll know what I mean when I speak of landscape features, weather, or a Southern way of thought.”

Cilla McQueen will also visit Central Southland College and Fiordland College during her tour of the region.

“I always enjoy visiting schools and hope to be able to share some of the students’ poetry as well as discussing my own.”

Cilla McQueen was appointed National Library New Zealand Poet Laureate in July last year and will hold the post for two years. She has published ten collections of poetry and is included in most New Zealand poetry anthologies. Her many awards include three New Zealand Book Awards, a Fulbright Visiting Writer’s Fellowship, and two Burns Fellowships at Otago University.

McQueen was born in Birmingham in 1949 and moved to New Zealand as a child. Although she has lived for much of her life in and around Dunedin, for the last 13 years she has lived in Bluff. Of Southland, she says:

“I love the space and freedom, both physical and mental, which allows my work to develop naturally, without excessive ‘mainstream’ influence.”

Details of Cilla McQueen’s public events are:

Winton
Winton Public Library
11 Wemyss Street, 10.30am

Te Anau
Te Anau Library
Town Centre, 7.30pm

For further information, please contact:
Sarah Forster
New Zealand Book Council
04 499 1569
events@bookcouncil.org.nz

The Life & Love of Trees has scooped the supreme Gerard Reid Award for Best Book sponsored by Nielsen Book Services at the Publishers Association of New Zealand Book Design Awards.

Designer Cameron Gibb was applauded at last night’s ceremony for a design that judge Peter Gilderdale said is of ‘the highest quality, and the judges ultimately had no hesitation in choosing this as the best book...The Life & Love of Trees had an x‐factor that was hard to deny’.

The judging team of Peter Gilderdale, Sharon Grace and Graham Beattie went on to praise Gibb’s work by saying, ‘The book has a huge impact, and what we liked was the way the design was able to enhance the photography in such a way that the whole became greater than the sum of the parts. There are lots of coffee table books with wonderful photos, but few of them achieve this impact – and we think the designer has to take much of the credit.’

The winner of another major award of the night, the Harper Collins Award for Best Cover, went to Magpie Hall, designed by Sarah Laing and described by the judges as ‘an outstanding example of a well designed and executed cover, back and front, that reflects the story in an appealing way.’

Another standout this year was Old Hu‐Hu, designed by Michael Greenfield and illustrated by Rachel Driscoll, winner of the Scholastic New Zealand Award for Best Children’s Book. Earlier this year awarded the New Zealand Post children’s book of the year, the title was described by the judges as a ‘superb integration of text and illustration’.

Also announced last night was the winner of the Awa Press Young Designer of the Year which went to Keely O’Shannessy, along with awards for Best Cover, Typography, Illustrated, Non‐Illustrated, Children’s and Educational Books. The full list of winners is attached.

The judging team said, ‘The quality of the design shown proves that the standard of New Zealand book design is very high and would compare with the world’s best.’

The awards are run by the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) to promote excellence in, and provide recognition for, the best book design in New Zealand. The competition is judged in six categories, with a winner for the highly coveted Best Book chosen from the shortlist.

The awards are sponsored by a range of publishers, along with North & South magazine and Kalamazoo Wyatt & Wilson printers.

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Full shortlist:

Gerard Reid Award for Best Book sponsored by Nielsen Book Services
Cameron Gibb for The Life & Love of Trees by Lewis Blackwell (PQ Blackwell/Hachette (NZ))

HarperCollins Award for Best Cover
Sarah Laing for Magpie Hall by Rachael King (Random House (NZ))

Awa Press Young Designer of the Year
Keely O’Shannessy

Pindar Award for Best Typography
Grant Sutherland, Mission Hall (interior), Robyn Sivewright, Afineline (typesetting), Neil Pardington (cover) for Art at Te Papa edited by William McAloon (Te Papa Press)

Random House New Zealand Award for Best Illustrated Book
Cameron Gibb for The Life & Love of Trees by Lewis Blackwell (PQ Blackwell/Hachette NZ)

Hachette New Zealand Award for Best Non‐Illustrated Book
Keely O’Shannessy (cover), Katrina Duncan (interior) for Mirabile Dictu by Michele Leggott (Auckland University Press)

Pearson Award for Best Educational Book
Book Design Ltd for Year 9 Graphics by Paul Bourdōt (Cengage Learning)

Scholastic New Zealand Award for Best Children’s Book
Michael Greenfield for Old Hu‐Hu by Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Rachel Driscoll (Scholastic New Zealand)

31 July is the deadline for two writing competitions associated with Landfall

The Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry

The award is for an original collection of poems or a long poem by a New Zealand or Pacific resident or citizen. The winner will receive $16,000 and a year’s subscription to Landfall. Individual poems in the collection can be previously published, but the collection as a whole should be unpublished.

Landfall Essay Competition

Entries for the eighth Landfall Essay Competition have been pouring in but the entry cut off point is drawing ever nearer. The winner will receive $3000 and a year’s subscription to Landfall and the winning entry/ies will be published in the November 2010 issue.The purpose of the competition remains as it was at the outset: to  encourage New Zealand writers to think aloud about New Zealand culture, and to revive and sustain the tradition of vivid, contentious and creative essay writing in this country.
Those wishing to enter either competition are reminded that entries will only be accepted before 5 pm, Friday 31 July 2010. Futher details of both competitions can be found at www.otago.ac.nz/press

Much like the Library Week 'You might be surprised' interactive story this is a competition where YOU decide what happens next! This time however you submit your stories in Te Reo Maori!

The theme will centre around the Te Reo theme of library week "He Taonga Te Pātai" (to ask is precious) and the first week's story is written by well known Te Reo children's author, Peti Nohotima.

The interactive Te Reo story has some fabulous book prizes to be won each week and at the end of the competition one student will win the grand prize with and emphasis on participation and creativity.

The length of your story should be 2-300 words. A winner will be judged each week by 4 pm Friday and the new storyline will be up and running by the following Monday.

Competition starts Maori Language week, 26th July, with judging of entries on 30 July, 6 and 13 August. An overall winner will be chosen for the week ending 20th August.

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Pēnei i te whakataetae tautuhituhi o te Wiki Whare Pukapuka 'Tērā ka miharo koe' he kōrero tēnei māu anō e waihanga! Otirā tēnei ka tukuna atu ō tuhituhi pakiwaitara ki roto kē i te reo Māori!

Ko te kaupapa reo Māori o te wiki whare pukapuka nei ko tēnei “He Taonga Te Pātai” ka mutu ko te pakiwaitara wiki tuatahi nei nā te kaituhi reo Māori rongonui nā Peti Nohotima.

Mō te whakataetae tautuhituhi reo Māori nei he rawe ngā taonga pukapuka hei wini ia wiki, ka mutu rawa ake kotahi te akonga ka whiwhi ki te taonga nui, ahakoa anō te aro nui kē o te mahi ki te wairua mahi tahi me te waihanga anō hoki.

Tēnā kia 2-300 ō kupu pakiwaitara. Ka tohua te kaituhi wini ia wiki hei mua i te 4 karaka o te ahiahi Paraire, ka rite ai te tuhinga pakiwaitara hou hei te Mane whai muri ake.

Hei te wiki o te reo Māori te 26 o Hūrae tīmata ai te whakataetae nei, ka mutu ka whakawāngia ngā tuku mai hei te 30 o Hūrae, ā, hei te 6 me te 13 o Akuhata anō hoki. Ka tohua hoki te tino toa hei te wiki e mutu ana ki te 20 o Akuhata.

Congratulations to Jane Higgins, winner of the 2010 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing, for her apocalyptic action novel The Bridge.

The Bridge, set in a war-torn city in 2199, is the story of 16-year-old Nik who dreams of being chosen for the Intelligence Services—it’s either that or be conscripted to fight Breken hostiles over the river on Southside. When his school is bombed and his young friend Sol is kidnapped, Nik and Sol’s sister, Fyffe, track the kidnappers into the Southside slums. When Fyffe disappears, Nik infiltrates Breken high command in his hunt for her and Sol. There he discovers the truth about the hostiles, their uprising and his own past.

Higgins, a research sociologist at Lincoln University in Christchurch, has won $10,000 and a publishing contract. Her debut novel, The Bridge will be published in August 2011.

Richard Newsome’s The Emerald Casket—sequel to the inaugural winner of the prize, The Billionaire’s Curse—has just been released. And last year’s winner This is Shyness, by Melbourne bookseller and author Leanne Hall, will hit the bookshelves next month.

The Summer King by Joanna Preston, the inaugural winner of The Kathleen Grattan Award, New Zealand’s richest poetry prize, has now added another notch to its belt by winning the prestigious Australian Mary Gilmore Award 2010 for best first book of poetry.

The Mary Gilmore Award, conducted by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature and named after the writer and socialist Dame Mary Gilmore, is presented every second year to a first book of poetry by an Australian writer. On deciding upon the 2010, winner the judges had to choose from 39 entries. According to the judges, given the variety of the work, they were surprised that they agreed so readily, but their shortlists were remarkably consistent.

From the judge's report: 'Joanna Preston’s title poem, the first in the book, jolts the reader with its imaginativeness and dramatic power, and these qualities are apparent in all the poems that follow. A strong grasp of the actual underlies imaginative representations of both the natural world and the humanly made, generating a dramatic intensity, even in the quieter poems. This is a book of succinct, taut writing that displays a depth of imaginative thought.'

Preston is an Australian who settled in Christchurch in late 1993 and has since contributed greatly to New Zealand poetry. Her book roams the world. Two sequences act as the heart and spine of the collection. The ‘Cowarral’ poems are centred on the author’s ancestral farm in mid northern New South Wales. And triggered by the collective nouns that first appeared in The Book of St Albans, which the poet hunted out when she moved to the United Kingdom, the ‘Venery’ sequence is an exploration of two aspects of the hunt: the pursuit of prey and the pursuit of sensual pleasure. According to the 2009 judge of The Kathleen Grattan Award, Fleur Adcock, these warm, accessible poems show 'technical skill, originality, verve, wit and humanity'. This is narrative poetry that will appeal to everyone who has fallen in love, lost someone, been shocked by violence, and who wants to see the magical in the everyday. To add to the pleasure of reading and owning this book, cover and internal design is the work of Wellington book designer Sarah Maxey.

Joanna Preston (1972 – ) is a poet and writer. Born in Sydney, she has a BA in Theatre and Film Studies from the University of New South Wales. She emigrated to Christchurch in late 1993 and, apart from three years living in the UK (2003–2006), has lived there ever since. She has edited three anthologies for the New Zealand Poetry Society (A Savage Gathering, the infinity we swim in, and Before the Sirocco), and co-edited the anthology Half Light and High Wind (2000) for Airing Cupboard Women Poets, and the anthology of Christchurch haiku and haibun, listening to the rain (2002). She co-edits Kokako magazine, and is a part-time tutor of Creative Writing at CPIT.


Book Released: July 2009 | RRP $29.95
Otago University Press


For more information contact
Ben Stephenson
Otago University Press
Phone: +64 3 479 9094
Email: publicity@otago.ac.nz
PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand
www.otago.ac.nz/press

New Zealand Book Council members are invited to this year’s Annual General Meeting, to be held at Toi Poneke, The Wellington Arts Centre, 61 Abel Smith Street on Friday 23rd July at 12.30pm. Click through for full details of the agenda, the 2009 AGM minutes and our extended annual report.

The AGM will be followed by a welcome for our new chair Peter Biggs. Over coffee and lunch Peter will talk about the Book Council’s future plans and creativity in New Zealand.

Members who would like to attend can send an RSVP to reception@bookcouncil.org.nz or telephone on 04 499 1569 by Wednesday 21st July.

A New Zealand Book Council short film promoting books and reading has won two awards at the world’s most prestigious advertising awards at Cannes.

The animation, which uses an excerpt from Maurice Gee’s novel Going West, last week won two Film Craft Lions awards for ad agency Colenso BBDO at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival (www.canneslions.com).

Launched last November, the Going West film quickly became a YouTube hit and reached the worldwide top 10 in the viral video charts. It was viewed online more than 811,000 times, inspired more than 3400 tweets on Twitter or blog posts worldwide, and reached number 8 in the Viral Video Chart compiled by Unruly Media (http://vvc-origin.unrulymedia.com).

It has won several awards in addition to the Cannes Lions, including two New Zealand Axis Gold awards (www.caanz.co.nz), and an international animation prize awarded by New York’s Museum of Art and Design (www.movingpaper.org). Earlier this month it also reached the shortlist of another international award, the “Pencil” award for animation at the D&AD creative awards in London (http://awards.dandad.org/2010/categories).

The two-minute Going West film was produced for the Book Council by Colenso BBDO Auckland, who worked with Andersen M Studios in London to develop a concept that would show Gee’s classic New Zealand novel coming to life through hand cut ‘pop up’ scenery springing up from the pages.

The result of eight months of hard work and intricate hand paper cutting can be viewed on YouTube at http://bit.ly/k0lQE or on the Book Council website at www.bookcouncil.org.nz (www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Readers/Introduction/Information).

Book Council chief executive Noel Murphy says the aim of the film is to excite people about books and reading.

“The idea that lies at the centre of this project is that reading is an activity that surprises, delights, challenges and ignites the imagination,” he says.

“We wanted to grab people’s attention for just one moment in the hurly burly world of modern media and direct them to the adventure that can be had in one’s own head at the flick of a page. Colenso and the Andersen M Studios created something that achieved that and more by literally bringing the book itself to life. “

Departing Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellow Sonja Yelich says she has produced her best work during her five month residence at the Sargeson Centre which ends this week, compiling a collection of poetry very much of the time and place.

She says her Fellowship has produced ‘the best writing I have ever done’, thanks to the luxury of an abundance of time and ‘pure concentration and continuity’.

The award-winning poet, who lives with her family on Auckland’s North Shore, says she spent Monday to Friday each week at the flat, worked a 24/7 ‘clock’, socialised very little, and spent her time reading and writing, producing enough work for several collections of poetry.

A week before the end of her residency, she spread her poems across the floor of the flat and assembled a collection - linked by a coherent story and single character - that she is ‘incredibly proud of and pleased with’.

‘I would never have written this book anywhere else but here,’ she says.

Yelich and novelist Sarah Laing were jointly awarded this year’s Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship which entitled each to a five-month tenure at the Sargeson Centre in Auckland city and a grant of $20,000. Yelich’s Clung won the Jessie Mackay Best First Book of Poetry in the 2005 Montana New Zealand Book awards, and her collection Get Some was a finalist in the 2009 awards.

She has so enjoyed her Fellowship that she says incoming Fellow Sarah Laing may have to prize the poet from the Sargeson flat.

Yelich says when she told author Kevin Ireland of her reluctance to leave, Ireland directed her to the top of the stairs to look at the finger nail marks of former Fellows who have had to be dragged away!

But leave she must as Laing takes up her residency to work on her upcoming novel White Light, as well as other projects.

Laing’s novel Dead People’s Music was published to considerable acclaim in April, 2009, following an earlier collection of short stories Coming Up Roses in 2007. In 2006 she won the Sunday Star Times short story competition and in 2008 was a writer in residence at the Michael King Writers Centre in Devonport.

Buddle Findlay National Chairman, Peter Chemis, says he’s delighted Yelich has found her time at the centre productive.

‘Given the distinguished tradition of this Fellowship, it’s great that recipients can achieve the quality of work they aspire to,’ he says.

‘It’s most gratifying that writers can make the most of the refuge and distraction-free time that the Fellowship and the Sargeson centre offers.’

The Sargeson Fellowship was established in 1987 to commemorate Frank Sargeson and provide assistance for New Zealand writers. It aims to offer outstanding writers the opportunity to write full time, free from financial pressure. Buddle Findlay has sponsored the Fellowship since 1997.

Last year’s Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellows were writers Steve Braunias and Julian Novitz. Other past Fellows (from 1997 onwards) include: Fiona Samuel, Peter Cox, Karyn Hay, Craig Marriner, Toa Fraser, Debra Daley, Denis Baker, Riemke Ensing, Vivienne Plumb, Chad Taylor, Shonagh Koea, Diane Brown, Catherine Chidgey, Sarah Quigley, Tina Shaw, Kapka Kassabova, Sue Reidy, James Brown, Charlotte Grimshaw, Emily Perkins, James George, Brigid Lowry and Paula Morris.

John Mulgan’s uncensored report on his experiences in World War II and a report on New Zealand women’s difficulties in the film industry make for a thought-provoking start to this year’s Writers on Mondays series, presented by Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML).

Next Monday 12 July, Victoria University’s first Creative Writing PhD graduate Marian Evans will tackle the barriers faced by women who want to make films in this country, and on 19 July Associate Professor of English Peter Whiteford reveals what writer/soldier John Mulgan (author of Man Alone) wasn’t allowed to say when his memoir Report on Experience was first published in 1947.

Later in the series, writer Paul Millar examines the stifling effect of Kiwi conformity on the career of homosexual writer Bill Pearson, and the state of New Zealand sports writing will be debated in a conversation between sports anthologist Harry Ricketts and journalist Paul Thomas.

Writers on Mondays will also offer previews of new work from well-loved poet and Victoria University Writer in Residence Jenny Bornholdt, and a host of exciting new literary talent emerging from the IIML. Wellingtonians will also have the chance to hear nine of New Zealand’s best poets in a reading for National Poetry Day which takes place on 30 July.

In September the annual series breaks into song, with a special Thursday evening concert launching Buddhist Rain, an album featuring jazz interpretations of poems by Bill Manhire, composed and performed by Norman Meehan, Hannah Griffin and Colin Hemmingsen.

IIML Director Bill Manhire says he is pleased that many of this year’s sessions step into public as well as private territory.

“Alongside the familiar pulse-takings of human relationships, there are the challenges of the sports field, the gender politics of the film world, and the New Zealand experience in World War II Europe.

“And in addition to well-known, established authors like Jenny Bornholdt, Bill Pearson, and John Mulgan, there are the exciting new voices we’ll be hearing a lot more of over the next few years.”

Writers on Mondays events run from 12.15-1.15pm at The Marae, Level 4, Te Papa except for:
• Short/Sharp/Script 1 & 2: Circa Theatre, Mon 20 & 27 September, 12.15-1.15 pm
• Buddhist Rain: Soundings Theatre, Thurs 23 September, 7pm

The full 2010 Writers on Mondays programme appears on the attached PDF and can also be viewed and downloaded here. Admission is free, all are welcome.

Writers on Mondays is presented by the International Institute of Modern Letters with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and with support from Circa Theatre.

For further information contact Chris Price, chris.price@vuw.ac.nz or call the International Institute of Modern Letters on (04) 463 6854

A team of New Zealand children’s writers have a crazy idea for a story and they want children to help them write it.

On the 21st of July - a wacky Wednesday - the story opens with the first chapter of a junior fiction novel being posted on the Fabo story website. Then the fun begins.

New Zealand children are being invited to write the next chapter, at the same time as one of the Fabo story writers, and send it to the Fabo Team. The winning kid’s chapter will be posted side by side with the Fabo Team’s version.

Each week New Zealand kids can write the next chapter, while the Fabo story team tries to out-write them and take control of what will be a wild and crazy plot.

Kyle Mewburn, Fabo story team leader, said ‘On week 1 - Writer A writes chapter 1. In week 2 - Writer B writes chapter 2 and completely messes up Writer A's original idea (while cackling gleefully and rubbing evil little hands together). In week 3 - Writer C takes the story off into a completely different direction altogether
(while cackling gleefully etc).'

There will be competitions, prizes and ideas stolen, and kids can write as part of school or library teams or on their own.

The Fabo Team (so named because the idea began on FaceBook) want the story finished by Christmas. ‘We’ll need a nice lie down by then,’ said team member Maureen. ‘We’re up against New Zealand kids, it’s going to be tough!’

The writers are spread around New Zealand geographically, with Kyle Mewburn in Central Otago; Michele Powles in Dunedin; Fifi Colston, Fleur Beale and Maureen Crisp in Wellington; and Melinda Szymanik, Brian Falkner, Kathy White and Tania Hutley in Auckland.

The Fabo Story website is www.fabostory.blogspot.com. All details will be up on the website in time for the start of Term 3 of the school year (please wait until then to check it out).

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For further information: Contact Kyle Mewburn by email kyle@kylemewburn.com, Phone (03) 4466880, or the Fabo story writing team, email; fabostory@gmail.com

Get your kids to review their favourite books to be on the New Zealand Book Council website and win great prizes from Scholastic!

Top reviewers and their schools will each be in to win a fantastic prize pack of books from Scholastic NZ every two months, with the first selections to be made on Friday 30 July.

The best reviewer aged between 5-7 years, 8–12 years, and 13+ will each receive a pack of books courtesy of Scholastic NZ. These reviews will also be published in The School Library, the Book Council’s reviews publication sent to member schools.

The top three students from each age group who submit reviews for the website will also be rewarded. Their reviews will be published on the Book Council site in the ‘Your Reviews’ section of the Kids’ Education site.

The school that encourages the largest number of entries from their students in relation to its size will receive a pack of new release Scholastic NZ books for their library.

To submit a review or three and be in to win these fantastic books, simply email Sarah at education@bookcouncil.org.nz with your entries, including the name and age of the author, and name of the school in the top right-hand corner of the word or PDF document.

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For further information please contact Sarah Forster, Education Manager, education@bookcouncil.org.nz, ph; (04) 499 1569, fax: (04) 499 1424

James Patterson is to judge an exclusive literacy competition for New Zealand children, aimed at getting them to read more.

The James Patterson Literacy Promotion competition is being held by book publisher Random House New Zealand (RHNZ) in conjunction with the New Zealand book trade, who will promote the competition in-store with posters, display stands and stickered information on stock of all new books in the following James Patterson’s children’s series: Maximum Ride, Daniel X and Witch or Wizard.

The James Patterson Literacy Promotion competition commences in July 2010 and the winner will be announced in October 2010. Competition entry is through the RHNZ website www.randomhouse.co.nz.

To enter the competition, children must describe in 200 words or less, a plot outline and what will happen in James Patterson’s next children’s book in the Maximum Ride, Daniel X or Witch & Wizard series. The winner will receive a signed letter from James Patterson and $500 worth of Booksellers tokens, to be redeemed nationwide. Booksellers who buy a display pack of 36 new titles from James Patterson’s children’s series will get five books donated to them by RHNZ, to be given to a local school of their choice.

James Patterson is passionate about encouraging both adults and children alike to read, and was partly inspired by his own son Jack, a reluctant reader, to commence his literacy campaigning work. “My son Jack used to hate reading, but three summers ago my wife and I gave him six books that we thought he’d love. We told him to spend time every day reading. He was reluctant but the next summer, he said ‘sure’. Now we can’t stop him reading; he even insists on the three of us having quiet time, reading our own stuff.”

James Patterson has long been involved with projects in the US to promote the enjoyment of reading, most recently with new website www.readkiddoread.com, set up to assist parents in making book choices for their children. He recently formed a partnership with the National Literacy Trust, an independent, UK-based charity that changes lives through literacy, http://www.literacytrust.org.uk, and now, through the James Patterson Literacy Promotion competition in New Zealand, he is reaching out to Kiwi children.

James Patterson is one of the biggest selling authors in the world; his books have been translated into 49 different languages, and over 150 million copies of his books have been sold across the globe. He is the author of some of the most popular series of the past decade: the Women’s Murder Club, the Alex Cross novels, Maximum Ride, and a new young adult series Daniel X. James Patterson has won an Edgar award, the mystery world’s highest honour. He lives in Florida with his wife and son.
www.jamespatterson.co.uk.

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The 2010 Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Awards are now open and New Zealand writers with a passion for the mind, body, spirit genre are encouraged to enter.

The Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literature Awards, run in conjunction with the New Zealand Society of Authors, comprise two national awards that aim to recognise excellence in writing.

The Awards offer some of the largest prizes for literature in New Zealand with two major prizes of $10,000 each – one for an unpublished manuscript and one for a published book.

Adonia Wylie, spokesperson for the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust and member of the judging panel, says that many talented New Zealand writers have entered the awards over the past seven years, encompassing a wide range of beliefs.

'We’ve had a range of fantastic works entered over the years, covering everything from food’s ability to nourish us on all levels, to explorations of spirituality from fresh new perspectives. We’ve seen works exploring how to make the world of business a more humane process and place to work, and a fictional account of the life of Jesus from Judas’ perspective.'

Ms Wylie says the Trust’s founder, Ashton Wylie, was an Auckland businessman with spiritual awareness at the core of his interests, particularly in the area of personal development and positive relationships.

'In keeping with his legacy, the awards were established to encourage the expansion of the mind, body and spirit literature genre in New Zealand. We are looking for works which encompass a wide range of beliefs, and have the power to enlighten, amuse and educate the reader, while having a profound impact on the reader’s spiritual thoughts and opinions.'

Last year Norman Maclean of Gisborne won the $10,000 unpublished manuscript category for his work Jesus on our own Ground, and Gwendolyn Toynton of Christchurch won the book category for Primordial Traditions Compendium 2009.

Tina Shaw, Programme Manager, The New Zealand Society of Authors, says that the Awards provide important support for New Zealand writers.

'We are lucky to have many incredibly talented, hardworking writers in New Zealand and the Ashton Wylie Awards provide them with much deserved and needed support. I would encourage all New Zealand writers with an interest in the mind, body, spirit genre to enter.'

To be eligible for the awards, authors must be New Zealand citizens residing here. Unpublished manuscripts must be submitted by 31 March 2010, and be between 20,000 and 100,000 words in length. Published books must be submitted by 31 May 2010, should be 48 pages or longer, and must have been published between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010.

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

Submission forms and entry details are available from The New Zealand Society of Authors national office, phone: 09 379 4801, email: office@nzauthors.org.nz or post: PO Box 7701, Wellesley Street, Auckland 1141.

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For more information, please contact:
Kate Campbell or Mary-Louise Dare, Professional Public Relations: (09) 979 2000
Tina Shaw, NZSA Programme Manager, NZ Society of Authors: (09) 379 4801

Notes:

About the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust 

The late Auckland businessman Ashton Wylie was a philanthropist with a wide range of interests particularly in the area of personal development and positive relationships. The Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust was set up at Ashton's request and was named after him.

Ashton Wylie believed that if one wanted to change the world, one had to first change oneself. Changes are then made by example as ultimately, one can change for the better others that reside within one’s sphere of influence.

The Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust was set up following Ashton Wylie’s death in 1999 with the mandate of having human relationships as its focus, and its main intent being to promote more loving relationships.

For further information visit: www.hopetounalpha.co.nz.

The New Zealand Society of Authors

The New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc) is the principal representative for the professional interests of authors in New Zealand. It began as the NZ PEN Centre in 1934 in Wellington. From 1934 onwards the organisation campaigned for a public lending right, and in 1973 the Authors' Fund was established. In 1975 PEN initiated the NZ Writers' Guild to represent writers in their dealings with broadcasting and professional theatres.

The NZSA runs a range of programmes, which encourage emerging writers, and actively represents writers’ interests on a number of fronts with publishers and others.

The Society's major goals are the full representation and support of writers; an ongoing interest in writers being rewarded and recognised for their professional work; the protecting of freedom of expression and cultural diversity celebrated through literature.