A bumper crop of excellent books for young New Zealand readers have today been announced as the 33 finalists in the 2018 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

From sharks and dawn raids to earthquakes, kidnap plots, Jean Batten and the familiar chaos that is kids at breakfast time, their range is diverse. But they all share the magical ability to transport, inform and delight, says convenor of judges, Jeannie Skinner.  “These books, fiction and non-fiction, help us try on different lives, see the world through another’s eyes, and be inspired by stories of our past, present, and possible futures.”

There were 152 entries submitted for the 2018 awards, and finalist titles will compete in seven categories: Picture Book, Junior Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Non-Fiction, Illustration, te reo Māori and Best First Book. The winners of those categories will all compete to be named the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year.

The judges say the real strength of the shortlist is the range of vividly drawn and memorable characters who encounter challenges, both physical and mental.

They were also delighted by the richly authentic voices, which reflect the unique New Zealand landscape, vernacular and humour, with convincingly drawn family and peer dynamics.  Powerful settings of imagined futures, whether dystopian, inter-planetary or steampunk, add variety and wild imagination to the vibrant mix.

All experts in the field of children’s literature, the judges also sought the opinion of those who matter most: the children themselves. They worked with panels of young people to gauge how they reacted to and interacted with the titles.

Children are also involved in the awards through the HELL Reading Challenge. Now in its fifth year, this partnership has been hugely successful in getting kids reading and enjoying the pleasure of stories – with the added bonus of free pizza rewards. Since the 2018 programme began in early March, more than 200,000 pizza reading wheels have been ordered by over 730 schools and libraries around the country.

An exciting new sponsor further strengthens the Awards this year.  The Wright Family Foundation, a charitable trust, which already supports the Kids’ Lit Quiz and the New Zealand Spelling Bee, is funding two categories – the Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award and the Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction.

“The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults is a perfect fit with the foundation’s goal of ‘growing the good’ in New Zealand,” says Wright Family Foundation CEO Chloe Wright. “Education is at the heart of everything we do, and supporting literacy is one of our key goals.”

“We encourage others to unleash their potential through education in various forms. The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults is a wonderful vehicle to support New Zealand authors to create fantastic books that ignite the passion of our young people.”

Turning to the categories, the judges were delighted by the variety of this year’s entries for the Picture Book Award with their engaging wordplay and range of illustration styles. “New Zealanders can be very proud of their splendid picture book writers and illustrators – they are experts in their craft.”

The authentic voices of young New Zealanders are heard loud and clear in the Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Junior Fiction shortlist. Whether in the past or present, drama or comedy, the judges found the characters to be warm and vividly real, as they face challenges and negotiate relationships.

The Copyright Licensing NZ Award for Young Adult Fiction was another exceptionally strong field this year, with themes of survival against the odds, challenges and mental health issues. Most importantly, the judges say, the authors in this category all nailed the voice of their young adult characters “in these well-written and deftly plotted books”.

The judges were excited to see such a bountiful number of high calibre nominations for the Elsie Locke Non-Fiction Award and they say the finalists shine with the authors’ expertise and passion for their subjects. “These non-fiction books take sometimes complex subjects and distil the essence, clearly and honestly, for their young audience to show what makes our world so interesting, wonderful, and various.”

“This splendid array of books demonstrates skilfulness in pacing, rewarding the turn of the page,” say the judges of the Russell Clark Illustration Award finalists. They are wide-ranging in style and media, running the gamut from classic watercolours to graphic illustrations. “In every book the characters are fully realised, their personalities captured in the briefest line or painterly detail.”

Fresh story telling from newly minted authors delighted the judges when it came to the Best First Book category. They discovered excellent world building across genres from contemporary to historical with a bit of steampunk thrown in for variety. “Every story is so masterfully written one completely forgets that these books are the first offerings from these New Zealand authors.”

The entries in the Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for books written entirely in te reo Māori were described as ‘Ahakoa he iti he pounamu’. Although there were a smaller number of entries this year, they were “precious like greenstone”, and the judges praised both the content and the quality of the language used.

The formidable task of narrowing the field to a list of finalists was met by this year’s experienced judging panel: Jeannie Skinner (convenor) a facilitator at the National Library of New Zealand; Crissi Blair, a long-time promoter and champion of children’s books; Maureen Crisp, writer and blogger; Darryn Joseph, an academic and author; and Bridget Schaumann, a school librarian.
They were joined by a panel appointed by Te Rōpū Whakahau to judge the te reo Māori entries, which was led by Moana Munro (convenor), kaitiakipukapuka Māori for the Hastings District Libraries, Anahera Morehu, library manager for the Faculty of Arts, Māori and Pasifika Team of Te Tumu Herenga at the University of Auckland, and Jacqueline Joyce Snee, senior librarian Māori Research at Auckland Central Library.

School children will have a chance to meet the 2018 finalist authors and illustrators at four large-scale regional events in the week leading up to the awards ceremony. The first is in Hamilton (Wednesday 1 August in association with Waikato University, Hamilton Library and Hamilton Book Month); then Dunedin (Friday 4 and Saturday 5 August in association with Dunedin Public Libraries and UBS Otago); Christchurch (Monday 6 August in association with WORD Christchurch); and finally in Wellington (Wednesday 8 August in association with Te Papa and Wellington City Library).

The winners of the 2018 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults will be announced at a ceremony in the atmospheric Te Marae at Te Papa in Wellington on the evening of Wednesday 8 August.

The New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults are made possible through the generosity, commitment and vision of funders and sponsors: Creative New Zealand, HELL Pizza, the Wright Family Foundation, Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd, Copyright Licensing NZ, LIANZA, Wellington City Council, Nielsen Book and Te Papa. The Awards are administered by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust.

The finalists for the 2018 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are:
Picture Book Award

Granny McFlitter the Champion Knitter, Heather Haylock, illustrated by Lael Chisholm (Penguin Random House)

I am Jellyfish, Ruth Paul (Penguin Random House)

That’s Not the Monster We Ordered, Richard Fairgray & Terry Jones (Penguin Random House)

The Gift Horse, Sophie Siers, illustrated by Katharine White (Millwood Press)

The Longest Breakfast, Jenny Bornholdt, illustrated by Sarah Wilkins (Gecko Press)

 

Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction

How Not to Stop a Kidnap Plot, Suzanne Main (Scholastic NZ)

How to Bee, Bren MacDibble (Allen & Unwin)

Lyla: Through My Eyes – Natural Disaster Zones, Fleur Beale, edited by Lyn White  (Allen & Unwin)

My New Zealand Story: Dawn Raid, Pauline (Vaeluaga) Smith (Scholastic NZ)

The Thunderbolt Pony, Stacy Gregg (HarperCollins Publishers)

 

Copyright Licensing NZ Award for Young Adult Fiction

Because Everything Is Right but Everything Is Wrong, Erin Donohue (Escalator Press)

Catch Me When You Fall, Eileen Merriman (Penguin Random House)

In the Dark Spaces, Cally Black (Hardie Grant Egmont)

Sticking with Pigs, Mary-anne Scott (OneTree House)

The Traitor and the Thief, Gareth Ward (Walker Books Australia)

 

Elsie Locke Award for Non-Fiction

Aotearoa: The New Zealand Story, Gavin Bishop (Penguin Random House)

Explore! Aotearoa, Bronwen Wall, illustrated by Kimberly Andrews (Kennett Brothers)

New Zealand’s Great White Sharks, Alison Balance (Potton & Burton)

Sky High: Jean Batten’s Incredible Flying Adventures, David Hill, illustrated by Phoebe Morris (Penguin Random House)

The New Zealand Wars, Philippa Werry (New Holland)

 

Russell Clark Award for Illustration

Abel Tasman: Mapping the Southern Lands, illustrated by Marco Ivančić, written by Maria Gill (Scholastic NZ)

Bobby, the Littlest War Hero, illustrated by Jenny Cooper, written by Glyn Harper (Penguin Random House)

Giants, Trolls, Witches, Beasts, written and illustrated by Craig Phillips (Allen & Unwin)

I am Jellyfish, written and illustrated by Ruth Paul (Penguin Random House)

Sky High: Jean Batten’s Incredible Flying Adventures, illustrated by Phoebe Morris, written by David Hill (Penguin Random House)

 

Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award for books written completely in te reo Māori

Hineahuone, Xoë Hall, translated by Sian Montgomery-Neutze (TeacherTalk)

Te Tamaiti me te Aihe, Robyn Kahukiwa, translated by Kiwa Hammond (Little Island Press Ltd)

Tu Meke Tūī! Malcolm Clarke, illustrated by Hayley King (AKA Flox), translated by Evelyn Tobin (Mary Egan Publishing)

 

Best First Book Award

Because Everything Is Right but Everything Is Wrong, Erin Donohue (Escalator Press)

Into the White, Joanna Grochowicz (Allen & Unwin)

My New Zealand Story: Dawn Raid, Pauline (Vaeluaga) Smith (Scholastic NZ)

Pieces of You, Eileen Merriman (Penguin Random House)

The Traitor and the Thief, Gareth Ward (Walker Books Australia)

 

ENDS

 

Social Media Links

Website: www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards-for-children-and-young-adults/

Facebook: /NewZealandCYABookAwards/

Twitter: /nzcya

Hashtag: #NZCYA

 

For interview opportunities, images and further information please contact:

Gemma Finlay, Notable PR

P: 027 628 9695 E: gemma@notablepr.co.nz

 

Notes for Editors:

The New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults are a unique celebration of the contribution New Zealand’s children’s authors and illustrators make to building national identity and cultural heritage. Awards are made in seven categories: Young Adult Fiction (the Copyright Licensing NZ Award), Junior Fiction (the Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award), Non-Fiction (the Elsie Locke Award), Picture Book, Illustration (the Russell Clark Award), te reo Māori (the Wright Family Foundation Te Kura Pounamu Award) and the Best First Book Award. The main category awards carry prize money of $7,500 and the Best First Book winner receives $2,000. The overall prize, the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award, carries a further prize of $7,500.

The awards are governed by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust (a registered charity). Members of the Trust are Nicola Legat, Karen Ferns, Paula Morris, Catherine Robertson, Rachel Eadie, David Bowles, Pene Walsh and Melanee Winder. The Trust also governs the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day.  www.nzbookawards.nz

The Wright Family Foundation is a not-for-profit registered charitable trust that is dedicated to making a positive difference by advancing education and spreading knowledge, supporting individuals to achieve their full potential. Its goal is to “grow the good” in New Zealand. Supporting literacy and a passion for words and reading is a key focus of the foundation. Its CEO, Chloe Wright, is Patron of both the Kids’ Lit Quiz and the New Zealand Spelling Bee. By supporting the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, the foundation hopes to champion New Zealand writers who will inspire the imagination of children.  www.wrightfamilyfoundation.org.nz

As the national museum of New Zealand, Te Papa houses many of the nation’s taonga (treasures) reflecting New Zealand’s society and culture through the ages.  Renowned for the unique way in which it tell these stories, Te Papa has welcomed more than 30 million visitors since it opened 20 years ago.  The museum also connects with people outside the museum through our touring exhibitions, collections online, learning programmes, and award-winning books produced by Te Papa Press.  www.tepapa.govt.nz

Creative New Zealand has been a sustaining partner of New Zealand’s book awards for decades. Creative New Zealand encourages, promotes and supports the arts in New Zealand for the benefit of all New Zealanders through funding, capability building, an international programme, and advocacy. It offers financial support for emerging and established artists, art practitioners, groups and organisations, and provides training and online resources to help artists and practitioners develop professionally, grow audiences and markets, and manage their organisations. It also supports internships and national touring to help develop New Zealand arts. Creative New Zealand provides a wide range of support to New Zealand literature, including funding for writers and publishers, residencies, literary festivals and awards, and support of organisations which work to increase the readership and sales of New Zealand literature at home and internationally. www.creativenz.govt.nz/

HELL Pizza was established in 1996 and now has 73 stores throughout New Zealand. HELL has reinforced its commitment to getting more kids hooked on books by sponsoring the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. The HELL Reading Challenge, initiated in 2014, continues to grow. HELL says it has ‘always challenged the norm, and with kids now becoming so engrossed with modern technology, we are bucking that trend and making reading cool again. We want pizza to be the gateway drug to reading addiction!’ The programme rewards students with a free ‘333 HELLthy pizza’ once they have read seven books and had their achievement approved by a local librarian with a stamp in each segment of their HELL pizza wheel. In 2017, 562 schools and 180 public libraries around New Zealand took part, and 250,000 pizza wheels were distributed, which means that some 1.75 million books were read by Kiwi kids as a result. www.hellpizza.com/nz/

Copyright Licensing Limited (CLNZ) sells licences that make copying, scanning and sharing printed works easy and legal for education providers, businesses and government departments on behalf of publishers and authors. It also advocates and lobbies in the interests of authors and publishers, pays them when their work is copied and takes action on their behalf if their rights are infringed. www.copyright.co.nz/

LIANZA – the association for Library and Information professionals in New Zealand – introduced the first award for children’s fiction in New Zealand, establishing the Esther Glen in 1945. Awards added over the years included the Russell Clark (the only award specifically for illustrations in children’s books) and Te Kura Pounamu (celebrating Te Reo and introduced in partnership with Te Rōpū Whakahau). In 2015 LIANZA and the New Zealand Book Awards Trust merged the two awards, maintaining the long legacy of the LIANZA Awards. https://lianza.org.nz/

Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd is the company that underwrites the sale of book tokens within New Zealand. It is administered by Booksellers New Zealand. Its tokens are fully guaranteed from financial risk. www.nzbooktokens.co.nz

Nielsen Book is the leading provider of book-related data services to more than 100 countries worldwide. Nielsen collects book information from over 70 countries (including the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa) and works closely with the leading data providers in the US to ensure it has the most consistent and comprehensive global database of title records available. www.nielsenbookdata.co.nz

Wellington City Council‘s arts policy positions the city as a place where both Wellingtonians and visitors are able to actively explore our culture and experiment with their own creativity. It values heritage arts, culture and traditions and focuses on new ways of expressing what is happening now and experiences that result from collaboration, both within the professional arts sector and with communities. The Council believes in the importance of literacy and imagination in the development of New Zealand children, and it supports a wide range of arts for and by children. https://wellington.govt.nz/

 

 

 

 

OCKHAM NEW ZEALAND BOOK AWARDS WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENT 

Pip Adam wins premier book awards’ $50,000 prize 

A novel which judges say ‘will bring readers back from the dead’ has won the 2018 $50,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize in the country’s premier book awards.

Wellington writer Pip Adam received the honour for her novel The New Animals (Victoria University Press) at the glittering Ockham New Zealand Book Awards ceremony which also celebrated the Awards’ 50^th anniversary, held in Auckland’s Aotea Centre tonight.

The New Animals, which parodies the Auckland fashion scene, was praised by the category judges as a confrontational, revelatory novel that holds a mirror up to contemporary New Zealand culture. They said: “The New Animals handles a large ensemble of unrooted characters with skill. It’s stylistically raw and reveals a good deal in a modest way. The New Animals is so vivid in imagery and imagination that the judges haven’t stopped thinking about it since. In this category in 2018 it’s the book with the most blood on the page. It will give you an electric shock.”

Listener journalist Diana Wichtel won the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction for her memoir Driving to Treblinka: A long search for a lost father (Awa Press).  

“The toughest task of any book, whatever the form, is to make a sentence so good that you just have to read the next one, and the next one, and then wish it could just about go on forever. So it is with Driving to Treblinka,” said the judges. “Wichtel’s curiosity, alternately upsetting and uplifting, turns invisibly into a kind of mission. At its heart this is a family story, but one which cannot but shine a light on the vestiges of anti-Semitism that linger in Europe today.  It is not just a beautifully written book, but an important book, too.”

Elizabeth Smither OBE won the Poetry category – an honour bestowed on her twice before – with her collection Night Horse (Auckland University Press).

“The 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Poetry Award is for a book by an esteemed and celebrated poet who contributes greatly to the New Zealand writing community. The poems in Night Horse are gentle, uplifting, tender, humorous, well-crafted and luminous,” said the Poetry category judges.

Esteemed academics Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins won the Illustrated Non-Fiction category for their work Tuai: A traveller in two worlds (Bridget Williams Books).

“Tuai is empathetically written, providing the reader a window into a contested time of meeting, conversion and enterprise. The text and illustrations work in concert, presenting a rounded and rich experience for the reader, enhancing the breadth and depth of the research explored within. Key moments are presented so richly that they envelop and captivate the imagination. The care the authors have given these histories, acknowledging the autonomy that mātauranga Māori has in wider Aotearoa historical narratives, is striking, and we need more of it,” the judges said.

The General Non-Fiction, Poetry and Illustrated Non-Fiction category winners each took home a $10,000 prize.

To add a further celebratory note, Ockham Residential confirmed its sponsorship commitment to the awards for a further five years.

“This year the New Zealand Book Awards have reached the golden age of fifty. However they have only been the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for the last three years, which isn’t long enough in our book!, ” says Mark Todd, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Ockham Residential. “We are delighted to announce a new five-year sponsorship deal with the awards. With public discourse in disarray we need our writers more than ever.”

New Zealand Book Awards Trust chair, Nicola Legat, says Ockham’s commitment is a terrific boon for the Awards. “We are enormously grateful to Ockham for their generous ongoing commitment. What a terrific way to celebrate the Awards’ 50th anniversary; the country’s premier literary honours are in such good heart.” 

Four Best First Book Awards were also presented at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

The Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction: Baby by Annaleese Jochems (Victoria University Press).

The E.H. McCormick Best First Book Award for General Non-Fiction: Driving to Treblinka: A long search for a lost father by Diana Wichtel (Awa Press).

The Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry: Fully Clothed and So Forgetful by Hannah Mettner (Victoria University Press).

The Judith Binney Best First Book Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction: Caves: Exploring New Zealand’s Subterranean Wilderness by Marcus Thomas and Neil Silverwood (Whio Publishing).

Each Best First Book Award winner received $2500.

The Awards ceremony was the first public event in the Auckland Writers Festival, which sees more than 200 of New Zealand’s and the world’s best writers and thinkers offering entertainment and ideas in words, song, theatre and more from 15-20 May.

Category winners appear in sessions at the Auckland Writers Festival: https://bit.ly/2IBUimg

The 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards judges were:

Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize: Poet and academic Anna Smaill; journalist and reviewer Philip Matthews; and bookseller and reviewer Jenna Todd of the Auckland bookshop Time Out. Glasgow-based writer, journalist and founding editor of the Scottish Review of Books Alan Taylor joined the New Zealand judging team in selecting the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize winner.

Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction: Ella Henry, lecturer in AUT’s Māori Faculty; editor and award-winning journalist Toby Manhire; and former bookseller and publisher, Philip King.

Illustrated Non-Fiction: Barbara Brookes, whose A History of New Zealand Women won this category of the awards in 2017; Matariki Williams, (Tūhoe, Taranaki, Ngāti Hauiti, Ngāti Whakaue), Curator Mātauranga Māori at Te Papa; and Kim Paton, Director of the public gallery Objectspace.

Poetry: Poet and novelist Alison Wong; poet Robert Sullivan, deputy chief executive, Māori, Manukau Institute of Technology; and poet, publisher and librettist Michael Harlow.

The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are supported by Ockham Residential, Creative New Zealand, The Acorn Foundation, Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd and the Royal Society Te Apārangi.

ENDS

• Winners are available for interview
• Judges are available for interview
• Winning books are available for review
• Author images and book jacket images are available

 

For winners’ collage images: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gj71zs1t5cda5to/AABcaDqot9-Eqiq3_BrgavHpa?dl=0

For winners’ author images: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pj8qufv5ejoqx5b/AADI_–h3X-L8KqAry733s9ua?dl=0

For winners’ book covers: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/67g98iddqpen9m0/AADC2GdSneQIgcmU6kdV9uqga?dl=0

To register your interest in attending the ceremony, please contact: Penny Hartill, director, hPR 09 445 7525, 021 721 424, penny@hartillpr.co.nz

 

www.nzbookawards.nz         https://www.facebook.com/NewZealandBookAwards/

@theockhams                        #theockhams

 

Editors’ Notes:

The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are the country’s premier literary honours for books written by New Zealanders. First established in 1968 as the Wattie Book Awards (later the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards), they have also been known as the Montana New Zealand Book Awards and the New Zealand Post Book Awards. Awards are given for Fiction (the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize), General Non-Fiction (the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction), Illustrated Non-Fiction and Poetry. There are also four Best First Book Awards and, at the judges’ discretion, a Māori Language Award. The awards are governed by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust (a registered charity). Members of the Trust are Nicola Legat, Karen Ferns, Paula Morris, Catherine Robertson, Rachel Eadie, David Bowles, Pene Walsh and Melanee Winder. Creative New Zealand is a significant annual funder of the awards. The Trust also governs the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day.

Ockham Residential Group is Auckland’s most progressive developer. Founded in 2009 by Mark Todd and Ben Preston, Ockham describes itself as an urban regenerator, a company that loves Auckland.  Ockham wants to see Auckland’s built environment become as beautiful and as world-class as its natural landscape. The business has ambitions wider than profitability, and has also established the Ockham Foundation. The Ockham Foundation aims to promote original thinking and critical thought — two key elements of widening the public discourse — via educational initiatives. It works with the University of Auckland to fund First Foundation Scholars studying science, and is a major sponsor to Ngā Rangatahi Toa, a charity transforming the lives of Rangatahi excluded from education.

The Acorn Foundation is a community foundation based in the Western Bay of Plenty, which encourages people to leave a gift in their wills and/or their lifetimes to support their local community forever. Donations are pooled and invested, and the investment income is used to make donations to local charities, in accordance with the donors’ wishes. The capital remains intact. Since it was established in 2003, Acorn has distributed over $4.6 million. Donors may choose which organisations are to benefit each year, or they may decide to leave it to the trustees’ discretion. Community foundations are the fastest growing form of philanthropy worldwide, and there are now 15 throughout New Zealand, with more in the early stages. The Book Awards’ $50,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize has been provided through the generosity of one of the Foundation’s donors, and will be awarded to the top fiction work each year, in perpetuity.

Royal Society Te Apārangi is an independent not-for-profit organisation that supports all New Zealanders to explore, discover and share knowledge. Its varied programmes provide funding and learning opportunities for researchers, teachers, school students, together with those who are simply curious about the world. To celebrate the discoveries of New Zealand researchers, the Society awards medals and elects Fellows, who are leaders in their fields. These experts help the Society to provide independent advice to New Zealanders and the government on issues of public concern. The Society has a broad network of members and friends around New Zealand and invites all those who value the work New Zealanders do in exploring, discovering and sharing knowledge to join with them.

The Auckland Writers Festival is the largest literary event in New Zealand and the largest presenter of New Zealand literature in the world. Now in its 18th year, it hosts more than 200 local and international writers for six days of discussion, conversation, reading, debate, performance, schools, family and free events ranging across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, music, theatre, culture, art and more. Festival attendance in 2017 exceeded 73,000.

Creative New Zealand has been a sustaining partner of New Zealand’s book awards for decades. Creative New Zealand encourages, promotes and supports the arts in New Zealand for the benefit of all New Zealanders through funding, capability building, an international programme, and advocacy. It offers financial support for emerging and established artists, art practitioners, groups and organisations, and provides training and online resources to help artists and practitioners develop professionally, grow audiences and markets, and manage their organisations. It also supports internships and national touring to help develop New Zealand arts. Creative New Zealand provides a wide range of support to New Zealand literature, including funding for writers and publishers, residencies, literary festivals and awards, and supports organisations which work to increase the readership and sales of New Zealand literature at home and internationally.

Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd underwrites the sale of book tokens within New Zealand. It is administered by Booksellers New Zealand.

 

New Zealand is a nation of poets and poetry lovers. Last year Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day broke all records, with 120 events taking place in cities and towns all over the country.

This year, Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day (#NZPoetryDay) will be held on Friday 24 August 2018 and is set to be even bigger. Expect chances to read poetry on public transport, street posters and footpaths; to hear it in special events in cafes, bars, bookshops, libraries, schools, universities, theatres, clubs and community centres; and to enter your own work in to poetry competitions for all ages.

Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day 2018 will feature a range of events and activities, from readings headlined by Poet Laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh to Slam Poetry contests to events that celebrate local writers and places. David Merritt’s ‘Poetry in a Box’ will see poetry bricks in 25 different locations around the country – in schools, cafés, libraries, galleries – culminating in a co-ordinated “simultaneous reading” on the day.

The cut-off date for organisers to register events and apply for seed funding is Wednesday 23 May 2018 at 5:00pm. Events can be registered online via this link: http://www.nzbookawards.nz/national-poetry-day/how-to-register-your-event/. For enquiries about registering an event or applying for seed funding, please contact National Administrator Harley Hern on email poetryday@nzbookawards.org.nz.  For full information go to: http://www.nzbookawards.nz/national-poetry-day/.

Held on the fourth Friday in August, National Poetry Day is a popular fixture on the nation’s cultural calendar. For the third year Phantom Billstickers are supporting this through a naming rights sponsorship, and plan to proudly ‘splash poetry across New Zealand’ in the weeks leading up to National Poetry Day with a massive street poster campaign.

Paula Morris, National Poetry Day spokesperson for the New Zealand Book Awards Trust said, “Last year’s twentieth-anniversary celebrations brought out more great poets, charismatic performers and avid readers than ever before. Poetry has the power to speak to and for us, from the personal to the political – to mark our big occasions, comment on our society, and challenge the way we see the world. National Poetry Day is a chance to encounter poetry in unexpected places, and to engage with the many things it’s able to do and say.”

The poetry winner of the prestigious Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, announced on Tuesday 15 May 2018, will be available to take part in selected events on Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day, as will the other poetry finalists. The shortlisted writers for the Poetry prize are: Tony Beyer (New Plymouth), Elizabeth Smither (Taranaki), Briar Wood (Northland), and Sue Wootton (Dunedin).

Nicola Legat, New Zealand Book Awards Trust Chair, said: “In the year that we celebrate 50 years since New Zealand’s prestigious book awards were first established, it’s rewarding and affirming to reflect on how many great books of poetry have been celebrated in the awards’ winner lists. These books of poetry were noticed, brought richness to readers’ lives and are eminently worth rereading. They have held their ground and their authors constitute a poetry hall of fame: Allen Curnow, Bill Manhire, Fleur Adcock, Elizabeth Smither, Brian Turner, Vincent O’Sullivan, Michelle Leggott, Hone Tuwhare, Kate Camp, Ian Wedde, Jenny Bornholdt, Glenn Colquhoun and so many more. Here’s to New Zealand poetry!”

#NZPoetryDay                                  facebook.com/NZPoetryDay                      twitter.com/NZPoetryDay

ENDS 

Notes to Editors

National Poetry Day has been running continuously since 1997 and since 2014, has been administered by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust. It has a mandate to celebrate discovery, diversity, community and pushing boundaries, and to ensure their longevity and credibility. The Trust also governs and manages the country’s two major literary awards – The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards and the New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults. New Zealand Book Awards Trust  

Phantom Billstickers is a street poster company which has consistently helped New Zealanders express themselves since 1982. Recognising and supporting home-grown talent has always sat comfortably alongside its commercial campaign work. Phantom actively promotes New Zealand music, art, poetry and culture around the country and across the world, putting poetry on posters and a literary mix of work into cafes via its quarterly magazine Café Reader. Phantom Billstickers

Paula Morris (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Whatua) is an award-winning novelist, short story writer and essayist. A frequent book reviewer, interviewer, and commentator, Paula holds degrees from universities in New Zealand, the U.K. and the US, including a D.Phil from the University of York and an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is convenor of the Master in Creative Writing programme at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and founder of the Academy of New Zealand Literature.

Nicola Legat ONZM is the publisher of both Massey University Press and Te Papa Press. The former Publishing Director of Random House New Zealand (now Penguin Random House New Zealand), she is also a former editor of Metro magazine and is Chair of the New Zealand Book Awards Charitable Trust and Deputy Chair of the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival Trust. 

PAULA MORRIS IS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW / IMAGES ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST 

Media contact: Sarah Thornton / Thornton Communications / sarah.thornton@prcomms.com / 021 753744

 

PRESS RELEASE

Tuesday 1 May 2018: For immediate release

The Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) welcomes the Government’s announcement today that foreign retailers will be asked to pay GST on goods under the value of $400 sold online into New Zealand.  The announcement was made by Small Business and Revenue Minister Stuart Nash and Customs Minister Meka Whaitiri this morning at Unity Books in Wellington.

“Publishers rely on our local booksellers to showcase the work of all authors and illustrators” said PANZ President Peter Dowling. “This move will ensure that they can operate on a level playing field with retailers overseas.”

The legislation will come into effect from 1 October 2019.

PETER DOWLING, President of the Publishers Assn NZ, is available for comment.

 

For further information, please contact:

Sandra Noakes, Tel 0275 767675 or Catriona Ferguson, T 02102482637

On behalf of Publishers Association of New Zealand

www.publishers.org.nz

www.facebook.com/PublishersAssociationNZ/

 

Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) are excited to announce that online applications for the CLNZ Education Awards are now open!  ENTER HERE

The Education Awards celebrate the quality and diversity of educational resources released between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2018 to support classroom learning. The awards recognise the success of New Zealand resource providers in the education market and standout contributions made in both New Zealand classrooms and overseas.

A panel of industry experts will judge the entries, which will include online tools, apps, textbooks, workbooks and more, to carefully consider this year’s award winners in 13 categories. Applications close at 12pm, Friday 25 May 2018. Winners will be announced at an awards event in July.

The 2018 Education Award categories are:

PRIMARY (Years 1-8)

• Best Student Resource
• Best Teacher Resource
• Best Te Reo Māori Resource
• Best Digital Resource

SECONDARY (Years 9-13)

• Best Student Resource
• Best Teacher Resource
• Best Te Reo Māori Resource
• Best Digital Resource

TERTIARY

• Best Student Resource
• Best Teacher Resource
• Best Te Reo Māori Resource
• Best Digital Resource

EXPORT

• Best Export Resource

Online applications can be made here:
http://www.copyright.co.nz/cultural-fund/awards-and-grants

Information about the judging criteria and application criteria can be found here:
http://www.copyright.co.nz/Images/Assets/3422/1/2018%20Education%20Awards%20Criteria

—

For more information please contact:
Email awards@copyright.co.nz
Phone: 09 486 6250

Media Release:

 

The country’s largest literary showcase, the Auckland Writers Festival, brings a world of stories and ideas to the city from the 15th to the 20th May, offering laughter, knowledge, ideas and inspiration for audiences of all ages with more than 160 of the planet’s best writers alive today.

Appearing exclusively at the Festival is Norwegian literary rock star Karl Ove Knausgaard. He joins a stellar line-up including US New York Times number one bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and The Jane Austen Book Club, Karen Joy Fowler; CWA Gold Dagger winner Jane Harper and Australian literary statesman Alex Miller; award winning New Zealand writers: Festival co-founder Peter Wells, globally lauded Lloyd Jones and national treasure Anne Salmond; leading American neuroscientist David Eagleman; Kiwi cartoonist Tom Scott; leading journalist and memoirist Diana Wichtel; New Zealand’s 2017 Venice Art Biennale representative Lisa Reihana; British novelist, the great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud, Susie Boyt; US Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Amy Goldstein; Kenyan Nobel contender Ngugi wa Thiong’o; New Zealand’s poet laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh; poet, novelist and critic C.K. Stead; Bill Gates-backed originator of the Big History genre, David Christian; Australian broadcaster, director, children’s writer and daughter of the late, great John Clarke, Lorin Clarke; Rolling Stone editor and environmental writer Jeff Goodell; renowned British philosopher and author A.C. Grayling; Kurdistani poet and feminist who established the region’s first tertiary gender studies programme Choman Hardi; global literary star, former UN under-secretary and writer Shashi Tharoor; New Zealander novelists Catherine Chidgey and Linda Olsson; Bulgarian-Kiwi historian, travel writer, novelist and poet Kapka Kassabova; The New Yorker’s music critic, Alex Ross; freelance journalist and Myanmar specialist Francis Wade; and prolific science fiction writer and futurist Neal Stephenson.

The Festival is internationally recognised now as one of the best literature celebrations in the world, with six days of ideas, readings, debates, stand-up poetry, literary theatre, children’s writers and free public and family events. Festival attendance has grown exponentially with audiences topping 73,000 last year.

Auckland Writers Festival director Anne O’Brien says this year sees a heady mix of high profile and cutting edge literary stars.

“I’m thrilled to present the Festival’s most diverse line-up of writers yet,” she says.

“We know that our audience loves to discover and learn and in response to this demand, there is a depth of talent the likes of which we have never seen. Sharlene Teo, Durga Chew-Bose, Annalese Jochems and Jenny Zhang – young women producing extraordinary work – sit alongside global literary luminaries like Karl Ove Knausgaard, Alex Miller, Lloyd Jones and Catherine Chidgey.

“I encourage you all to see not only those writers you know and love, but also those with interesting backgrounds and areas of interest.

“This Festival offers writers on a scale unique in New Zealand. It only happens once a year. Don’t miss it!”

Multi-million copy bestselling children’s author, Jeff Kinney, joins the Festival early – on 1 May – to entertain readers big and small with his Diary of a Wimpy Kid stories. Former British Children’s Laureate and political observer Chris Riddell will be a highlight for many, too, mid-Festival on Wednesday 16 May.

Comedians the Festival has,  including our own Michele A’Court with tales of love and marriage; major English writer, actor and one half of the double act Mitchell and Webb – Robert Webb and Australian actor, writer, producer, director and broadcaster Peter Helliar who will discuss his first children’s book series Frankie Fish appear in events throughout the Festival.

The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards is the first public event of the programme at the Aotea Centre on Tuesday 15 May. Come and see who will take home the big prizes, with Stacey Morrison as MC and Glasgow-based writer, journalist and founding editor of the Scottish Review of Books Alan Taylor joining the New Zealand judging team in selecting the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize winner.  It’s the book awards’ 50^th anniversary this year, and what better way to celebrate than with a quiz on who’s who in NZ lit’ – and you’re all invited!

Rhodes Scholar and author Damon Salesa challenges us in this year’s Michael King Lecture, to embrace our Pacific talent, and finally act like a Pacific Nation on Saturday 19 May.

Following the successful of last year’s Walk on High, the Festival presents Call On O’Connell on Friday May 18, in which more than 30 writers treat audiences to restyled news delivered from barbershop stools; under the table tales from the Wine Chamber; racy readings with chocolate, past writers remembered, and reports from abroad besides!

Come and find out ‘what happens next’ in the #METOO movement at the University of Auckland’s Festival Forum on Wednesday 16 May, featuring Kurdistan Region feminist Choman Hardi, Māori development and media specialist Ella Henry, US scientist Hope Jahren and British comedian and writer Robert Webb.

The sparkling Heartland Festival Room returns, right in the middle of Aotea Square, treating audiences from the morning til late into the night, with a wide selection of stories, including musical moments from Nadia Reid, Lawrence Arabia and Moana Maniapoto.  Further to all things musical, cultural critic and author Alex Ross shares the concert stage with mezzo-soprano Bianca Andrew and Aotearoa’s pre-eminent modern ensemble STROMA. Together they present a companion soundtrack to Ross’s book, The Rest Is Noise, featuring some of the most beautiful and intriguing compositions of the last 100 years. This will be a very special event held in the Town Hall on Sunday 20 May, presented by Chamber Music New Zealand in association with the Festival.  And Auckland chanteuse Linn Lorkin joins forces with playwright Dean Parker in a performance piece based on Parker’s Man Alone sequel, Johnson.

There’s a change of pace in the Festival’s Art Gallery Series this year, with films featuring literary greats including Maurice Sendak, Margaret Atwood, Hone Tuwhare, Amoz Oz, Virago Press and Margaret Mahy.

Theatrical writing is celebrated, too. Internationally acclaimed as the successor to Billie Whitelaw for her brilliant interpretations of the work of Samuel Beckett, Irish actor Lisa Dwan delivers a performance lecture in celebration of the Nobel Prize winner on Friday 18 May. Director Nancy Brunning honours labourer turned award-winning Māori writer Rowley Habib with a distinguished cast including: Rawiri Paratene; Te Kahu Rolleston; Tanea Heke and Mitch Tawhi Thomas performing throughout the Festival; as is Melbourne solo performer Emma Mary Hall with her monologue piece We May Have To Choose.

Five of Auckland’s brightest spoken word artists take to the stage with globally lauded performer greats, in an outstanding showcase of talent in Best Best Showcase on Friday 18 May.

Always a sell-out, this year’s Festival Gala Night is True Stories Told Live: Under Cover on Thursday 17 May at the Aotea Centre. Susie Boyt (England), Lisa Dwan (Ireland); Gigi Fenster (South Africa/NZ); Alex Ross (US); Damon Salesa (Samoa/NZ); Tom Scott (NZ); Shashi Tharoor (India); and Jenny Zhang (US) tell us a seven minute true story propless and scriptless. Expect these stories from the heart to linger with you long after the lights go down.

Head on down to the Town Hall on Sunday 20 May for Family Day, where there’s a packed day of performances, presentations, animals and insects, story time and activities for children. James Russell’s hugely popular Dragon Brothers series is ‘almost’ present with an augmented reality treat in Aotea Square throughout the Festival.

The event finale on Sunday afternoon is an hour with Honoured New Zealand Writer, Witi Ihimaera (Te Aitanga-a-Mahāki, Tūhoe, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui). His writing has touched generations of readers and is awarded and celebrated here and around the world. The first Māori writer to publish both a book of short stories and a novel, he has since written more than 30 books for adults and children, as well as screenplays, scripts, essays and libretto. Join us in this free event paying tribute to one of our literary taonga.

“The last few years has seen unprecedented interest in the Festival from audiences who travel not only from all over Auckland, but around the country and abroad to listen to globally lauded writers and ideas, men and women who deepen our thinking, make us laugh, move us and help us to make sense of this increasingly complicated world.

Ms O’Brien says it’s a privilege to present such diverse and talented writers from here and around the world.

“I encourage everyone to come along and engage with words and ideas offered in books, song, stand-up, performances, prose, in debates and conversations, from voices both familiar and new.”

The 2018 Auckland Writers Festival programme is launched at an invitation-only event at the Auckland Art Gallery on the evening of Wednesday 14 March.

A preferential booking period for Festival Patrons and Friends follows, with public tickets on sale from 9.00am, Friday 16 March from www.ticketmaster.co.nz.

The Auckland Writers Festival warmly thanks Platinum Partner: Heartland Bank; Gold Partners: The University of Auckland, Freemasons Foundation, Ockham and Creative New Zealand; and all our Silver, Bronze and Supporting Partners.

We are also enormously grateful to our Festival patrons for their enthusiasm and generosity.

Go to www.writersfestival.co.nz for more information on appearing writers and their events.

ENDS

 

KEY DATES

1 May                    Jeff Kinney (Aotea Centre)

15-20 May           Full Festival Programme (Aotea Centre, Auckland Art Gallery, Heartland Festival Room in Aotea Square)

15 May                 Auckland Writers Festival Schools Programme (Aotea Centre)

Ockham New Zealand Book Awards (Aotea Centre)

16 May                 Auckland Writers Festival Schools Programme (Aotea Centre)

The University of Auckland Festival Forum (Aotea Centre)

                             

17 May Auckland Writers Festival Schools Programme (Aotea Centre)

Euro Lunch with A. C. Grayling                  

Festival Gala Night (Aotea Centre)

18 May                 Call on O’Connell (O’Connell St, Auckland central – various venues)

Best Best Showcase (Aotea Centre)

The Great New Zealand Lit Quiz (Heartland Festival Room)

20 May                 FREE Family Day Programme. (Town Hall Concert Chamber & Balcony Bar)

Honoured New Zealand Writer event (Aotea Centre, free entry)

For images: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rs05r48b6g2dlvq/AADEJ8FLPJiT7x39IDs9y4gna?dl=0

For further information, interview opportunities, author and book images please contact: Penny Hartill, director, hPR, 09 445 7525, 021 721 424, www.hartillpr.co.nz

www.writersfestival.co.nz                           www.facebook.com/akwrfest

@AklWritersFest     #awf18

 

 

New Zealand’s premier literary awards celebrate their 50th anniversary with a rich collection of 16 finalist books by both lauded established writers and emerging stars.

Announced today, the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards finalists join a literary hall of fame that dates back to 1968 and features New Zealand’s most famous and distinguished writers.

The finalist books were selected by four panels of three specialist judges and were drawn from 40 long-listed titles selected out of more than 150 entries.

New Zealand Book Awards Trust chair Nicola Legat says this year’s shortlist demonstrates the diversity, depth and skill of New Zealand writers.

“These books reflect who we are as people and how we are developing as a nation, demonstrating that the writer’s role is as important now as it was half a century ago. Like many of the books nominated in previous years’ awards, the cream of this year’s crop are destined to become classics.”

In the contest for the $50,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize, University of Canterbury Professor of English Patrick Evans’ novel Salt Picnic vies with debut writer Annaleese Jochems’ Baby, Wellington lawyer Brannavan Gnanalingam’s Sodden Downstream, and novelist and creative writing teacher Pip Adam’s The New Animals. “We have selected four novels that directly confront and ask questions of both the world and the reader,” says the category judging convenor Jenna Todd. “These authors are pushing at the edges of what is possible in fiction in a style that’s both engaging and brave.”

The finalists in the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction category are renowned historian and anthropologist Dame Anne Salmond for Tears of Rangi: Experiments Across Worlds; journalist Diana Wichtel for her debut book Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father; Massey University Professor of History Michael Belgrave for Dancing with the King: The Rise and Fall of the King Country 1864-1885, and cartoonist Tom Scott for his memoir Drawn Out.

General Non-Fiction category convenor Ella Henry says there was a high degree of unanimity among the judges about these four books. “One book made me laugh, one made me cry, one reminded me of New Zealand’s complex history, and the other gave me great hope about the future of our nation.”

Matariki Williams, convenor of the Illustrated Non-Fiction Award category judging panel, says that evocative language interwoven with a remarkable range of imagery gave the category’s finalists a lasting impact. They are: Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds by Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins; Tōtara: A Natural and Cultural History by Philip Simpson; Gordon Walters: New Vision by Zara Stanhope (commissioning editor), Lucy Hammonds, Laurence Simmons and Julia Waite, and The Face of Nature: An Environmental History of the Otago Peninsula by Jonathan West.

“These books, each of which was multi-layered in approach and execution, showcased the rich social, cultural, material and environmental history that has shaped Aotearoa. They were not just beautiful to look at but they were also all a joy to read,” says Ms Williams.

Collections by four acclaimed established poets comprise this year’s Poetry Award shortlist. They are Anchor Stone by Tony Beyer, Night Horse by Elizabeth Smither, Rāwāhi by Briar Wood, and The Yield by Sue Wootton.

Poetry category convenor Robert Sullivan says it was an excellent year for poetry. “These shortlisted books are thoughtful, luminous, both precisely and generously descriptive of emotion and intellect, delighting in the dance of language. These lyrical poets channel fine depths to lift up poems as lights,” says Mr Sullivan.

The 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards finalist titles are:

Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize:

• The New Animals by Pip Adam (Victoria University Press)
• Salt Picnic by Patrick Evans (Victoria University Press)
• Sodden Downstream by Brannavan Gnanalingam (Lawrence & Gibson)
• Baby by Annaleese Jochems (Victoria University Press)

 

Poetry Award:

• Anchor Stone by Tony Beyer (Cold Hub Press)
• Night Horse by Elizabeth Smither (Auckland University Press)
• Rāwāhi by Briar Wood (Anahera Press)
• The Yield by Sue Wootton (Otago University Press)

 

Illustrated Non-Fiction Award:

• Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds by Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins (Bridget Williams Books)
• Tōtara: A Natural and Cultural History by Philip Simpson (Auckland University Press)
• Gordon Walters: New Vision by Zara Stanhope (commissioning editor), Lucy Hammonds, Laurence Simmons, Julia Waite (Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Dunedin Public Art Gallery)
• The Face of Nature: An Environmental History of the Otago Peninsula by Jonathan West (Otago University Press)

 

Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non Fiction:

• Dancing with the King: The Rise and Fall of the King Country, 1864-1885 by Michael Belgrave (Auckland University Press)
• Tears of Rangi: Experiments Across Worlds by Anne Salmond (Auckland University Press)
• Drawn Out: A Seriously Funny Memoir by Tom Scott (Allen & Unwin NZ)
• Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father by Diana Wichtel (Awa Press)

 

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on May 15 2018, held as the first public event of the Auckland Writers Festival.

To find out more about the shortlisted titles go to http://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/2018-awards/shortlist/

ENDS

For interview opportunities, images and further information please contact: Penny Hartill, director, hPR 09 445 7525, 021 721 424, penny@hartillpr.co.nz

#theockhams facebook.com/NewZealandBookAwards   twitter.com/theockhams

Editor’s Notes:

The 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards judges are: Poet and novelist Alison Wong, poet Robert Sullivan, deputy chief executive, Māori, at Manukau Institute of Technology, and poet, publisher and librettist Michael Harlow (Poetry category); Ella Henry, a lecturer in AUT’s Māori Faculty, editor and award-winning journalist Toby Manhire and former bookseller and publisher, Philip King (Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction category); Barbara Brookes, whose A History of New Zealand Women won this category of the awards in 2017,  Matariki Williams, (Tūhoe, Taranaki, Ngāti Hauiti, Ngāti Whakaue), a curator Mātauranga Māori at Te Papa and Kim Paton, director of the public gallery Objectspace (Illustrated Non-Fiction category) and poet and academic Anna Smaill, journalist and reviewer Philip Matthews, and bookseller and reviewer Jenna Todd of the Auckland bookshop Time Out (Fiction category).

Glasgow-based writer, journalist and founding editor of the Scottish Review of Books Alan Taylor joins the New Zealand judging team in selecting the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize winner.

The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are the country’s premier literary honours for books written by New Zealanders. First established in 1968 as the Wattie Book Awards (later the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards), they have also been known as the Montana New Zealand Book Awards and the New Zealand Post Book Awards. Awards are given for Fiction (the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize), General Non-Fiction (the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction), Illustrated Non-Fiction and Poetry. There are also four Best First Book Awards and, at the judges’ discretion, a Māori Language Award. The awards are governed by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust (a registered charity). Members of the Trust are Nicola Legat, Karen Ferns, Paula Morris, Catherine Robertson, Rachel Eadie, David Bowles, Pene Walsh and Melanee Winder. Creative New Zealand is a significant annual funder of the awards. The Trust also governs the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day.

Ockham Residential Group is Auckland’s most progressive developer. Founded in 2009 by Mark Todd and Ben Preston, Ockham describes itself as an urban regenerator, a company that loves Auckland.  Ockham wants to see Auckland’s built environment become as beautiful and as world-class as its natural landscape. The business has ambitions wider than profitability, and has also established the Ockham Foundation. The Ockham Foundation aims to promote original thinking and critical thought — two key elements of widening the public discourse — via educational initiatives. It works with the University of Auckland to fund First Foundation Scholars studying science, and is a major sponsor to Ngā Rangatahi Toa, a charity transforming the lives of Rangatahi excluded from education.

The Acorn Foundation is a community foundation based in the Western Bay of Plenty, which encourages people to leave a gift in their wills and/or their lifetimes to support their local community forever. Donations are pooled and invested, and the investment income is used to make donations to local charities, in accordance with the donors’ wishes. The capital remains intact. Since it was established in 2003, Acorn has distributed over $4.6 million. Donors may choose which organisations are to benefit each year, or they may decide to leave it to the trustees’ discretion. Community foundations are the fastest growing form of philanthropy worldwide, and there are now 15 throughout New Zealand, with more in the early stages. The Book Awards’ $50,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize has been provided through the generosity of one of the Foundation’s donors, and will be awarded to the top fiction work each year, in perpetuity.

Royal Society Te Apārangi is an independent not-for-profit organisation that supports all New Zealanders to explore, discover and share knowledge. Its varied programmes provide funding and learning opportunities for researchers, teachers, school students, together with those who are simply curious about the world. To celebrate the discoveries of New Zealand researchers, the Society awards medals and elects Fellows, who are leaders in their fields. These experts help the Society to provide independent advice to New Zealanders and the government on issues of public concern. The Society has a broad network of members and friends around New Zealand and invites all those who value the work New Zealanders do in exploring, discovering and sharing knowledge to join with them.

Creative New Zealand has been a sustaining partner of New Zealand’s book awards for decades. Creative New Zealand encourages, promotes and supports the arts in New Zealand for the benefit of all New Zealanders through funding, capability building, an international programme, and advocacy. It offers financial support for emerging and established artists, art practitioners, groups and organisations, and provides training and online resources to help artists and practitioners develop professionally, grow audiences and markets, and manage their organisations. It also supports internships and national touring to help develop New Zealand arts. Creative New Zealand provides a wide range of support to New Zealand literature, including funding for writers and publishers, residencies, literary festivals and awards, and supports organisations which work to increase the readership and sales of New Zealand literature at home and internationally.

Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd underwrites the sale of book tokens within New Zealand. It is administered by Booksellers New Zealand.

The Auckland Writers Festival is the largest literary event in New Zealand and the largest presenter of New Zealand literature in the world. Now in its 18^th year, it hosts more than 200 local and international writers for six days of discussion, conversation, reading, debate, performance, schools, family and free events ranging across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, music, theatre, culture, art and more. Festival attendance in 2017 exceeded 73,000.

 

 

 

 

Critically acclaimed Scots writer, journalist and founding editor of the Scottish Review of Books Alan Taylor has been announced as the international judge who will assist the local panel in selecting the winner of the $50,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize in the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Taylor and his wife, author and literary editor Rosemary Goring, will be in New Zealand in May as guests of the Auckland Writers Festival, which hosts the awards ceremony as part of its six-day programme of events, with their visit supported by Festival Platinum Partner Heartland Bank.

“It is a pleasure and a privilege to be asked to join the judging panel for the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize,” says Taylor of the task ahead of him. “What I’m particularly looking forward to is discovering new writers who, as Muriel Spark said, help open doors and windows in the minds of readers. I like novels that are novel, that surprise, shock and amuse, sometimes simultaneously, and whose style is innovative, distinctive and memorable. That for me is the hallmark of all great fiction writing.”

Taylor brings considerable experience to the judging table; he was a member of the Booker Prize’s management committee and a judge of the prize in 1994.

The four judges, which also include convenor and bookseller Jenna Todd, novelist, poet and academic Anna Smaill, and journalist and reviewer Philip Matthews will deliberate over a shortlist of four books that will be announced on 6 March 2018. These finalists will be narrowed down from the present fiction longlist of:

• The New Animals by Pip Adam (Victoria University Press)
• The Beat of the Pendulum by Catherine Chidgey (Victoria University Press)
• The Earth Cries Out by Bonnie Etherington (Vintage, Penguin Random House)
• Salt Picnic by Patrick Evans (Victoria University Press)
• Sodden Downstream by Brannavan Gnanalingam (Lawrence & Gibson)
• Heloise by Mandy Hager (Penguin Random House)
• Iceland by Dominic Hoey (Steele Roberts Aotearoa)
• Baby by Annaleese Jochems (Victoria University Press)
• Tess by Kirsten McDougall (Victoria University Press)
• Five Strings by Apirana Taylor (Anahera Press)

Taylor’s previous newspaper roles include features and literary editor of Scotland on Sunday, deputy editor of the Scotsman, managing editor of Scotsman Publications and writer-at-large for the Sunday Herald. For a number of years he has been a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement’s ‘Freelance’ column. He has written for publications around the world and has made several television documentaries, including about the writers Alastair Reid, John Irving and Muriel Spark.

His books include The Assassin’s Cloak: An Anthology of the World’s Best Diarists, Glasgow: An Autobiography and Appointment in Arezzo: A Friendship with Muriel Spark.

Taylor lives with his wife in the Scottish Borders and Glasgow.

The Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize and other winners of the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards will be announced at a ceremony on May 15 2018, held as the first public event of the Auckland Writers Festival. 2018 will mark the 50th  anniversary of the first book awards ceremony in New Zealand, presented in 1968 as the Wattie Book Awards.

To find out more about the longlisted titles go to http://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/2018-awards/longlist/

ENDS

For interview opportunities, images and further information please contact: Penny Hartill, director, hPR 09 445 7525, 021 721 424, penny@hartillpr.co.nz

#theockhams    facebook.com/NewZealandBookAwards            twitter.com/theockhams 

Editor’s Notes:

The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are the country’s premier literary honours for books written by New Zealanders. First established in 1968 as the Wattie Book Awards (later the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards), they have also been known as the Montana New Zealand Book Awards and the New Zealand Post Book Awards. Awards are given for Fiction (the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize), General Non-Fiction (the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction), Illustrated Non-Fiction and Poetry. There are also four Best First Book Awards and, at the judges’ discretion, a Māori Language Award. The awards are governed by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust (a registered charity). Members of the Trust are Nicola Legat, Karen Ferns, Paula Morris, Catherine Robertson, Rachel Eadie, David Bowles, Pene Walsh and Melanee Winder. Creative New Zealand is a significant annual funder of the awards. The Trust also governs the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day.

Ockham Residential Group is Auckland’s most progressive developer. Founded in 2009 by Mark Todd and Ben Preston, Ockham describes itself as an urban regenerator, a company that loves Auckland.  Ockham wants to see Auckland’s built environment become as beautiful and as world-class as its natural landscape. The business has ambitions wider than profitability, and has also established the Ockham Foundation. The Ockham Foundation aims to promote original thinking and critical thought — two key elements of widening the public discourse — via educational initiatives. It works with the University of Auckland to fund First Foundation Scholars studying science, and is a major sponsor to Ngā Rangatahi Toa, a charity transforming the lives of Rangatahi excluded from education.

The Acorn Foundation is a community foundation based in the Western Bay of Plenty, which encourages people to leave a gift in their wills and/or their lifetimes to support their local community forever. Donations are pooled and invested, and the investment income is used to make donations to local charities, in accordance with the donors’ wishes. The capital remains intact. Since it was established in 2003, Acorn has distributed over $4.6 million. Donors may choose which organisations are to benefit each year, or they may decide to leave it to the trustees’ discretion. Community foundations are the fastest growing form of philanthropy worldwide, and there are now 15 throughout New Zealand, with more in the early stages. The Book Awards’ $50,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize has been provided through the generosity of one of the Foundation’s donors, and will be awarded to the top fiction work each year, in perpetuity.

Royal Society Te Apārangi is an independent not-for-profit organisation that supports all New Zealanders to explore, discover and share knowledge. Its varied programmes provide funding and learning opportunities for researchers, teachers, school students, together with those who are simply curious about the world. To celebrate the discoveries of New Zealand researchers, the Society awards medals and elects Fellows, who are leaders in their fields. These experts help the Society to provide independent advice to New Zealanders and the government on issues of public concern. The Society has a broad network of members and friends around New Zealand and invites all those who value the work New Zealanders do in exploring, discovering and sharing knowledge to join with them. 

Creative New Zealand has been a sustaining partner of New Zealand’s book awards for decades. Creative New Zealand encourages, promotes and supports the arts in New Zealand for the benefit of all New Zealanders through funding, capability building, an international programme, and advocacy. It offers financial support for emerging and established artists, art practitioners, groups and organisations, and provides training and online resources to help artists and practitioners develop professionally, grow audiences and markets, and manage their organisations. It also supports internships and national touring to help develop New Zealand arts. Creative New Zealand provides a wide range of support to New Zealand literature, including funding for writers and publishers, residencies, literary festivals and awards, and supports organisations which work to increase the readership and sales of New Zealand literature at home and internationally.

Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd underwrites the sale of book tokens within New Zealand. It is administered by Booksellers New Zealand.

The Auckland Writers Festival is the largest literary event in New Zealand and the largest presenter of New Zealand literature in the world. Now in its 18^th year, it hosts more than 200 local and international writers for six days of discussion, conversation, reading, debate, performance, schools, family and free events ranging across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, music, theatre, culture, art and more.  Festival attendance in 2017 exceeded 73,000.