CHRISTCHURCH WRITERS FESTIVAL 2008

ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY PRIZE

Women writers Kate Mosse, Marion Halligan, Fiona Kidman and Sara Knox were superbly introduced and ably led by the enthusiastic Womens Bookshop owner Carol Beu into an interesting and robust discussion on particularly The Orange Broadband Prize but also on book prizes generally and their value.

Australian author Marion Halligan suggested that perhaps there were too many book prizes in Australia and that as a result their impact on sales was no longer as effective as it once had been.

And she added what I often say to authors, book prizes are something of a lottery.

Sara Knox who was shortlisted for the Commnwealth Writers Prize for the Best First Book for The Orphan Gunner suggested that for first novelists prizes and making the shortlist were of immense value in helping the author and title to a higher profile.

Fiona Kidman talked about the first prize she wn for writing at age nine in the local A&P show and what an influence that had on the rest of her life. It was 38 years before she won another prize for her writing. She talked of the value of writers Fellowships and Residencies, and Writers Festivals, events at which she had made lifelong friendships with other writers.

She then went on to talk quite emotionally about her regret at the decision of the 2008 Montana NZ Book Award judges to only shorltist four fiction titles insted of the usual five.

Kate Mosse gave us a thorough and fascinating run down of the founding, management and philosophy of the Orange Broadband Prize.

Each year 20 titles are longlisted and six shortlisted and the impact this has on the sales of the titles and profiles of the authors is significant.

This woman is aremarkably energetic and focussed, committed to books and reading and I could have listened to her all day.

This was an inspiring session.