23rd annual Commonwealth Writers’ Awards shortlists for 2009. New Zealand is hosting the awards for 2009.

The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, an increasingly valued international award for fiction, is presented by the Commonwealth Foundation. It aims to reward the best of Commonwealth fiction written in English, by both established and new writers, and to take their works to a global audience.

Two New Zealanders make the shortlist for the South East Asia and the Pacific region:

Paula Morris for Best Book with Forbidden Cities , (Penguin New Zealand) , and
Bridget van der Zijpp for Best First Book for Misconduct, (Victoria University Press)

The winners from each region will be announced March 10 and will then be invited to tour New Zealand for a series of public events, culminating in appearances at the 2009 Auckland Writers & Readers Festival (May 14 – 17). The overall winner of the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Award will be announced at an awards ceremony to be held at the Aotea Centre Saturday May 16th at 7.30pm as part of the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival programme and is free to the general public.

Jill Rawnsley, Auckland Writers & Readers Festival Director says: “The AWRF is delighted to host the 23rd Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and partner with the Commonwealth Foundation. We eagerly await the announcement of the regional finalists in March, and look forward to witnessing the impact of their interaction with local readers and writers in May.”

The full shortlists for this region are:

Best Book Award: South East Asia and the South Pacific
Aravind Adiga/Between the Assassinations/Picador India/Australia
Helen Garner/The Spare Room /Text Publishing/Australia
Joan London/The Good Parents /Vintage/Australia
Paula Morris/Forbidden Cities/Penguin New Zealand
Christos Tsiolkas/The Slap /Allen & Unwin/Australia
Tim Winton/Breath /Hamish Hamilton/Australia

Best First Book Award: South East Asia and the South Pacific
Aravind Adiga/The White Tiger /Atlantic Books /Australia
Nam Le/The Boat Hamish Hamilton/Australia
Mo Zhi Hong/The Year of the Shanghai Shark/Penguin /NZ
Bridget Van der Zijpp/Misconduct Victoria University Press/NZ
Preeta Samarasan/Evening is the Whole Day/Fourth Estate/Malaysia
Ashley Sievwright/The Shallow End Clouds of Magellan//Australia

The judging panel for the South East Asia and the South Pacific region was chaired by Dr Anne Brewster (Australia). She was joined by judges Dr Lydia Wevers (New Zealand) and Dr Boey Kim Cheng (Singapore).

For further information please contact:
Jenny Nagle
Interim New Zealand Co-ordinator
Commonwealth Writers’ Awards 2009
P.O.Box 28616 Auckland 1541
09-522-9592 021-599-838
nagle@xtra.co.nz