Voting for excellence in Mäori publishing will lead activities at Te Kunenga ki Pürehuroa (Massey University) to mark Te Wiki o Te Reo Mäori (Mäori Language Week) this year.
Online public voting for the winners in four categories of the second annual Ngä Kupu Ora Mäori Book Awards opens today. Twelve books published between June last year and May 30 this year have been selected as finalists, three from each of the following categories – art, architecture and design; biography; history; and te reo Mäori.
Two of the finalists are written or edited by Massey authors – Mäori Art and Design: Weaving, painting, carving and architecture by PhD candidate and Mäori visual arts graduate Julia Paama-Pengelly and Weeping Waters: The Treaty of Waitangi and Constitutional Change edited by researcher Malcolm Mulholland and lecturer and PhD candidate Veronica Täwhai.
Kaihautü Mäori (Mäori library services manager) Spencer Lilley says the idea for book awards recognising Mäori literature was a result of other major book awards consistently failing to include Mäori items in their awards. “The only other book award that has a regular Mäori award is the Library and Information Association New Zealand Aotearoa Children’s Book Awards – Te Kura Pounamu Award, which recognises excellence in te reo Mäori children’s books," Mr Lilley says. “This year’s shortlisted authors and publishers have produced high quality items with literary and visual appeal. However, the low number of items published in te reo Mäori was disappointing.”
He says all shortlisted books in the te reo Mäori category this year are a combination of te reo Mäori and English, with Ngä Tatangi a Te Whare Karioi consisting of lyrics to haka, waiata and ngä möteatea from last year’s Te Matatini Festival; People of the Land containing whakataukï (proverbs) in both languages and Huia Short Stories Volume 8 containing six stories in te reo Mäori.
“The lack of books being published solely in te reo needs to be addressed and is also reflected in the absence of a te reo Mäori winner in the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Awards.”
Five of the books selected as finalists were published by Massey alumni Robyn and Brian Bargh of Huia Publishers in Wellington, including all three finalists in the te reo Mäori section and two books in the history section.
An awards event attended by winning authors, publishers, potential writers and University staff and students was held was held last year at Te Pütahi-ä-Toi (the School of Mäori Studies) at the Manawatu campus. A similar event is planned to celebrate this year’s winners on Mäori Language Day, September 14.
Voting for the Ngä Kupu Ora Mäori Book Awards closes on the last day of Te Wiki o Te Reo Mäori, August 1. Winners will be announced the next day.
Click here to vote online: Voting forms will also be available at the Manawatu, Wellington and Albany campus libraries.
This year’s finalists are:
Art, Architecture and Design
* Whare Karakia: Mäori Church Building, Decoration and Ritual in Aotearoa New Zealand, 1834-1863 by Richard Sundt (published by Auckland University Press).
* Rauru: Tene Wairere, Mäori Carving, Colonial History by Nicholas Thomas and Mark Adams (University of Otago Press).
* Mäori Art and Design: Weaving, painting, carving and architecture by Julia Paama-Pengelly (New Holland).
Biography
* Best of Both Worlds: The Story of Elsdon Best and Tutakangahau by Jeffrey Paparoa Holman (Penguin).
* Ned & Katina: A True Love Story by Patricia Grace (Penguin).
* Billy T: The Life and Times of Billy T James by Matt Elliot (Harper Collins).
History
* Encircled Lands: Te Urewera, 1820-1921 by Judith Binney (Bridget Williams Books).
* 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).
* Weeping Waters: The Treaty of Waitangi and Constitutional Change edited by Malcolm Mulholland and Veronica Tawhai (Huia Publishers).
Te Reo Mäori
* People of the Land: Images and Mäori Proverbs of Aotearoa New Zealand by Sid Mead and June Mead (Huia Publishers).
* Huia Short Stories 8: Contemporary Mäori Fiction by various authors (Huia Publishers).
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