Finalists include a crowd funded book,
while sci-fi novel wins Māori Language prize
Three first time authors are among the finalists of the New
Zealand Post Book Awards announced today, a feat described by judges as “an
amazing achievement”. They are: The Intentions Book by Gigi Fenster, A
Man Runs into a Woman by Sarah Jane Barnett, and Patched: The History of
Gangs in New Zealand by Jarrod Gilbert.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Auckland on 28
August. Voting for the People’s Choice award starts today and closes on
the 18 August.
Chief Judge John Campbell said: “It is a reflection of the
extraordinary strength of the new and young writers we read, particularly in
poetry, where New Zealand is blessed by so many fine writers (at all ages and
stages) that we respectfully suggest poetry could stand beside rugby as our
national sport.”
The judges noted that many of the
finalists were also published by smaller
publishers. They urged bigger publishers to take more risks.
“Much of the best
risk-taking, much of the bravery, and much of the joy that comes from opening a
book and finding a brilliant, original and fearless companion, came from
smaller publishing houses. Thanks and congratulations to you all. But come on
you bigger folk, some wilder courage please.”
Sarah Jane Barnett’s book,
A Man Runs into a Woman, was not only published by a smaller publisher (Hue
& Cry Press) it was also the first thing of any variety to be posted on the
crowd-funding website Pledge Me. The money to publish the book was raised in
less than 24 hours.
Sci-fi novel wins Māori Language award
The winner of the New Zealand
Post Book Awards Māori Language prize has been announced today as the late
Dame Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira’s book Ngā Waituhi O
Rēhua (The Chronicles of Rēhua).
The book follows the journey
of four teenagers living on Rēhua, a planet settled after Earth is destroyed by
ecological disasters and global war.
Judge, Paora Tibble believes
Dame Kāterina brings Science Fiction together with the values of the
of the Ataarangi Māori language movement that she championed.
Dame Kāterina passed
away in 2011 in Hamilton at the age of 78. She was a New Zealand Māori language proponent, educator, intellectual, artist and writer. Her efforts to revive and revitalize
the te reo Māori, led
to the growth of the Māori immersion schools (Kura Kaupapa Māori)
in New Zealand.
New Zealand
Post Book Awards Finalists for 2013
Poetry
A Man Runs
into a Woman by Sarah
Jane Barnett - Hue & Cry
Press
Snow White's
Coffin by Kate Camp -
Victoria University Press
The Darling
North by Anne Kennedy -
Auckland University Press
The
Lifeguard: Poems 2008 – 2013 by Ian Wedde - Auckland University Press
Fiction
|
The Big Music by Kirsty Gunn-
Faber & Faber
|
In the
Absence of Heroes by
Anthony McCarten - Random House
The Forrests by Emily Perkins - Bloomsbury
Publishing
The
Intentions Book by Gigi
Fenster - Victoria University Press
Illustrated
Non-fiction
His Own
Steam: The Work of Barry Brickell by David Craig, Gregory O'Brien and Haruhiko Sameshima -
Auckland University Press
Pat Hanly by Gregory O'Brien and Gil Hanly - Ron
Sang Publications
Selling the
Dream: The art of early New Zealand tourism by Peter Alsop, Dave Bamford and Gary Stewart - Craig
Potton Publishing
Stag
Spooner: Wild man from the bush by Chris Maclean - Craig Potton Publishing
General
Non-fiction
Civilisation:
Twenty Places on the Edge of the World by Steve Braunias - Awa Press
Patched: The
History of Gangs in New Zealand by Jarrod Gilbert - Auckland University Press
The Meeting
Place: Māori and Pākeha Encounters, 1642-1840 by Vincent O'Malley – Auckland University Press
The Search
for Anne Perry by
Joanne Drayton – HarperCollins
Nielsen
Booksellers’ Choice
Big House,
Small House: New Houses by New Zealand Architects by John Walsh and Patrick Reynolds -
Random House
Buller's
Birds of New Zealand: The Complete Work of JG Keulemans by Geoff Norman - Te Papa Press
Moa: The
life and death of New Zealand's legendary bird by Quinn Berentson - Craig Potton
Publishing
Shelter from
the Storm: The story of New Zealand's backcountry huts by Shaun Barnett, Rob Brown and Geoff
Spearpoint - Craig Potton Publishing
New Zealand
Post Book Awards Māori Language Award Winner
Ngā Waituhi
O Rēhua (The Chronicles
of Rēhua) by Dame Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira - Huia Publishers
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