The
New Zealand Post Book Awards, presented last week, show what good health
Victoria University Press (VUP) is in says Publisher Fergus Barrowman.
Six
VUP writers were finalists in the awards. VUP books went on to win the poetry
and fiction categories—Vincent O’Sullivan’s Us, Then and Eleanor
Catton’s The Luminaries—with the latter also picking up the People’s
Choice Award, which is chosen by the reading public.
In
addition, VUP writers won the best first book categories for fiction and
poetry.
“The
awards show the strength of talent prevalent in our emerging writers such as
Amy Head, Caoilinn Hughes and Marty Smith, and with established writers such as
Damien Wilkins and Vincent O’Sullivan. Of course, Eleanor Catton has achieved
huge significance with her book The Luminaries in New Zealand and
internationally,” said Mr Barrowman.
“These
are uncertain times for publishers, booksellers and writers alike, and it takes
courage from the writers to keep creating in the current climate.
“In
her acceptance speech, Amy Head, who won best first book award, summed up the
reason why we all continue to read when she said that fiction gave her the
ability to inhabit different perspectives and understand them better, that
fiction was a way of finding common ground with people we might otherwise have
nothing in common with. Books and reading are a vital part of our culture.”
Mr
Barrowman says that VUP has been dedicated, for over 30 years, to finding new
voices and supporting writers as they continue to develop.
“Victoria
University’s commitment to new art as well as scholarly non-fiction has allowed
VUP to become a leading publisher in New Zealand.”
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