This week we reveal our finalists for the Herald's New Zealander of the Year - with a focus on our bright young stars.
Eleanor Catton says she can't wait to get back to New Zealand. Photo / APN
Eleanor Catton says she can't wait to get back to New Zealand. Photo / APN

There are short odds on which will be the most popular (and well-received) Christmas present in New Zealand this year - it seems half the country is looking forward to a long hot summer reading Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries.
Since her Booker Prize win in October, the Auckland-based author has been on a promotional merry-go-round in Britain, the United States and Canada (where she spent her first six years and whose media still claim her as their own).
Winning one of the world's most prestigious literary prizes has meant coming to terms with constant media intrusion.
Sales of the book, released here in August, are reaching giddy heights too for local publishers Victoria University Press. Publisher Fergus Barrowman said over-the-counter sales had soared past the latest efforts by mass-market kingpins such as Dan Brown and Lee Child to be the year's biggest seller.
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