18 March 2016
Launched in 2014 by the New Zealand Book Council and Auckland Writers Festival, the
Great Kiwi Classic initiative is an annual opportunity for readers of all ages
and interests to celebrate our most treasured books and writers.
In 2014, Keri Hulme’s Booker Prize-winning novel The Bone People was selected as the
inaugural Great Kiwi Classic after a wealth of public nominations, and Owls Do Cry by Janet Frame received the 2015 crown.
The Great
Kiwi Classic has had a makeover for 2016! This year’s Auckland Writers Festival
event, The Great Kiwi Classic: Face-Off, will feature four super fans staking a claim on
behalf of a writer for the title 2016
Great Kiwi Classic author.
Literary biographer Rachel
Barrowman (shortlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book
Awards) will
punt for Maurice Gee; Mary Paul for Robin Hyde;
theatre critic John Smythe for Bruce Mason; and John Weir for James K. Baxter.
A follow-up discussion will
attempt to distil the essence of home-grown literary classics, chaired by Rosabel
Tan, editor of The Pantograph Punch.
We want you to be involved in the discussion! Which of the
four would you nominate as the 2016 Great Kiwi Classic author, and why? Tell us
in 400 words or less via email greatkiwiclassic@bookcouncil.org.nz
or a post on our Facebook
page by 15 April 2016.
We’ll publish your nominations on the New Zealand Book
Council’s blog Booknotes Unbound,
and you’ll automatically be entered into the draw to win a prize pack of
classic NZ books!
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