NZ Post Book Award Finalists 2010

The full list of these awards are:

Fiction:
As the earth turns silver by Alison Wong.
Limestone by Fiona Farrell.
Living as a moon by Owen Marshall.

Poetry:
Just this by Brian Turner.
The lustre jug by Bernadette Hall.
The tram conductor's blue cap by Michael Harlow.

General Non-Fiction
Aphrodite's Island by Anne Salmond.
Beyond the battlefield: New Zealand and its allies, 1939-1945 by General Hensley.
Cone ten down: studio pottery in New Zealand, 1945-1980 by Moyra Elliott and Damien Skinner.
Encircled lands: Te Urewera, 1820-1921 by Judith Binney.
The invention of New Zealand art and national identity, 1930-1970 by Francis Pond.

Illustated Non-Fiction:
Art at Te Papa edited by William McAloon.
Go fish: recipes and stories from the New Zealand coast by Al Brown.
Maori architecture:from fale to wharenui and beyond by Deidre Brown.
Marti Freelander by Leonard Bell.
Mr Kusich: the art of transformation by Alan Wright and Edward Hanfling.
The winners will be announced on August 27th 2010.

The New Zealand Society of Authors Best First Book Award winners are:
Anna Taylor for Relief [fiction].
Selina Tusitala Marsh for Fast talking PI[poetry].
Pip Desmond for A true story of women and gangs [Non-Fiction].

Anna Taylor and her book 'Relief'

Scanning the web this morning looking for the results of the finalists for the NZ Post book awards, I spied the name Anna Taylor: winner of the 2010 NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction. I first discovered Anna Taylor last year through the Auckland Readers and Writers fest' and bought her book as soon after it was published. Relief is a collection of short stories which are simply written, showing rather than telling a story, thus allowing the mind to form its images of life and reality. The structure also mirrors the process of the thinking human mind. An idea is announced, expanded and reflected back on, after another idea is introduced. In her story 'Michael's fasting for christmas' Anna introduces the protagonist, through the eyes of Amy, as a health freak who is always on some sort of cleansing diet and infers that this is going to cause problems for the family on Christmas day: a day which HAS to be enjoyed, come what may. The main scene is crafted so well I am sure we could all relate to some aspect, even if it is just wearing the paper party hats. This ridiculousness of Christmas is juxtaposed by the weighty issue of death and the story ends leaving the reader reflecting on life.

There are 11 short stories in total, all beautifully crafted, demonstrating real-life situations with warmth and understanding and sometimes suspense: 'The Beekeeper' is based on a life event experienced by her mother.

Anna was born in 1982 and lives in Wellington. She completed the MA in creative writing at Victoria University in 2006.

A 'must read' book.

We're going on a bear hunt

This is a fabulous picture book which can be enjoyed by both children and adults. The story is written in such a way that the reader ends up developing a fun repetitive chant which becomes interspersed with glorious onomatopoeia. The text outlines the adventure a father and his children

have and the surprised discovery of a bear!

My copy of this book is held together with sellotape and 10 years on, my girls can still chant the story with such joy!

We're going on a bear hunt.

We're going to catch a big one................

National Book Awards

Over the course of the year there have been some changes made to the Montana NZ book Awards. The sponsor for the event has changed with New Zealand Post taking over the main sponsorship. The awards are divided into four categories with 4 books-written by New Zealand authors- nominated in each section: Poetry, Fiction, Illustrated non-fiction and General Non-Fiction. There will be more judges on the panel, 'A book of the year' will be chosen from the finalists and there will be an opportunity for the readers to cast their vote with the 'Readers' Choice Award'.
On Tuesday 22nd June the finalists for the 2010 NZ Post book Awards will be announced........ Watch this space!

The Orange Prize

I believe there is a degree of serendipity in one's life. Have you ever had the experience of thinking about a person who you haven't seen for awhile only to find they are contacting you or you bump into them in the street.
Just the other day I found myself wondering about the Montana NZ book Awards: not one to ignore my intuition I looked up the website. What luck! The finalists for the 4 categories are to be announced on Tuesday [22nd June]. Great: I can put that news onto our blog; yes up-to-date information; in fact 1 step ahead; just how I like it!
From that site the name 'Barbara Kingsolver' caught my eye. I knew of her having heard her latest book being reviewed on National radio some time ago and I remember thinking it would be worth a read. Barbara Kingsolver has just won this year's Orange Prize with her book "The Lacuna": A novel set in the USA and Mexico which explores the themes of art and politics.
My thought processes then directed me towards researching what exactly the Orange Prize is.

It is an annual award which acknowledges a female fiction novelist and a new female writer from any part of the world. The inaugural prize went to a UK novelist, Helen Dunmore in 1996. Since then women from the USA, Canada and Africa have enriched the literary scene with novels from around the globe. The prize originated because it was generally felt by publishers, journalists, booksellers, librarians and reviewers, both male and female, that female authors were over-looked by major literary prizes. Kate Mosse is one of the co- founder members and the present director of the literary Orange Prize.
I feel particularly excited about my discovery and I encourage others to view the Orange Prize site if only to browse through the author list in search of a quality book. Looking over the past winners I have picked out a couple of authors : the 2004 winner, Andrea Levy and the 2007 recipient, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie . Both of these writers' have novels in our public library along with many other authors whose names I found printed on the website.
I hope serendipity graces your day.

The time traveler's wife by Audrey Niffenegger

What a tiresome, tedious read. Bogged down with detail, the novel explores the love affair between Clare and Henry. Henry is chrono-impaired: he travels through time. Unfortunately for Henry he has no control over when or where he travels. He whizzes in to the past in his 30s and meets Clare as a 6 year old or crashes into the future. Not only does poor Henry have to cope with changes in time and place but when he does travel he arrives at his destination without his clothes. However, Henry is such an irritating character it's hard to feel sorry for him In fact it's hard to feel empathy for either of them. If this had been the first book I'd ever read I doubt whether I would have ever read another. It gets a 1 out of 10 from me. The book gained a 1 because it finally ended.
Susan

A New Initiative

Lots of work and planning is going ahead behind the scenes with a new idea for the Matamata library. In July we are hoping to start a 'Toddler Time' reading session for those enthusiastic pre-schoolers who eat books [ metaphorically not literally]. A great way to whet your appetite is to introduce you to the beautiful Gwenda Turner books and one of my favourites is "Pat-A-Cake". Here we are introduced to the delights of mess and baking. Gwenda provides a chocolate cake recipe at the back of the book which is so easy to make and delicious to eat.

Children's literary scene

We are all familiar with the well publised NZ Post book awards but what about the other happening on the children's literary scene? Storylines foundation supports and promotes Children's literature in NZ. Each year it administers numerous awards to NZ authors and illustrators of children's literature. Whilst this may appear to be a bit of a drab subject I feel highlighting other literary achievements is worthwhile as it may be a pointer to a previously unexplored author.
The Gavin Bishop award is one sponsored by the publisher's Random House and is aimed at encouraging the production of a new, exciting picture book from a NZ illustrator. This new award was introduced last year and the inaugral winner being Harriet Bailey .

In 2002 the Joy Cowley Award was established and again is aimed at fostering quality picture books. In 2008, Michelle Osment won the award with "Tiny Miss Dotty and her Dotty Umbrella". A copy of this book can be found in the children's section in the library. This year's winner is Lucy Davey with "The Fidgety Itch". The sponsor of the Joy Cowley award is Scholastics so watch out for the publication in the book club catalogues or our library.

The Storylines Gaylene Gordon award was established in 1999,two years after her premature death due to illness. Gaylene was originally an english and drama teacher. She has written numerous books generally combining the genres of myth, fantasy and sci-fi for children of all ages. This award goes to a work of fiction which has stood the test of time and is still in print. Sheryl Jordan's "Wednesday Wizard" is the recipient of this best loved book awar


The Tom Fitzgibbon award was established by Storylines in 1995 in recognitin of the work Tom had done for children's literature. Tom was the head of the English Department at North Shore Teachers' College and established Children's literature Association of NZ. This award is presented to a NZ author whose audience is in the 8 to 13 age group and who has not previously had a novel published. In 1998 Vince Ford's writing career was launched when he received the award for his novel 2Much 4U. Leonie Agnew is this year's winner and you can read about her if you click here.

The Tessa Duder Award is a new initiative aimed at encouraging unpublished authors in the young-adult fiction category.The inaugral winner will be announced next year, the sponsor is Harper Collins NZ with Storylines as the administrator.