A Wellington writer’s first novel will go head-to-head with works by two of our most acclaimed authors as finalists in the country’s most prestigious literary honours, the inaugural New Zealand Post Book Awards.
Alison Wong’s As the Earth Turns Silver was selected by a judging panel of five for the Fiction category shortlist, along with award-winning author Fiona Farrell, for her novel Limestone, and award-winning short-story writer Owen Marshall for his collection, Living as a Moon.
Stephen Stratford, convenor of judges for the New Zealand Post Book Awards, said selecting just three Fiction finalists from such a strong field was cause for much debate among the judging panel.
‘It was always going to be a challenge, but we agree that each of these three finalist books is convincing, compelling, superbly crafted and contributes distinctively to New Zealand’s literature’, he said.
Fiction is one of the four finalist categories announced - reduced from a previous eight - in the new, streamlined Awards structure. The other three categories are Poetry, General Non-fiction and Illustrated Non-fiction.
With just 16 finalists competing in these Awards– down from 26 in previous years - readers can be sure they are getting the cream of New Zealand publishing’s crop.
Stratford, who brings vast experience to the panel as judge for the last Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards in 1983, convenor of the first Montana Book Awards in 1984 and judge for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 1999, says reducing the number of categories and finalists means the standard of those selected are exceptionally high.
Joining Stratford on the Awards’ judging panel are poet, short-story writer and novelist, Elizabeth Smither; writer, educationalist and broadcaster Charmaine Pountney; writer, historian and broadcaster Paul Diamond; and nature writer and photographer Neville Peat.
The panel agreed that the standout category this year was Illustrated Non-fiction.
‘The standard was very high: each finalist is not only a beautiful object but is also a showcase of the book designer’s art, with typography that enhances the text, page layouts that let the images have maximum impact, and superlative reproduction values.’
The full list of finalists in the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Awards by category 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 Gerald Hensley
Cone Ten Down: Studio pottery in New Zealand, 1945-1980 by Moyra Elliott and Damian Skinner
Encircled Lands: Te Urewera, 1820-1921 by Judith Binney
The Invention of New Zealand Art & National Identity, 1930-1970 by Francis Pound
Illustrated Non-Fiction:
Art at Te Papa edited by William McAloon
Go Fish: Recipes and stories from the New Zealand coast by Al Brown
Māori Architecture: From fale to wharenui and beyond by Deidre Brown
Marti Friedlander by Leonard Bell
Mrkusich: The Art of Transformation by Alan Wright and Edward Hanfling
The category winners and the overall New Zealand Post Book of the Year winner will be announced at a gala dinner held in Auckland on 27 August 2010.