News

• Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Winners’ Announcement

  12-05-2020

  Westport writer Becky Manawatu has won this year’s $55,000 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards’ Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction for her first novel, Auē (Makaro Press).

  Another first-time author, Dunedin’s Straitjacket Fits frontman Shayne Carter, won the General Non-Fiction Award for his work, Dead People I Have Known (Victoria University Press).

  Wellington writer, editor and publisher Helen Rickerby won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry for her collection How to Live (Auckland University Press).

  Three Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa curators – Stephanie Gibson; Matariki WIlliams (Tūhoe, Te Atiawa, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Hauiti) and Puawai Cairns (Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāiterangi) – won the Illustrated Non-Fiction Award for their work Protest Tautohetohe: Objects of Resistance, Persistence and Defiance.

  The General Non-Fiction, Poetry and Illustrated Non-Fiction category winners each took home a $10,000 prize.

  Four MitoQ Best First Book Awards were also presented at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards:
  The Hubert Church Prize for a best first book of Fiction: Becky Manawatu for Auē (Mākaro Press).
  The E.H. McCormick Prize for a best first work of General Non-Fiction: Shayne Carter for Dead People I Have Known (Victoria University Press).
  The Jessie Mackay Prize for a best first book of Poetry: Jane Arthur for Craven (Victoria University Press).
  The Judith Binney Prize for a best first work of Illustrated Non-Fiction: Chris McDowall and Tim Denee for We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa (Massey University Press).

  Each MitoQ Best First Book Award winner received $2,500 and a 12-month membership subscription to the New Zealand Society of Authors.

  Want to know more? Watch the first ever Ockham virtual ceremony.

• The Mātātuhi Foundation: seed funding grant applications open

  30-04-2020

  The Mātātuhi Foundation’s kaupapa is all about strengthening and developing Aotearoa’s literary landscape. To achieve that goal we’re giving Kiwi literary innovators the opportunity to secure an individual seed funding grant of up to $5,000. If that sounds like you, watch our video to find out more!

  Do you have an innovative project that meets the following criteria?
  Relates to New Zealand literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry)
  Demonstrates imagination and innovation
  Delivers broad community outcomes – think BIG, exponential impact!
  The project is new or growth-focused rather than business as usual
  The project has clearly defined deliverables that are both achievable and measurable
  Ticking all the boxes? APPLY ONLINE.
  CLOSING DATE – 31 MAY 2020

  To apply, simply submit your expression of interest online before 31 May 2020 .

• 2020 Commonwealth Short Story Prize Shortlist Announced!

  27-04-2020

  Go New Zealand!
  Congratulations ANZL member Catherine Chidgey for her story ‘Attention’ also NZ writer Fiona Sussman for ‘A Breath, a Bunk, a Land, a Sky’ both shortlisted for the Pacific Region Commonwealth Prize.

  The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction from any of the Commonwealth’s 54 Member States. It is the only prize in the world where entries can be submitted in Bengali, Chinese, English, French, Greek, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan, Swahili, Tamil, and Turkish. Such linguistic diversity in a short story prize in part reflects the richness of the Commonwealth, not least its many and varied literary traditions.

  The stories on the 2020 shortlist were selected from 5107 entries from 49 Commonwealth countries.

  For author biographies and short story summaries, (available from 21 April 2020), please follow this link.

• Lauris Edmond Memorial Award for Poetry – winner announced

  02-04-2020

  Dunedin poet, editor of Landfall, and ANZL member Emma Neale is the 2020 recipient of the Lauris Edmond Memorial Award for Poetry, a prize given biennially in recognition of a distinguished contribution to New Zealand poetry. Established in 2002, the Award is named after New Zealand writer Lauris Edmond who published many volumes of poetry, a novel, a number of plays and an autobiography. Her Selected Poems (1984) won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize.

  The 2020 award was announced on 2 April the date of Lauris Edmond’s birthday. A ceremony and birthday celebration was due to take place at National Library of New Zealand in Wellington on 3 April to honour Emma, however due to COVID-19 the event is postponed and will take place in collaboration with Verb Wellington later in the year.

  Congratulations Emma!

• Calling all short story writers in lockdown: Sargeson Prize open

  01-04-2020

  New Zealand’s richest short story competition, the Sargeson Prize, is open for entries. Sponsored by the University of Waikato, the 2020 competition will be judged by celebrated master of the form Owen Marshall. The Sargeson Prize, which was launched by the University last year, offers the overall winner a $5,000 cash prize and includes two divisions: Open and Secondary Schools.

  Entries open for the Sargeson Prize on 1 April 2020 and close at 11:59pm (NZST) on 30 June 2020. There is no entry fee, and entries are limited to one per writer, per division. Full entry details and conditions can be found on the University of Waikato website here.

• National Lobby: compensation for writers’ incomes – please help

  20-03-2020

  NZSA, CLNZ (Copyright Licensing NZ), PANZ (Publishers Association of NZ) and the Coalition for Books are collecting urgent information to assist with our lobbying to the government for lost income for writers. If you are able to quantify lost income from cancelled events it will be invaluable. Information will be collated from the responses received, and no individuals names will be made public.

  This survey form is open now and will stay open until March 27, 5pm

• NZSA National Writers Forum Postponed

  19-03-2020

  NZSA is sad to advise that the 2020 NZSA National Writers Forum is postponed until 2021 due to the disruption caused by the Covid-19 virus. NZSA will be developing a series of digital resources and on-line courses that can be accessed and shared with its members or member hubs.

• Auckland Writers Festival 2020 Cancelled

  16-03-2020

  Auckland Writers Festival regrets to advise the cancellation of its May 2020 festival, owing to the critical Covid-19 situation and the Government’s new limits on mass public gatherings. All purchased tickets will be fully refunded via Ticketmaster. The next festival will be held in 2021. See here for full announcement.

• 2020 Ockham Shortlist Announced

  04-03-2020

  Congratulations to ALL Ockham New Zealand Book Award shortlisters, with special mention of our ANZL members: FICTION –  Pearly Gates by Owen Marshall (Vintage, Penguin Random House), A Mistake by Carl Shuker (Victoria University Press); POETRY – Moth Hour by Anne Kennedy (Auckland University Press), How to Live by Helen Rickerby (Auckland University Press); NONFICTION – Wild Honey: Reading New Zealand Women’s Poetry by Paula Green (Massey University Press). Read all about the shortlisters here

• 2020 Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literary Awards – submit now

  01-03-2020

  Writers working in the Mind Body Spirit genre have until 31 March to enter the 2020 Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Literary Awards. There are two award’s categories, one for Books and another for Unpublished Manuscripts. The winner in each category receives a $10,000 prize. The awards are unique in the country for their encouragement of writing in the Mind, Body, Spirit genre. The panel are wanting quality fiction or non-fiction works that have the potential to uplift and enhance people, relationships and society. For the Book category, works must be published between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020. Shortlisted writers will be announced late June and the award winners will be announced at a ceremony in Auckland on 14 August, 2020. Submission forms and entry details are available from 15 January 2020 here

• 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards open for entries

  01-03-2020

  The Ngaio Marsh Awards are open to storytellers who are New Zealand citizens (located anywhere in the world) or New Zealand residents, and who have published a crime, mystery, thriller, or suspense novel during the 2019 calendar year. Your book does not have to be ‘detective fiction’. The entry period for the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards is now open for the Best Novel and Best First Novel categories. For entries and questions go to the Ngaio Marsh awards FB page

• National Flash Fiction Day NZ 2020 competition is open! 

  23-02-2020

  The NFFD competition runs February 15 – April 15. The 2019 judges are prize-winning poet Helen Heath and acclaimed novelist and flash fiction storyteller Sandra Arnold. First prize $1000. More on the NFFD Competition page. Submit your best 300-word stories!

• 2020 NZ Public Lending Rights – Deadline 1 March

  15-02-2020

  Do you wish to be compensated for the use of your books in public libraries around New Zealand? A $2,000,000 fund is distributed annually to resident New Zealand authors who meet the criteria set out in the Regulations.
  Register here before 1 March 2020 – don’t miss out!

• New Zealand Society of Authors Waitangi Day Honours announced

  07-02-2020

  A huge shout out to WORD programme director Rachael King who has been named as one of this year’s Honorary Literary Fellows in the New Zealand Society of Authors’ annual Waitangi Day Honours. Rachael was awarded this for her international achievement in securing the release of Behrouz Boochani and bringing him to New Zealand. This upholds the NZSA’s international advocacy position for imprisoned writers, in line with their affiliation to Pen International. Congratulations Rachael! For more on the Waitangi Day Honours and 2020 recipients see: https://authors.org.nz/new-zealand-society-of-authors-wait…/

• Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Longlist Announced

  30-01-2020

  Congratulations to all Ockham New Zealand Book Award longlisters, with special mention of our ANZL members: FICTION – The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox (Victoria University Press), Pearly Gates by Owen Marshall (Vintage, Penguin Random House), Necessary Secrets by Greg McGee (Upstart Press), A Mistake by Carl Shuker (Victoria University Press), Loving Sylvie by Elizabeth Smither (Allen & Unwin); POETRY – Under Glass by Gregory Kan (Auckland University Press), Moth Hour by Anne Kennedy (Auckland University Press); NONFICTION – Wild Honey: Reading New Zealand Women’s Poetry by Paula Green (Massey University Press). Read the full longlist of 40 books here.