News

• Book Launch: Gregory Kan’s ‘Under Glass’

  11-03-2019

  Auckland University Press warmly invites you to the launch of Gregory Kan’s Under Glass AND Sugar Magnolia Wilson’s Because a Woman’s Heart is Like a Needle at the Bottom of the Ocean 6-7:30pm, Wed 13 March 2019
  Unity Books, 57 Willis Street, Wellington. For more information contact pressmarketing@auckland.ac.nz

• 2019 Ockhams Shortlist announced

  06-03-2019

  The shortlist is out and once again with a strong ANZL presence, including an all-ANZL fiction list. Congratulations to: Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize shortlisters ANZL Fellow Lloyd Jones for The Cage (Penguin Random House), ANZL Fellow Fiona Kidman for This Mortal Boy (Penguin Random House), ANZL member Kate Duignan for The New Ships (Victoria University Press), ANZL member Vincent O’Sullivan for All This by Chance (Victoria University Press); for the Mary and Peter Biggs Awards for Poetry ANZL members Helen Heath for Are Friends Electric? (Victoria University Press) and Therese Lloyd for The Facts (Victoria University Press). Congratulations to ANZL Fellow Maurice Gee whose Memory Pieces (Victoria University Press) is shortlisted for The Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction. For the complete list and further details see here.

• Book Launch: ‘A Mistake’ by Carl Shuker

  05-03-2019

  Join Unity Books Wellington and Victoria University Press for the launch of Carl Shuker’s latest novel A Mistake, a compelling story of human fallibility, and the dangerous hunger for black and white answers in a world of exponential complication and nuance. Wednesday 6th March, 6-7:30pm at Unity Books, 57 Willis Street, Wellington. All welcome. More details here.

• New Short Story Competition for NZ Writers!

  05-03-2019

  New in 2019, the Sargeson Prize is New Zealand’s richest short story prize, named for celebrated New Zealand writer Frank Sargeson and founded by Catherine Chidgey. Entries open on 1 April for the 2019 (and inaugural) Sargeson Prize and close at 11.59pm (NZST) on 30 June 2019. There is no entry fee, and entries are limited to one per writer, per division. For more details and how to enter see here.

• Farewell, Peter Wells

  19-02-2019

  ANZL Fellow Peter Wells, writer, festival co-founder, playwright and Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature and film, has died only a week after launching his new book Hello Darkness, his memoir about living with a fatal illness. Arohanui to Peter’s husband Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, friends and whānau. Goodbye Peter, we will miss you.

• Book Launch: Fleur Adcock’s ‘Collected Poems’

  12-02-2019

  Fleur Adcock’s Collected Poems (VUP) is a landmark publication in the career of one of New Zealand’s most significant writers, combining Poems 1960–2000 and four subsequent collections in one beautifully produced hardcover volume. All welcome to come and hear this wonderful poet read from a lifetime of writing at Unity Books, 57 Willis St, Wellington, Wednesday 13th Feb at 6-7.30pm.

• The Ockham NZ longlist is out!

  31-01-2019

  Congratulations to all our ANZL longlisters:
  Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize: The Cage by Lloyd Jones (Penguin Random House); This Mortal Boy by Fiona Kidman (Penguin Random House); Mazarine by Charlotte Grimshaw (Penguin Random House); The Ice Shelf by Anne Kennedy (Victoria University Press); The Imaginary Lives of James Pōneke by Tina Makereti (Penguin Random House); All This by Chance by Vincent O’Sullivan (Victoria University Press).
  The Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction: Memory Pieces by Maurice Gee (Victoria University Press); Dear Oliver: Uncovering a Pākehā History by Peter Wells (Massey University Press).
  Poetry Award: Edgeland and other Poems by David Eggleton (Otago University Press); Winter Eyes by Harry Ricketts (Victoria University Press).

  The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlist will be announced on 6 March, 2019. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on 14 May, held as the first public event of the 2019 Auckland Writers Festival. To find out more about the longlisted titles go to http://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/2019-awards/longlist/

• Entries Open for Sarah Broom Poetry Prize

  23-01-2019

  One of New Zealand’s most valuable poetry prizes, the Sarah Broom Prize supports new work from an emerging or established New Zealand poet. In 2019, the prize is an award of $10,000. Poets are required to submit six to eight poems (at least five unpublished). Now in its sixth year, the award will be showcased in a special public session at the Auckland Writers Festival in May 2019 where shortlisted poets will read from their work and the winner will be announced. Competition entries open on 21 January and close on 28 February 2019. For entries/queries email poetryprize@sarahbroom.co.nz. For more information about the prize and Sarah Broom visit here

• 2019 New Years Honours List Announced!

  31-12-2018

  It is with enormous pleasure we celebrate three ANZL members on the 2019 New Year Honours list: Karlo Mila for services to the Pacific community and as a poet; NZ poet laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh for services to poetry, literature and the Pacific community; Academy of New Zealand Literature founder and 2019 Menton Fellowship recipient Paula Morris for services to literature. CONGRATULATIONS to you all!  (Read the full list of honours with all details here)

• 2019 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship Announced

  12-12-2018

  Huge congratulations to Paula Morris, recipient of the 2019 Menton residency. Next year Paula will spend at least four months in Menton, South of France, with access to the writing room below Villa Isola Bella, where Katherine Mansfield created some of her most important work. She joins a long list of celebrated New Zealand writer recipients including Janet Frame, Witi Ihimaera, Elizabeth Knox and Bill Manhire. Paula says the residency will give her the opportunity to focus on projects that she has been trying to find the space and courage to tackle for some years, including journal articles based on her work for the Creative Research Initiative; a play set in France in 1925 drawing on the true story of the writer Jean Rhys working as a ‘ghost’ for Rudolph Valentino’s mother-in-law; and research towards a major non-fiction project, about islands, ports and exiles. For more on the residency and recipients see here.

• UK Bridport Prize competition winners announced

  13-11-2018

  Congratulations to ANZL members Emma Neale  and Catherine Chidgey who have both received Highly Commended placings in the 2018 UK Bridport Prize competition, Neale in the flash fiction category for her story ‘Courtship’ and Chidgey in the short fiction category for ‘Black Boys’. The Bridport Prize is one of the most prestigious open writing competitions in the English language with categories in poetry, short stories, flash fiction and the Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award for a First Novel. The competition for 2019 will be launched on 15 November with a closing date of 31 May 2019. Entries can be made by post or online. Follow these links for the full list of 2018 place winners or for information on how to enter.

• 2018 Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement: winners announced

  08-10-2018

  Feminist and working-class stories, poetry as song, and a deeper understanding of New Zealand art – these are just some of the frontiers explored by this year’s winners of the Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement. The 2018 awards include two ANZL members: poet Wystan Curnow and admired poet, publisher and librettist Michael Harlow. Beloved Māori dramatist and fiction writer Renée, revered critic and curator, completes the winning selection. Each will be awarded $60,000 in recognition of their outstanding contribution to New Zealand literature. Renée will be honoured for fiction, Wystan Curnow for non-fiction, and Michael Harlow for poetry. The awards will be presented at a ceremony at Premier House in Wellington on Monday 15 October. A full list of previous recipients can be found on the Creative New Zealand website. The recipients of the 2018 Prime Ministers Awards for Literary Achievement will read and discuss their work with Radio New Zealand journalist and Nine to Noon host Kathryn Ryan at a free event at Unity Books, 57 Willis Street, Wellington on Tuesday 16 October, 12-12.45pm. All welcome.

• The Victoria University of Wellington / Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence – applications close soon

  23-09-2018

  The Victoria University of Wellington / Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence fosters NZ writing by providing the appointee with the opportunity to write full-time within an academic environment for the period of tenure. Applications are invited from writers in all areas of literary activity, who are authors of proven merit normally resident in New Zealand or New Zealanders currently resident overseas. Applications for 2019 are now open, with deadline 30 September 2018. A full role description and application is available on the Current Vacancies page of Victoria’s website. Enquiries can also be directed to modernletters@vuw.ac.nz.

• Katherine Mansfield Menton 2019 Fellowship Now Open

  19-08-2018

  This prestigious residency, open to established New Zealand creative writers across all genres, provides a substantial $35,000 travel/living allowance and a work space for three months in Menton, France. Applications close 11pm Monday 24 September 2018. For application form and details see here.

• Michael King Residency Applications Open

  14-08-2018

  Applications for the MKWC 2019 Residency Programme have opened for emergent and established writers. Fifteen residencies for periods of two to five weeks each are on offer. Four of the residencies are specifically for Maori or Pasifika writers. New to the programme is a change to the University of Auckland Residency, now split into four time slots across the year to attract a wider range of established writers. Applications close 3rd September 2019. For forms and criteria see here