News

• Witi Ihimaera receives the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

  14-07-2017

  France has awarded ANZL Fellow Witi Ihimaera the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) as part of its Bastille Day celebrations. Witi received this top arts honour as an acknowledgement of his “career as a trailblazer in Maori literature and screenwriting” at a Bastille Day ceremony in Auckland, led by French Ambassador Florence Jeanblanc-Risler. Congratulations!

• David Eggleton granted Fulbright-CNZ Award

  03-07-2017

  ANZL member David Eggleton has been granted the prestigious $30,000 Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writers’ Residency Award. This is another fantastic achievement, in addition to his collection The Conch Trumpet (Otago UP) winning the 2016 Ockham New Zealand Poetry Award last year. Congratulations David!

• Book Launch – Witi Ihimaera and Tina Makereti

  26-06-2017

  All welcome to the launch of Black Marks on the White Page (Penguin Random House), an exciting new anthology of Maori and Pasifika fiction co-edited by Witi Ihimaera and Tina Makereti. The first celebration will take place in Auckland, 3 July, 5.30 – 7.30 pm at Artspace/Tautai Galleries, Level One, 300 Karangahape Road (above the Post Office). The second launch is Thursday 6 July, 6.30 pm at City Gallery, Civic Square, Wellington. There will be an additional Matariki Conversation with Witi Ihimaera and guests, featuring Someone’s Mana images and poetry, and Black Marks on the White Page readings at the Depot Artspace,  Clarence Street Devonport, Auckland, 3pm Sunday July 2nd 2017. Please RSVP Samantha: SKidby@penguinrandomhouse.co.nz

• Ben Sanders Longlisted for Ngaio Marsh Award

  22-06-2017

  ANZL member Ben Sander’s novel Marshall’s Law (Allen & Unwin) has been longlisted for the 2017 Ngaio Marsh award for Best Crime Fiction. In a story judges describe as ‘helter skeleter’ and ‘bone dry prose’ ex-NYPD undercover cop Marshall Grade is forced by circumstances to come out of hiding and return to New York. Congratulations Ben! Full longlist here.

• Debra Daley Longlisted for Ngaio Marsh Award

  22-06-2017

  ANZL member Debra Daley’s latest novel The Revelations of Carey Ravine (Quercus) has been long listed for the 2017 Ngaio Marsh award for Best Crime Fiction. This story is an evocative, colourful historical thriller, with a tenacious heroine who faces down corruption and is rewarded with her own reawakening. Congratulations Debra! Full longlist here.

• New Poet Laureate – Call for Nominations

  20-06-2017

  This award  recognises an outstanding New Zealand poet, who receives $80,000 and is supported by the National Library to concentrate on their own work, take part in literary events, and utilise the Poet Laureate blog. Nominations close on 11 August, and the new Laureate will be announced on National Poetry Day, Friday 25 August 2017. Further information and a nomination form here

• Winston Churchill McNeish Writers’ Fellowship open now

  13-06-2017

  Created in memory of James McNeish, and through the generosity of the McNeish family and the New Zealand Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, this new fellowship is for promising writers aged 25-40 to travel and live overseas. Closing date is 1 August. Full details here

• Book Launch – Elizabeth Smither’s ‘Night Horse’

  07-06-2017

  Sometimes surreal, sometimes funny, often enchanted, Elizabeth Smither’s new poetry collection Night Horse (AUP) is a quirky and whimsical observation of the mundane world around her, which she shows to be full of surprises. Launch 6pm – 7.30pm Tues 20th June at the Women’s Bookshop, 105 Ponsonby Rd, Auckland. All welcome.

• Queen’s Birthday Honours: Emily Perkins

  06-06-2017

  Congratulations to Emily Perkins who has been appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to literature. Emily says the honour came “absolutely out of the blue” – to join those from the arts world including the Montana Book Award and the international Believer Book Award. For more information, read here.

• Ockham Awards Announced!

  17-05-2017

  We can’t list them all here, but special congratulations to ANZL member Catherine Chidgey ,winner of the $50,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize for her fourth novel, The Wish Child. For a full list of the amazing category winners see here.

• Applications Open – CNZ Writers’ Award

  15-05-2017

  The Writers’ Award of $25,000 is offered to writers of any genre of non-fiction, to devote time to a specific writing project. Deadline for applications is 9 June 2017. More details here.

• Event – Sarah Broom Prize Announcement and Poetry Readings

  15-05-2017

  This year’s shortlist includes ANZL member Cliff Fell, along with Hera Lindsay Bird, and Sandi King. Guest judge Carol Ann Duffy will introduce the finalists and then announce the winner of the 2017 Sarah Broom prize at the Auckland Writers Festival on Sunday 21 May 4.30-5.30pm. The finalists will also read poems from their submissions. This is a free event.

• Public Lecture – Selina Tusitala Marsh ‘Tala Tusi: The Teller is the Tale’

  10-05-2017

  Poet and academic Selina Tusitala Marsh powerfully explores the relationship between our stories, ourselves, and the fate of our literature if we ignore the wisdom offered by ‘tala tusi’ in her remarkable New Zealand Book Council lecture, 13 May, 9-10 am at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 30 The Octagon, Dunedin. This event is brought to you by the New Zealand Book Council in partnership with the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival.

• Book Launch – Apirana Taylor’s ‘Five Strings’

  10-05-2017

  As part of the Auckland Writers Festival, Apirana Taylor is launching his new novel Five Strings (Anahera Press) with introduction by Witi Ihimaera. Launch is 17 May, 6-7.30 pm at the Auckland Central City Library, Lorne Street. All welcome.

• Owen Marshall to Present the 2017 NZBC Lecture

  28-04-2017

  In this fourth recent New Zealand Book Council Lecture, renowned short story writer, novelist, poet and ANZL Fellow Owen Marshall will explore the nature of the short story and its role within society; share his own personal history with the short story; and discuss his favorite writers and their craft. Publication date is 1st October 2017. Event details TBC.