Award-winning author Becky Manawatu has taken out the prestigious Sargeson Prize with a quirky, unforgettable tale of a vase mysteriously resurrected after being smashed during a cousins’ drinking session. With a $15,000 first prize, New Zealand’s biggest short story competition drew a strong field of entries, and winners were announced on Saturday evening at the annual Frank Sargeson Memorial Lecture at the University of Waikato.
Mrs Manawatu (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe, Waitaha), author of the award-winning novel Auē, says winning the Sargeson Prize has given her a “huge boost of confidence as a writer” and ignited a lot of excitement for her in the short story form, which she finds very intimidating.
University of Waikato Associate Professor in Creative Writing and accomplished author Catherine Chidgey expressed her delight at the overwhelming response to this year’s competition. “We were swept away by a record-breaking 1,470 entries this year – an extraordinary response that speaks to the strength of short fiction in Aotearoa.
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The winning stories will be published by Newsroom in its literary section, ReadingRoom.
For the Radio NZ interview with Becky see here.
'...poetry makes intimate everything that it touches.' - Michael Harlow