The New Zealand Post Book Awards are a series of literary awards to works of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 citizens. They were created in 1996, as a merge of the two previously most relevant awards in New Zealand: the Montana Book Awards and the New Zealand Book Awards. From 2010, the awards will be known as the New Zealand Post Book Awards.

The main prize in this event is the New Zealand Post Book of the Year, which is awarded to one of the four category winners; either Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Illustrated Non-Fiction or Poetry. All finalist books are also eligible for the People's Choice Award, which is voted for by members of the public.

Best First Book prizes are awarded to first time authors and this announcement is made at the same time as the finalists of the New Zealand Post Book Awards are named.

Booksellers New Zealand manages the awards. The awards main sponsors are New Zealand Post, Creative New Zealand. Other supporters include the Book Publishers Association of New Zealand, the New Zealand Society of Authors and Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd.

2011

2011 in literature

The year 2011 will involve some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tomas Tranströmer wins the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature.*Jennifer Egan wins the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel A Visit From the Goon Squad.-Literature:*T.C...

• New Zealand Post Book of the Year

Chris Bourke

Chris Bourke

Chris Bourke is an Australian politician, currently a Labor member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Ginninderra. He is the first Indigenous Australian elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly. He filled the casual vacancy created by the...

, Blue Smoke: The Lost Dawn of New Zealand Popular Music 1918-1964

Blue Smoke (book)

Blue Smoke: The Lost Dawn of New Zealand Popular Music 1918-1964 is a prize-winning book by Chris Bourke on the early history of music in New Zealand published by the Auckland University Press....

. Auckland University Press

Auckland University Press

Auckland University Press founded in 1966, is the book publishing arm of the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.It publishes New Zealand history, biography, poetry, short stories and essays, Maori and Pacific Island studies in addition to scholarly and academic works.-Awards:*AUP has...

• General Non-fiction Award winner

Chris Bourke

Chris Bourke

Chris Bourke is an Australian politician, currently a Labor member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Ginninderra. He is the first Indigenous Australian elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly. He filled the casual vacancy created by the...

, Blue Smoke: The Lost Dawn of New Zealand Popular Music 1918-1964. Auckland University Press

Auckland University Press

Auckland University Press founded in 1966, is the book publishing arm of the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.It publishes New Zealand history, biography, poetry, short stories and essays, Maori and Pacific Island studies in addition to scholarly and academic works.-Awards:*AUP has...

• Fiction Award winner

Laurence Fearnley, The Hut Builder. Penguin Group (NZ)

• Poetry Award winner

Kate Camp, The Mirror of Simple Annihilated Souls. Victoria University Press

Victoria University Press

Victoria University Press founded in the 1970s, is the book publishing arm of Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.It publishes new fiction and poetry and specialises in New Zealand history, biography and essays.-Sources:...

• Illustrated Non-fiction Award winner

Damian Skinner, The Passing World: The Passage of Life: John Hovell and the Art of Kowhaiwhai. Rim Books

• People's Choice Award

Chris Bourke

Chris Bourke

Chris Bourke is an Australian politician, currently a Labor member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Ginninderra. He is the first Indigenous Australian elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly. He filled the casual vacancy created by the...

, Blue Smoke: The Lost Dawn of New Zealand Popular Music 1918-1964. Auckland University Press

Auckland University Press

Auckland University Press founded in 1966, is the book publishing arm of the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.It publishes New Zealand history, biography, poetry, short stories and essays, Maori and Pacific Island studies in addition to scholarly and academic works.-Awards:*AUP has...

2010

2010 in literature

The year 2010 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February - The Wheeler Centre, Australia's "literary hub", officially opened.*April 3 - First release of the Apple iPad, electronic book reading device....

• New Zealand Post Book of the Year

Judith Binney

Judith Binney

Dame Judith Binney, DNZM, FRSNZ was a New Zealand historian, writer and Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Auckland. Her work focussed primarily on religion in New Zealand, especially the Māori Ringatū religion founded by Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki and continued by Rua Kenana...

, Encircled Lands: Te Urewera, 1820-1921. Bridget Williams Books

• Fiction Award Winner

Alison Wong

Alison Wong

Alison Wong is a New Zealand poet of Chinese heritage. Her background in mathematics comes across in her poetry, not as a subject, but in the careful formulation of words to white space and precision...

, As the Earth Turns Silver. Penguin Group (NZ)

• Poetry Award Winner

Brian Turner

Brian Turner (New Zealand poet)

Brian Turner is a New Zealand poet and author. He played hockey for New Zealand in the 1960s; senior cricket in Dunedin and Wellington; and was a veteran road cyclist of note...

, Just This. Victoria University Press

Victoria University Press

Victoria University Press founded in the 1970s, is the book publishing arm of Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.It publishes new fiction and poetry and specialises in New Zealand history, biography and essays.-Sources:...

• General non-fiction award Winner

Judith Binney

Judith Binney

Dame Judith Binney, DNZM, FRSNZ was a New Zealand historian, writer and Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Auckland. Her work focussed primarily on religion in New Zealand, especially the Māori Ringatū religion founded by Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki and continued by Rua Kenana...

, Encircled Lands: Te Urewera, 1820-1921. Bridget Williams Books

• Illustrated non-fiction award winner

Al Brown

Brown

Brown is a color term, denoting a range of composite colors produced by a mixture of orange, red, rose, or yellow with black or gray. The term is from Old English brún, in origin for any dusky or dark shade of color....

, Go Fish: Recipes and stories from the New Zealand Coast. Random House NZ

• People's choice award winner

Al Brown

Brown

Brown is a color term, denoting a range of composite colors produced by a mixture of orange, red, rose, or yellow with black or gray. The term is from Old English brún, in origin for any dusky or dark shade of color....

, Go Fish: Recipes and stories from the New Zealand Coast. Random House NZ

• NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book of Fiction Award Winner

Anna Taylor, Relief. Victoria University Press

Victoria University Press

Victoria University Press founded in the 1970s, is the book publishing arm of Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.It publishes new fiction and poetry and specialises in New Zealand history, biography and essays.-Sources:...

• NZSA Jessie MAcKay Best first book of poetry award winner

Selina Tusitala Marsh, Fast Talking PI. Auckland University Press

Auckland University Press

Auckland University Press founded in 1966, is the book publishing arm of the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.It publishes New Zealand history, biography, poetry, short stories and essays, Maori and Pacific Island studies in addition to scholarly and academic works.-Awards:*AUP has...

• NZSA E.H. McCormick Best First Book of non-fiction award winner

Pip Desmond, Trust: A True Story of Women & Gangs. Random House NZ

2009

2009 in literature

The year 2009 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*8 October - Romanian-born German novelist Herta Müller wins the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature....

• Montana Medal for Fiction or Poetry Fiction category winner

Novel About My Wife by Emily Perkins

Emily Perkins

Emily Jean Perkins is a Canadian actress, known best for her co-starring role as Brigitte Fitzgerald in the movie Ginger Snaps and its two sequels, Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed and Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning. Since the late 1980s she has appeared in various films and television series.-Life...

 (Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury

-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...

)

• Poetry category winner

The Rocky Shore by Jenny Bornholdt

Jenny Bornholdt

Jennifer Mary Bornholdt is an award-winning New Zealand poet and anthologist.-Biography:Born in Lower Hutt, Bornholdt received a bachelor's degree in English Literature and a Diploma in Journalism...

 (Victoria University Press

Victoria University Press

Victoria University Press founded in the 1970s, is the book publishing arm of Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.It publishes new fiction and poetry and specialises in New Zealand history, biography and essays.-Sources:...

)

• Montana Medal for Non-Fiction winner

Biography category winner
Rita Angus: An Artist’s Life by Jill Trevelyan (Te Papa Press)

• Environment category winner

A Continent on the Move: New Zealand Geoscience into the 21st Century edited by Ian J. Graham (Geological Society of New Zealand)

• History category winner

Buying the Land, Selling the Land by Richard Boast (Victoria University Press

Victoria University Press

Victoria University Press founded in the 1970s, is the book publishing arm of Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.It publishes new fiction and poetry and specialises in New Zealand history, biography and essays.-Sources:...

)

• Reference and Anthology category winner

Collected Poems 1951–2006 by CK Stead (Auckland University Press

Auckland University Press

Auckland University Press founded in 1966, is the book publishing arm of the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.It publishes New Zealand history, biography, poetry, short stories and essays, Maori and Pacific Island studies in addition to scholarly and academic works.-Awards:*AUP has...

)

• Lifestyle & Contemporary Culture category winner

Ladies, A Plate: Traditional Home Baking by Alexa Johnston (Penguin Group New Zealand)

• Illustrative category winner

Len Castle: Making the Molecules Dance by Len Castle

Len Castle

Leonard Ramsay "Len" Castle, DCNZM, CBE was a renowned New Zealand potter.Born in Auckland in 1924, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1946 from University of Auckland and trained as a secondary school teacher, eventually taking a lecturing position at the Auckland College of Education...

 (Lopdell House Gallery)

• Māori Language
  Maori language
  Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
  
   Award

He Pātaka Kupu te kai a te rangatira by Maori Language Commission

Maori Language Commission

New Zealand's Māori Language Commission is an autonomous crown entity set up under the Māori Language Act 1987 with the following functions:...

 (Raupo Press)

• NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction

The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton

Eleanor Catton

Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand author best known for her 2007 debut novel, The Rehearsal. The book deals with reactions to an affair between a male teacher and Victoria, a girl at his secondary school, as well as the more muted response to the death of another pupil...

 (Victoria University Press

Victoria University Press

Victoria University Press founded in the 1970s, is the book publishing arm of Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.It publishes new fiction and poetry and specialises in New Zealand history, biography and essays.-Sources:...

)

• NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry

Everything Talks by Sam Sampson (Auckland University Press

Auckland University Press

Auckland University Press founded in 1966, is the book publishing arm of the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.It publishes New Zealand history, biography, poetry, short stories and essays, Maori and Pacific Island studies in addition to scholarly and academic works.-Awards:*AUP has...

)

• NZSA E.H. McCormick Best First Book Award for Non-Fiction

Mates & Lovers: A History of Gay New Zealand by Chris Brickell (Godwit Press)

• BPANZ Reviewer of the Year Award

New Zealand Listener

New Zealand Listener

The New Zealand Listener is a New Zealand magazine. First published in 1939 and edited by Oliver Duff and the Monte Holcroft it originally had a monopoly on the publication of of upcoming television and radio programmes. In the 1980s it lost its monopoly on the publication of upcoming television...

reviewer David Eggleton

• BPANZ Best Review Page or Programme Award

New Zealand Listener

New Zealand Listener

The New Zealand Listener is a New Zealand magazine. First published in 1939 and edited by Oliver Duff and the Monte Holcroft it originally had a monopoly on the publication of of upcoming television and radio programmes. In the 1980s it lost its monopoly on the publication of upcoming television...

2006

2006 in literature

The year 2006 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Literature:*Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun*Chris Adrian - The Children's Hospital *Martin Amis - House of Meetings...

• Montana Medal for Non Fiction

Philip Simpson, Pōhutukawa & Rātā: New Zealand's Iron-hearted Trees. Te Papa Press

• Deutz Medal for Fiction or Poetry

Maurice Gee

Maurice Gee

Maurice Gee is a New Zealand novelist.-Awards and honors:Gee was awarded the 1978 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Plumb...

, Blindsight. Penguin Books

• Fiction Winner

Maurice Gee

Maurice Gee

Maurice Gee is a New Zealand novelist.-Awards and honors:Gee was awarded the 1978 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Plumb...

, Blindsight. Penguin Books

• Fiction Runner Up

Fiona Kidman

Fiona Kidman

Dame Fiona Judith Kidman, DNZM, OBE , is a New Zealand novelist, poet, scriptwriter and short story author....

, The Captive Wife. Vintage

• Fiction Runner Up

Nigel Cox, Responsibility. Victoria University Press

• Poetry

Bill Manhire

Bill Manhire

William "Bill" Manhire, CNZM is an award-winning New Zealand poet, short story writer, and professor, New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate.-Biography:...

, Lifted. Victoria University Press

• History

Rosemary McLeod

Rosemary McLeod

Rosemary McLeod is a New Zealand writer, journalist, cartoonist and columnist. McLeod has written for New Zealand's major publications, including North & South, the Dominion, Sunday Star-Times, and the Listener....

, Thrift to Fantasy: Home Textile Crafts of the 1930s - 1950s. Vintage

• Biography

Graeme Dingle, Dingle. Vintage

• Environment

Philip Simpson, Pōhutukawa & Rātā: New Zealand's Iron-hearted Trees. Vintage

• Lifestyle & Contemporary Culture

Justin Paton, How to Look at a Painting. Vintage

• Illustrative

Edited by Hannah Holm & Lara Strongman, Contemporary New Zealand Photographers. Vintage

• Reference & Anthology

Edited by Damien Wilkins

Damien Wilkins

Damien Lamont Wilkins is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Atlanta Hawks. He attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida and then enrolled at North Carolina State University. After two years at NCSU he transferred to the University of Georgia...

, Great Sporting Moments: The best of Sport magazine 1988 - 2004. Victoria University Press

• Reader's Choice Joint Winners

Maurice Gee

Maurice Gee

Maurice Gee is a New Zealand novelist.-Awards and honors:Gee was awarded the 1978 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Plumb...

, Blindsight. Penguin Books

Fiona Kidman

Fiona Kidman

Dame Fiona Judith Kidman, DNZM, OBE , is a New Zealand novelist, poet, scriptwriter and short story author....

, The Captive Wife. Vintage

2005

2005 in literature

The year 2005 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February 25 - Canada Reads selects Rockbound by Frank Parker Day as the novel to be read across the nation....

• Montana Medal for Non-Fiction

Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, At Home: A Century of New Zealand Design. Godwit

• Deutz Medal for Fiction or Poetry

Patricia Grace

Patricia Grace

Patricia Frances Grace, DCNZM, QSO, is a notable Māori writer of novels, short stories, and children's books....

, Tu. Penguin Books

• Reader's Choice

Julie Le Clerc and John Bougen, Made in Morocco. Penguin Books

• First Book Awards

Fiction: Julian Novitz, My Real Life and Other Stories. Vintage

Poetry: Sonja Yelich, Clung. Auckland University Press

Non-fiction: Douglas Wright

Douglas Wright

Douglas Wright may refer to:*Douglas E Wright , Canadian horror writer*Douglas Wright *Douglas Wright * Douglas Tyndall Wright , Canadian civil engineer...

, Ghost Dance. Penguin Books

2004

2004 in literature

The year 2004 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation....

• Montana Medal for Non-Fiction

Anne Salmond

Anne Salmond

Dame Mary Anne Salmond, DBE, FRSNZ, FBA is a New Zealand historian, anthropologist and writer.-Background:Salmond was born in Wellington in 1945 and grew up in Gisborne, before being sent to board at Solway College in Masterton...

, The Trial of the Cannibal Dog. Allen Lane / Penguin Books

• Deutz Medal for Fiction or Poetry

Annamarie Jagose

Annamarie Jagose

Annamarie Jagose is a queer writer of academic and fictional works. She gained her PhD in 1992, and worked in the Department of English with Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne before returning to New Zealand in 2003, where she is currently Professor in the Department of Film,...

, Slow Water

Slow Water

-Awards:*Miles Franklin Literary Award, 2004: shortlisted*Victorian Premier's Literary Award, The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, 2004: winner*Montana New Zealand Book Awards, Deutz Medal For Fiction, 2004: winner-Reviews:*...

. Victoria University Press

• Reader's Choice

Michael King

Michael King

Michael King, OBE was a New Zealand popular historian, author and biographer. He wrote or edited over 30 books on New Zealand topics, including The Penguin History of New Zealand, which was the most popular New Zealand book of 2004.-Life:King was born in Wellington to Eleanor and Commander Lewis...

, The Penguin History of New Zealand. Penguin Books

• First Book Awards

Fiction: Kelly Ana Morey, Bloom. Penguin Books

Poetry: Cliff Fell, The Adulterer's Bible. Victoria University Press

Non-Fiction: Deidre Brown, Tai Tokerau Whakairo Rakau: Northland Maori Wood Carving. Reed Publishing Ltd

2003

2003 in literature

The year 2003 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Peter Ackroyd - The Clerkenwell Tales*Atsuko Asano - No...

• Montana Medal for Non-Fiction

Michael Cooper, Wine Atlas of New Zealand. Hodder Moa Beckett

• Deutz Medal for Fiction or Poetry

Stephanie Johnson, The Shag Incident. Vintage

• Reader's choice

Glenn Colquhoun

Glenn Colquhoun

Dr. Glenn Colquhoun, born in Papakura, Auckland in 1964, is a New Zealand poet and general practitioner.-Life:He practices medicine on the Kapiti Coast. He lives in Waikawa Beach with his young daughter Olive....

, Playing God. Steele Roberts

• First Book Awards

Fiction: Paula Morris Queen of Beauty. Penguin Books

Poetry: Kay McKenzie Cooke, Feeding the Dogs, Kay McKenzie Cooke. University of Otago Press

Non-Fiction: Sam Mahon

Sam Mahon

Sam Mahon is a socialist artist and author living in Waikari in the South Island of New Zealand. He is the son of Peter Mahon, a lawyer notable for the Mt Erebus disaster inquiry....

, Year of the Horse. Longacre Press

2002

2002 in literature

The year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...

• Montana Medal for Non-Fiction

Lynley Hood, A City Possessed: The Christchurc Civic Creche Case. Longacre Press

• Deutz Medal for Fiction or Poetry

Craig Marriner

Craig Marriner

Craig Marriner is a novelist from Rotorua, New Zealand. His 2001 novel Stonedogs won a Montana New Zealand Book Award and in 2003 the film rights were sold to Australian production company Mushroom Pictures, a film based on the book is currently in production. His second novel Southern Style was...

, Stonedogs

Stonedogs

Stonedogs is the first novel by New Zealand writer Craig Marriner. It was published in 2001 and has won a Montana New Zealand Book Award. The book has been described as "a kind of A Clockwork Orange-meets-Once Were Warriors as imagined by Irvine Welsh"...

. Vintage

• Reader's Choice

Lynley Hood, A City Possessed: The Christchurch Civic Creche Case. Longacre Press

• First Book Awards

Fiction: Craig Marriner

Craig Marriner

Craig Marriner is a novelist from Rotorua, New Zealand. His 2001 novel Stonedogs won a Montana New Zealand Book Award and in 2003 the film rights were sold to Australian production company Mushroom Pictures, a film based on the book is currently in production. His second novel Southern Style was...

, Stonedogs. Vintage

Poetry: Chris Price, Husk. Auckland University Press

Non-Fiction: Steve Braunias

Steve Braunias

Steve Braunias is an award-winning New Zealand author, columnist, journalist and editor.He has won 30 national awards for writing, including the 2009 Buddle Findlay Sargeson Literary fellowship, the 2010 CLL Non-Fiction Award, the supreme award as the 2006 Qantas Fellowship at the New Zealand...

, Fool's Paradise. Random House

• Honour Award

Te Onehou Phillis, Eruera Manuera. Huia Publishers

Huia Publishers

Huia Publishers is an award-winning independent publishing company based in Wellington, New Zealand. The company was established in 1991 by Robyn Bargh to bring Māori voices in New Zealand literature by promoting Māori writers, Māori language and Māori perspectives.Many of the company’s books...

2001

2001 in literature

The year 2001 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The film version of J. R. R. Tolkien's classic book, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, is released to movie theaters...

• Montana Medal for Non-Fiction

Michael King

Michael King

Michael King, OBE was a New Zealand popular historian, author and biographer. He wrote or edited over 30 books on New Zealand topics, including The Penguin History of New Zealand, which was the most popular New Zealand book of 2004.-Life:King was born in Wellington to Eleanor and Commander Lewis...

, Wrestling With The Angel: A Life of Janet Frame. Viking

• Deutz Medal for Fiction or Poetry

Lloyd Jones

Lloyd Jones (New Zealand author)

Lloyd Jones is a New Zealand author who currently resides in Wellington. His novel Mister Pip won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker.-Early life and education:...

, The Book of Fame. Penguin Books

• Reader's Choice

Michael King

Michael King

Michael King, OBE was a New Zealand popular historian, author and biographer. He wrote or edited over 30 books on New Zealand topics, including The Penguin History of New Zealand, which was the most popular New Zealand book of 2004.-Life:King was born in Wellington to Eleanor and Commander Lewis...

, Wrestling With The Angel: A Life of Janet Frame. Viking

• First Book Awards

Fiction: Karyn Hay

Karyn Hay

Karyn Hay is a New Zealand broadcaster and author, best known for hosting Radio With Pictures for five years during the 1980s. Currently a Radio Live host, Hay is married to Andrew Fagan, a former member of the New Zealand band The Mockers...

, Emerald Budgies. Vintage

Poetry: Stephanie de Montalk, Animals Indoors. Victoria University Press

Non-Fiction: Paul Tapsell, Pukaki: A Comet Returns. Reed Publishing

2000

2000 in literature

The year 2000 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published...

• Montana Medal for Non-Fiction

Grahame Sydney

Grahame Sydney

Grahame Sydney, ONZM is a New Zealand artist, based in the southern South Island region of Otago. His landscapes, which concentrate largely on sparse elements of human impact on Otago's wild natural beauty and the loneliness of individuals in this scenery, possess a style which could be described...

, The Art of Grahame Sydney. Longacre Press

• Deutz Medal for Fiction or Poetry

Owen Marshall

Owen Marshall

Owen Marshall is the pen name of Owen Marshall Jones, a New Zealand short story writer and novelist. The third son of a Methodist minister and older brother of Rhys Jones, he came of age in Blenheim and Timaru, and graduated from the University of Canterbury with an MA in English in 1964...

, Harlequin Rex. Vintage

• Reader's Choice

Grahame Sydney

Grahame Sydney

Grahame Sydney, ONZM is a New Zealand artist, based in the southern South Island region of Otago. His landscapes, which concentrate largely on sparse elements of human impact on Otago's wild natural beauty and the loneliness of individuals in this scenery, possess a style which could be described...

, The Art of Grahame Sydney. Longacre Press

• First Book Awards

Fiction: Duncan Sarkies

Duncan Sarkies

Duncan Sarkies is a New Zealand screenwriter, playwright, novelist, stand-up comic and short story writer.Sarkies grew up in the South Island city of Dunedin and is the brother of Robert Sarkies a New Zealand film director who is also a scriptwriter...

, Stray Thoughts And Nosebleeds. Victoria University Press

Poetry: Glenn Colquhoun

Glenn Colquhoun

Dr. Glenn Colquhoun, born in Papakura, Auckland in 1964, is a New Zealand poet and general practitioner.-Life:He practices medicine on the Kapiti Coast. He lives in Waikawa Beach with his young daughter Olive....

, The Art of Walking Upright. Steele Roberts

Non-Fiction: Peter Thomson

Peter Thomson (diplomat)

Peter Thomson, born in Suva in 1948, is a Fiji Islander diplomat of Scottish descent, and Fiji's current Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He also has Australian and New Zealand citizenship....

, Kava In The Blood. Tandem Press

1999

1999 in literature

The year 1999 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*June 19 - Stephen King is hit by a Dodge van while taking a walk. He spends the next three weeks hospitalized...

• Montana Medal for Non-Fiction

Heather Nicholson

Heather Nicholson

Heather Nicholson , also known as Heather James, is a British animal rights activist. She is best known for having co-founded three pivotal animal rights campaigns in the UK in the 1990s. In 1997, Consort Kennels in Hereford, which bred beagles for animal-testing labs, was closed after a ten-month...

, The Loving Stitch: A history of knitting and spinning in New Zealand. Auckland University Press

• Deutz Medal for Fiction or Poetry

Elizabeth Knox

Elizabeth Knox

Elizabeth Fiona Knox, ONZM, is an award-winning New Zealand writer. She has authored eight novels, an autobiographical trilogy of novellas, a fantasy duet for young adults, and a collection of essays...

, The Vintner's Luck. Victoria University Press

• Reader's Choice

Elizabeth Knox

Elizabeth Knox

Elizabeth Fiona Knox, ONZM, is an award-winning New Zealand writer. She has authored eight novels, an autobiographical trilogy of novellas, a fantasy duet for young adults, and a collection of essays...

, The Vintner's Luck. Victoria University Press

• First Book Awards

Fiction: Willian Brandt, Alpha Male. Victoria University Press

Poetry: Kate Camp, Unfamiliar Legends of the Stars. Victoria University Press

Non-Fiction: Helen Schamroth, 100 New Zealand Craft Artists. Godwit

1998

1998 in literature

The year 1998 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 5 - Tennessee Williams' 1938 play, Not About Nightingales, receives its stage première....

• Montana Medal for Non-Fiction

Harry Orsman (ed.), Dictionary of New Zealand English. Oxford University Press

• Deutz Medal for Fiction or Poetry

Maurice Gee

Maurice Gee

Maurice Gee is a New Zealand novelist.-Awards and honors:Gee was awarded the 1978 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Plumb...

, Live Bodies. Penguin

• Reader's Choice

Malcolm McKinnon

Malcolm McKinnon

Malcolm McKinnon is a New Zealand historian. He taught at Victoria University of Wellington 1975-1990 and his since worked independently as an historian...

(ed.), New Zealand Historical Atlas. David Bateman

• First Book Awards

Fiction: Catherine Chidgey

Catherine Chidgey

Catherine Chidgey was born in New Zealand in 1970 and grew up in the Hutt Valley. She has degrees in creative writing, psychology, and German literature....

, In a fishbone church. Victoria University Press

Poetry: Kapka Kassabova

Kapka Kassabova

Kapka Kassabova is a poet, essayist and travel writer who was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1973. After leaving Bulgaria as a teenager and living in England and New Zealand, she now resides in Edinburgh, Scotland....

, All Roads Lead to the Sea. Auckland University Press.

Non-Fiction: Genevieve Noser, Olives: The new passion. Penguin

1997

1997 in literature

The year 1997 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tom Clancy signs a book deal with Pearson Custom Publishing and Penguin Putnam Inc. , giving him US$50 million for the world-English rights to two new books . A second agreement gives him another US$25 million for a...

There were no Montana Medal, Deutz Medal or Reader's Choice Award for 1997 and 1996.

• Book of the Year/Cultural Heritage

Jessie Munro, The Story of Suzanne Aubert. Auckland University Press/Bridget Williams Books

• First Book Awards

Fiction: Dominic Sheehan, Finding Home. Secker & Waburg

Poetry: Diane Brown, Before the Divorce We Go To Disneyland. Tandem Press

Non-Fiction: Jessie Munro, The Story of Suzanne Aubert. Auckland University Press/Bridget Williams Books

1996

1996 in literature

The year 1996 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is removed from an advanced placement English reading list in Lindale, Texas because it "conflicted with the values of the community."* In the United Kingdom, the first...

There were no Montana Medal, Deutz Medal or Reader's Choice Award for 1997 and 1996.

• Book of the Year/Cultural Heritage

Judith Binney

Judith Binney

Dame Judith Binney, DNZM, FRSNZ was a New Zealand historian, writer and Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Auckland. Her work focussed primarily on religion in New Zealand, especially the Māori Ringatū religion founded by Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki and continued by Rua Kenana...

, Redemption Songs - A Life of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki. Auckland University Press/Bridget Williams Books

• First Book Awards

Fiction: Emily Perkins

Emily Perkins (novelist)

Emily Perkins is a New Zealand author.Perkins first won attention in 1996 with her first collection of stories, Not Her Real Name and Other Stories...

, Not Her Real Name. Victoria University Press.

Poetry: James Brown

James Brown

James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...

, Go Round Power Please. Victoria University Press

Non-Fiction: Alex Frame, Salmond: Southern Jurist. Victoria University Press