NOVEL CHOICES
Book award finalists revealed
Four novels that ‘‘directly confront and ask questions of the world and the reader’’ have been selected as the fiction finalists at this year’s Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
University of Canterbury Professor of English Patrick Evans’ Salt Picnic will vie with Wellington lawyer Brannavan Gnanalingam’s Sodden Downstream, creative writing teacher Pip Adam’s The New Animals and debutant writer Annaleese Jochems’ Baby for the $50,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize, one of four categories at the Kiwi book awards, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Fiction category judging convenor Jenna Todd said the quartet of finalists were ‘‘pushing at the edges of what is possible in fiction in a style that’s engaging and brave’’.
The finalists in the Royal Society Te Apa¯ rangi Award for General Non-Fiction category are renowned historian and anthropologist Dame Anne Salmond for Tears of Rangi: Experiments Across Worlds; journalist Diana Wichtel for her debut book Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father; Massey University Professor of History Michael Belgrave for Dancing with the King: The Rise and Fall of the King Country 1864-1885, and cartoonist Tom Scott for his memoir Drawn Out.
Category convenor Ella Henry said there was a high degree of unanimity among the judges about these four books.
‘‘One book made me laugh, one made me cry, one reminded me of New Zealand’s complex history, and the other gave me great hope about the future of our nation.’’
Matariki Williams, convenor of the Illustrated Non-Fiction Award category judging panel, said that ‘‘evocative language, interwoven with a remarkable range of imagery gave that category’s four finalists a lasting impact.
They are: Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds by Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins; To¯ tara: A Natural and Cultural History by Philip Simpson; Gordon Walters: New Vision by Zara Stanhope (commissioning editor), Lucy Hammonds, Laurence Simmons and Julia Waite, and The Face of Nature: An Environmental History of the Otago Peninsula by Jonathan West.
‘‘These books, each of which was multi-layered in approach and execution, showcased the rich social, cultural, material and environmental history that has shaped Aotearoa. They were not just beautiful to look at but they were also all a joy to read,’’ Williams said.
Meanwhile, collections by four acclaimed established poets make up this year’s Poetry Award shortlist. They are Anchor Stone by Tony Beyer, Night Horse by Elizabeth Smither, Ra¯ wa¯ hi by Briar Wood, and The Yield by Sue Wootton.
Poetry category convenor Robert Sullivan said it was an excellent year for poetry.
‘‘These shortlisted books are thoughtful, luminous, both precisely and generously descriptive of emotion and intellect, delighting in the dance of language. These lyrical poets channel fine depths to lift up poems as lights.’’
New Zealand Book Awards Trust chair Nicola Legat said all 16 finalists demonstrated the diversity, depth and skill of New Zealand writers.
‘‘These books reflect who we are as people and how we are developing as a nation, demonstrating that the writer’s role is as important now as it was half-a -century ago. Like many of the books nominated in previous years’ awards, the cream of this year’s crop are destined to become classics.’’
The 16 finalists were selected by four panels of three specialist judges and were drawn from 40 longlisted titles selected out of more than 150 entries.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony on May 15, an occasion that doubles as the first public event of the Auckland Writers Festival.
Waikato author Catherine Chidgey took home the $50,000 fiction prize last year for her bestselling novel The Wish Child.