More than one-quarter of the entries in this year’s South Pacific and Southeast Asian Region of the Commonwealth Writers Prize come from New Zealand.

Graham Beattie, chair of the judging panel for the region, says New Zealand’s entries showcase some of this country’s finest senior writers, including Fiona Kidman, Elizabeth Knox, Albert Wendt, Witi Ihimaera and Maurice Gee. Beattie also says there is a pleasing representation from writers in the Best First Book Category.

Entries in the Commonwealth Writers Prize are restricted to four per publisher per imprint, in each region: two for the best book prize and two for the prize awarded to the best first published book.

Awarded annually, this major prize for fiction celebrates the outstanding literary talent that exists in many parts of the Commonwealth and its contribution to contemporary writing in English. Entries are first assessed by four regional panels of judges and the selection of the overall winner is made by a distinguished pan-Commonwealth panel.

In February next year, Beattie will be joined in Auckland by fellow judges, Nor Faridah Manaf from Malaysia and Deborah Robertson from Australia to select the two regional winners. The final judging will take place in Melbourne in May.