It’s here. If you haven’t got your tickets now, you’ll be queuing tomorrow, as the doors open on the 2005 Auckland Writers and Readers Festival. Can’t wait, I’m all ticketed up and ready for my first three events in the morning, a spot of lunch at the Viaduct, then back into it.
Probably should be in bed for the next 48 hours, having finally been hit by the dreaded lurgy that’s had our kids in its clutches for the last week, but I’ll be there, drugged to my red-rimmed eyeballs. Yay…!
But just before I disappear into Festival madness, I really should mention the results, just to hand, of the NZ Post Book of the Year Award 2005. The ceremony was hosted by the Hon Judith Tizard, Associate Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage, at Parliament this evening. And the winner is: Kate de Goldi, for her book Clubs: A Lolly Leopold Story, illustrated by Jacqui Colley (published by Trapeze). The book was also the winner of the Picture Book category. The judges commented thus:
In [the main character] Lolly Leopold’s journey to the formation of the Grass Growing Spectators Society we celebrate, in a way that no other book has managed, the delicious fun that can be had with the English language. It is multi-layered storytelling which deals well with atmosphere and character and hints at back-story and future possibilities.
Other category winners included Malcolm and Juliet by Bernard Beckett (Longacre) for Young Adult Fiction (‘frank depiction of teenage sex might be a little confronting for parents, which means it’s probably right on the money for its target audience’); Aunt Effie and the Island that Sank, by Jack Lasenby (Longacre) for Junior Fiction (‘only Jack Lasenby could come up with such slapstick humour that combines real New Zealand events and icons, both present and past, with well-drawn imaginary characters and nonsensical adventures’); and Welcome to the South Seas: Contemporary New Zealand Art for Young People, by Gregory O’Brien (Auckland University Press) in the Non Fiction category (‘a stunning and vibrant introduction to contemporary New Zealand art’).
Lynley Dodd’s picture book, The Other Ark (Mallinson Rendel) was the winner of the Children’s Choice Award (the woman can obviously do no wrong even though, I’m very sorry to say, our kids didn’t think it was up to her usual standard, and believe me, we’ve got ‘em all) and Best First Book went to Lorraine Orman for Cross Tides (Longacre Press), her novel for young adults.
The winner of each category was awarded with $5,000 and Kate de Goldi got an extra $5K for her effort. The Best First Book Award and the Children’s Choice Award receive prize money of $1,000 each.
Big shout out to NZ Post, Booksellers New Zealand, Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd and Creative New Zealand for all their hard work in coming up with and supporting these awards. Get the kids reading!
And so, to bed. Gotta get my beauty sleep for schmoozing all those sexy authors tomorrow. By the way, if you can’t brave the queues, you can listen to Kim Hill talking to the big names on National Radio on Saturday morning. But if you can, head on down to the Hilton and wake up your mind. You will definitely not regret it…
19 May 05 | Filed by Kathy | Add your comment (2 so far)
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Comment by curt but not short ~ May 20, 2005 1:52 PM
Fabulous book. Elyia and I were looking through it at a book store in Wellington and ended up sitting in the middle of the floor reading it from cover to cover (thank you Dymocks)
Comment by Miss Critique ~ May 31, 2005 1:59 PM
Hi Kathy
I have to say I go along with the childrens choice of the 'Other Ark' by Lynley Dodd. I wasn't overly impressed by the other picture books. I felt the colouring was too dark which put me off. Maybe the hype surrounding Kate de Goldie's book is well deserved. Personally I didn't bother reading it as I found the font messy and not the easiest to read. For that reson alone I wouldn't have purchased the book for children. I liked the drawings in Lynley Dodds book and wasn't surprised it ended up as the childrens choice. It would've been the book I'd have chosen to purchase for children.
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