I saw a snippet in the Herald at the beginning of the week about three grants awarded by the Janet Frame Literary Trust last weekend but up until now, I’ve not been able to get any other information apart from an article in the Otago Daily Times (thanks to Heather McKenzie at VUP). Pretty crap, really.

Anyway, the news is this: last Sunday, which was the late great Janet Frame’s birthday, Janet’s niece Pamela Gordon named the three inaugural recipients of an endowment fund set up before Janet died in January last year. Janet decided that every year, some of the proceeds of her writings would go to a poet, a fiction writer and an organisation which supports NZ writers; these grants will total $30,000 annually.

Without further ado, we can tell you that this year they went to Dunedin poet Peter Olds, Northland novelist Kelly Ana Morey, and to the Victoria University’s writing scholarship fund, which is designed to support promising writers after they graduate. LeafSalon’s hearty, back-slapping congratulations to these writers and to the venerable institution.

We managed to contact Pamela Gordon, and in lieu of the personal comment we badgered her nicely for, she's let us have a copy of the speech she made at the awards ceremony (she's flying off somewhere today, hopefully on holiday). The ceremony was held in Janet’s old home in Oamaru which is owned and has been restored by the Janet Frame Eden St Trust. Pamela, you're on:

I've been appointed as the day-to-day administrator of Janet's publishing empire, (with the grand title of 'chief literary executor') and believe me, it's quite a job, especially as I've been working closely with Harriet Allan at Random House NZ, to coordinate a major reissue programme, and when you see the first volumes of that today I'm sure you'll agree all the work everyone has put in has produced a very handsome series indeed in The Janet Frame Collection: an elegant concept with high quality production values. A great tribute. We're also thrilled to have an advance copy of the children's book hot off the press. It's a new edition of Mona Minim and the Smell of the Sun freshly illustrated by Dunedin artist David Elliot.

It is of course the ongoing income from more than 20 books in nearly 20 languages internationally, that will allow Janet's legacy to continue to benefit other NZ writers for many years to come.

Janet Frame received her first literary award when she was still in hospital. It's well known that John Money had sent her stories to Caxton Press. Tragically the manuscript, although accepted for publication, sat on Denis Glover's desk for several years. When The Lagoon and other stories finally came out in 1951, it received the Hubert Church Memorial award for prose, accompanied by a grant of 25 pounds. The hospital superintendent happened to read the newspaper report of the prize, and he decided to take Janet's name off the list for a scheduled lobotomy. 'I've decided you should stay as you are' he said. What a rescue! Over subsequent years Janet received many fellowships, awards and prizes, and it was always a welcome boost. The money is of course especially useful to writers who are located right at the bottom of the food chain, but she was also encouraged and inspired by the recognition of her colleagues in the literary world. She resolved that if she ever had money to leave, she would give it for the benefit of other writers, and included that instruction in each new will she made from as early as the 1950s.

The three recipients of the inaugural Janet Frame Literary Awards are as follows:

2005 Janet Frame Literary Award for a poet

Veteran poet Peter Olds receives a $10,000 grant.

In a Listener Review of It Was a Tuesday Morning: Selected Poems 1972 – 2001, critic David Eggleton described Peter Olds as ‘an old master already; one who has kept the faith ... He's a poet of delicate perceptions robustly expressed; standing at a slight angle to the universe, he offers us lovingly attentive accounts of his way of experiencing that universe’. Peter Olds is somewhat of a legend as the V8 poet of the 70s, addressed by James K Baxter in his Letter to Peter Olds which has sparked a sub-genre of NZ Lit, of poetic letters to Peter Olds. Peter Olds was a Burns fellow in 1978. After some years of silence, he has recently returned to performing and publishing his poetry and the Trustees are pleased to recognise and encourage his contribution to NZ writing.

2005 Janet Frame Literary Award for a writer of imaginative fiction

Northland novelist Kelly Ana Morey receives a $10,000 grant.

Her first novel Bloom also won the Hubert Church memorial Award. Her second novel Grace is Gone was short listed for the prestigious 2005 Kiriyama Prize. She is currently working on a third novel, and a short memoir How To Read a Book is to be published in November this year.

Kelly Ana Morey is talented, enthusiastic, outgoing, prolific, and is dedicated to working hard to achieve her ambitions. We've decided not to hold all this against her, and are delighted to give her this award in Janet Frame's memory. Janet Frame was fond of saying that so-called genius was as the saying goes, perhaps 1% inspiration, but really the result of 99% perspiration; the writing of fiction is hard work, time consuming and often involves considerable financial sacrifice. We are happy to encourage Kelly Ana Morey in her chosen career.

2005 Janet Frame Literary Award for an organisation supporting NZ writers

A third grant of $10,000 to a writing scholarship fund administered by Victoria University was reported earlier this week.

The scholarship fund, administered by Victoria's International Institute of Modern Letters, is an attractive proposition for a donation because of the 'Million Dollar challenge' offered by philanthropist Glenn Schaeffer to match every NZ dollar contributed before the end of this year, with one US dollar (up to a maximum one million NZ dollars). We couldn't resist the added value, and the money goes to a good cause. The fund will enable selected writing graduates of the creative writing programme (directed by Professor Bill Manhire), to work full-time while preparing their work for publication. Janet Frame had a warm relationship with the IML (which cherishes one of her writing tables, the former Landfall desk) and with its director, Bill Manhire, who she approved to help select her posthumous collection of poems.

We expect our decision to give money to a cause associated with an academic creative writing course, to be controversial. However in deciding our awards we will neither favour nor hold against any writer, the fact that they may have passed through any writing school or class or academic programme. Janet Frame did try to rise above the turf wars that sometimes characterise NZ Lit, and her Trustees will attempt to give awards in her spirit of inclusiveness. The fact is, the writer is a writer, trying to finish a book and needing to live somehow, and Janet Frame knew exactly how that felt.

Indeed she did, and thanks to her and her incredible, enduring legacy, at least two up-and-coming writers can now loosen their belts a notch. Thanks Janet Frame, and again, thanks also to Pamela for those words.