Congratulations to Carl Shuker, who's just won New Zealand’s largest literary prize, the biennial $65,000 Prize in Modern Letters.
Shuker began writing his novel, The Method Actors, while enrolled in the Victoria University Master of Creative Writing programme run by Bill Manhire.
The Method Actors was released last year by American publishing house Shoemaker & Hoard. It draws on the intensity of contemporary Tokyo, where Shuker lived after completing his undergraduate degree. The novel took over two years to complete and was hailed by the judges as a ‘first-rate pyrotechnic display’.
Shuker is understandly chuffed:
This prize goes towards proving a maxim of mine: you never get what you think you most need until the time you no longer need it - the debts that I ran up during the writing of The Method Actors were chilling, and I did believe that I’d come to the end of what I was capable of. This prize gives me, at least for a time, the freedom to carry on writing.
Shuker’s next novel, The Lazy Boys, will be published at the end of this year, again by Shoemaker & Hoard. And you can check out the Listener review of The Method Actors here.
19 Mar 06 | Filed by Chris | Add your comment (2 so far)
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email.
Comment by maggie ~ March 20, 2006 6:53 PM
Yes, I agree, congratulations Carl. As they say, behind every overnight success, is one or two unpublished novels, and in Carl's case, a missing drum kit.
Comment by Craig ~ March 21, 2006 1:58 PM
Wow, some sort of weird blog doppelganging going on, over at The Elegant Variation in the US there's the exact same picture of Carl (congrats to him by the way) and a story about the prize. The blogger, Mark Sarvas offers his Fender for sale as Carl is apparently keen to resume his musical activities, now that he can afford it.
p.s. behind this overnight success is also the lovely poet Anna Smaill, who Carl thanked very sweetly in his acceptance speech.
ISSN #1176-4465. LeafSalon is licensed under a 
