• Social issues a major theme for National Poetry Day celebrations

    Climate change and the plight of refugees are the focus of some of the 150+ events in this year’s Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day, taking place on Friday August 23. Our annual celebration of writing and reading poetry embraces both the personal and political in a dynamic programme of events and competitions nationwide – from […]

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  • David Hill is announced as the 2019-2020 President of Honour

    The New Zealand Society of Authors is delighted to announce that David Hill is their 2019-2020 President of Honour.  This prestigious honour is bestowed on a senior writer and long-serving NZSA member in recognition of his or her contribution to writing and writers and the literary arts sector in New Zealand. The President of Honour delivers the annual NZSA Janet […]

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  • Tickets on Sale for NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults Ceremony

    Buy your tickets today to celebrate the best books for young New Zealand readers, and applaud the winners, at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults ceremony in the atmospheric Te Marae at Te Papa in Wellington on Wednesday 7 August. The 41 finalists include many of the country’s finest children’s writers, […]

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  • Hamilton Book Month happening again this August

    It’s August and Hamilton Book Month is underway again with the biggest ever programme with 21 different events and a grand total of 35 (including repeats) across August at various Hamilton venues. Almost all events are free with only four having a charge. Co-organiser Catherine Wallace says ‘There’s so many authors we wanted to include […]

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  • Eye-catching Book on Samoan Tattooing Sweeps the Board at the PANZ Book Design Awards

    A beautifully designed and richly illustrated retelling of the unique and powerful history of S?moan tattooing was the big winner at the 2019 PANZ Book Design Awards. Tatau: A History of S?moan Tattooing by Sean Mallon and Sébastien Galliot (Te Papa Press), designed by Arch MacDonnell (Inhouse Design) received the overall accolade of the Gerard Reid […]

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  • Dean Koontz’s Jump to Amazon Publishing: Will Other Authors Follow

    The five-book deal and a collection of Amazon Original Stories from Dean Koontz is good news for Amazon Publishing. The real suspense story: could this signal defections from major houses ahead? (First published in Publishing Perspectives) Dean Koontz: ‘Where Change Is Understood and Embraced’ In what some will see as a potential harbinger of what’s […]

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  • Booker Prize 2019 Longlist: Novels in English From Nine Countries

    In Feature Articles by Porter Anderson First appeared in Publishing Perspectives. The 2019 Booker Prize longlist comprises the work of a particularly international collection of authors, including two former laureates. Longlisted authors in the 2019 Booker Prize for Fiction are, top row from left, Margaret Atwood (image: Liam Sharp); Kevin Barry (image: Conor O’Mahony); Oyinkan […]

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  • Publishers and Authors are pissed (sic) about Amazon’s upcoming Audible Captions feature

    Author’s Guild in the US says this feature breaches rights. Some authors and publishers are asking for their books to be withheld from the feature From THE VERGE B Andrew Liptak Earlier this week, Audible revealed that it was working on a new feature for its audiobook app: Audible Captions, which will use machine learning […]

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  • Space to breathe

    22 Jul 2019 The latest offering of grants and awards in one of our key creative industries is rightly seen as something to boast about. [In partnership with NZSA and CLNZ] There’s less than a week for would-be or established writers in New Zealand to apply for $20,000 worth of research grants on offer. From August 2 there’s […]

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  • Michael Gifkins Prize for an Unpublished Novel 2020 – open for applications

    Text Publishing and the New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc) are pleased to announce that submissions for the 2020 Michael Gifkins Prize for an Unpublished Novel are now open. The prize is open to writers holding New Zealand citizenship or who are permanent residents of New Zealand, and, thanks to a generous financial […]

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  • WW2 books, true stories and classics among New Zealanders’ favourite reads

    Reading is in good health, with thousands of New Zealanders voting for their favourite books in the Whitcoulls Top 100 Books List.  Announced today, the List reveals that classic books, war and true stories are among the nation’s favourite reads. Our interest in WW2 books is massive and Whitcoulls report huge sales for this genre.  […]

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  • Ray Grover values pragmatism on the latest NZSA Oral History Podcast episode

    “It’s rough justice we are after.” -Ray Grover In the late 1950’s Ray Grover was part of a small circle of Wellington writers that included Maurice Gee, Fleur Adcock and James K. Baxter. Shortly after publishing his first novel, Another Man’s Role in 1967, Ray joined PEN NZ and quickly became involved in the executive. […]

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