New Zealand Society

The New Zealand Society of Authors and Auckland Museum are delighted to  announce the recipient of the NZSA Auckland Museum Library National Research Grant is Michelle Elvy. 

In March 2012 NZ Book Month will once again present a lively programme of community events that will take place across New Zealand.

Thanks to Creative New Zealand this year we’ve been able to fund 60 volunteer book activists to make a wide variety of events happen in their communities. Many others are hosting their own, un-funded events too.

For booksellers, March is going to be a great time to jump on the bandwagon and use events to increase activity around books and reading.

Here's what's happening in your local area

The Canterbury Branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) is to hold a short story competition to bring alive the story of Canterbury before the start of the 20th Century.

While entrants stories can be set later than this period, its content or impetus must come from this earlier period, and may be fictitious or based on fact.

One of the criteria for the short story is that it is based on careful research of the period.

Last year Chris Bourke took home the country’s top literary honour – the New Zealand Post Book of the Year Award – for his work Blue Smoke: the Lost Dawn of New Zealand Popular Music 1918-1964. This year he heads up the judging panel for the same award.

A respected writer, reviewer, music historian and radio producer, Chris is well known as a former long-time producer for Radio New Zealand National’s Saturday Morning programme and as a staff writer and arts and books editor for print publications including The Listener.

Auckland University Press publisher, Sam Elworthy has been elected chair of the New Zealand Book Awards Governance Group, a new body established by the book industry to oversee the two book awards programmes sponsored by New Zealand Post.

Elworthy represents the Publishers Association of New Zealand with other members of the group being; Nicola Airey (New Zealand  Post),  Carole Beu (Booksellers NZ), Rosemary Wildblood (The New Zealand Society of Authors) and Catriona Ferguson (Creative New Zealand) .

The New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards and the New Zealand Post Book Awards are administered by Booksellers NZ on behalf of the industry.

Blue Smoke by Chris Bourke wins 2011 New Zealand Post Book of the Year

Christopher Finlayson, Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage, tonight awarded music historian Chris Bourke the New Zealand Post Book of the Year, for his work Blue Smoke: The Lost Dawn of New Zealand Popular Music 1918-1964.