Victoria University of Wellington

A dynamic and diverse group of the finest international and national writers will converge on Wellington in March for the New Zealand International Arts Festival’s Writers and Readers Week.

Heaphy - Iain Sharp

Auckland University Press, ISBN 978-1-86940-421-5, $65.00 hbk

The first New Zealander to win the Victoria Cross, the first Pakeha to explore the West Coast of the South Island and New Zealand’s most distinguished nineteenth-century landscape painter: by any measure, Charles Heaphy was a central figure in colonial New Zealand. In this engaging book, lavishly illustrated with Charles Heaphy’s paintings, drawings and maps, Iain Sharp reveals the story of Heaphy’s art and life.

POETRY CATEGORY WINNER 2009

The Rocky Shore - Jenny Bornholdt

Victoria University Press, ISBN 978-0-86473-580-5, $25.00 pbk

The six long poems which make up The Rocky Shore were written over the course of six years. Together, they are as much autobiographical essay as long poem, and Jenny Bornholdt's most significant achievement to date.

Jenny Bornholdt is the author of eight previous collections of poetry and was Te Mata Estate New Zealand Poet Laureate 2005–2007.

The Lakes of Mars - Chris Orsman

Auckland University Press, ISBN 978-1-86940-408-6, $24.99 pbk