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A book about a Moa - that has been described by judges as illuminating, entertaining and utterly original - has won the New Zealand Society of Authors’ Best First Book Non-Fiction prize in the New Zealand Post Book Awards.  

A book about a Moa - that has been described by judges as illuminating, entertaining and utterly original - has won the New Zealand Society of Authors’ Best First Book Non-Fiction prize in the New Zealand Post Book Awards.  

Quinn Berentson’s book Moa: The life and death of New Zealand’s legendary bird was singled out by the judges as one of the “best surprises of all the books we read”.

Chief Judge John Campbell said: “Think of Moa as a really great historical biography, in which almost everyone (including the bird itself) is varying degrees of mad.”

The other winners were the Poetry book Graft by Helen Heath and the Fiction book, I Got His Blood on Me by Lawrence Patchett.

The overall quality of this year’s Best First Books was so strong that many could easily have been finalists of the New Zealand Post Book Awards in their own right, the judges said.

The category finalists in the New Zealand Post Book Awards will be announced next week, and the winners will be revealed during a star-studded literary awards ceremony in Auckland on 28 August.

What the judges said about the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Best First Book award winners:

Graft by Helen Heath
(winner of the NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book for Poetry award) 

“Helen Heath is a candid poet, unflinching, both with what she sees close to her and in the mirror, but capable of great generosity too. Her mother is so beautifully evoked that we feel we know her. Some of the poems are so sad they ache. This is a brave, moving, revealing and assured collection.”
   
I Got His Blood on Me by Lawrence Patchett
(winner of the NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book for Fiction award)

“We congratulate Lawrence on his originality, his skills as a story teller, and the welcome audacity of a short story collection which ranges from playing with history, to magic realism, to a tougher kind of realism entirely: all of it somehow plausible. We can’t wait to see what Lawrence Patchett does next.”
   
Moa: The life and death of New Zealand’s legendary bird by Quinn Berentson
(winner of the NZSA E.H. McCormick Best First Book for Non-Fiction award)

“Moa tells the extinct bird’s story in an exhaustive, scholarly and utterly engaging way. Think of Moa as a really great historical biography, in which almost everyone (including the bird itself) is varying degrees of mad. Illuminating, entertaining and utterly original, Moa is also lovingly presented and was one of the best surprises of all the books we received.”

Media Release: New Zealand Post Book Awards

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Book award winners for Victoria University Press

Two Victoria University Press authors are the recipients of this year’s New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Best First Book Awards at the New Zealand Post Book Awards announced today.

Poet Helen Heath has won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book for Poetry Award with her collection Graft, and fiction writer Lawrence Patchett has won the NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book for Fiction Award for his short story collection I Got His Blood On Me.

Victoria University Press Publisher Fergus Barrowman says: “We’re delighted that two of our first books have done so well, and congratulate both our writers on winning these prestigious awards”.

Ms Heath, whose collection features a number of poems about scientists and was also the first book of poetry to ever be shortlisted for the 2013 Royal Society of New Zealand Science Book Prize, says: “Considering the strength of many first poetry books this year, I'm immensely humbled by the judge's decision to pick Graft for this award”.

Mr Patchett, whose collection tells stories of time-travel, frontier conflict and early Pakeha and Maori relationships, says: “It’s a great boost for me and encouragement to keep writing, I’m really thrilled about it”.

Both writers are graduates of the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University, with Mr Patchett holding both a Master’s and Doctorate from the Institute. Ms Heath holds a Master’s and is currently enrolled in PhD study.

Media Release: Victoria University of Wellington