Novels by five New Zealand writers have been shortlisted in the South East Asia and South Pacific region of the 2007 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

Ocean Roads by James George, Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones and The Fainter by Damien Wilkins have been shortlisted in the Best Book category, while Davey Darling by Paul Shannon and The Fish & Chip Song by Carl Nixon were shortlisted for Best First Book. Novels by five New Zealand writers have been shortlisted in the South East Asia and South Pacific region of the 2007 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.

Ocean Roads by James George, Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones and The Fainter by Damien Wilkins have been shortlisted in the Best Book category, while Davey Darling by Paul Shannon and The Fish & Chip Song by Carl Nixon were shortlisted for Best First Book.George, Jones and Wilkins wrote their novels with the support of Creative New Zealand grants. Ocean Roads and The Fainter were also supported with $3000 publishing grants to Huia Publishers and Penguin Books.

Stephen Wainwright, Chief Executive of Creative New Zealand, said the shortlisted New Zealand titles was "fantastic news" for New Zealand writing. "I'm delighted that Creative New Zealand was able to support three of our talented writers to complete these major works."

The regional winners will be announced on 12 March 2007.