Montana New Zealand Book Award Nominations

1 June 2007

Victoria University Press tops the Montana New Zealand Book Award Nominations

Seven books by seven talented writers have earned Victoria University Press the most shortlisted titles by any one publisher in this year's Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

Two books each in Fiction ("The Cowboy Dog" by the late Nigel Cox and "The Fainter" by Damien Wilkins) and Poetry ("One Shapely Thing" by Dinah Hawken and "The Year of the Bicycle" by James Brown) plus Tim Beaglehole's biography of his father, "A Life of J C Beaglehole" are joined by first time writers Michele Amas with "After the Dance" and Airini Beautrais with "Secret Heart" in the Best First Book of Poetry category.

Tied for second place this year with four nominations each are large multi-national Random House NZ Ltd and Te Papa Press, the publishing arm of Te Papa Tongarewa.

Publishing around twenty five books a year, VUP has already had its share of Montana New Zealand Book Award-winning titles with Bill Manhire's collection of poetry, "Lifted" taking out the Poetry prize last year. Nigel Cox's "Responsibility" was named as runner-up in Fiction while the anthology edited by Damien Wilkins, "Great Sporting Moments: The Best of Sport Magazine 1988-204" won the Reference and Anthology prize in the 2006 awards.

Previous VUP Fiction winners include Elizabeth Knox for "The Vintner's Luck" (1999) and Annamarie Jagose for "Slow Water" (2004).

ENDS

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