Announcement of 2013 Janet Frame Literary Trust Award

10 July 2013

Announcement of 2013 Janet Frame Literary Trust Award

Christchurch poet Tusiata Avia has been named as the 2013 recipient of a Janet Frame Literary Trust Award worth $5,000. Avia has published two books of poetry: Wild Dogs Under My Skirt (2004) and Bloodclot (2009). Known for her dynamic performance style she has toured her one-woman show Wild Dogs Under My Skirt to places as diverse as Moscow, Jerusalem and Vienna, as well as destinations closer to home. Avia has held a number of residencies including the Fulbright Pacific Writer’s Fellowship at the University of Hawai’i (2005) and the Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence at the University of Canterbury (2010). She is regularly published in international literary journals and invited to appear at writers festivals around the globe. Last year's highlights were performances in New York and in London where she represented Samoa at the Poetry Parnassus held in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games.

Avia is currently working on a new book of poetry as well as an adaptation of Bloodclot for the stage to be called The Adventures of Nafanua. She intends to use the award to support her writing, and said: “While the money is a wonderful god-send, I am much more thrilled about the award. It's no small honour to receive an award with Janet Frame's name on it!”

Janet Frame founded the Janet Frame Literary Trust in 1999 and instructed her trustees to give occasional grants from an endowment fund to support and encourage New Zealand authors. Since Frame’s death from leukemia in 2004, her estate has awarded a total of $100,000 in grants to benefit New Zealand writers.

More information on Tusiata Avia:
http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/pasifika/avia1.asp
http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writers/aviatusiata.html

More information on the Janet Frame Literary Trust:
Web Page: http://www.janetframe.org.nz
Blog: http://slightlyframous.blogspot.com

ENDS

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