2007 Montana New Zealand Book Award Winners

Montana Medal for Fiction or Poetry and Readers Choice Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones.

Montana Medal for Non-fiction and Illustrative Eagle's Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand, by Audrey Eagle.

Biography Douglas Lilburn: His Life and Music, by Philip Norman.

History Vaka Moana: Voyages of the Ancestors, edited by K.R. Howe.

Reference and anthology and NZSA E.H. McCormick Best First Book Award for Non-fiction Furniture of the NZ Colonial Era: An Illustrated History 1830-1900, by William Cottrell.

Lifestyle and contemporary culture Stitch: Contemporary NZ Textile Artists, by Ann Packer.

Environment Ghosts of Gondwana: The History of Life in New Zealand, by George Gibbs.

NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction The Sound of Butterflies, by Rachael King.

NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry Secret Heart, by Airini Beautrais.

Winner of the Great New Zealand Digi-Poem Competition

The winners of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards are announced later today so in the meantime...

Congratulations to Charlie Ward of Wellington who has won the inaugural Great New Zealand Digi-Poem Competition with his audio-visual version of Paekakariki poet Apirana Taylor's poem 'Hinemoa's Daughter'.

You can read more about it here and find the poem here.

Montana Poetry Day

Tena Koutou

Hi everyone. Friday 27th July is Montana Poetry Day and to celebrate Rodney Libraries have been promoting Poetry Walls in each of our libraries. Some fantastic original poetry has been placed on the walls, as well as some old favourites. Today you will even see poetry excerpts on the pavements outside our libraries. Our aim is to get poetry outside the library into an everyday environment to "inspire and engage communities." The poetry walls are staying up for another week so there is still time to get your poetry up for the world to see.

By the way, I'm kowhai reader, the new kid on the blog. I'm a book worm from way back and an enthusiastic member of the Rodney Libraries team, I'm here to help keep you up to date with the great things that are happening around the district in your local library. If there is anything you want to know please just post and let us know. In the meantime, we'll keep you posted on all the things that you can find in the library or that are going on in things information and literary in the community.

Ka kite ano

Top Montana Poetry Prize Presented Posthumously

Janet Frame has won the poetry category of the 2007 Montana New Zealand Book Awards for her collection, The Goose Bath three years after her death. A previous recipient of awards for both fiction and non fiction, the win confirms her place as one of our greatest and most adaptable writers.

The announcement made today marks Montana Poetry Day. With more than 45 events happening around the country, it is a major celebration of the nation’s poets and their writing.

Montana New Zealand Book Awards judges’ convenor, Dr Paul Millar says Frame’s edge is as we should expect, her use of inventive, imaginative and memorable language. ‘She steps lightly and precisely across the surface of the swamp of words…She is also highly original.’

Spokesperson for the Janet Frame Charitable Trust and Janet Frame’s niece, Pamela Gordon, says poetry was always her aunt’s first love. ‘This win marks a long overdue recognition for Janet Frame as a poet. She didn't seek accolades for her work, but she would have been very pleased that The Goose Bath poems have found favour.’

Janet Frame is New Zealand’s most distinguished writer: CBE, member, Order of New Zealand, nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, Honorary Doctorate in Literature, University’s of Otago and Waikato. She was a Burns Scholar and a Sargeson Fellow. Janet Frame also won the New Zealand Scholarship in Letters and the Hubert Church Award for Prose. Born in Dunedin in 1924, Janet Frame died in January 2004.

The Goose Bath, published by Random House New Zealand, will be judged alongside the winner of the Fiction category for the ultimate prize, the Montana Medal for Fiction or Poetry (formerly called the Deutz prize). The winner will be announced at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards ceremony and gala dinner in Auckland at Sky City on Monday 30 July.

The principal sponsors of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards are Montana and Creative New Zealand. The awards are managed by Booksellers New Zealand and supported by Book Publishers Association of New Zealand, the New Zealand Society of Authors and Book Tokens (NZ) Ltd.

Māori resources online

Let's have a look at some Māori language resources online.

Māori.org.nz
"We try and cover all aspects of our culture, through either our own pages, or through our huge links section that links to many Maori sites."

Te Puni Kōkiri
"Te Puni Kōkiri’s work focuses on providing high quality policy advice to Government and other agencies. Recently it has also begun providing services to assist Māori achieve their development aims. "

Putumōhio
Rodney Libraries catalogue in Māori.

Te Taura Whiri i te reo Maori - Māori Language Commission

"The Māori Language Commission was set up under the Māori Language Act 1987 to promote the use of Māori as a living language and as an ordinary means of communication."