The New Zealand Post Book Awards (formerly the Montana New Zealand Book Awards) have just been announced.
We’ve got a page listing the finalists.
The Best First Book Award winners have already been revealed:
- NZSA Hubert Church Best First Book of Fiction Award winner: Relief Anna Taylor, Victoria University Press
- NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book of Poetry Award winner: Fast talking PI Selina Tusitala March, Auckland University Press
- NZSA E.H. McCormick Best First Book of Non-fiction Award winner: Trust: A True Story of Women & Gangs Pip Desmond, Random House New Zealand
It looks like New Zealand non-fiction is getting the nod with five finalists in the general and illustrated non-fiction categories, and only three each for fiction and poetry.
The famed Bookman Beattie has revealed his picks on Beattie’s Book Blog. He chooses Alison Wong As the Earth Turns Silver for the fiction category, saying “For me it was not only the best NZ novel in 2009 it was also one of the best I read from any quarter.” High praise indeed.
See also: First novel in line for award, New Zealand Herald
The People’s Choice Award offers you a chance to vote for your favourite finalist and be in to win $1,000 of Booksellers Tokens! So have a vote, and have your say…
Christchurch City Libraries Blog 
PS a Twitter search on NZ Post Book Awards or #NZPostBookAwards will give you a good flavour of opinion through the Twitterverse.
It reveals what people consider to be omissions, and a widespread opinion that there should have been more fiction nominees.