The Ceremony for the 2013 New Zealand Post Book Awards was held last night.
How many did you pick?
I was on the button with a few but missed more than I got right.
I do not envy the judges when they have such good quality to choose from.
It may be a hard market for publishers out there but it is obviously not the lack of talent and content which is causing the problem.
The winners:
New Zealand Post Book of the Year and Fiction winner
The Big Music by Kirsty Gunn, published by Faber & Faber.
Poetry
The Darling North by Anne Kennedy, published by Auckland University Press.
Illustrated Non-fiction
Pat Hanly by Gregory O'Brien and Gil Hanly, published by Ron Sang Publications.
General Non-fiction
Civilisation: Twenty Places on the Edge of the World by Steve Braunias, published by Awa Press.
Nielsen Booksellers' Choice
Shelter from the Storm: The Story of New Zealand's Backcountry Huts, by Shaun Barnett, Rob Brown and Geoff Spearpoint,
published by Craig Potton Publishing.
People's Choice
Patched: The History of Gangs in New Zealand, by Jarrod Gilbert, published by Auckland University Press.
Maori Language Award Winner
Nga Waituhi O Rehua by Katarina Te Heikoko Mataira, published by Huia Publishing.
Those previously announced:
NZSA Best First Book Poetry
Graft by Helen Heath, published by Victoria University Press.
NZSA Best First Book Fiction
I Got His Blood On Me by Lawrence Patchett, published by Victoria University Press.
NZSA Best First Book Non-fiction
Moa: The Life and Death of New Zealand's Legendary Bird by Quinn Berentson, published by Craig Potton Publishing.