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Welcome to the Literary Bulletin
Tena koutou te rangatira hou, welcome to our new leader Mandy Hager who has become our new President. We are looking forward to Mandy taking up the reins at this important time, as issues such as the current review of the Copyright Act, the PLR review and issues around the 'loss of habitat for books' require advocacy and strong representation.
Congratulations too, to the winners of the Pikihuia Writer's Awards for Maori writing and the Ngaio Marsh crime-writing awards. Great to see new emerging talent.
We report that the Coalition for Books has been incorporated and this fledgling organisation is planning its activities for 2020, including sector consultation and a series of meetings around the country.
Noho ora mai
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Mandy Hager Elected Unopposed as new NZSA President
Mandy Hager is a multi-award-winning writer of fiction, predominantly for young adults. In 2019 she was awarded the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal, for life-time achievement and a distinguished contribution to New Zealand’s literature for young people. She has won the LIANZA Book Awards for Young Adult fiction three times, the 2009 NZ Post Children’s Book Awards for YA fiction, a 1996 Honour Award, and six Notable Book Awards. Her historical novel for adults 'Heloise' was longlisted for the 2017 Ockham Awards and she also writes non-fiction and educational resources.
She has also been awarded the 2012 Beatson Fellowship, the 2014 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship, the 2015 Waikato University Writer in Residence and the 2017 D’Arcy Writer’s Grant. She has tutored the novel for Whitireia's Creative Writing Course for ten years, is a trained teacher and has an MA in Creative Writing. She has been a school trustee and was a board member of Dare Foundation for two years.
Mandy will start as president with immediate effect. An outstanding writer of fiction and of educational resources, Mandy is well regarded for her advocacy on issues that affect writers. We are looking forward to her leading NZSA onwards.
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NZSA Live! New Podcast Featuring Audio Recorded at NZSA Events
NZSA is proud to add to our Oral History podcast, new NZSA Live! In these podcasts we will share audio recorded at a variety of New Zealand Society of Authors events, beginning with the 2019 Janet Frame Memorial Address given by NZSA President of Honour 2019 - 2020, David Hill.
These episodes will appear alongside our Oral History Podcasts and you can listen in all the same places - on our website, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
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 What's Needed for Sustainable Creative Careers? Have Your Say!
Last year Creative New Zealand and NZ On Air engaged research company Colmar Brunton to survey a range of creative professionals, aged 16 and over, who earned at least some income from their creative work, on aspects of their creative careers. They published the research in May this year, identifying three joint priorities for future action:
1. Fair reward.
2. Sustainability.
3. Emerging creative professionals.
As part of their ongoing engagement to address the findings, they’d like to hear your thoughts on the research and potential next steps in this area.
You may want to mention that funding for NZSA is key to creating opportunities for creative professionals through mentoring and assessments and other professional development events; through prizes and awards that we administer and that advocacy for increased and sustained investment in the Public Lending Right, and introduction of an Educational Lending Right, is part of our work on behalf of writers to campaign for fair reward for writers.
The Horizon Research survey for 2018 that canvassed all our membership and others from the Writers Guild put the average author's income at $15,600pa which is well below the living wage.
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Dame Fiona Kidman, JP Pomare, and Kelly Dennett winners of the 2019 Ngaio Marsh Awards
While being very different kinds of crime stories, all three winning books explored young lives that had gone tragically astray. This Mortal Boy (Penguin) by NZSA member Dame Fiona Kidman becomes the first novel to win both the Ngaio Marsh Award and the Acorn Prize for Fiction. The book has also won Dame Fiona the NZ Booklovers Award and NZSA Heritage Book Award. Australian-based JP Pomare won the 2019 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel for Call Me Evie (Hachette), and Journalist Kelly Dennett won the Best Non-Fiction prize for her superb exploration of one of New Zealand’s most infamous unsolved cases in The Short Life and Mysterious Death of Jane Furlong (Awa Press).
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2019 Pikihuia Awards Winners Announced
The winners of the Pikihuia Awards for short stories were announced last Saturday at Te Wharewaka o Pōneke. All winners received a membership to NZSA as part of their award.
The judges had the important job of selecting the winners in six categories: First-time Writer, Emerging Writer and Published Writer, in te Reo Māori or English. They were impressed by the confidence in the writing, the diversity of stories, and the courage of the entrants to submit and share their stories.
‘There was a confidence in the writing this year — writers who knew how to create vivid worlds and characters which created engaging stories. I was excited by the writers who were willing to push the boundaries of what a short story can be,’ says judge Whiti Hereaka.
Find out more about the awards and winners in this post on our website.
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NZSA Farewells Elizabeth Brooke-Carr
Otago-Southland poet Elizabeth Brooke-Carr was a NZSA member for over a decade and died this September. Paula Green invited Dunedin poets to pay tribute to Elizabeth; you can read their thoughts on NZ Poetry Shelf.
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Have You Registered Your Book for Bookshop Day?
Book Week 2019 - participation form
We are collaborating with Booksellers NZ and Public Libraries NZ to create opportunities for our members to promote their books during Book Week and on Bookshop Day on Saturday 26 October 2019. We will once again supply Booksellers NZ with a list of members with recently published books that are available in bookshops and libraries.
It is solely the choice of the book shop or library and NZSA has no influence in the selections they make.
This year will see dozens of bookshops throughout New Zealand celebrate their communities with a range of events, competitions and exciting activities. https://www.booksellers.co.nz/nzbookshopday
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The Building Blocks of Story: A writing workshop with Jane Bissell
 Saturday 19 October 2019
10.30am – 3.30pm
Whangaparaoa Library, Stanmore Bay, Whangaparaoa
$25.00
Have an idea for a story but don’t know how to get started?
Every piece of writing needs a firm foundation so let’s start from the ground up.
In this workshop we’ll look at the building blocks of story: plot, character, structure, setting, conflict and theme, discuss why they are known as the foundations of storytelling, and explore how we can use these essential elements to create compelling and engaging writing.
By the end of the day you will:
- have an understanding of the elements that can make a good story great
- have the tools at hand to really kick-start your writing projects
- feel motivated and inspired to write the stories that are meaningful for you
- have had a great time with other enthusiastic and creative writers
For more information and to register please visit www.janebissellwriting.com or
phone (09) 428 3385.
This workshop is supported by Auckland Council Creative Communities. Paid Advertisement
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Ko Aotearoa Tātou | We Are New Zealand: New Anthology Calling For Submissions
This new anthology of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and visual art will celebrate the voices, experiences and ethnicities that form contemporary New Zealand. Its editors are Michelle Elvy, Paula Morris and James Norcliffe. The work included in this anthology will "speak, positively and directly, to what is Aotearoa New Zealand: voices that are geographically, culturally, ethnically and racially diverse."
The editors invite submissions before 31 October. Previously unpublished prose, poetry and visual art that explores, investigate or interrogate life in contemporary New Zealand is welcome. Find out more.
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Do You Have an Australian Publisher?
The Australian Society of Authors has launched a publishing agreement tracker and an author/illustrator appearances tracker. These aim to keep the ASA recommended rates of pay for writers and illustrators relevant. If you are a New Zealand author with an Australian publisher consider inputting in your fees and contracts. ASA believes:
1. Writers and Illustrators deserve to be fairly paid for their work.
2. Creators need to value their own talents and be brave enough to ask to be paid fairly.
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Readers Are All Around More Awesome
It's not the most scientific of studies but Real Simple are reporting the findings of a Sleep Junkie survey which found people who read before bed sleep better, eat more healthily and make more money.
But how do we encourage the next generation to be awesome through reading? Joe Pinsker at The Atlantic has some ideas.
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Emily Dickinson: A Case Study for Sorting Out Your Rights and Literary Estate
The movie Wild Nights with Emily, begins with a disclaimer: “The poems and letters of Emily Dickinson are used in this film with permission of Harvard University Press.” But why does anyone need permission from Harvard to make a movie about Emily Dickinson? The answer, says the LA Review of Books, "involves theft, adulterous affairs, a land deal gone wrong, a feud between families, two elite colleges, and some of the most famous poems in American literature."
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Instagram Poetry: Easy Success, Zero Talent?
Vice writer Andrew Lloyd decided to see if you need talent or skill to succeed in the world of insta-poetry. It turns out you don't, but maybe that's not the point...
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Should Ghostwriters be a Silent Presence or Wail Through the Walls?
Natalie Beach's tell-all essay about her ghostwriting experience (published in The Cut) has again raised questions surrounding the ethics of speaking out about your subjects' lives. The Guardian talked with bestselling ghostwriter Andrew Crofts, about the art of staying silent as a ghostwriter.
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Books in All Formats in All Libraries
American Libraries Magazine summaried the future of library lending (as discussed at the Digital Book World 2019 conference) with this key statement: "research bears out the idea that the more flexible the terms offered by the publisher to libraries, the more their books will be borrowed and discovered." This is due to the diverse forms of borrowing, for example new research which found that, in the UK, the popularity of children’s audiobooks has increased by 138% since January 2018; probably because audiobooks can now be played straight off library phone-apps.
Do you know in what formats your books are being produced? How are they being offered to libraries? Which formats are covered by the Public Lending Right? These questions are important as e-lending and format diversification continues to grow.
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Michael Gifkins Prize for an Unpublished Novel 2020
Deadline: Midnight, 31 October
The prize is open to writers holding New Zealand citizenship or who are permanent residents of New Zealand, and, thanks to a generous financial commitment from the late Michael Gifkins’ family, the winner will receive a contract for world rights from Text, and an advance of NZ$10,000.
The prize is administered by the New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc). Entry forms and terms and conditions.
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Writing Appraisal Service - subsidised for NZSA members - StartWrite 2019 service OPEN
Appraisals are available on a first come, first served basis.
The NZSA Writing Sample and Synopsis Assessment Service is an excellent opportunity for writers to get an appraisal of up to 6000 words. This is a fast and efficient way to get you on track with your work - be it poetry, an early draft of an MS, short stories etc. Find out more
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'Writing is ... a real act of faith' – James Clarke, Betty Trask Prize 2019 winner
James Clarke won a Society of Authors UK prize for new writers. In a very telling interview he discusses how hard it can be to be at the beginning of a writer's career.
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 Journalists and writers covering climate justice, the environment and land rights are some of the most targeted and vulnerable in the world. They are often designated as ‘terrorists’, stripping them of significant protections in the course of carrying out their work. Last year, at least 164 land and environmental activists were murdered for defending their homes, lands and natural resources from exploitation from both state and non-state actors, including by mining, food and logging firms. Countless others have been silenced through violence, intimidation and the use and miss-use of anti-protest laws. By far the most dangerous place for activists and indigenous communities was the Philippines which saw at least 30 murders in 2018.
The battle for the environment is also a crucial battleground for human rights, including the fundamental right to freedom of expression. In the years to come, PEN International foresee an increase of attacks against whistle-blowers and journalists that cover the destruction of the environment. At the end of September PEN will hold a meeting to discuss and explore how PEN can respond to these increasing challenges to freedom of expression and threats to our planet.
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Email PEN spokesperson Dana Wensley at PEN@nzauthors.org.nz for issues to do with Freedom of Expression. Email Writers In Prison co-ordinator Lesley Marshall if you would like to be part of the Writers in Prison letter writing team.
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2019 Graeme Lay Short Story Competition closes 4 October
Open to all NZSA members this short story competition has a $500 first prize, $250 second prize, $100 third prize. Brought to you by NZSA Auckland Branch, apply online now!
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Opportunities
Log in using your email address and password.
Opportunities are listed by deadline date.
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Te Hā Kaituhi Māori – National Māori Writers’ Hui 2019
The theme of this year’s Biennial National Hui is Tuia Te Kōrero: Weaving narratives. Ever since Te Hā began in the late 80s, the goal has been to find, support and grow more Māori writers.
When: 4 October 2019, 10:00 AM
Where: Te Wānanga o Aotearoa (Wellington Region)
Facebook.
More info.
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Bestsellers from Nielsen BookScan
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Latest Nielsen Bestseller reports
Bestsellers Chart - fiction, non-fiction, adults, children & Independent Booksellers Top 20
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Writers on Radio and TV
Click here for the lineup for upcoming Books on Radio New Zealand National.
Nine to Noon submission form
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