NZ Prime Minister’s Awards for literary achievement 2015 announced

The winners of the 2015 New Zealand Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement have been announced.

Joan Metge, a social anthropologist who has written several books on Māori history and society and cross-culture communication, was awarded the nonfiction prize. Metge’s books include Rautahi: The Maoris of New Zealand (1967), Talking Past Each Other (with Patricia Kinloch, 1978) and Korero Tahi: Talking Together (2001).

Roger Hall, a dramatist and author of more than 40 plays, was awarded the fiction prize. His latest publication is The Best Playwriting Book Ever.

Bernadette Hall, the author of 10 poetry collections, including her latest Life & Customs (Victoria University Press, 2013), was awarded the poetry prize. 

Each author receives a NZ$60,000 ($55,780) prize ‘in recognition of their outstanding contribution to New Zealand literature’.

Arts Council chairman Dick Grant said the recipients ‘represent diverse, but also profoundly New Zealand perspectives’. ‘They are leaders in the practice of their craft and throughout their careers have enriched us with insight, imagination, humour and humanity.’

The New Zealand Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement have been awarded annually since 2003 and are administered by the Arts Council of Creative New Zealand. The writers will be honoured at a ceremony in Wellington on 22 October.

For more information about the awards, visit the Creative New Zealand website here.

Category: Local news