NZ Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement 2021 announced

Creative New Zealand has announced the winners of the 2021 Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement, worth NZ$60,000 (A$57,634) each.

Award-winning poet, fiction writer, screenplay editor and teacher Anne Kennedy is honoured in the poetry category; historian and award-winning author of the 1987 book The Treaty of Waitangi Claudia Josepha Orange is recognised for nonfiction and award-winning writer and teacher David Hill, known for his young adult fiction, is recognised in the fiction category.

Arts Council chair Caren Rangi said the authors were ‘such treasured and accomplished writers drawn from across the motu, with diverse tales to tell’ and thanked them for their ‘continued passion, skill and devotion to New Zealand literature’.

The recipients will join 2021 Creative New Zealand Michael King Writer’s Fellowship recipient Monty Soutar in an online panel hosted by writer, historian and former journalist Paul Diamond.

‘While Covid means we can’t gather in person to congratulate these outstanding writers, I know the online panel event … will provide the opportunity for a great celebration,’ said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

The panel will take place on Tuesday 16 November.

Pictured: (L-R) Anne Kennedy, Claudia Orange and David Hill

Category: Awards Local news