News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

Andrew Miller has been awarded the Costa Book Awards 2011, Book of the Year for his novel Pure. Selected from the finalists in five categories – First Novel award, Novel award, Biography award, Poetry award and Children’s Book award – Andrew Miller received the prize of £30,000. This is his sixth novel, and is set in Paris in 1785 just before the French Revolution, with the narrative built around a young engineer, ordered to demolish Paris’s oldest cemetery (Saints Innocents Cemetery) and all that this entails, such as exhumation of the bodies buried there. (For background on the story, read this Guardian article, and this Wikipedia article about Paris’s Catacombs for some extra historical detail.)

Tiny sunbirds, far away by Christie Watson was awarded the Costa First Novel Award.

The finalists for the Australian Romance Readers Awards for 2011 have been announced, and they include Nalini Singh, Nora Roberts (in various guises), and more. There are nine awards given every year (you can browse previous winners here) in various categories: paranormal romance, sci-fi/urban fantasy/futuristic romance, short romance, historical romance, contemporary romance, erotic romance, romantic suspense, favourite romantic continuing series, and finally, members’ favourite Australian romance author. (No cyberpunk romances this year, alas.)

Here are some of the finalists (in various categories):

Shattered sky / Helene Young.
“On a routine surveillance flight east of the Australian coast, Captain Lauren Bennett’s crew pick up a mayday call. A yacht is under fire. For the international smugglers operating below the radar of the navy and Border Watch, sinking a pleasure craft is just part of their day s work. Lauren has other ideas. As she pursues the men into the isolated country of Cape York, she ll need all the help she can get. That will mean joining forces with the cynical navy officer Callam Granger, who’s already shown his contempt for her. What will it take to convince him she’s right this time? Can they put aside their old animosities to outwit, outrun and ultimately out-fly the traffickers? Or will another death shatter Lauren’s life completely?” (Global Books)

River marked / Patricia Briggs.
“Car mechanic and shapeshifter Mercy Thompson senses that an evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River – one that her father’s people may know something about. And to have any hope of surviving, Mercy and her mate, the Alpha werewolf Adam, will need their help.” (Syndetics summary)

Archangel’s blade / Nalini Singh.
“In the intensely dark, violent, and romantic fourth Guild Hunter novel (after Archangel’s Consort), Singh focuses on the 1,000-year-old vampire Dmitri, lieutenant to the archangel Raphael, and Guild Hunter Honor, still recovering after a rogue vampire kidnapped and tortured her for two months. Assigned by the Guild to work with Dmitri toward solving the strange murder of a young vampire, Honor must confront the conflicting emotions he inspires, which intensify when the investigation bleeds into her past abduction and Dmitri vows revenge on her attackers. Their relationship develops explosively and becomes one of equals despite the centuries of age difference. Singh’s vampires, angels, hunters, and archangels engage in global power struggles within a complex larger story that new readers will find challenging. An engrossing narrative, vivid characters, and a well-imagined world mitigate those difficulties, resulting in a heart-pounding and strongly emotional read.” (Publishers Weekly)

Prince of Scandal / by Annie West.
“Prince… Ruling prince Raul, Prince of Maritz, is furious that an archaic law is forcing him to wed. But scandal and unrest has dogged this prince for years, and a marriage to recently discovered princess Luisa Hardwicke will help bring stability to the monarchy. Reluctant princess… Only Luisa is an outspoken, mud-splattered farm-girl, who isn’t going to come quietly! Even as she’s reluctantly transformed into polished perfection, Luisa challenges Raul at every turn – and he finds himself anticipating their wedding night with an excitement he never imagined he’d feel… ” (Amazon.co.uk)

The next always / Nora Roberts.
“Beckett has no trouble whatsoever talking to women. It’s just Claire who has him at a loss for words. It all began when Beckett fell hard and fast for Claire in high school, but Claire wound up marrying Beckett’s best friend, Clint. Now, more than a decade later, Claire, a war widow, is back in Boonsboro, building a new life for herself and her sons as the owner of the town’s bookstore. Even though renovating the local inn keeps Beckett busy, he still manages to bump into Claire at least once a day, and he still finds himself surprisingly tongue-tied. Finally, when Beckett offers Claire an early tour of the inn, it leads to an unexpected kiss. With the first impeccably written and richly emotional installment in her new contemporary romantic trilogy, Roberts delivers all the elements her readers enjoy, including a perfectly matched pair of protagonists and a plot spiced with danger, a touch of the paranormal, and deliciously tart humor. Readers will also relish the autobiographical dimension. The novel is set in Roberts’ hometown, Boonsboro, Maryland, in which she owns a restored inn and is the proprietor of Turn the Page bookstore.” (Booklist)

Magic slays / Ilona Andrews.
“Kate Daniels has quit the Order of Merciful Aid, but starting her own business isn’t easy. So when Atlanta’s premier Master of the Dead asks for help with a vampire, Kate jumps at the chance. Unfortunately, this is one case where Kate should have looked before she leapt. Original.” (Syndetics summary)

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson has won this year’s Mann Booker Prize. It is a novel that links comedy and tragedy, the story male friendship and what it means to be Jewish. It is Howard Jacobson’s eleventh published novel, his first was in 1983 titled Coming from Behind. In 1999 his novel The Mighty Walzer won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic writing and in 2006 his novel Kalooki Nights was long listed for the Mann Booker Prize of that year. Nearly all his fiction is humorous. Born in Manchester, England in 1942, Howard Jacobson has also published four works of non-fiction. He writes a weekly column for The Independent newspaper and also works as a broadcaster.

Sources: Wikipedia; Guardian.co.uk

The LIANZA Book Awards were announced yesterday, with an ecclectic collection of winners, showcasing the best of the New Zealand publishing world. For more information on the awards visit the NZ Book Council news page. The winners were:

The Russell Clark Award (contribution to illustrated children’s books): There Was a Crooked Man, Gavin Bishop. The English rhyme about the man with the crooked smile, illustrated by one of New Zealand’s best known children’s writer/illustrators. This is a board book, suitable for very young people.

The Elsie Locke Award (for children’s non-fiction): Dear Alison, edited by Simon Pollard. “A reproduction of the diary of Dudley Muff, a New Zealand prisoner of war in Germany written for his niece, Alison, who was four and living in Timaru.” (library catalogue)

The Esther Glen Award (for junior fiction): The Billionaire’s Curse, Richard Newsome. Gerald is left a 13 year old billionaire after his great aunt dies. When he becomes entangled in the theft of a rather large diamond he must uncover the mystery that surrounds his great aunt’s death (was she murdered?) and her connection to the diamond.

The LIANZA Young Adult Award (awarded for the first time): Banquo’s Son, Tania Roxborogh. Fleance, Banquo’s son, gets one short reference in Macbeth (told to “fly” by the mortally wounded Banquo). In this novel, Fleance is ten years down the line, haunted by ghosts: it’s time to avenge his father’s death.

Te Kura Pounamu: Hewa, Darryn Joseph. “Hewa” is fantasy in Māori, and Hewa is a fantasy story written in te Reo Māori “about a boy who wants to help protect his family and friends from a baddie. It’s set in an online game and involves American military software, a futuristic battleship called the USS Barack Obama, and artificial intelligences gaining sentience and self determination.” (from Massey University website)

Te Tohu Hoani Whatahoro (for te waihanga Pukapuka Pono (children’s non-fiction)): Ngā Rākau series by Huia Publishers.

Te Tohu Pounamu (for te wahanga Kaiwhakamaori): Hautipua Rererangi, edited by Julian Arahanga and illustrated by Andrew Burdan. A Te Reo graphic novel about John Porokoru Pohe, a World War II pilot who was a prisoner at Stalag Luft III (of The Great Escape fame). While he escaped, John Pohe was recaptured and subsequently killed.

Te Tohu Taurapa (for te wahanga Pukapuka Pikitia (picture books)): Hūhū Koroheke, Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Rachel Driscoll and translated by Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira. Old Huhu in English (from the author of the loved Kiss, Kiss, Yuck, Yuck), this book picked up the Supreme Award at the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards earlier this year.

Te Tohu Nga Kete e toru (for mo te waihanga Pukapuka Paki (fiction)): Hewa, Darryn Joseph.

The Twin by Dutch writer Gerbrand Bakker has won the largest prize for a novel, over 155 other entered titles nominated by 163 public libraries from 43 countries. The prize of €25,000 will be shared between the author and the novel’s translator, David Colmer.

It is the story of Helmer who lives on a remote farm in the flat expanses of the Dutch Platteland with his elderly father, caring for a small flock of sheep and his two beloved donkeys. It is a life he did not wish for, having been forced to return home following the death of his twin brother many years before. He decides he needs a change, but is not really prepared for the changes forced upon him.

Gerbrand Bakker worked as a subtitle writer for nature films before becoming a gardener. The Twin is his debut novel and will shortly be made into a film.

The complete list of nominated titles, synopses, and author information can be found on the IMPAC Dublin Award website

Sources: IMPAC Dublin Award website.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver has been awarded the 15^th Orange Prize for Fiction by a woman writing in English, regardless of nationality, age or subject matter. The Lucana is Barbara Kingsolver’s 9^th novel, and is set in Mexico in the 1950’s McCarthy era,  America. This is a story of loyalty, identity and how the power of false accusation can destroy innocent people.

Born in America in 1955, Kingsolver earned a Master’s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology, and began her career as a science writer. Her first novel Animal dreams was published in 1990, and since her second novel Pigs in heaven was published in 1993, all her work has been on the New York Times Bestseller lists. Social justice, feminism and environmentalism are the main themes of her of fiction; she has published collections of essays and several works of non-fiction. In 2000 she was awarded the National Humanities medal by American President Bill Clinton.

Sources: BBC News, Wikipedia

The shortlist for the Orange Prize 2010 has recently been announced.  From a long list of twenty titles that included Eleanor Catton’s The Rehearsal and The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, six novels were selected. Two are by English writers, The Very Thought of You a debut novel by Rosie Alison, and Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle is by Monique Roffey, who was born in Trinidad, but now lives in the United Kingdom.

The other three novels selected are all by American writers, The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, Black Water Rising a debut novel by Attica Locke and A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore. The winner will be announced on 9^th June, 2010. More details on this year’s prize, previous prize winners and nominated writers, author biographies and novel synopsis can be found at orangeprize.co.uk

Sources: The Independent, London Evening Standard.

Albert Wendt, with his novel The Adventures of Vela, has won the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for the Asia Pacific Region. Published by Huia Publishers the novel now goes to the final phase of judging to decide the overall Best Book and Best First Novel from all Commonwealth regions that include Africa, Caribbean, Canada, South Asia and Europe. The Winner will be announced in Delhi on 12 April 2010.

Albert Wendt has written numerous novels, volumes of poetry, edited many anthologies of South Pacific writing, and his first full length play met with much acclaim. Two of his novels have been made into feature films. These were Sons for the Return Home and Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree. At present he is Emeritus Professor at the University of Auckland.

Sources: Booksellers Association, Huia Publishers.

The Rehearsal by New Zealand writer Eleanor Catton has been selected for the Orange Prize for Fiction long list along with nineteen other novels chosen from 129 nominations. The long list  includes some well known writers, such as Hilary Mantel with Wolf Hall, last year’s Man Booker Prize winning novel, Andrea Levy, who is a past Orange Prize winner, with The Long Song, and Sarah Walters with The Little Stranger, who was a guest speaker during the recent Writers and Readers week . There are 7 debut novels on the long list, including The Rehearsal. The short list will be announced on 20^th April and the winner, who will receive £30,000, on 9^th June 2010.

The complete Orange Prize long list can be found on the Guardian UK website

Sources: Guardian UK, Independent UK

Today, in the first of the major entertainment award ceremonies of 2010, the ever popular Mad Men won best drama TV series and the 2009 hit, Glee, won best comedy series.  James Cameron’s Avatar - partially made in Wellington – and The Hangover were the winners in the Best Film categories, with Cameron winning best director.

In the TV series (Drama) category,  Dexter wasn’t entirely shut out of the awards with Michael C Hall and John Lithgow (series 4 villain) winning best actor and best supporting actor respectively. Meanwhile, The Good Wife’s Juliana Marguiles won the best actress (drama) category and Big Love’s  Chloe Sevigny was thrilled to win best supporting actress – though annoyed that her dress had been stood on by the stage chaperone.

Comedy series favourite 30Rock won best supporting actor for Alec Baldwin who sadly couldn’t attend – meanwhile his colleague Tina Fey lost out to Toni Collette who won best actress for The United States of Tara.

Rounding out the main award winners, with an amazing retrospective of his work, was  Martin Scorsese – winner of the Cecil B. De Mille award.

Keen for more details?  Full details of the winners can be found on the Entertainment Weekly website.