Penguin Books New Zealand

1 March, 2013

Dame Anne Salmond, 2013 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year

Penguin Group (NZ) congratulates Dame Anne Salmond on being honoured as the 2013 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.

Salmond is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Auckland and is one of New Zealand’s most prominent anthropologists and historians. Penguin Group (NZ) is proud to have worked with Anne on a series of culturally significant books, including Two Worlds: First Meetings between Maori and Europeans, 1642–1772, Between Worlds: Early Exchanges between Maori and Europeans, 1773–1815,
The Trial of the Cannibal Dog: Captain Cook in the South Seas, Aphrodite’s Island: The European Discovery of Tahiti, and her most recent 2011 publication, Bligh: William Bligh in the South Seas.

Salmond is also a committed environmentalist and has been involved in establishing the Longbush Ecological Trust, for the restoration of The Waikereru Ecosanctuary in Gisborne. The royalties for the New Zealand printing of Bligh: William Bligh in the South Seas have been donated to this charity.

The Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year honours the achievements and contributions of an inspirational Kiwi; someone who has made a major contribution to the nation, given outstanding service to the country, and provided inspiration to New Zealanders through their achievements. Salmond represents these values in every way and this recognition is well deserved.

23 November 2012

A message from Penguin Books and Christine Courtenay

It is with sadness Penguin Books Australia wish to advise that Bryce Courtenay AM passed away peacefully at 11:30pm on Thursday 22 November in Canberra with his wife Christine, his family and his beloved pets Tim, the dog, and Cardamon, the Burmese cat by his side. He was 79.

Christine Courtenay said this morning, “We’d like to thank all of Bryce’s family and friends and all of his fans around the world for their love and support for me and his family as he wrote the final chapter of his extraordinary life. And may we make a request for privacy as we cherish his memory.”

Gabrielle Coyne, Chief Executive Officer, Penguin Group (Australia) said, “It has been our great privilege to be Bryce’s publisher for the past 15 years. We, as well as his many fans will forever miss Bryce’s indomitable spirit, his energy and his commitment to storytelling.”

Bob Sessions, Bryce Courtenay’s long standing Publisher at Penguin said, “Bryce took up writing in his fifties, after a successful career in advertising. His output and his professionalism made him a pleasure to work with, and I’m happy to say he became a good friend, referring to me as ‘Uncle Bob’, even when we were robustly negotiating the next book contract. He was a born storyteller, and I would tell him he was a ‘latter-day Charles Dickens’, with his strong and complex plots, larger-than-life characters, and his ability to appeal to a large number of readers.“

Virtually each year for the last 15 years, I have worked with Bryce on a new novel. He would write a 600 page book in around six months, year in, year out. To achieve that feat he used what he called ‘bum glue’, sometimes writing for more than 12 hours a day. He brought to writing his books the same determination and dedication he showed in the more than 40 marathons he ran, most of them when he was well over 50. Not to have a new Bryce Courtenay novel to work on will leave a hole in my publishing life. Not to have Bryce Courtenay in my life, will be to miss the presence of a very special friend.” The last word belongs to Bryce himself. In a moving epilogue in his final book, Bryce said to readers “It’s been a privilege to write for you and to have you accept me as a storyteller in your lives. Now, as my story draws to an end, may I say only, ‘Thank you. You have been simply wonderful.’

23 NOVEMBER 2012

Greg McGee Awarded Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship for 2013

Penguin Books NZ warmly congratulates Greg McGee on being awarded the prestigious Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship for 2013. 

Greg McGee is an author, biographer and freelance writer who lives in Auckland. McGee’s first novel under his own name, Love and Money, was published by Penguin in March 2012. Love and Money is a stunning social commentary on New Zealand in 1987 as the stock market crashed. McGee’s portrait of the era is rich, funny, bitingly sharp, and disturbingly contemporary.

The Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship is one of New Zealand’s most long-standing and prestigious literary awards. It commemorates the New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield who was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1888 and died in France in 1923. The fellowship allows a New Zealand writer to work at the Villa Isola Bella in Menton, France for a period of six months or more in the year of tenure. The successful applicant is paid a sum which is intended to cover return travel to France and living and accommodation expenses, currently not less than $75,000.

2 SEPTEMBER 2012

Neil Cross Wins Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel

Last night, following the Great New Zealand Crime Debate at the Christchurch Writers Festival, Neil Cross was announced as the 2012 winner of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel with his novel Luther: The Calling.

A popular win amongst his fellow finalists Cross had just returned home from the US where he is currently working on a new TV series.

Judging convenor Craig Sisterson commented, 'It was a tough decision for the international judging panel, given the high quality of the finalists and the wider longlist. New Zealand authors have produced some truly world class crime, mystery, and thriller novels in the past year. Crime writing certainly seems to be experiencing something of a renaissance here, as readers, publishers, critics, and others begin to realise and appreciate the quality crime writers we have on these shores.'

Penguin Books NZ also congratulate our other two finalists, Paul Cleave for Collecting Cooper and Vanda Symon for Bound.

7 AUGUST 2012

Penguin Authors Win LIANZA Children's Book Awards

Penguin Books NZ wish to congratulate David Hair, Moira Wairama and Bruce Potter who took home coveted prizes from the 2012 LIANZA Children’s Book Awards ceremony held in Wellington last night.

David Hair’s novel Pyre of Queens has picked up the LIANZA Young Adult Fiction Award.

Pyre of Queens is book one in the four book The Return of Ravana series.

Writer Moira Wairama and illustrator Bruce Potter’s Ngâ Taniwha i te-Whanga-nui-a-Tara has received the Te Kura Pounamu (te reo Mâori).

2 August 2012

Paula Morris Wins New Zealand Post Book Award

Penguin Books NZ is proud that Paula Morris’s novel Rangatira has won the 2012 Fiction category at New Zealand’s prestigious New Zealand Post Book Awards. The award was announced at a ceremony held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum last night.

Rangatira was released in November 2011 with great success. The novel was a long-awaited and especially personal project for Paula Morris as it is based on the life of her ancestor Ngati Wai chief Paratene Te Manu. Rangatira is an immediate, gripping and accessible read that touches on the interesting and difficult dynamics of New Zealand’s colonial history. Extensively researched, Rangatira follows the true story of Paratene Te Manu on a historic journey, with a party of fourteen northern rangatira or elders, to England to meet Queen Victoria.