Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Literature
In 2013 New Zealanders rejoiced when 28-year-old Eleanor Catton became only the
second NZ writer to win the Man Booker Prize, one of the world's most prestigious awards
for literature. Lloyd Jones had come close in 2007 when his novel
Mister Pip
was shortlis-
ted, but it had been a long wait between drinks since Keri Hulme took the prize in 1985. In-
terestingly, both Catton's epic historical novel
The Luminaries
and Hulme's haunting
The
Bone People
were set on the numinous West Coast of the South Island - both books captur-
ing something of the raw and mysterious essence of the landscape.
Catton and Hulme continue in a proud line of NZ women writers, starting in the early
20th century with Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield's work began a Kiwi tradition in short
fiction, and for years the standard was carried by novelist Janet Frame, whose dramatic life
was depicted in Jane Campion's film of her autobiography,
An Angel at My Table
. Frame's
novel
The Carpathians
won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 1989.
Less recognised internationally, Maurice Gee has gained the nation's annual top fiction
gong six times, most recently with
Blindsight
(2005). His much-loved children's novel
Under the Mountain
(1979) was made into a seminal NZ TV series in 1981 and then a ma-
jor motion picture in 2009. In 2004 the adaptation of another of his novels,
In My Father's
Den
(1972), won major awards at international film festivals and is one of the country's
highest-grossing films.
Maurice is an auspicious name for NZ writers, with the late Maurice Shadbolt also
achieving much acclaim for his many novels, particularly those set during the New Zealand
Wars. Try
Season of the Jew
(1987) or
The House of Strife
(1993).
MAORI VOICES IN PRINT
Some of the most interesting and enjoyable NZ fiction voices belong to Maori writers, with Booker winner Keri
Hulme leading the way. Witi Ihimaera's novels give a wonderful insight into small-town Maori life on the East
Coast - especially
Bulibasha
(1994) and
The Whale Rider
(1987), which was made into an acclaimed film. Patricia
Grace's work is similarly filled with exquisitely told stories of rural
marae
-centred life: try
Mutuwhenua
(1978),
Potiki
(1986),
Dogside Story
(2001) or
Tu
(2004).
