News from Ockham Book Awards
Whanganui writer Airini Beautrais has won the $57,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for her book
Bug Week – the first person to take out the category for a collection of short stories in more than a decade.
Beautrais is well-known as a poet, but this is her first book of fiction, published by Victoria University Press. She received the prize ahead of acclaimed novelists Catherine Chidgey and Pip Adam, both previous winners, and Brannavan Gnanalingam, shortlisted for the fiction prize in 2018.
The Fiction category’s convenor of judges, Kiran Dass, says
‘Knockout’ short story collection wins country’s richest writing prize Whanganui writer Airini Beautrais has won the $57,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for her book Bug Week – the first person .
Joji Review: Fahadh Faasil Dazzles In Accomplished Shakespeare Spinoff
Joji Review: Fahadh Faasil Dazzles In Accomplished Shakespeare Spinoff
Joji Review: The sinewy structure bestows on Dileesh Pothan s Malayalam film a degree of finesse that enhances its exploration of the banality of greed and self-serving violence.
Joji Review: Fahadh Faasil and others on a poster
New Delhi:
Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Shakespeare is rarely as starkly bare-bones as it is in
Joji, which reworks Macbeth in an admirably original no-frills style. The sinewy structure bestows on Dileesh Pothan s Malayalam film, streaming on Amazon Prime, a degree of finesse that enhances its exploration of the banality of greed and self-serving violence. In a magnificently tempered lead act, Fahadh Faasil augments the heft of the storytelling.
Whanganui writer Airini Beautrais a finalist in Ockham New Zealand Book Awards
3 Mar, 2021 12:00 AM
2 minutes to read
Airini Beautrais reading her poem at Pakaitore in a video from 2018.
Whanganui writer Airini Beautrais is a finalist in New Zealand s most prestigious book awards.
Beautrais first short story collection Bug Week and Other Stories was published in 2020 and made the longlist for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards last month.
Her book is now shortlisted to win the $57,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction.
She is up against two past winners of the fiction award, Catherine Chidgey and Pip Adam, along with previous nominee Brannavan Gnanalingam.
Press Release – Ockham Book Awards
The shortlist for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, released today, is a dazzling reflection of the robust, innovative literature scene of Aotearoa New Zealand, revealing a deeper engagement with our culturally diverse society.
In the Fiction category, two past winners are vying for the same award. Catherine Chidgey and Pip Adam are both contenders for the $57,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, alongside Brannavan Gnanalingam, a previous nominee, and the critically acclaimed story writer Airini Beautrais.
The works on the Fiction shortlist explore the range of human experience, from the ‘wilful blindness’ of Nazi-occupied Germany demonstrated in