Winners of Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement announced
Three writers won $60,000 each at the Creative New Zealand managed annual awards last night.
The Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement was awarded to three New Zealand writers Thursday night in Wellington.
The three awards were given to Barbara Else for fiction, Ross Calman for non-fiction and Dinah Hawken for poetry.
Else, from Dunedin has written 13 novels for children and adults as well as short stories, plays and a memoir, including her children’s series Tales of Fontania, the novel The Warrior Queen and historical novel Wild Latitudes.
From left: Barbara Else, Ross Calman and Dinah Hawken.
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Writer, historian, editor, researcher and te reo Māori translator Calman (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa-ki-te-tonga and Kāi Tahu) has written more than a dozen works, including the multiple award-winning book The Treaty of Waitangi.
He is also the editor and translator of He Pukapuka Tātaku i ngā Mahi a Te Rauparaha Nui – A Record of the Life of the Great Te Rauparaha and is a descendant of the Ngāti Toa chief.
Poetry award winner Hawken from Paekākāriki has published ten collections of poetry, four of which were finalists at the New Zealand Book Awards.
She has also collaborated on projects with other artists, including sculptor John Edgar and the New Zealand String Quartet.
Her next work, a book of poems, Peace and Quiet, is set to be published in 2026.
This year, Creative New Zealand says it received 82 nominations for 38 different writers, 15 for fiction, 9 for non-fiction, and 14 for poetry.
The awards, managed by Creative New Zealand, have been presented since 2003.
The winners are decided by the Arts Council following public nominations and recommendations from an external panel of experts and receive $60,000 each.
Kent Gardner, chair of the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa hosted the event, with Minister for Arts, Culture & Heritage Paul Goldsmith presenting the awards on behalf of the Prime Minister.
