BooksMarch 6, 2018

Diana, Brannavan, and the others: announcing the 2018 Ockham national book awards shortlist

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We reveal the shortlist of this year’s national book awards.

Magazine writer Diana Wichtel, Wellington novelist Brannavan Gnanalingam and some other authors have made it onto the shortlist of the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

The Spinoff Review of Books names these two authors straight off the bat and ahead of everyone else because we rate their books as the two very best titles published in New Zealand last year. Wichtel’s family memoir Driving to Treblinka was named the best book of 2017 at the Spinoff in December; and Gnanalingam’s refugee story Sodden Downstream is our pick to win the fiction award, which comes with a handsome $50,000 prize. Winners of the other categories pick up $10,000.

Some ado to follow. Right now, here’s the shortlist. Note the sensitive graphic which features a great big X marking the six books on the longlist which didn’t make the cut.

Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize

The New Animals by Pip Adam (Victoria University Press)
Salt Picnic by Patrick Evans (Victoria University Press)
Sodden Downstream by Brannavan Gnanalingam (Lawrence & Gibson)
Baby by Annaleese Jochems (Victoria University Press)

Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non Fiction

Dancing with the King: The Rise and Fall of the King Country, 1864-1885 by Michael Belgrave (Auckland University Press)
Tears of Rangi: Experiments Across Worlds by Anne Salmond (Auckland University Press)
Drawn Out: A Seriously Funny Memoir by Tom Scott (Allen & Unwin)
Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father by Diana Wichtel (Awa Press)

Poetry Award

Anchor Stone by Tony Beyer (Cold Hub Press)
Night Horse by Elizabeth Smither (Auckland University Press)
Rāwāhi by Briar Wood (Anahera Press)
The Yield by Sue Wootton (Otago University Press)

Illustrated Non-Fiction Award

Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds by Alison Jones and Kuni Kaa Jenkins (Bridget Williams Books)
Tōtara: A Natural and Cultural History by Philip Simpson (Auckland University Press)
Gordon Walters: New Vision by Zara Stanhope (commissioning editor), Lucy Hammonds, Laurence Simmons, Julia Waite (Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Dunedin Public Art Gallery)
The Face of Nature: An Environmental History of the Otago Peninsula by Jonathan West (Otago University Press)

And so to the some ado. The Spinoff Review of Books wishes to express four mild remarks about the judges.

First, we are of the firm conviction that the judges of the illustrated non-fiction award (Barbara Brookes, Matariki Williams, Kim Paton) are out of their goddamn minds for failing to include Good-bye Maoriland, the sumptuous, cleverly illustrated book about New Zealand music in World War I, by Chris Bourke. This omission is baffling. Still, congratulations to all four finalists; our tip to win is Totara, by Golden Bay tree man Phil Simpson.

Second, we humbly submit that the judges of the poetry award (Alison Wong, Robert Sullivan, Michael Harlow) ought to be deported for failing to include Tightrope by Selina Tusitala Marsh, who is only the poet laureate, who is only top of the bill at the opening night of the 2018 New Zealand Festival’s Writers and Readers programme, and who is only the author of the most exciting collection of verse published in New Zealand last year. This omission is downright stupid. Still, congratulations to all four finalists; our tip to win is Night Horse, by she of the glittering, chilling image, New Plymouth writer Elizabeth Smither.

Third, we recommend that the judges of the non-fiction award (Ella Henry, Toby Manhire, Philip King) take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror for failing to include A Strange Beautiful Excitement: Katherine Mansfield’s Wellington by Redmer Yska. Did they really need to favour the latest bunch of old footnotes by Dame Anne Salmond, one of New Zealand’s most unreadable authors, at the expense of Yska’s original and exciting psychogeography? This omission is a black mark on their judging. Still, congratulations to three finalists; our tip to win is of course Driving to Treblinka by Diana Wichtel.

Generations of Listener readers have regarded Wichtel as one of the best writers in New Zealand. Her profiles and television reviews are always funny, always closely observed, always beautifully composed. The mystery these past 20, 30 years was why she didn’t write a book. Maybe she was lazy. Finally, though, she produced Driving to Treblinka, a profound meditation on grief, which also allows for dark comedy and an expert journalist’s ear for a good quote. It’s a magnificent book of non-fiction and as such it raises an important question that we wish to put to the wallahs who run the Ockham national book awards: how come the big loot goes to fiction? Why does the best novel get $50,000? Shouldn’t the best book of any stripe get that much? Acorn, as the generous sponsors, stump up the cash; do they have to give it to fiction? One of the great literary advances of the past few years has been that genre known as creative non-fiction, or long-form. It was quite plain that the best book published in New Zealand in 2016 was Can You Tolerate This?, the essay collection by Ashleigh Young; and surely Driving to Treblinka achieved more with language and story-telling than any other book published in New Zealand in 2017. O wallahs who run the Ockham New Zealand book awards! Time for a word in the Acorn ear; time for a change. PS: we also request that the Ockhams reinstate two categories which were staples of national book awards in the past – best reviewer, and best review section.

Our fourth and final remark on the matter of what to do with the Ockham judging panel is that we say unto the judges of the fiction award (Jenna Todd, Philip Matthews, Anna Smaill): huzzah! They all ought to be taken on a limousine ride to a fancy restaurant and given presents, perhaps also a cake. Their shortlist is the immaculate selection. We have carped on about the omissions of other judges; with fiction, the main point of interest is not what’s missing but for one book in particular that they’ve included – Sodden Downstream by Brannavan Gnanalingam. Judges in years past would more likely have been too fucking chicken to include this raw, energetic, sometimes artless story about a Sri Lankan cleaning woman’s desperate attempt to get from the Hutt Valley to downtown Wellington on the night of a storm. It’s not the sort of thing that Victoria University Press would publish. Reviews were rare. (The Spinoff didn’t review it.) But it’s a wonderfully imaginative portrait of a New Zealand underclass, and makes for a fast, mesmerising read. We hope it wins.

The awards ceremony is on May 15. The Spinoff Review of Books will report live, undercover, avoiding most of the judges, banging on the tabletop in support of Gnanalingam, Simpson, Smither, and, above all, the best of the bunch, Wichtel.

Sodden Downstream by Brannavan Gnanalingam (Lawrence & Gibson, $29), Tōtara: A Natural and Cultural History by Philip Simpson (Auckland University Press, $75), Night Horse by Elizabeth Smither (Auckland University Press, $24.99) and Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father by Diana Wichtel (Awa Press, $45) are available at Unity Books.

Keep going!

BooksMarch 5, 2018

Joy, despair, shock, Wellington: a red-hot week ahead for writing in New Zealand

Steve Braunias

Books Editor

Spinoff literary editor Steve Braunias previews two big events – tomorrow’s announcement of the Ockham national book awards shortlist, and this weekend’s Writers and Readers programme at the New Zealand Festival in Wellington.

Most weeks go by in the New Zealand literary scene without comment, without incident, without joy and triumph and alcoholic depravity. But this week has it all and then some – you’ll find the Spinoff Review of Books at the bar.

The embargo for the shortlist for the 2018 Ockham national book awards is lifted tomorrow at 5am. On the very stroke of five, the Spinoff will be first to break the news with a full list and immediate commentary. Publishers, authors – set the alarm. And then be prepared to be alarmed. We have already seen the shortlist of course and much of it’s entirely to be expected, fair, reasonable, predictable; and some of it’s daring, baffling, quite wonderful, and downright stupid.

The longlist was announced last November. Each category – fiction, non-fiction, illustrated non-fiction, and poetry – listed 10 books. The shortlist takes out an axe, and chops that number down to four. Who has been abandoned, who has been saved?

Like last year, the most interesting category is non-fiction; it’s here that the most creative and assured books were published in New Zealand in 2017, with longlisted titles such as Tears of Rangi: Experiments Across Worlds by Anne Salmond, Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father by Diana Wichtel, and A Strange Beautiful Excitement: Katherine Mansfield’s Wellington by Redmer Yska. Who has been abandoned, who has been saved?

It was a quiet year for fiction. Nothing major, nothing earth-shattering. The longlist rather stinks of literature and the classroom, with five novels published by Victoria University Press; you can just about smell the felt-tip ink moving over the whiteboards at the Damien Wilkins School of Approved Literature, aka the International Institute of Modern Letters, which has one foot in the VUP door as well as a sticky hand on the doorknob. But they can’t all squeeze into the Ockham shortlist. Who has been abandoned, who has been saved?

We will remark right now that an especially sumptuous and cleverly illustrated book has been abandoned in the illustrated non-fiction category. Well, one of the judges is Barbara Brookes, whose A History of New Zealand Women won the 2017 award – despite the fact that it looked like a dog.

We will further remark that an outstanding book of verse by a major new poet has been abandoned in the poetry category. Well, judges Robert Sullivan, Alison Wong and Michael Harlow have already revealed themselves as dumb-ass punks for their inexplicable decision to overlook Bill Manhire’s collection Some Things to Place in a Coffin. Ten books of verse, and no room for something that obviously good? Jesus wept. We got in touch with the publishers of three books which made the longlist, and asked them to submit a few poems for our weekly Friday Poem slot. None were accepted. They were all junk.

Anyway! Tune in at 5am for the full list, along with analysis, dissection, celebration, damnation, and the Spinoff’s prediction of which books will win their category at the Ockham awards night on May 15.

The second big deal of the New Zealand literary week takes place in Wellington. Without further ado, we wish to remark that the 2018 Writers and Readers programme of the New Zealand Festival is quite possibly the most original and inventive literary festival ever staged in this country. Certainly it places programme director Mark Cubey alongside Claire Mabey (Lit Crawl), Naomi Arnold (Nelson), and Rachael King (Christchurch) in the front-rank of New Zealand’s literary festival masterminds.

Cubey has gone for a lot of genre authors from around the world, working in fields such as fantasy, comics, spoken-word, and speculative fiction. It’s a fresh and exciting approach, and will likely attract audiences who would otherwise never go anywhere near something as deeply boring as a literary festival.

Two of the authors appearing next weekend are interviewed this week at The Spinoff: Charlie Jane Anders, and Charlotte Wood. A third guest, Patricia Lockwood, is profiled with typical flair and wit by Diana Wichtel in the latest Listener.

Other writers appearing at the festival include Teju Cole (Jesus, when is that blabbermouth not at a literary festival in New Zealand?), Corey Doctorow, Lloyd Jones, Hera Lindsay Bird and poet laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh. Kim Hill will be there. Toby Manhire will be there. Emma Espiner and Morgan Godfrey will be there. Lloyd Geering, who turned 100 last week, will be there. The Spinoff Review of Books will be there and may well be the last to leave; and if you live in Wellington, you should be there.

Steve Braunias chairs true-crime author Kelly Dennett at the New Zealand Festival on Saturday, March 10, at 10am, and chairs novelist CK Stead later that same day at 5:45pm; he will also appear alongside photographer Peter Black in a session on Friday, March 9, at 1:15pm.

The Spinoff Review of Books is proudly brought to you by Unity Books.