Book Award wins for Creative Writing graduates
Helen Heath, Chessie Henry and Tayi Tibble were among the winners of the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
PhD Creative Writing Helen Heath won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry with her second collection, Are Friends Electric? Her debut, Graft, had previously been awarded the Jessie Mackay Best First Book for Poetry Award in 2013.
This year's Jessie Mackay Award went to MA Creative Writing graduate and 2017 Adam Award winner Tayi Tibble for her first poetry collection Poūkahangatus, while fellow MA graduate Chessie Henry won the E.H. McCormick Prize for a best first work of general non-fiction for her memoir We Can Make a Life. All three books were published by Victoria University Press.
The Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize was won by Dame Fiona Kidman for her novel This Mortal Boy. PhD Creative Writing and 2019 IIML Senior Lecturer Kate Duignan was shortlisted for The New Ships.
Congratulations to all the winning and shortlisted writers.