“Oh crap, you guys. We forgot New Zealand!”

And, lo, they will now ship the new Kindle to New Zealand (on August 27th). 3G and Wifi. Remember when this news might have been exciting?

Photo from Engadget.com

Vanda Symon has a nice review of North Pole South Pole by Gillian Turner – sounds like a great non-fiction read.

The Well Read Kitty has another review up for The Nile – and this sounds like an amazing read.

The Vicbooks blog has a great post about the news that Hodder want to update Enid Blyton. And why did I not know about the Vicbooks website – it’s fantastic, people!

So, the 2010 Man Booker Prize longlist of 13 titles has been announced and the … nominees… are (dundahdahDAH!):

Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in America (Faber and Faber)

Emma Donoghue Room (Pan MacMillan – Picador)

Helen Dunmore The Betrayal (Penguin – Fig Tree)

Damon Galgut In a Strange Room (Grove Atlantic – Atlantic Books)

Howard Jacobson The Finkler Question (Bloomsbury)

Andrea Levy The Long Song
(Headline Publishing Group – Headline Review)

Tom McCarthy C (Random House – Jonathan Cape)

David Mitchell The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet  (Hodder & Stoughton – Sceptre)

Lisa Moore February (Random House – Chatto & Windus)

Paul Murray Skippy Dies (Penguin – Hamish Hamilton)

Rose Tremain Trespass (Random House – Chatto & Windus)

Christos Tsiolkas The Slap (Grove Atlantic – Tuskar Rock)

Alan Warner The Stars in the Bright Sky
(Random House – Jonathan Cape)

Oh my! I haven’t read any of these! And I call myself a book reviewer … PAH! Though, in my saving grace, I do have a copy of the book that should win and yes I’m saying that even though I haven’t read it yet, but come on y’all it’s David Mitchell and that man is a fricken genius writer and one of the best of our time, and I have no problems stating that categorically, at all.

Inhale.

I have been holding off on reading The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet because I know it’s going to be brilliant and once you’ve read it… you’ve read it. You can’t ever read it for the first time again. Ever! And I’m waiting for just the right moment when I can sink into it and splash around like a duckling in a rain puddle on a summer’s day.

Plus the cover of the edition I have – she is gorgeous. I have reproduced it below in all it’s colour glory, but, oh! I cannot reproduce the way it feels, the slight gloss on the blue, the smell, the anticipation! I love this book like it’s an actual living, breathing thing… and that’s before I’ve read it. (Get that, e-book pushers? Yeah, you heard me.)

Something about these really appeals to me. I think this is an amazing project – I love that technology can be used to reach people and that we can change our way of thinking about “obsolescence”.

ENTRIES OPEN 1ST DAY OF SPRING (1ST OF SEPTEMBER) AND CLOSE ON CHRISTMAS EVE

Proudly supported by: Astra Print, the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival, Federation Media & Ngatarawa Winery

You might ask, why?
And we might answer:

‘This competition is designed to get people excited, to encourage new fingers to bang different keys: this is for the small, the strange, the beautiful, the bountiful and above all, the best.’
—Lily Richards, Brand Manager for Unity Books Auckland

‘We want to eliminate boring “competition stories” and challenge writers to work in the territories that produce so much of the best contemporary fiction, by writers like Lydia Davis or Alice Munro.’
— Fergus Barrowman, Editor and Publisher of SPORT

//

WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT THE 2011 AUCKLAND WRITERS AND READERS FESTIVAL
WHERE WE CAN ALL CELEBRATE WITH A NICE GLASS OF NGATARAWA WINE…Mmmmmm.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO ENTER (FROM 1ST SEPTEMBER)

Unity Books<http://www.unitybooks.co.nz/>

Click the thumbnail below for the full press release!

He added, with a laugh: “Or maybe it was no good, there was always that possibility.”

Yes, Mr McEwan there is always that possibility.

Okay, so maybe I should have called this Today’s narrow world of Snark…

Entries Open for New Zealand’s Leading Short Story Awards

Etched into the New Zealand literary calendar, the Sunday Star-Times Short Story Awards have showcased some of New Zealand’s leading writers including Linda Olsson, Sarah Quigley, Norman Bilbrough, Andre Ngapo and Sarah Laing.

The 2010 awards welcome a new literary judging panel including award-winning authors Joy Cowley (Hunter, Mrs Wishy Washy, Snake & Lizard) and Charlotte Grimshaw (Singularity, Opportunity, Provocation) who will be selecting ten finalists from the entries.

The four categories include the Open Division (judged by Charlotte Grimshaw), Secondary School Division (judged by Joy Cowley), Best Unpublished Writer and the popular People’s Choice Awards.

The People’s Choice Award allows the public to read excerpts of the ten finalists’ stories and vote for their favourite short story online.  The winner of this category is decided entirely by public vote and wins $750 cash, publication of their story in Sunday Star-Times and $250 worth of books from Random House.

Entries to the 2010 awards close 27 August 2010 with winners announced at an awards ceremony on 28 October 2010. 

The Awards were launched in 1984 with a vision to recognise and encourage the talent of aspiring New Zealand writers and are now in their 26^th year. 

Last year, over 1400 entries to the awards were received.  The supreme award for the Open Division went to Waimate writer Sue Francis for ‘The Concentrators’, a small town New Zealand story about an unlikely friendship between two young women who meet every Friday night over a game of tennis.

For more information about the 2010 awards visit www.shortstory.co.nz

 Editors Notes:

Open Division

1st prize: $5000 cash, story published in the Sunday Star-Times and $500 worth of books from Random House

2nd prize: $2000 cash, story published in the Sunday Star-Times and $300 worth of books from Random House

3rd prize: $1000 cash, story published in the Sunday Star-Times and $200 worth of books from Random House

 
Secondary School Division

1st prize: $1000 cash, story published in the Sunday Star-Times, work experience day at Random House (day immediately after awards ceremony) PLUS $500 worth of Random House books and a $500 Whitcoulls gift card for the finalist’s school.

2nd prize: $500 cash, story published in the Sunday Star-Times PLUS $300 worth of Random House books and a $300 Whitcoulls gift card for the finalist’s school

3rd prize: $250 cash, story published in the Sunday Star-Times PLUS $200 worth of Random House books and a $200 Whitcoulls gift card for the finalist’s school.

BEST UNPUBLISHED WRITER

A Random House experience with key members of the company, including time with fiction publisher Harriet Allan and $200 worth of books from Random House.

PEOPLES’ CHOICE AWARD

$750 cash, story published in Sunday Star-Times and $250 worth of books from Random House.

The shortlist for the 2010 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing has been announced! And it includes two New Zealand authors – Jane Higgins and Philippa Werry. Congratulations and best luck to them!

And a recommendation – Stella Matutina - an awesome book blog by Memory, who has recently moved to Auckland to live for a year. Not only do you get great book reviews but her pleasure at living in Auckland and her enthusiastic descriptions of the joys of our fair city are enough to bring a tear to the eye of the most hardened Auckland heart.

If you think I’ve left you off the list (woops, sorry) or you don’t want to be on the list (woops again) or you think I’ve put you in the wrong group (hey, I’m human you know) then please feel free to speak up! This is a totally moveable feast, as they say.

Publishing
@Auckland_UP
@FergusVUP
@VUPBooks 
@RHNZ
@HarperNZ
@phantom_house
@PearsonNZ
@penguinbooksnz
@nztaylor 

Writers
@EmilyJPerkins
@ElizabethKnoxNZ
@writehandedgirl
@rachaelking70
@discorobot
@EyelashYoung
@CherylBernstein
@chrisjtse
@hamish_keith
@modernletters
@TinaMakereti
@PipAdam
@hinemoana
@Aybrow
@Lee_Pletzers
@HelenRickerby
@NaliniSingh
@Helen__Heath
@FakeChadTaylor
@zenpeacekeeper
@timjonesbooks
@PCLittle
@AliceandRachel
@wendylnissen
@BrownSpeak
@NigelLatta
@kiwiwriters
@nickypellegrino
@impossiblecat
@rgoodchild
@samelworthy
@Artandmylife
@pjkmorris
@paul_shannon
@lytteltonian
@Craig_Cliff
@harrismint
@anna_caro_nz
@AdrienneRewi
@marydanae
@Vampyr14
@ChrisBellNZ
@MareeAnderson
@amandaashby
@sarahantz
@lemonemma
@harvestbird
@ehjc
@southernkbelz
@rabarts
@lynnejamneck
@rippatton
@gearsgeary
@peajayar
@FifiColston
@traviscottreau
@PhilippaJane
@catconnor
@jenlongshaw
@WieldingWords (also editing and proofreading)
@WritersBlockNZ
@gracebridges
@DavidSlack

Blogging and writing about books
@Jaffa12
@the1blacksheep
@catatonichic  
@BeTheChangeBook
@ScoopBooks
@xicanti
@CatherineHaines
@nzdodo
@justaddbooks
@GuySomerset
@BookmanBeattie
@wellreadkitty
@bookTVnz
@BookieMonsterNZ – yep, that’s me.

Festivals/prizes/organisations
@BooksellersNZ
@lianzaoffice
@nzbookcouncil
@AklWritersFest
@NZBookMonth

Booksellers
@PageBlackmore
@BookaholicsNZ
@timeoutbooksnz
@MK1comics  
@paperplusnz
@womensbookshop
@UnityBooks

Libraries
@tararualibrary
@Kingshighlib
@chblibraries
@wcl_library
@rodneylibraries
@kebabette
@Manukau_Libs 
@NLNZ
@Massey_Uni_Lib
@Auckland_Libs
@kapiti_lib
@HDLibraries
@summerlandlibra
@citylibrary
@mtroskillib
@invlibrary
@UHLibrary
@OtagoLibrary
@rnzfblibrary
@dnlibraries
@LincolnULibrary
@lilac_library
@nzetc

Phew. There’s a lot of you, isn’t there?