$10k-winning story 'product of Bay winter'

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Hawke's Bay writer Tobias Buck was shocked to learn he'd won the $10,000 Katherine Mansfield prize at this year's BNZ Literary Awards.

Category judge and past Katherine Mansfield Award winner, Charlotte Grimshaw, said Mr Buck's short story, Islands in the Stream, was the most original story in the competition.

The Poukawa-based Mr Buck, who works with his brothers at Te Mata Estate winery, said his story was "the product of a cold Hawke's Bay winter".

"I wanted to write something for a while about the Tukituki River, because I grew up just by it, but I didn't know how to do it."

A visit to Kapiti Island had also contributed to an accumulation of notes, laid out on his floor and shuffled around to create the story, which unfolds in episodic paragraphs.

"I really enjoyed it, but when I sent it away, I just thought, 'that was a nice month or two'."

He soon forgot about the BNZ Literary Awards, and later struggled to believe he'd won the most coveted prize. After receiving a phone call from BNZ, it took a further phone call and an email before he was convinced.

"I wanted to get it in writing."

Mr Buck, who studied English at Victoria University and has worked at Unity Books and Random House, said reading and books had always been an integral part of his life.

"I have a huge amount of books.

"I'm one of those compulsive readers.

"Everybody in my family enjoys reading, a talk over the dinner table about a great bit of writing, and simply swapping authors back and forth."

Established in 1959, the BNZ Literary Awards, formerly the Katherine Mansfield Awards, are the country's longest-running short story awards.

Mr Buck said he was currently in Bordeaux, France, but his father, Te Mata Estate winery chief executive John Buck would accept the award on his behalf.