Biography of NZ author tops Montana book awards

Michael King is the winner of two major prizes in the annual Montana Book Awards. Mr King won the Montana Medal for Wrestling with the Angel, a biography of Janet Frame. He also won the coveted Readers' Choice Award.

"Wrestling with the Angel is a book worth waiting for: richly researched and told with assurance and skill," said Sharon Crosbie, convenor of judges.

"It adds significantly to our knowledge and understanding of New Zealand's greatest novelist."

Lloyd Jones was named winner of the Deutz Medal for his novel The Book of Fame.

"The Book of Fame manages so much with deft skill: social commentary, historical perspective, sporting insight, a finely calibrated poetic reach for what is almost elusive. On any scale of originality this novel is in a class of its own."

The awards were announced last evening in Napier.

"The 2001 shortlist represents a collection of writing that would hold its own anywhere in the world - it's formidable," said Sharon Crosbie, the convenor of judges.

The judges opted for equal winners in the History and Biography categories - "an acknowledgment of the excellence of both books".

"It's been particularly exciting to see that fifty books were entered by first time authors, a sure sign that our literature is in a very healthy state of growth. Our writers have the courage to ask some tough questions and confront the answers, explore new ideas and commit them to the printed page."

MONTANA MEDAL FOR NON-FICTION

Michael King Wrestling with the Angel: A Life of Janet Frame (Viking)

DEUTZ MEDAL FOR FICTION

Lloyd Jones The Book of Fame (Penguin Books)

Runners-up Charlotte Randall The Curative (Penguin Books)

Damien Wilkins Nineteen Widows Under Ash (Victoria University Press)

NON-FICTION CATEGORY AWARDS

Lifestyle

Julie Biuso, Ian Batchelor (photographer) Fresh (New Holland Publishers)

Poetry

Allen Curnow The Bells of Saint Babel's (Auckland University Press)

History & Biography Equal Winners

Te Miringa Hohaia, Gregory O'Brien, Lara Strongman (editors) Parihaka:The Art of Passive Resistance (City Gallery Wellington, the Trustees of Parihaka Pa, Victoria University Press)

Michael King Wrestling with the Angel:A Life of Janet Frame (Viking)

Environment

Philip Simpson Dancing Leaves:The story of New Zealand's cabbage tree, ti kouka (Canterbury University Press)

Illustrative Arts

Ian Wedde (general editor) Ralph Hotere: Black Light (Te Papa Press, Dunedin Public Art Gallery)

READERS' CHOICE AWARD

Michael King Wrestling with the Angel:A Life of Janet Frame (Viking)

NEW ZEALAND SOCIETY OF AUTHORS BEST FIRST BOOK AWARDS

Hubert Church Best First Book for Fiction

Karyn Hay Emerald Budgies (Vintage)

Jessie Mackay Best First Book for Poetry

Stephanie de Montalk Animals Indoors (Victoria University Press)

E.H. McCormick Best First Book for Non-Fiction

Paul Tapsell Pukaki: A Comet Returns (Reed Publishing)

MONTANA NEW ZEALAND BEST REVIEW PAGE AWARD

Winner - Evening Post

Highly Commended - Landfall

MONTANA NEW ZEALAND REVIEWER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Winner - David Eggleton
Highly Commended - Chris Bourke

A.W. REED LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Dame Fiona Kidman