Creative Writing students shortlisted for NZ Post Book Awards
Victoria's creative writing students and graduates feature strongly on the shortlist for this year's NZ Post Book Awards.
All four novelists shortlisted for the 2013 NZ Post Book Awards Fiction category have studied creative writing at Victoria, as have two finalists in the Poetry category.
The 2013 Fiction finalists are Gigi Fenster (The Intentions Book), Kirsty Gunn (The Big Music), Anthony McCarton (In the Absence of Heroes), and Emily Perkins (The Forrests).
Sarah Jane Barnett (A Man Runs into a Woman) and Kate Camp (Snow White's Coffin) are among the Poetry finalists.
All six studied creative writing at Victoria; either at the International Institute of Modern Letters or in the English Department's Original Composition course, prior to the IIML's establishment. Emily Perkins co-convenes our MA Programme.
Three finalists, including Sarah Jane Barnett and Gigi Fenster, are first-time authors,which the judges described as 'an amazing achievement.' They also praised the courage and innovation of New Zealand's smaller publishers, such as Victoria University Press and Hue & Cry Press. Barnett's poetry collection was financed through crowd-funding website Pledge Me, with the money needed being raised in 24 hours. Gigi Fenster graduated from the MA in Creative Writing in 2006 and is currently undertaking a PhD in Creative Writing.