Congratulations to Dame Judith Binney, Professor Emeritus of History.
Her book Encircled Lands: Te Urewera, 1820-1921 has been named
2010 Book of the Year
in the New Zealand Post Book Awards.
Encircled Lands also won the General Non-fiction Award.
NZ Post Book Awards judge, Paul Diamond, described the winning work as one that will profoundly change our understanding of our shared history.
‘Encircled Lands is an exhaustive, comprehensive history of Te Rohe Pōtae o Te Urewera, the only autonomous tribal district that was recognised in law. Not only does it fulfil the author’s hopes of revealing an almost unknown history to a new audience, it also deftly illustrates why the history of the Urewera and its people continues to resonate.’
Award for Fiction
Debut novelist, Alison Wong won the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Award for Fiction for her book, As The Earth Turns Silver, ahead of established writers, Fiona Farrell and Owen Marshall.
Award for Poetry
Brian Turner, a leading biographer, essayist, poet and conservationist, was presented with the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Award for Poetry for his collection, Just This.
Award for Illustrated Non-fiction
Co-owner of Wellington’s famed Logan Brown restaurant, celebrity chef and passionate fisherman, Al Brown won the 2010 New Zealand Post Book Award for Illustrated Non-fiction for his book Go Fish: Recipes and stories from the New Zealand Coast.
Go Fish also won this year’s coveted People’s Choice Award as voted by thousands of readers nationwide.
The winners were announced on Friday 27th August at an evening ceremony in Auckland.
All 16 finalists for the New Zealand Post Book Awards and the 3 winners of the NZSA Best First Book Awards are on display in the General Library until September 10, 2010.
Please check the Library Catalogue for additional copies or to place a recall for one of the books on display.