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Enjoy Lisa Scott's reviews and blogs: guest blogger for NZBM 2009 as well as past blogs from NZ writers and commentators.
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 THE 2008 SIX PACK
The call for submissions for the 2008 Six Pack officially starts here! Whether you’re published, or someone who has always wanted to write – this competition is open to all. If you think you have what it takes to be one of the new faces of NZ literature, here is your essential information.
Step 1
You’ll need to download the entry form (PDF – 68kb) AND the entry criteria (PDF – 100kb).
Step 2
The deadline is 26 March 2008, just over one week away!
Step 3
Send your entry form, cheque and manuscript to The Six Pack Competition 2008, NZ Book Month, PO Box 60682, Titirangi, Auckland 0604.
Step 4
If you have any questions, you can email michele@nzbookmonth.co.nz
As the tangible products of NZ Book Month, The Six Pack (2006) and The Six Pack Two (2007) were resounding successes. These anthologies of compelling Kiwi writing have been fitting symbols of NZ Book Month’s mission – to bring quality writing to the attention of readers nationwide.
30,000 copies of The Six Pack Two were printed: three complimentary copies going to every school and library in the country as well as to non-profit organisations such as Literacy Aotearoa, the rest sold like hotcakes in over 300 bookstores around the country, spending several months on the national fiction bestsellers list and culminating in a reprint! Its sister publication, the 2006 Six Pack, also returned to the bestseller list showing that these NZ Book Month anthologies are becoming collectible and will stand the test of time. In 2006 it spent 14 weeks on the list and again similarly in 2007.
But the best thing about The Six Packs (both 2006 and 2007) is that the writers – some established such as Elizabeth Smither, Dave Armstrong and Charlotte Grimshaw, emerging writers like Faith Oxenbridge and some brand new, Jennifer Lane and Faith Oxenbridge – found themselves an overnight sensation. Their work, whether written especially for the competition or rescued from a desk drawer, found its way onto bedside tables from Cape Reinga to Bluff. The writers were flown up and down the country, photographed for national magazines, they featured in radio and newspaper interviews, and appeared on television. And they were $5,000 better off!
The entries were judged by a public online poll on the website and a panel of judges including author and literary legend Dame Fiona Kidman, presenter of TV2’s 20/20 programme Miriama Kamo, journalist and media personality Finlay Macdonald, retired director of Auckland University Press Elizabeth Caffin, and Joan Mackenzie, book manager for Whitcoulls.
If you’re one of the 2007 winners, your writing – whether fiction, essay, poetry or non-fiction – will be published and fêted throughout the country, and who knows where it will take you? Our Six Pack Two winners each contributed to a blog through September, officially NZ Book Month. See what they had to say: Dave Armstrong, scriptwriter and Writer in Residence at Victoria University; one of New Zealands most successful and promising writers Charlotte Grimshaw; poet, novelist and former Te Mata Estate Poet Laureate Elizabeth Smither; emerging novelist and poet Tracey Slaughter; and new authors Faith Oxenbridge and Jennifer Lane.
So, what are you waiting for?
It’s your turn. We’d love to hear from you!
Here's what has been said about NZ Book Month…
Miriama Kamo, TV Personality
“The Six Pack is a rare forum in which writers at varying stages of their careers can share a space, and at $6 per book can access a wide audience. NZ Book Month is a wonderful time where we get to honour writers whose work reflects, and helps to shape, our national identity.”
Phil Twyford, Project Director of NZ Book Month
“NZ Book Month’s Six Pack is now an annual feature on the New Zealand writing calendar. It offers a contemporary look at the state of New Zealand writing. Want to know what’s on New Zealand’s mind? – read The Six Pack Two. At only $6 it’s our shout.”
Jill Watson, District Librarian
“On a global scale Kiwis are highly literate and recent surveys show that many of us wouldn’t consider relaxing without a good book. But the library wants more of those books to be ones that have been written by New Zealanders.”
—Ashburton's The Courier, 4 September 2007
Linda Henderson, Booksellers NZ CEO
“It is fantastic to see so many New Zealanders supporting NZBM by buying and reading The Six Pack Two. The books offers everyone the opportunity to sample a selection of great NZ fiction during this celebration of NZ books.”
Denis Welch
“…dream exposure for any writer.”
—NZ Listener, 5 October 2007
Nicky Pellegrino
“...an intro to hot and upcoming Kiwi writers The Six Pack certainly delivers.”
—Herald on Sunday, 30 September 2007
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