October 21, 2014
Book awards expose inspiring research
The coordinator of Massey University's Nga Kupu Ora Aotearoa Maori Book Awards says he's inspired by how positive this year's selection is.
Te Kani Kingi says the awards are a celebration of Maori authors and a chance to expose the books to a wider audience.
There are 16 finalists in the arts, biography and history, fiction, non-fiction, and te reo Maori categories.
Twelve publishers have been shortlisted, including the University of Minnesota, and two of the e-books are self-published.
"The thing that I find most inspiring about the publishers and the authors of the various books that we have reviewed, all Maori authors, but all of them also focusing on some certain aspect of Maori development and they are all very positive books as well, so that is also encouraging in terms of the type of material that they look for that they investigate and the types of issues they discuss," Associate Professor Kingi says.
The four-member judging panel includes three Massey staff: Maori library services manager Sheeanda Field and Te-Putahi-a-Toi lecturers Dr Spencer Lilley and Dr Darryn Joseph; and Alexander Turnbull Library chief librarian Chris Szekely.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH TE KANI KINGI CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MjMzMDg=
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