November 14: The release for sale this week of the two prize-winning novels in the Otago Daily Times Centennial Novel Contest is the culmination of a big project marked last night by a special function in the Carlton Lounge of the Grand Hotel.
The winning Christchurch author, Mr Errol Brathwaite ("An Affair of Men"), was guest of honour at the gathering, the initial celebration of this newspaper's centenary. It was attended by many local members of the bookselling trade, librarians and others interested in literature.
Mr E. Allan Aubin, Editor of the Daily Times, said the idea of a Centennial Novel Competition stemmed from a meeting two years and a-half ago, and was in direct line with the literary traditions of the newspaper.
Benjamin Farjeon, first manager of the paper, wrote two novels in his spare time, setting up the type by hand as he worked them out in his head.
Contributors had ranged from John Blair, Dugald Ferguson and Thomas ("Not Understood") Bracken to the Daily Times and the Witness, to the early writings of Janet Frame in the Daily Times in more recent years.
Both Mr Brathwaite's book and that of the second prize-winner, Pat Booth ("Long Night Among the Stars"), would make an important contribution to New Zealand writing, Mr Aubin said.