A first time-author is up against two of New Zealand's most acclaimed writers as finalists in the inaugural New Zealand Post Book Awards.
Alison Wong's As the Earth Turns Silver was short listed for the fiction category, along with award-winning authors Fiona Farrell and Owen Marshall.
Judge Stephen Stratford said it was a struggle to narrow the field to three authors.
"It was always going to be a challenge, but we agree that each of these three finalist books is convincing, compelling, superbly crafted and contributes distinctively to New Zealand's literature", he said.
Thirteen other authors were nominated for their poetry, general non-fiction or illustrated non-fiction work.
Mr Stratford said the number of finalists in the awards, formerly the Montana Book Awards, had been reduced from 26, ensuring readers were getting "the cream of New Zealand publishing's crop".
The outstanding category this year was illustrated nonfiction, he said.
"The standard was very high, each finalist is not only a beautiful object but is also a showcase of the book designer's art, with typography that enhances the text, page layouts that let the images have maximum impact, and superlative reproduction values."
The winners will be announced at a gala dinner in Auckland on August 27.
Also announced today were the winners of the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) Best First Book Award.
Wellington writer Anna Taylor won the fiction category for her book Relief.
Mr Stratford said Taylor's work was a "powerful collection that has at least one memorable image or sentence on every page".
"No pressure, but we expect a glittering career," he said.
Selina Tusitala March of Waiheke Island won the poetry category for her collection Fast Talking Pl and Pip Desmond, a Wellington freelance writer, won the non-fiction award for her book Trust: A True Story of Women & Gangs.
Each NZSA Best First Book Awards category winner received $2500.
2010 New Zealand Post Book Awards finalists:
Fiction
- As the Earth Turns Silver by Alison Wong
- Limestone by Fiona Farrell
- Living as a Moon by Owen Marshall
Poetry
- Just This by Brian Turner
- The Lustre Jug by Bernadette Hall
- The Tram Conductor's Blue Cap by Michael Harlow
General Non-Fiction
- Aphrodite's Island by Anne Salmond
- Beyond the Battlefield: New Zealand and its Allies, 1939-1945 by Gerald Hensley
- Cone Ten Down: Studio pottery in New Zealand, 1945-1980 by Moyra Elliott and Damian Skinner
- Encircled Lands: Te Urewera, 1820-1921 by Judith Binney
- The Invention of New Zealand Art & National Identity, 1930-1970 by Francis Pound
Illustrated Non-Fiction
- Art at Te Papa edited by William McAloon
- Go Fish: Recipes and stories from the New Zealand Coast by Al Brown
- Maori Architecture: From fale to wharenui and beyond by Deidre Brown
- Marti Friedlander by Leonard Bell
- Mrkusich: The Art of Transformation by Alan Wright and Edward Hanfling
