Janet Frame published her first novel Owls Do Cry which was greeted with critical acclaim and has become one of the essential elements of the New Zealand literary canon.
"Ground-breaking when it first appeared, it still speaks powerfully about a specific time, a specific cultural experience that doubtless resonates with many New Zealanders today," wrote Jan Cronin in a Herald review of the 50th anniversary edition in 2007.
"Owls Do Cry is largely responsible for the popular conception of Frame's work as concerned with the plight of the artistic individual in a small-minded society.
"It tells the story of the Withers children and the treasure they find in imagination.
"This treasure initially safeguards, but ultimately fails to protect, them from the ravages of time, convention and social mores."
