A collection of connected short stories earned Auckland writer Charlotte Grimshaw the supreme fiction award at last night's Montana New Zealand Book Awards in Wellington.
Grimshaw won the fiction category for her collection Opportunity, and later took the overall Montana award for fiction or poetry.
It was astellar night for Grimshaw, the daughter of author C.K. Stead, as she also won the Book Publishers Association of New Zealand award for reviewer of the year for her reviews in theListener magazine.
Grimshaw, who is holidaying in Britain, said she was thrilled with the awards and at how well Opportunity had been received.
She said she had finished another story collection, using a number of the characters from Opportunity, and was now working on a novel.
Grimshaw beat three other fiction finalists - Mary McCallum for The Blue, Laurence Fearnley for Edwin and Matilda, and Alice Tawhai for Luminous. Janet Hunt won the non-fiction award for Wetlands of New Zealand -- A Bitter-Sweet Story.
OTHER MONTANA WINNERS
* Cold Snack by Janet Charman.
* The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor by Judy Siers.
* Te Tau Ihu O Te Waka Volume II: Te Ara Hou -- The New Society by Hilary and John Mitchell.
* Nest of Singing Birds: 100 years of the New Zealand School Journal by Gregory O'Brien.
* Mau Moko: The World of Maori Tattoo by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku with Linda Waimarie Nikora, Mohi Rua and Rolinda Karapu.
* Bill Hammond: Jingle Jangle Morning by Jennifer Hay, with Ron Brownson, Chris Knox and Laurence Aberhart, designed by Aaron Beehre.
* Te Tu a Te Toka: He Ieretanga no nga Tai e Wha, a short story collection edited by Piripi Walker and Huriana Raven.
* The Blue by Mary McCallum.
* Incognito by Jessica Le Bas.
* The Great Sacred Forest of Tane - Te Wao Tapu Nui a Tane: A Natural Pre-History of Aotearoa New Zealand by Alan Clarke.
