Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Year of the Shark



The Year of the Shanghai Shark by New Zealand's Mo Zhi Hong has taken the regional Best First Book prize for South East Asia and the South Pacific (one of four regional areas) at the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2009 announcement in London.

Congratulations! And good luck for the final!

Mo Zhi Hong will go on to compete for overall Best First Book - and this prize will be announced at a May 16 function at the Aotea centre, during the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival.


As a finalist for a major category in the Commonwealth Writers Prize, Mo Zhi Hong is treading in the venerable footprints of Lloyd Jones, who won the overall Best Book two years ago in 2007 for Mr Pip.

And of course The Carpathians by Janet Frame also won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for overall Best Book twenty years ago in 1989.

FYI here below is a selection of English language editions of the 1989 winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book:



George Braziller USA/Canada 1988 hardback

George Braziller USA/Canada trade paperback 1988

Routledge USA paperback 1989

George Braziller USA/Canada paperback 1993

Vintage (Random House NZ) flexibind 2005

Vintage (Random Century NZ) paperback 1992



Century Hutchinson 1988 hardcover (NZ, UK, Australia, South Africa)

Bloomsbury Publishing UK hardcover (1988)


Pandora UK/Commonwealth paperback 1989

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