Kathleen Grattan Award

Christchurch City Libraries lists literary prize winners and links to catalogue searches, but we may not hold copies of all titles mentioned.

The Kathleen Grattan Award is for an original collection of poems or a long poem by a New Zealand or Pacific resident or citizen.

Auckland poet Kathleen Grattan, a journalist and former editor of the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, died in 1990. A member of the Titirangi Poets, her work was published in Landfall and other volumes including Premier Poets, a collection from the World Poetry Society. Her daughter Jocelyn Grattan, who also worked for the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, shared her mother’s love of literature. She has generously left Landfall a bequest with which to establish an award in memory of Kathleen Grattan.

Award conditions

Individual poems in the collection can have been previously published, but the collection as a whole should be unpublished. Entries will be accepted from 1 May each year. The closing date will be 31 July each year and the winner will be announced in the November issue of Landfall. The announcement will be made in the November issue of Landfall. The winner will receive $16,000 and a year’s subscription to Landfall.

2010

This City by Jennifer Compton (judged by Vincent O’Sullivan).

Runners-up: The Lifeguard by Ian Wedde; The Big Red Engine by Victoria Broome.

2009

Stunning debut of the repairing of a life by the late Leigh Davis (judged by Ian Wedde).

2008 inaugural winner

The Summer King by Joanna Preston (judged by Fleur Adcock).

This collection also won the Australian Mary Gilmore Award for best first book of poetry.