Eleanor Catton is using the money she won at the New Zealand Post Book Awards to give writers more time to read.
Catton’s novel, The Luminaries, was trumped by the story of a Wellington art dealer at last night’s awards.
Peter McLeavey: The Life and Times of a New Zealand Art Dealer by Wellington author Jill Trevelyan won the book of the year at the ceremony in Wellington.
The judging panel did not send Catton home empty-handed, as The Luminaries won the best fiction category and also took home the people’s choice award.
The two awards netted the Man Booker Prize-winning author $15,000 in prizes.
During her acceptance speech she announced she was setting up a grant to support writers by allowing them time for structured reading.
Catton said this was a crucial part of writing.
“Writers are readers first, indeed our love of reading is what unites us above all else,” Catton said.
“If our reading culture in New Zealand is dynamic, diverse, and informed, our writing culture will be too.”
She had not yet named the grant “in case a nice philanthropist hears about this and would like to lend their name and support”, Catton said.
Her novel has sold more than 117,000 copies in its first year in New Zealand alone.
She now found herself in the extraordinary position of being able to make a living from her writing, Catton said.
“It seems only right to do as Emery Staines would do and start giving this fortune away.”
Staines is a character in The Luminaries who wins big on the West Coast goldfields.
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– Stuff
