Five authors with Otago connections are among the 33 finalists in this year's Montana New Zealand Book Awards.
More than 200 books were submitted for consideration in the 13th annual awards.
Otago featured prominently in the fiction category with Charlotte Randall's The Crocus Hour being named a finalist.
Two other books - The 10PM Question (by Kate De Goldi) and Acid Song (by Bernard Beckett) were published by Dunedin publisher Longacre Press.
University of Otago Anthropology Emeritus Prof Helen Leach's book The Pavlova Story: A slice of New Zealand's Culinary History was named a finalist in the lifestyle and contemporary category, along with University of Otago PhD graduate Oliver Stead's book Art Icons of New Zealand: Lines in the Sand.
Otago University gender studies senior lecturer Chris Brickell was named a finalist in the History category with his first book Mates and Lovers: A Gay History of New Zealand and Central Otago author Brian Turner was named a finalist in the environment category with Into the Wider World: A Back Country Miscellany.
The winner of the poetry category will be announced on July 24, while the other winners will be announced on July 27.
• Montana finalists.-
Fiction: The Crocus Hour, by Charlotte Randall (Penguin Group New Zealand); The Rehearsal, by Eleanor Catton (Victoria University Press); The 10PM Question, by Kate De Goldi (Longacre Press); Acid Song, by Bernard Beckett (Longacre Press); Novel About My Wife, by Emily Perkins (Allen & Unwin).
Poetry:
Get Some, by Sonja Yelich (Auckland University Press); The Lakes of Mars, by Chris Orsman (Auckland University Press); The Rocky Shore, by Jenny Bornholdt (Victoria University Press).
Biography:
Rita Angus: An Artist's Life, by Jill Trevelyan (Te Papa Press); The Love School: Personal Essays, by Elizabeth Knox (Victoria University Press); Heaphy, by Iain Sharp (Auckland University Press).
Environment:
A Continent on the Move: New Zealand Geoscience into the 21st Century, edited by Ian Graham (Geological Society of New Zealand), Into the Wider World: A Back Country Miscellany, by Brian Turner (Random House New Zealand); Albatross: Their World, Their Ways, by Tui De Roy and Mark Jones (David Bateman Ltd).
History:
Mates & Lovers: A Gay History of New Zealand, by Chris Brickell (Random House New Zealand); First Catch Your Weka: A Story of New Zealand Cooking, by David Veart (Auckland University Press); Buying the Land, Selling the Land, by Richard Boast (Victoria University Press).
Illustrative:
Peter Peryer: Photographer, by Peter Simpson with photos by Peter Peryer (Auckland University Press); Certain Words Drawn, by John Reynolds (Random House New Zealand); Len Castle: Making the Molecules Dance, by Len Castle (Lopdell House Gallery).
Lifestyle and Contemporary Culture:
The Pavlova Story: A Slice of New Zealand's Culinary History, by Helen Leach (Otago University Press); Ladies, A Plate: Traditional Home Baking, by Alexa Johnston (Penguin Group New Zealand); Art Icons of New Zealand: Lines in the Sand, by Oliver Stead (David Bateman Ltd).
Reference and Anthology:
The Painted Garden in New Zealand Art, by Christopher Johnstone (Random House New Zealand); The Collected Letters of Katherine Mansfield, Volume 5: 1922, edited by Vincent O'Sullivan and Margaret Scott (Oxford University Press); Collected Poems 1951-2006, by C. K. Stead (Auckland University Press).
• New Zealand Society of Authors best first book finalists.-
Fiction:
The Year of the Shanghai Shark, by Mo Zhi Hong (Penguin Group New Zealand); Misconduct, by Bridget van der Zijpp (Victoria University Press); The Rehearsal, by Eleanor Catton (Victoria University Press).
Poetry:
Everything Talks, by Sam Sampson (Auckland University Press); The Propaganda Poster Girl, by Amy Brown (Victoria University Press); The World's Fastest Flower, by Charlotte Simmonds (Victoria University Press).
Non-fiction:
First Catch Your Weka: A Story of New Zealand Cooking, by David Veart (Auckland University Press); Mates & Lovers: A Gay History of New Zealand, by Chris Brickell (Random House New Zealand); Nga Tama Toa, The Price of Citizenship - C Company 28 (Maori) Battalion 1939-1945, by Monty Soutar (David Bateman Ltd).
