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| Eleanor Catton and Fergus Barrowman at The Luminaries Auckland launch, August 2013 |
Victoria
University Press is thrilled at the announcement that Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries has made the short list of
just six books for the prestigious Man Booker Prize 2013 announced today in
London.
Speaking
from the UK where she is on a promotional tour, Ms Catton said, ‘I am proud that this
shortlist will mean many more people around the world will have a chance to
visit New Zealand, imaginatively speaking, and spend awhile in our historical
past. I think that New Zealand literature is in a very strong place right
now–I'm especially excited about the writers of my generation–and I am happy
that, whatever the outcome of the prize, the shortlisting will help to
raise the profile of New Zealand literature elsewhere.’
Ms
Catton’s New Zealand publisher, Fergus Barrowman of Victoria University Press
said, ‘‘I love this book and I’m very happy that so many more readers will now
discover the pleasures it has to offer them.’
The Luminaries, a nineteenth century West
Coast gold-rush murder story with twenty part cast and a richly patterned
structure, has been receiving glowing reviews internationally and in New
Zealand. The Guardian review called
the novel ‘a dazzling feat of a novel, the golden nugget in this year's Man
Booker long list.'
The
Man Booker Prize 2013 is announced in London on 15 October. "I've
never attended a black tie event before,’ said Ms Catton. ‘I'll have to buy a
frock."
The Luminaries was published by Victoria
University Press in August 2013.
