Well done Lloyd

Media release
Date: 17 October 2007

Well done Lloyd

Creative New Zealand commiserates with New Zealand author Lloyd Jones whose novel, Mister Pip, just missed out on the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

Creative New Zealand Chief Executive Stephen Wainwright congratulated Lloyd Jones on his success in making it onto the shortlist for the Booker.

“While missing out on the Booker is disappointing, making it to the shortlist was a fantastic achievement in itself,” Stephen Wainwright said.

“An author for many years, Lloyd keeps producing fresh and original writing. He hasn’t been afraid to take risks and it is great that he is now receiving international recognition for his work.”

Penguin New Zealand Publishing Director Geoff Walker, in London for the Booker Prize ceremony, described the shortlisting of Mister Pip as a big boost for New Zealand literature in the world and a wonderful new leap for Lloyd Jones.

“Simply by being shortlisted, Lloyd has moved into the front ranks of international fiction. Foreign rights to Mister Pip have now been sold in 28 countries, which may be a record for a New Zealand novel, one can't be sure,” Geoff Walker said.

“He is now being talked about all over the world, and there is substantial interest from foreign publishers in his previously published novels. At last week's Frankfurt Book Fair many discussions were held about how to re-publish Lloyd and his books overseas. He has many, many admirers.”

At the Montana Awards in July Mister Pip won the top prize for fiction and the readers' choice award. Earlier this year Mister Pip also won the Commonwealth Book of the Year Award.

Creative New Zealand supported Lloyd Jones to write Mister Pip, which is published by Penguin.

Lloyd Jones is currently working in Germany on a Creative New Zealand Berlin Writers Residency.

The Booker Prize was announced in London on Tuesday evening (Wednesday morning, 17 October in New Zealand). Keri Hulme is the only New Zealander to win the Booker with the Bone People in 1985.

The Booker Prize is open to authors from England, Ireland and or a Commonwealth country and the other shortlisted authors were: Ian McEwan, for On Chesil Beach; Anne Enright for The Gathering; Mohsin Hamid for The Reluctant Fundamentalist; Indra Sinha for Animal's People, and Nicola Barker for Darkmans.

ENDS

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