Top prize for Hudson & Halls book

Top prize for Hudson & Halls book

Otago University Press Media Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 15 MAY 2019

Hudson & Halls: The food of love by Joanne Drayton won the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Author Joanne Drayton and Otago University Press co-publisher Rachel Scott were at the awards ceremony, held yesterday evening at Auckland’s Aotea Centre as part of the 2019 Auckland Writers’ Festival.

Hudson and Halls: The food of love is a riveting account of the legendary New Zealand TV chefs of the 1970s and 1980s, a groundbreaking gay duo in a socially conservative era, by an internationally acclaimed author.

The category judges described the book as ‘a generous, multi-layered and touching account of companionship and enduring love’.

‘Set against the backdrop of the double act many of us will remember, Hudson & Halls reveals the humour and drama of this couple’s onscreen chemistry, and is a deeply moving and often surprising account of their private life. Set within the context of significant social and political moments over four decades and three countries, Joanne Drayton’s fresh approach to storytelling makes this a must-read.’

The book was launched in Auckland last year by chef, restaurateur and writer Peter Gordon.

Joanne Drayton is author of New York Times bestseller The Search for Anne Perry (2014), which was a finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards, the subject of a 60 Minutes documentary and a cover story in the New Zealand Listener.

Her critically acclaimed Ngaio Marsh: Her life in crime (2008) was a Christmas pick in the UK’s Independent newspaper in 2009. Joanne has written three other groundbreaking biographies. In 2007 she was awarded a National Library Fellowship, and in 2017 she received a prestigious Logan Nonfiction Fellowship at the Carey Institute in Upstate New York. She lives in Auckland with her partner and three cats.

ENDS

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