2020 Selection Panel members

1 August 2020

Anne has been an active participant in the literature and publishing sector for more than thirty years. She has worked for major publishing houses in New Zealand and has also represented independent publishers with experience both in sales and in the role of Publisher.

Anne was Association Director of the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) from 2007 -2017.

The Director’s role focussed on supporting more than 85 book publisher members with advocacy, training initiatives, export opportunities and overall responsibility for the management of the Creative New Zealand International Programme for Literature, and Education NZ funding programmes.

Anne is now a consultant to the publishing industry and is based in Thames.

Robert Sullivan's iwi affiliations are to Ngāpuhi, and Kāi Tahu. His PhD from the University of Auckland examines the work of five other indigenous Pacific poets. His seven collections of poetry include Captain Cook in the Underworld, Shout Ha! to the Sky and the bestselling Star Waka.

He has co-edited three major anthologies of Pacific and Māori poetry. He has served on writing committees and judging panels in New Zealand and overseas including the Board of the Auckland Writers’ Festival, the Māori Writers' Committee, Te Hā, and the 2018 poetry panel for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Robert for a time led the Creative Writing programmes at the University of Hawai'i, Mānoa, and Manukau Institute of Technology where until recently he was Deputy Chief Executive Māori.

Vanda Symon lives in Dunedin and is a New Zealander of Fijian descent. She is the number one best selling author of the Detective Sam Shephard series, and the stand alone thriller The Faceless.

Vanda is a three-time Ngaio Marsh Award finalist and was short listed for the 2019 British CWA New Blood Dagger. She is a judge for the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel, and has been a judge for the NZ Post Book Awards.