Diana Wichtel, a New Zealand writer and critic, was born in Vancouver in 1950. [1] Her mother, Patricia, was a New Zealander; her father, Benjamin Wichtel, a Polish Jew who escaped from the Nazi train taking his family to the Treblinka extermination camp in World War II. [1] When she was 13 her mother brought her to New Zealand to live, along with her two siblings. [2] [3] Although he was expected to follow, she never saw her father again. [4] [1] [5] [6] The mystery of her father's life took years to unravel, and is recounted in Wichtel's award-winning book Driving toTreblinka. [7] [8] The book has been called "a masterpiece" by New Zealand writer Steve Braunias. [7] New Zealand columnist Margo White wrote: "This is a story that reminds readers of the atrocities that ordinary people did to each other, the effect on those who survived, and the reverberations felt through following generations." [8]
Driving to Treblinka won the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General non-fiction at the 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. [9] [10]
Wichtel was appointed staff writer at the New Zealand Listener in 1984. [7] She joined the magazine from the English department at the University of Auckland, [7] where she gained a Master in Arts, and also tutored. [11] She has won many awards for her television criticism, profiles and feature writing. The New Zealand cultural critic and author Adam Dudding has written of Wichtel's "genius" for television reviewing: "Her reviews often strike a tone of tolerant bemusement; she's a visitor from Mars bearing witness to the latest bonkers manifestation of modern culture." [2] Wichtel was still writing for the Listener when its then publisher announced the magazine's closure in April 2020. [12] [13]
The New Zealand Herald's weekend magazine Canvas welcomed Wichtel as a fortnightly columnist in October 2020. [14]
Wichtel has won numerous awards for her journalism:
Catherine Chidgey is a New Zealand novelist, short-story writer and university lecturer. Her honours include the inaugural Prize in Modern Letters; the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship to Menton, France; Best First Book at both the New Zealand Book Awards and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize ; the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards; and the Janet Frame Fiction Prize.
The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand. The awards began in 1996 as the merger of two literary awards events: the New Zealand Book Awards, which ran from 1976 to 1995, and the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards, which ran from 1968 to 1995.
Steven Carl Braunias is a New Zealand author, columnist, journalist and editor. He is the author of 11 books.
Craig Marriner is a novelist from Rotorua, New Zealand. He is best known for his award-winning first novel Stonedogs (2001).
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Sir Vincent Gerard O'Sullivan is one of New Zealand's best-known writers. He is a poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, critic, editor, biographer, and librettist.
Charlotte Grimshaw is a New Zealand novelist, short-story writer, columnist and former lawyer. Since the publication of her debut novel Provocation (1999), she has received a number of significant literary awards including the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship in 2000 and the Bank of New Zealand Katherine Mansfield Award for short fiction in 2006. Her short-story collection Opportunity (2007) won the Montana Award for Fiction and the Montana Medal for Fiction or Poetry at the 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. She has also won awards for her book reviews and column writing.
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Brannavan Gnanalingam is a New Zealand author and practicing lawyer with the New Zealand firm Buddle Findlay at its Wellington office.
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The 2018 Voyager Media Awards were presented on 11 May 2018 at Cordis, Auckland, New Zealand. Awards were made in the categories of digital, feature writing, general, magazines, newspapers, opinion writing, photography, reporting and videography.
The 2017 Canon Media Awards were presented on 19 May 2017 at The Langham, Auckland, New Zealand. Awards were made in the categories of digital, feature writing, general, magazines, newspapers, opinion writing, photography, reporting and videography. The Wolfson scholarship, health journalism scholarships, and awards for editorial executive and outstanding achievements, were also presented.
Ashleigh Young is a poet, essayist, editor and creative writing teacher. She received the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize in 2017 for her second book, a collection of personal essays titled Can You Tolerate This? which also won the Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.
Toby Morris is a New Zealand cartoonist, comics artist, illustrator and writer, best known for non-fiction online comics that often highlight social issues.
The 2019 Voyager Media Awards were held at the Cordis, Auckland on 17 May 2019. Awards were made in the categories of digital, feature writing, general, magazines, health journalism, scholarships, newspapers, opinion writing, photography, reporting and videography.
Finlay Macdonald is a New Zealand journalist, editor, publisher and broadcaster. He is best known for editing the New Zealand Listener (1998–2003). Macdonald was appointed New Zealand Editor: Politics, Business & Arts of the online media site The Conversation in April 2020. He lives in Auckland with his partner, media executive Carol Hirschfeld. They have two children, Will and Rosa. His father was the late journalist Iain Macdonald.
Tayi Tibble is a New Zealand poet. Her first collection of poetry, Poūkahangatus (2018), received the Jessie Mackay Prize for Poetry at the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.