Kathleen Grattan Award

Auckland poet Kathleen Grattan was a journalist and former editor of the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly. A member of the Titirangi Poets, her work was published in Landfall and other volumes including Premier Poets, a collection from the World Poetry Society. Her daughter Jocelyn Grattan, who also worked for the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, shared her mother’s love of literature and generously left Landfall a bequest to establish an award in memory of Kathleen Grattan.

About the competition

This biennial award is for an original book-length collection of poems by a New Zealand or South Pacific permanent resident or citizen.

Landfall/Otago University Press welcomes entries for the 2023 award any time before 31 July 2023.

In 2023, the award will be judged by leading New Zealand poet Anne Kennedy. Entries are subject to a pre-screening process by two filter judges. Judging is conducted ‘blind’ – i.e. without the writer’s name attached to their submission.

The result will be announced in the November issue of Landfall, and the winner will receive $10,000 and a year’s subscription to Landfall.

Conditions of entry

Submissions must be complete book-length collections.
Individual poems in your collection may have been previously published, but the collection as a whole should be unpublished.
The result will be announced in the November issue of Landfall.
The winner will receive $10,000 and a year’s subscription to Landfall.
Entrants will be New Zealand or South Pacific permanent residents or citizens.
Only one entry per person will be accepted.
The judging panel will assess the merits of submissions and reserves the right not to award a prize.
Correspondence with the judges will not be entered into.
Otago University Press reserves the right of first publication of the winning entry. Any other entries may be considered for publication.
The name and photograph of the winning writer may be used by Landfall and/or Otago University Press for publicity purposes.
No present employees of Otago University Press or present editors of Landfall are eligible to enter.

Preparing your entry

Keep formatting as simple as possible. The whole manuscript, including headings, should be in 12pt Times New Roman, with 1.5 line spacing.
The title and page number must appear on each page of the manuscript (as a header or footer).
Do not include illustrations.
Do not include your name anywhere on the manuscript.
Include a cover letter with your name, postal address, email address and telephone number.
Ensure the title of your submission is on both the cover letter and the manuscript.
Include notes on which poems have been previously published (and where) in the cover letter but not within the manuscript.

How to submit

Submit three hard copies of your manuscript. These will not be returned to you. Please consider the environment and avoid using plastic binding, sleeves or covers.
And email your cover letter and a PDF of your manuscript to: landfall@otago.ac.nz
Address entries to: The Kathleen Grattan Award, Otago University Press, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand. Courier address is Otago University Press, 533 Castle St, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand.

Award winners

Landfall 242 (November 2021) announced Auckland poet Michael Steven as the winner of the Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry 2021 for his collection ‘Night School’. Judge David Eggleton says: ‘The poems in this collection read and feel as if they have been quarried out of silence and watchfulness and long contemplation of the dark night of the soul … [Steven] writes like someone fleeing an infernal and damned city, one about to be razed by a vengeful Old Testament God, and yet he bears lyrical and eloquent witness.’ Night School will be published in 2022.

Landfall 238 (November 2019) announced Philip Armstrong as the winner with his work Sinking Lessons. Judge Jenny Bornholdt called it ‘an accomplished, engaging collection that displays literary skill and a sharp intelligence at work’. This book was published by Otago University Press in 2020.

Landfall 234 (November 2017) announced Alison Glenny as the winner with her Antarctic-focused The Farewell Tourist. Judge Bill Manhire said of the work, ‘the manuscript makes the reader work, and gives in return a kind of droll melancholy’. This book was published by Otago University Press in 2018.

Landfall 230 (November 2015) announced Michael Harlow as the winner with his work Nothing for it but to Sing. The judge was Emma Neale, who described the poems as ‘small detonations that release deeply complex stories of psychological separations and attractions, of memory and desire … the work is sequinned by sound …’ This book was published by Otago University Press in 2016.

Landfall 226 (November 2013) announced Siobhan Harvey as the winner of the Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award with her collection Cloudboy. Judge Jeffrey Paparoa Holman commented: ‘Harvey’s work came through for me because it seemed to come out of life itself as well as literature and asked things of the reader. This is a powerful and brave collection, exploring the world of autism through a mother’s eyes, using the world of clouds as both simile and metaphor.’ This book was published by Otago University Press in 2014.

Landfall 222 (2011) announced Emma Neale as the winner of the Kathleen Grattan Award 2011. Her book, The Truth Garden, was published in July 2012.
The judge of the 2011 competition was Poet Laureate Cilla McQueen, who commented: ‘The breath held or expelled in wonder, frustration or delight energises Emma Neale’s writing.’

Landfall 220 (2010) announced the 2010 winner of the Kathleen Grattan Award, judged by Vincent O’Sullivan: This City by Jennifer Compton. Compton’s volume ‘sustains a questing, warmly sceptical mind’s engagement with wherever it is, whatever it takes in, and carries the constant drive to say it right,’ says O’Sullivan.

Landfall 218 (2009) announced the 2009 winner of the Kathleen Grattan Award, judged by Ian Wedde: Stunning Debut of the Repairing of a Life by the late Leigh Davis. This book was published by Otago University Press in July 2010.

Landfall 216 (2008) announced the inaugural winner of this award, judged by Fleur Adcock: The Summer King by Joanna Preston. This collection was published by Otago University Press on Montana NZ Poetry Day in 2009 and subsequently won the Australian Mary Gilmore A