James George
James George is an award-winning short-story writer and novelist, and author of the recently-published novel 'Ocean Roads.'
James was born in Wellington of Ngapuhi, Irish and English descent but has lived most of his life in Auckland. He began writing in early 1995 and his first published work was the novel 'Wooden Horses' published by Hazard Press in August 2000.
'Zeta Orionis' an extract from his novel 'Hummingbird' won the premiere award in the 2001 Maori Literature Awards judged by Keri Hulme.
Huia Publishers launched 'Hummingbird' in May 2003 which was subsequently Whitcoulls 'Book of the Month' for May 2003 and featured on the NZ fiction bestseller list for six weeks. Hummingbird was shortlisted for the Montana NZ book awards in 2004 and the Tasmania-Pacific Fiction prize in 2005.
James' third novel, 'Ocean Roads' was published by Huia in September, 2005. It was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Asia Pacific Region) in February, 2007.
James has toured with the On the Bus crew to Waiariki in February, 2004 and to the East Coast of the North Island in April, 2006, and the Christchurch region in March 2007. He has appeared at writers' festivals throughout Aotearoa and also Australia and France.
James is chair of Te Ha, the committee for writers working in English.
Links
James George profile on the NZ Book Council website
Hazard Press
Huia Publishers
Read James' winning story 'Zeta Orionis' from the 2001 Huia Short Story Awards.