31 May 2007
The Corrections Department has been gifted a 100 copies of Six Pack - an annual New Zealand Book Month publication featuring six stories by six award-winning New Zealand writers.
Released last September, the book sat on the New Zealand Fiction Best Sellers list for 14 weeks last year making it one of New Zealand Book Month's most successful releases.
The writers featured include Harry Feltham, Briar Grace-Smith, Kingi McKinnon, Philippa Swan, Brian Turner and Phoebe Wright.
Every year New Zealand Book Month donates copies of Six-Pack free-of-charge to libraries and schools. It was New Zealand Book Month Project Director Phil Twyford’s idea to add prisons to the list this year.
"New Zealand Book Month is all about celebrating New Zealand writing and gaining as wide an audience as possible for the books and their authors," Mr Twyford said.
"We’re a non-profit organisation set up by the book trade to celebrate and promote New Zealand books and writers. As such we’re interested in the power that books have to change people’s lives. Clearly prisons are one place where that might happen."
Corrections Business Analyst Diane Hallot said the gifted books would be dispersed among the Department's 20 prisons where they would be welcomed by prisoners "who we know enjoy New Zealand writing".
Ms Hallot said prison libraries differ with some better resourced than others, some run by prisoners and some run by staff. All procured their books through a mix of donations and purchase.
ENDS
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