48 LISTENER MARCH 14 2020
BOOKS&CULTURE
by RUSSELL BAILLIET
he 2020 Ockham New Zealand
Book Awards shortlist has many
surprises, especially to the fans
of Elizabeth Knox’s best-selling
fantasy The Absolute Book and
admirers of Vincent O’Malley’s land-
mark history The New Zealand Wars/Ngā
Pakanga o Aotearoa. Neither work made
the cut to the final four from the 10-title
longlist in their respective categories in
this year’s awards.
“Lots of people have favourites that
didn’t make it on,” says Paula Morris of
the New Zealand Book Awards Trust, the
organisation behind what is the country’s
biggest literary prize. “That’s the way it
goes, year on year, depending on who the
judges are.”
The Knox book has now sold some
6000 copies locally with another reprintLong story short
Two top contenders in the Ockham book
awards are knocked out of contention.
He connects that to his grandfather
having a player piano and, before he
picked up an instrument himself, being
obsessed with how it worked.
When he started his first band, he
wanted to create a sense of orchestration,
and technology such as the Synclavier
allowed that. His recent Orchestrion
solo projects further extend his palette.
“When I think about what’s possible
now, it’s mind-blowing.”M
etheny has been an enthusiastic
collaborator, although he admits
that when he was working on
the soundtrack to The Falcon and the
Snowman, he had little idea who David
Bowie was when director John Schles-
inger suggested him. Schlesinger thought
their instrumental, Chris, could do with
a vocalist. Metheny got some Bowie
records, recognised a few hits and real-
ised Bowie would be the perfect singer.
“He came to a screening and was
writing like crazy on a yellow legal pad.
When the film was done, he had a list of
about 200 titles, each one better than thenext. John thought ‘this is not America’
was on it, a line someone in the movie
says.”
Bowie took the track to Switzerland,
worked on it, then called the band over.
“Man,” Metheny says with audible awe,
“it was like being around Sonny Rollins
or someone. He was a master. It was one
of the greatest experiences I’ve had, to
see somebody at that level. It’s also a
song that has more meaning now than
at any time in its history.”
Metheny continues to see limitless pos-
sibilities. “I could never have predicted
the trajectory of stuff I’ve done, so I just
try to stay open to what’s happening.
There’s infinity out there, and I always
try to hang with the infinity.” lAn Evening with Pat Metheny, Auckland
Arts Festival, Great Hall, Auckland Town
Hall, March 10.“When I hear a bunch
of trash cans knocked
down stairs, that’s
melody, too. It’s in theear of the be-hearer.”
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on the way. It’s heading towards publica-
tion in multiple overseas territories and
negotiations for screen rights. Meanwhile,
O’Malley’s acclaimed work is making its
way into classrooms and its writer is philo-
sophical about the snub.
“It can be hard work being a writer in
this country at times, so these moments
in the limelight are great,” O’Malley told
the Listener. “My book has been phenom-
enally successful in so many ways, and
I would like to think its publication was
part of the wider movement to get New
Zealand history taught in all schools by- So I will take that over an award any
day of the week.”
Fergus Barrowman, who, as the head of
Victoria University Press (VUP) is Knox’s
New Zealand publisher, as well as her
husband, said he was surprised and disap-
pointed by the title’s absence as a finalist.
He rejected the notion that awards can be
Clockwise from left,
Elizabeth Knox,
Vincent O’Malley,
David Vann.