Mail-sorting poet claims New Zealand's largest literary prize
18 Mar 2008
A writer who has spent much of his life working as a mail sorter has won New Zealand's largest literary prize.
David Beach has been presented with a cheque for $65,000 as winner of the biennial Prize in Modern Letters for his book of poems, ‘Abandoned Novel’.
''That a book of poems can win a $65,000 prize makes me feel as if I've stumbled into a parallel universe where poetry is considered important,'' Beach said.
Abandoned Novel is his first book of poems.
Beach was born in 1959 and grew up mainly in Wellington. In 1986 he moved to Sydney where he worked as a mail sorter for Australia Post. He began writing poems while in Australia and these have been published in various magazines and newspapers. Beach returned to Wellington in 2002 and worked as a mail sorter for New Zealand Post.
In 2006 Beach’s book was praised in an issue of the New Zealand Listener: ''...collectively, the poems in the volume stake out new territory in contemporary New Zealand poetry and make a powerful case for further exploration.''
New Zealand's largest literary award, the Prize in Modern Letters, is sponsored by United States businessman and arts philanthropist Glenn Schaeffer and administered by Victoria University's International Institute of Modern Letters.
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