New Zealand author wins David Gemmell Morningstar award!

Hachette New Zealand is thrilled that Christchurch based author Helen Lowe has won the 2012 David Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer for her book The Heir of Night (book one in The Wall of Night series). The prestigious international Morningstar Award is to celebrate newcomers to the fantasy genre. This year’s David Gemmell Awards for Fantasy were presented on Friday in a ceremony held in London.

It’s fantastic news for Helen who is not only the first female author to have won either the Morningstar or Legend award, but she is also the first Southern Hemisphere author to have been awarded one of these coveted international prizes.

“Winning the Gemmell Morningstar Award is a tremendous thrill – and one of the best parts is the wishes flowing in from all over the world, not just from America, the UK, and Australia but from places as diverse as Finland and France, Singapore and Dubai," says Helen.
Helen Lowe (right) lives in Christchurch, and writes fantasy and science fiction novels, poetry and short fiction. She is currently the Ursula Bethell/Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence at the University of Canterbury. Helen has previously won the Sir Julius Vogel Award in 2011 for Best Novel for The Heir of Night. Her books are published in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand and translated editions are published in France and The Netherlands.