Our national book awards committee has rejected books with AI covers . . . Nothing to do with the writing -- just AI for the covers.
This is Elizabeth Smither's book of essays Angel Train, and Stephanie Johnson's book Obligate Carnivore. Both recipients of the Prime Minister's Literary Awards in their time -- but no shot at the Ockham Book Awards next year, or the top prize of $65,000.
The writers are obviously devastated, but is this a bulwark — a line in the sand — against the use of AI at ANY point in the creative process?
A man who knows a thing or two about New Zealand publishing, Fergus Barrowman, is the publisher of Te Herenga Waka University Press
He speaks to Emile Donovan.
Covers of Stephanie Johnson's Obligate Carnivore and Elizabeth Smither's Angel Train. Photo: Quentin Wilson Publishing
