Source: Radio New Zealand
Forty-four titles have been announced for this year’s Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist.
Nine debut authors appear in the list – three in each of the poetry, illustrated non-fiction and general non-fiction categories – including Dame Jacinda Ardern for her memoir, A Different Kind of Power .
Ten books have been nominated for the coveted Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, including two-time winner Catherine Chidgey for her ninth novel, The Book of Guilt subject of an international bidding war.
Author Catherine Chidgey has won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction twice – in 2023 for The Axeman’s Carnival and 2017 for The Wish Child .
Ebony Lamb Photography
Late last year, it was revealed that entries in the category by distinguished authors Elizabeth Smither and Stephanie Johnson were ruled out of contention because their covers were generated with artificial intelligence .
At the time, Johnson told Morning Report she understood why they wanted to draw a line in the sand as the industry grapples with the alarming rise of AI, but she argued the literary work should outweigh concerns about a fictional book’s cover.
Stephanie Johnson and Elizabeth Smither’s books were ruled out of the competition.
Supplied / Liz March
This year is the first time AI regulations have been applied to the awards. The criteria spelled out in the entries pack state that books are judged as a whole — including jacket design — and that works containing AI-generated illustrations or AI-authored content are not eligible.
On the other hand, Christchurch-based publisher Quentin Wilson at the time said the covers would have been created many months before the entry guidelines were issued.
The winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction will receive $65,000 and each of the other main category winners will receive $12,000. Each of The Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book winners (for fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction) will be awarded $3000.
The Ockham shortlist will be announced on 4 March, with winners celebrated on 13 May at the Auckland Writers Festival.
The full list of nominees
Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction
1985 by Dominic Hoey (Penguin, Penguin Random House)All Her Lives by Ingrid Horrocks (Te Herenga Waka University Press)Before the Winter Ends by Khadro Mohamed (Tender Press)Empathy by Bryan Walpert (Mākaro Press)Hoods Landing by Laura Vincent (Ngāti Māhanga, Ngāpuhi ) (Āporo Press)How to Paint a Nude by Sam Mahon (Ugly Hill Press)Star Gazers by Duncan Sarkies (Te Herenga Waka University Press)The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)The Last Living Cannibal by Airana Ngarewa Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Rauru, Ngāruahine ) (Moa Press)Wonderland by Tracy Farr (The Cuba Press)
Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry
Black Sugarcane by Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu) (Te Herenga Waka University Press)*Clay Eaters by Gregory Kan (Auckland University Press)E kō, nō hea koe Matariki BennettNgāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Hinerangi ) (Dead Bird Books)*Giving Birth to my Father by Tusiata Avia (Te Herenga Waka University Press)If We Knew How to We Would by Emma Barnes (Auckland University Press)Joss: A History by Grace Yee (Giramondo Publishing)No Good by Sophie van Waardenberg (Auckland University Press)*Sick Power Trip by Erik Kennedy (Te Herenga Waka University Press)Standing on my Shadow by Serie Barford (Anahera Press)Terrier, Worrier: A Poem in Five Parts by Anna Jackson (Auckland University Press)
BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
Atlas of the New Zealand Wars: Volume One 1834-1864, Early Engagements to the Second Taranaki War by Derek Leask (Auckland University Press)*Books of Mana: 180 Māori – Authored Books of Significance edited by Jacinta Ruru (Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui ), Angela Walhalla (Kāi Tahu ) and Jeanette Wikaira (Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāpuhi ) (Otago University Press)Garrison World: Redcoat Soldiers in New Zealand and Across the British Empire by Charlotte Macdonald (Bridget Williams Books)Groundwork: The Art and Writing of Emily Cumming Harris by Michele Leggott and Catherine Field-Dodgson (Rongowhakaata, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Te Aitanga a Mahaki ) (Te Papa Press)He Puāwai : A Natural History of New Zealand FlowersPhilip Garnock-Jones (Auckland University Press)*Mark Adams: A Survey – He Kohinga Whakaahua by Sarah Farrar (Massey University Press and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki )Mr Ward’s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street by Elizabeth Cox (Massey University Press)Takoto ai te Marino: Selected Works 2018-2025 by Raukura Turei Ngā Rauru Kītahi, Taranaki, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki ), Greta van der Star, Vanessa Green and Katie Kerr (Raukura Turei )*The Collector: Thomas Cheeseman and the Making of the Auckland Museum by Andrew McKay and Richard Wolfe (Massey University Press)Whenua edited by Felicity Milburn , Chloe Cull (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāi te Ruahikihiki ) and Melanie Oliver (Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū)
General Non-Fiction Award
50 Years of the Waitangi Tribunal: Whakamana i te Tiriti edited by Carwyn Jones (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki ) and Maria Bargh (Te Arawa, Ngāti Awa ) (Huia Publishers)A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, Penguin Random House)*An Uncommon Land: From an Ancestral Past of Enclosure Towards a Regenerative Future by Catherine Knight (Totara Press)Everything But the Medicine: A Doctor’s Tale by Lucy O’Hagan (Massey University Press)*Hardship and Hope: Stories of Resistance in the Fight Against Poverty in Aotearoa by Rebecca Macfie (Bridget Williams Books)Northbound: Four Seasons of Solitude on Te Araroa by Naomi Arnold (HarperCollins Aotearoa New Zealand)Polkinghorne: Inside the Trial of the Century by Steve Braunias (Allen & Unwin)Ruth Dallas: A Writer’s Life by Diana Morrow (Otago University Press)The Covid Response: A Scientist’s Account of New Zealand’s Pandemic and What Comes Next by Shaun Hendy (Bridget Williams Books)The Hollow Boys: A Story of Three Brothers & the Fiordland Deer Recovery Era by Peta CareyThe Middle of Nowhere: Stories of Working on the Manapōuri Hydro Project by Rosemary Baird (Canterbury University Press)*The Welcome of Strangers: A History of Southern Māori by Atholl Anderson (Bridget Williams Books and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu )This Compulsion in Us by Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā ) (Te Herenga Waka University Press)Tony Fomison: Life of the Artist by Mark Forman (Auckland University Press)
*represents debut authors
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