We are delighted to have nine of our books on this year’s Ockham longlist. Huge congratulations to these authors!

Longlisted for The Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction
Ash – Louise Wallace
Delirious – Damien Wilkins
Poorhara – Michelle Rahurahu
The Royal Free – Carl Shuker

Longlisted for The Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry
Slim Volume – James Brown
The Girls in the Red House are Singing – Tracey Slaughter

Longlisted for the General Non-Fiction prize
Bad Archive – Flora Feltham
The Beautiful Afternoon – Airini Beautrais
The Chthonic Cycle – Una Cruickshank

We are proud to have published these exceptional books. There is so much within these pages: the volcanic intensity of Ash, the tender complexity of Delirious, the beautiful tragicomedy of Poorhara, the propulsive unease of The Royal Free, the wry brilliance of Slim Volume, the haunting lyricism of The Girls in the Red House Are Singing, the incisive introspection of Bad Archive, the fierce intelligence of The Beautiful Afternoon, and the awe-inspiring scope of The Chthonic Cycle. It is exciting to see first-time authors Michelle Rahurahu, Flora Feltham and Una Cruickshank recognised at the beginning of what promise to be brilliant writing careers.

Seven of our longlisted authors are graduates of the International Institute of Modern Letters’ MA programme, which is a vital part of Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington’s investment in creative arts in Aotearoa.

The shortlist will be released on 5 March and winners will be announced at a ceremony on 14 May as part of the Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki.

The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are the premier literary honours for books written by New Zealanders.

Awards are given for Fiction (the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction), Poetry (the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry), Illustrated Non-Fiction (the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction) and General Non-Fiction. There are also four awards for first-time authors (the Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book Awards) and, at the judges’ discretion, Te Mūrau o te Tuhi, a Māori Language Award. Thanks to the generosity of the late Jann Medlicott, the winner of the fiction prize will receive $65,000. Winners of the other three principal category awards each receive $12,000, as will any recipient of Te Mūrau o te Tuhi. Each of the four Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book prizes is worth $3,000.

For more information, visit the New Zealand Book Awards website.