Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2025 Finalists Announcement

The $65,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction in the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards will be contested by three former winners of the award – Laurence Fearnley, Kirsty Gunn and Damien Wilkins – and Commonwealth Writer’s Prize winner Tina Makereti.

The four novelists are joined by a further 12 acclaimed and debut authors of books of memoir, poetry, history, art and te ao Māori on the Ockhams shortlist announced today. These 16 finalists were selected from a longlist of 43 books by panels of specialist judges across four categories: fiction, poetry, illustrated non-fiction, and general non-fiction.

Fearnley, who won the fiction prize in 2011 for The Hut Builder, is a finalist for At the Grand Glacier Hotel; Gunn, whose novel The Big Music was judged Book of the Year in 2013, is shortlisted for the short story collection Pretty Ugly; Wilkins, who won the fiction award for The Miserables in 1994 and was runner-up in 2001 and 2007 is a finalist with Delirious; and Makereti, who won the 2016 Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize, is a finalist for The Mires.

Thom Conroy, convenor of judges for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, says this year’s fiction shortlist features dazzling works that address our moment’s most urgent concerns: climate change, race relations, mobility, sexism, immigration and ageing.

“Whether set in the Scottish Highlands, at the Fox Glacier, or on the Kāpiti Coast, each of these finalists evoked a visceral and often lyrical sense of place,” he says.

From here the fiction panel will move to judging the winner, and will be joined in that task by an international judge, the esteemed literary festival chair, books editor, broadcaster and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Georgina Godwin.

The finalists in the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry are the acclaimed poet, essayist and novelist C.K. Stead (In the Half Light of a Dying Day), who is 92 years old; award-winning poet and novelist Emma Neale (Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit); literary polymath Robert Sullivan (Hopurangi - Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka); and poet and song writer Richard von Sturmer (Slender Volumes).

David Eggleton, convenor of judges for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry, says that endeavouring to select the best vintage from this year’s crop was a a very tough task.

“We sought to argue, debate and rationalise — and eventually harmonise — our choices; pitting militant language poets against equally militant identity poets, spiritual poets, polemical poets, experimental poets and careful traditionalists in pursuit of acknowledging books of literary excellence at the highest level,” he says.

In the running for the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction are four senior curators at our national museum, Te Papa: Athol McCredie (Leslie Adkin: Farmer Photographer); and Matiu Baker, Katie Cooper, Rebecca Rice and museum research associate Michael Fitgerald (Te Ata o Tū The Shadow of Tūmatauenga: The New Zealand Wars Collections of Te Papa). They are up against former Book of the Year winner Jill Trevelyan and her co-authors Jennifer Taylor and Greg Donson (Edith Collier: Early New Zealand Modernist); and eminent academics and authors Deirdre Brown, Ngarino Ellis and the late Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art).

Chris Szekely, convenor of judges for the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction, says history and art dominated the field in this category, with the panel saluting these books’ erudite and well-researched narratives and information-rich, educative texts.

“As to be expected, illustrations were high-calibre, well-matched with text, and all marvellously presented through outstanding design,” he says.

The 2025 shortlist’s two debut authors are both finalists in this year’s General Non-Fiction category: Flora Feltham (Bad Archive) and Una Cruickshank (The Chthonic Cycle). Esteemed academics Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku (Hine Toa: A Story of Bravery) and Richard Shaw (The Unsettled: Small Stories of Colonisation) join them as finalists in this category.

Holly Walker, convenor of judges for the General Non-Fiction category, says memoir and creative non-fiction were abundantly represented this year.

“The four shortlisted titles span a wide range of subject matter – from the collective amnesia of settler colonialism to the specifics of fabric weaving, from a personal history of feminist and Māori activism to the scientific history of ambergris – but they all share something in common: the bravery to confront big, scary, existential questions, and to report back on the experience in ways that make meaning for readers,” she says.

Nicola Legat, spokesperson for the New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa, says that this year’s shortlist is rich with page-turning, reflective and incisive books.

“Powerful prose and poetry, sumptuously illustrated books and gut-punching memoirs are vying with work by outstanding first-time authors on this year’s finalist list. It is a broad and fascinating collection of books,” she says.

2025 marks the tenth year of principal sponsor Ockham Residential’s relationship with the New Zealand Book Awards.

Ms Legat says it is deeply heartening to work alongside the team at Ockham Residential.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have a partner who believes as strongly as we do that New Zealand writers and their books make important contributions to society.

“We salute Ockham Residential’s generous support, just as we congratulate this year’s 16 finalists. Their books reflect the vibrancy, relevance and depth of New Zealand publishing today,” she says.

The 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlisted titles are:

*represents debut authors

Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction

At the Grand Glacier Hotel by Laurence Fearnley (Penguin, Penguin Random House)

Delirious by Damien Wilkins (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

Pretty Ugly by Kirsty Gunn (Otago University Press)

The Mires by Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā) (Ultimo Press)

Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry

Hopurangi - Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka by Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi, Kāi Tahu) (Auckland University Press)

In the Half Light of a Dying Day by C.K. Stead (Auckland University Press)

Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit by Emma Neale (Otago University Press)

Slender Volumes by Richard von Sturmer (Spoor Books)

BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction

Edith Collier: Early New Zealand Modernist by Jill Trevelyan, Jennifer Taylor and Greg Donson (Massey University Press)

Leslie Adkin: Farmer Photographer by Athol McCredie (Te Papa Press)

Te Ata o Tū The Shadow of Tūmatauenga: The New Zealand Wars Collections of Te Papa by Matiu Baker (Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Whakaue), Katie Cooper, Michael Fitzgerald and Rebecca Rice (Te Papa Press)

Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art by Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) and Ngarino Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou) with Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī) (Auckland University Press)

General Non-Fiction Award

Bad Archive by Flora Feltham (Te Herenga Waka University Press)*

Hine Toa: A Story of Bravery by Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku (Te Arawa, Tūhoe, Ngāpuhi, Waikato) (HarperCollins Publishers Aotearoa New Zealand)

The Chthonic Cycle by Una Cruickshank (Te Herenga Waka University Press)*

The Unsettled: Small Stories of Colonisation by Richard Shaw (Massey University Press)

The 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards’ winners, including the four Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book Awards recipients, will be announced at a public ceremony on 14 May during the 2025 Auckland Writers Festival.

The winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction will receive $65,000 and each of the three other main category winners will receive $12,000. Each of the Best First Book winners, for fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction, will be awarded $3000.

The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are supported by Ockham Residential, Creative New Zealand, the late Jann Medlicott and the Acorn Foundation, Mary and Peter Biggs CNZM, BookHub presented by Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand, The Mātātuhi Foundation, and the Auckland Writers Festival.

Notes:

This year’s Ockham New Zealand Book Awards judges are: Thom Conroy (convenor); bookshop owner and reviewer Carole Beu; and author, educator and writing mentor Tania Roxborogh (Ngāti Porou) (Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction); poet, critic and writer David Eggleton (convenor); poet, novelist and short story writer Elizabeth Smither MNZM; and writer and editor Jordan Tricklebank (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Mahuta) (Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry); former Alexander Turnbull chief librarian and author Chris Szekely (convenor); arts advocate Jessica Palalagi; and historian and social history curator Kirstie Ross (BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction); author, writer and facilitator Holly Walker (convenor); author, editor and historical researcher Ross Calman (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tahu); and communications professional, writer and editor Gilbert Wong (General Non-Fiction Award).

Georgina Godwin is books editor for international station Monocle Radio and the host of the flagship literary show Meet the Writers, and current affairs programme The Globalist. She chairs events worldwide. She is on the board of English PEN and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She has previously judged the Bailie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, The Caine Prize for African Writing and the British Book Awards.

The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are the country’s premier literary honours for books written by New Zealanders. First established in 1968 as the Wattie Book Awards (later the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards), they have also been known as the Montana New Zealand Book Awards and the New Zealand Post Book Awards. 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 Best First Book 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. The awards are governed by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa (a registered charity). Current members of the Trust are Nicola Legat, Richard Pamatatau, Garth Biggs, Renée Rowland, Laura Caygill, Suzy Maddox and Elena de Roo. The Trust also governs the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day.

Ockham Residential is Auckland’s most thoughtful developer. Through creating elegant and enduring buildings that are well-loved by those who make them home, Ockham hopes to enhance Auckland – and to contribute to its many communities. Founded in 2009 by Mark Todd and Benjamin Preston, Ockham supports a number of organisations in arts, science and education. These include the Ockham Collective, their creative and educational charity, the acclaimed BWB Texts series, the People’s Choice Award in New Zealand Geographic’s Photographer of the Year Award, and Ponsonby’s Objectspace gallery. But its principal sponsorship of the New Zealand Book Awards, a relationship now in its tenth year, is perhaps Ockham’s most visible contribution. Says Mark Todd: “Our communities would be drab, grey and much poorer places without art, without words, without science – without critical thought. That’s why our partnership with the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards means the world to us.”

Creative New Zealand has been a sustaining partner of New Zealand’s book awards for decades. The national arts development agency of the New Zealand government encourages, promotes and supports the arts in New Zealand for the benefit of all New Zealanders through funding, capability building, an international programme, and advocacy. Creative New Zealand provides a wide range of support to New Zealand literature, including funding for writers and publishers, residencies, literary festivals and awards, and supports organisations which work to increase the readership and sales of New Zealand literature at home and internationally.

Acorn Foundation is a community foundation based in the Western Bay of Plenty that encourages people to establish an endowment fund to support causes they love in the local community forever. Donations are pooled and invested, and the investment income is used to make annual donations to local charities, while the capital remains intact. Acorn has now distributed over $20 million to causes important to their donors. Community foundations are the fastest growing form of philanthropy worldwide, and there are currently 18 located across the country, with more than 85% of New Zealanders able to access a local foundation. The Prize for Fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards has been provided through the generosity of one of Acorn’s donors, the late Jann Medlicott, and will be awarded to the top fiction work each year, in perpetuity.

Mary and Peter Biggs CNZM are long-time arts advocates and patrons – particularly of literature, theatre and music. They have funded the Biggs Family Prize in Poetry at Victoria University of Wellington’s International Institute of Modern Letters since 2006, along with the Alex Scobie Research Prize in Classical Studies. They have been consistent supporters of the International Festival the of the Arts, the Auckland Writers Festival, Wellington’s Circa Theatre, the New Zealand Arts Foundation, Featherston Booktown, Read NZ Te Pou Muramura, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Featherston Sculpture Trust and the Wairarapa’s Kokomai Arts Festival. Peter was Chair of Creative New Zealand from 1999 to 2006. He led the Cultural Philanthropy Taskforce in 2010 and the New Zealand Professional Orchestra Sector Review in 2012. He was appointed a Companion of New Zealand Order of Merit for arts governance and philanthropy in 2013. Mary is the Operations Manager for Featherston Booktown Karukatea. She has driven the festival’s success and growth, and it is now regarded as one of the leading cultural events in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Founded in 1921, Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand is the national association for bookshops that helps its members grow and succeed through education, information, advocacy, marketing campaigns – such as Bookshop Day – and services – such as BookHub. Launched in 2023, BookHub is an e-commerce platform that enables people to browse books, buy books and find local bookshops, directly connecting readers with independent bookstores across the motu. Local bookshops are essential community hubs, and champions of Aotearoa New Zealand books and of the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

The Mātātuhi Foundation was established by the Auckland Writers Festival in 2018 to support the growth and development of New Zealand's literary landscape. To achieve this outcome, the Foundation funds literary projects that have the potential to develop sustainable literary platforms that help grow awareness and readership of New Zealand books and writers, increase engagement with New Zealand children’s literature, or build access to, and awareness of, New Zealand’s literary legacy.

For 25 years, the Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki has been a champion of thought leadership, literary engagement and community building. It is New Zealand’s premier celebration of books and ideas, with annual attendances of over 80,000. The Festival offers a six-day programme of inspiring discussions, conversations, readings, debates and performances for every age, audience and interest. Featuring over 200 of the world’s best writers and thinkers from Aotearoa and overseas and with 25 percent of the programme delivered free, this year’s Festival takes place 13 – 18 May 2025.

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