2026 Awards
Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction
All Her Lives
Published by: Te Herenga Waka University Press
Ingrid Horrocks
Poet, memoirist and scholar Ingrid Horrocks turns to fiction and crushes it. Across nine elegant, probing stories that range from the late eighteenth century to the unsettled present, from rural Wairarapa to icy Norwegian ports and rave culture Berlin, All Her Lives explores the shifting expectations and constraints of womanhood. Characters confront leaky rentals and sexual assault, join anti-nuclear and climate movements, while seeking many forms of love. Sparks from one story and one generation ignite elsewhere in the book, illustrating how material conditions, freedoms and ideologies can be shaped, for better or worse, by our forebears. Emotionally intelligent and historically alert, this book is an outrageously good addition to the top shelf of New Zealand fiction.
Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry
Black Sugarcane
Published by: Te Herenga Waka University Press
Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu)
Black Sugarcane is a work of rare linguistic grace and emotional precision, a collection that transforms memory, land, and inheritance into something both intimate and expansive. With a voice that is at once grounded and lyrical, the poet navigates histories of labour, migration, and identity, distilling them into images that linger long after the page is turned. Each poem pulses with clarity, restraint, and quiet power, revealing the extraordinary within the ordinary. The collection’s careful architecture and tonal control mark it as a deeply considered achievement for debut author Nafanua Purcell Kersel. Black Sugarcane not only enriches contemporary poetry but also expands its possibilities, offering a resonant, enduring contribution to the literary landscape today.
BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
Mr Ward’s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street
Published by: Massey University Press
Elizabeth Cox
Innovative, engaging and inherently human, Mr Ward’s Map is a celebration of research, storytelling, and archives. Elizabeth Cox deployed one historic cartographic document as the foundation for a superbly written publication that bridges multiple world views and time periods – highlighting one source and how it resonates in the contemporary moment. Across 560 pages, Cox unpacks the 88 sheets of Mr Ward’s map, alongside carefully selected archival photography and illustrations. While anchored in Victorian Wellington, Cox presents a range of complex issues and histories that have universal reach. This skilfully interweaves impacts of colonial land alienation on tangata whenua, reveals imbalances and intersectional experiences of race, class and gender, and offers a reflection of societal changes, and what remains the same.
