Youth, Diversity and Vitality Reflected in Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Longlist

Books that explore issues of identity, domestic life, war, food, our natural world and our people are among the 40 works of poetry, prose and non-fiction longlisted for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards announced today.

The works, selected from 179 entries, range from intimate to global in scale and traverse cultural, historic, artistic and imagined landscapes.

There are 13 first-time authors among the longlistees, a testament to the vibrancy of our country's literature says New Zealand Book Awards trustee Jenna Todd.

“There is such vitality in this year’s longlist, demonstrated by a diverse group, and including young and first-time authors. Half of this year’s Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction longlistees are debut novelists, which is extraordinary. They sit alongside some of our greatest living writers.

“There’s a year’s worth of reading here for those seeking considered perspectives on our modern zeitgeist, for readers wanting to be wowed by the beauty of art and nature, or for those wanting to escape into imagined realities.

“With writing and publishing of this calibre, it’s no surprise that New Zealand’s book boom continues.”

Revenue from sales of New Zealand-published adult books captured by Nielsen BookScan in 2020 was up 12.5 percent on the year before, despite the challenges of the pandemic. Submissions to the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards have increased by 16 percent over the last two years.

The Awards also attracted a new sponsor this year. Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand has secured naming rights to the Illustrated Non-Fiction category for the next five years.

Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand chair Juliet Blyth says the association – which celebrates its centenary this year – is beyond delighted to support the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, and the authors and illustrators who contribute so much to our cultural life. “Booksellers around the country hold these awards in high esteem, and the impact the awards have on sales of New Zealand books is immediate.

“Throughout 2020, booksellers around the country enjoyed the support of many New Zealanders reading more and buying locally. We wanted to demonstrate our appreciation, on behalf of our members, by giving back to the industry, the writers, the illustrators and the publishers who have created so many wonderful stories for booksellers to put on their shelves,” says Ms Blyth.

The 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlisted works are:

Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction

• Nothing to See by Pip Adam (Victoria University Press)
• Bug Week by Airini Beautrais (Victoria University Press)
• Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey (Victoria University Press)
• Sprigs by Brannavan Gnanalingam (Lawrence & Gibson)
• Victory Park by Rachel Kerr (Mākaro Press)
• The Swimmers by Chloe Lane (Victoria University Press)
• Fake Baby by Amy McDaid (Penguin, Penguin Random House)
• 2000ft Above Worry Level by Eamonn Marra (Victoria University Press)
• Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason (Fourth Estate, HarperCollins)
• Toto Among the Murderers by Sally J Morgan (John Murray Press, Hachette)

Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry

• The Savage Coloniser Book by Tusiata Avia (Victoria University Press)
• Funkhaus by Hinemoana Baker (Victoria University Press)
• Far-Flung by Rhian Gallagher (Auckland University Press)
• National Anthem by Mohamed Hassan (Dead Bird Books)
• Wow by Bill Manhire (Victoria University Press)
• Goddess Muscle by Karlo Mila (Huia Publishers)
• Pins by Natalie Morrison (Victoria University Press)
• This is Your Real Name by Elizabeth Morton (Otago University Press)
• I Am a Human Being by Jackson Nieuwland (Compound Press)
• Magnolia 木蘭 by Nina Mingya Powles (Seraph Press)
  

Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction

• Marti Friedlander: Portraits of the Artists by Leonard Bell (Auckland University Press)
• Hiakai: Modern Māori Cuisine by Monique Fiso (Godwit, Penguin Random House)
• An Exquisite Legacy: The Life and Work of New Zealand Naturalist G.V. Hudson by George Gibbs (Potton & Burton)
• Observations of a Rural Nurse by Sara McIntyre (Massey University Press)
• Shining Land: Looking for Robin Hyde by Paula Morris and Haru Sameshima (Massey University Press)
• Off the Beaten Track: Hunting Tales from the New Zealand Back Country by Dave Shaw (Bateman Books)
• Colin McCahon: Is this the Promised Land? Vol. 2 1960-1987 by Peter Simpson (Auckland University Press)
• Nature — Stilled by Jane Ussher (Te Papa Press)
• Karl Maughan edited by Hannah Valentine and Gabriella Stead (Auckland University Press and Gow Langsford Gallery)
• Endless Sea: Stories Told Through the Taonga of the New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui te Ananui a Tangaroa by Frances Walsh and Jane Ussher (Massey University Press)

General Non-Fiction Award

• The Mirror Steamed Over: Love and Pop in London, 1962 by Anthony Byrt (Auckland University Press)
• Crossing the Lines: The Story of Three Homosexual Soldiers in World War II by Brent Coutts (Otago University Press)
• Not in Narrow Seas: The Economic History of Aotearoa New Zealand by Brian Easton (Victoria University Press)
• Bus Stops on the Moon: Red Mole Days 1974-1980 by Martin Edmond (Otago University Press)
• Specimen: Personal Essays by Madison Hamill (Victoria University Press)
• This Pākehā Life: An Unsettled Memoir by Alison Jones (Bridget Williams Books)
• Te Hāhi Mihinare |The Māori Anglican Church by Hirini Kaa (Bridget Williams Books)
• The Dark is Light Enough: Ralph Hotere a Biographical Portrait by Vincent O’Sullivan (Penguin, Penguin Random House)
• You Have A Lot to Lose: A Memoir 1956-1986 by C.K. Stead (Auckland University Press)
• Towards Compostela: Walking the Camino de Santiago by Catharina van Bohemen (The Cuba Press)

The 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlist of 16 titles will be announced on 3 March 2021. The winners, including the four MitoQ Best First Book awards, will be announced at a public ceremony on 12 May during the 2021 Auckland Writers Festival.

To find out more about the longlisted titles go tohttp://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/2021-awards/longlist/

The Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, which offers $57,000 to the winner in 2021, will be judged by writer and reviewer Kiran Dass; books editor and award-winning feature writer Paul Little; and writer Claire Finlayson, former Programme Director of the Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival. They will be joined by an international judge, whose identity will be revealed in March 2021, to decide the ultimate winner from their shortlist of four.

Finalists and the ultimate winner in the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry will be selected by writer, poet, academic and 2018 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards finalist Briar Wood (Te Hikutu ki Hokianga, Ngāpuhi Nui); teacher and award-winning poet and novelist Anne Kennedy; and professor of English at the University of Otago Jacob Edmond.

The Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction will be judged by Dale Cousens (Ngāruahine)of the National Library of New Zealand; bookseller and former publisher Brian Phillips; and writer, multi-award-winning graphic designer and magazine art director Jenny Nicholls.

The General Non-Fiction Award will be judged by editor and associate professor of English at the University of Waikato Sarah Shieff; filmmaker and lecturer in Māori history at Victoria University Wellington Arini Loader (Ngāti Raukawa, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Ngāti Whakaue); and Dunedin bookseller Michael Yeomans.

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