Longlists for New Zealand’s Premier Literary Awards Revealed
Books exploring politics, fashion, social change, war, contested histories and family relationships sit alongside works celebrating our natural world and the enduring legacies of our activists and artists in the longlists for the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
Forty poetry, prose and non-fiction titles make up the longlists announced today. Selected from an impressive and highly competitive field of 160 entries, works range from deftly crafted intimate worlds to full-colour books that soar in scope and scale. Ten of the longlisted works are by first-time authors.
New Zealand Book Awards Trust spokesperson Dr Paula Morris says that each of the four longlists speak to the diversity and excellence of books published last year, with both experienced and debut writers represented.
“The range of publishers reflects the ingenuity and high quality across the industry, including the smallest of independents, and the imagination and expertise informing every aspect of our local publishing landscape.”
The 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlisted works are:
*represents debut authors.
Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction
Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry
Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
General Non-Fiction Award
The 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlist of 16 titles will be announced on 2 March.
The Awards welcomed The Crystal Arts Trust as the new sponsor for the Best First Book Awards in November last year. The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards winners, including the four Crystal Arts Trust Best First Book Awards recipients, will be announced at a public ceremony on 11 May during the 2022 Auckland Writers Festival.
To find out more about the longlisted titles go to https://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/2022-awards/longlist/
The Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, which offers $60,000 to the winner in 2022, is judged by Otago Daily Times journalist and books editor Rob Kidd; Booksellers Aotearoa’s programme coordinator and avid reader Gemma Browne; and award-winning writer and freelance oral historian/researcher Kelly Ana Morey (Ngāti Kurī, Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri). They will be joined by an international writer in deciding the ultimate winner from their shortlist of four.
The Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry is judged by author, poet, reviewer and teacher Saradha Koirala;internationally published and award-winning poet, playwright, short story writer and novelist Apirana Taylor (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau ā Apanui, Ngāti Ruanui and Te Āti Awa); and writer, editor and bookseller Jane Arthur.
The Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction is judged by museum curator Chanel Clarke (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Porou, Waikato Tainui); photographer, author and urbanist Patrick Reynolds;and former publisher and co-founder of Godwit Press Jane Connor.
The General Non-Fiction Award is judged by poet and non-fiction author, book reviewer and blogger Nicholas Reid, award-winning journalist and photographer Aaron Smale (Ngāti Porou); and poet, historian, former diplomat and Fulbright alumna Leilani Tamu.
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, The Crystal Arts Trust, Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand and the Auckland Writers Festival.