The New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa and Text Publishing are delighted to announce the longlist for the Michael Gifkins Prize for an Unpublished Novel 2024.

The longlisted writers are: Geoff Allen, Shriya Bhagwat, Jeffrey Buchanan, Tina Cartwright, Helen E Crampton, Amanda Hanan, Patrick Hunn, Hank Lloyd, Christopher Matson, JS Michaels, Kiri Rodwell, Meredyth Tamsyn, and Casey Taylor.

This year’s longlist of 13 high-quality manuscripts were selected by New Zealand writers Michelle Elvy and Ruby Porter. They commented: ‘We noticed strong themes in the works submitted, connecting current-day conflict with historically rooted issues or future-imagined realities. There are inventive settings and well-realised characters. Voice is particularly vibrant in some; dialogue is pacey and well-tuned in others. Politics are never very far from any of these realities. Overall, we find these manuscripts display imaginative writing of the spaces and conundrums faced by their heroes and anti-heroes. There is careful attention to time and place, and many capture a locally situated sense of land, sea and air. We admire the ambition of these entries and feel they all deserve a place on the long list. Congratulations to the longlisted writers!’

The shortlist for the Michael Gifkins Prize for an Unpublished Novel 2024 will be announced on 17 May.

Previous winners of the Gifkins Prize are Ruby Porter (Attraction), Tom Remiger (Soldiers), Gigi Fenster (A Good Winter), Tom Baragwanath (Paper Cage) and Emma Ling Sidnam (Backwaters), and Tina Shaw with A House Built on Sand which is scheduled for publication August 2024.

The Gifkins Prize is made possible by a generous financial commitment from the Gifkins family and from Text Publishing. It is administered by the NZ Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa (PEN NZ Inc). Entries for the 2025 prize will open in late July.