5.00AM, THURSDAY 29 JANUARY 2026
Authors’ creativity, intellect and determination recognised
Authors who are unafraid to tackle the pressing moments of our past, present and future dominate the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist announced today.
Among the 44 powerful, page-turning books are jaw-dropping true stories, fascinating histories, best-selling novels and incisive poetry collections.
They were selected from 178 entries and are represented by a record 23 different publishers. There are nine first time authors in this year’s longlist, three in each of the Poetry, Illustrated Non-Fiction and General Non-Fiction categories. Experienced writers vie for the coveted Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction. One, Catherine Chidgey, has won the award twice before.
New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa chair Nicola Legat says this year’s longlist reflects the extraordinary creativity and intellect of both established and emerging writers, and the determination of their publishers to see the books succeed.
‘This is such an exciting list,’ she says. ‘In a difficult year for the economy and the nation, these authors and their publishers held their nerve and kept the faith, bringing brilliant books and important stories to life.’
‘It is an entertaining, engrossing and enlightening selection. With the 2026 lineup, our judges have gifted the perfect reading-list to booklovers. They now have the challenging task ahead of them of determining the shortlists and the eventual winners,’ she says.
The 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlisted books are:
*represents debut authors
Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction
1985 by Dominic Hoey (Penguin, Penguin Random House)
All Her Lives by Ingrid Horrocks (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Before the Winter Ends by Khadro Mohamed (Tender Press)
Empathy by Bryan Walpert (Mākaro Press)
Hoods Landing by Laura Vincent (Ngāti Māhanga, Ngāpuhi) (Āporo Press)
How to Paint a Nude by Sam Mahon (Ugly Hill Press)
Star Gazers by Duncan Sarkies (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
The Last Living Cannibal by Airana Ngarewa (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Rauru, Ngāruahine) (Moa Press)
Wonderland by Tracy Farr (The Cuba Press)
Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry
Black Sugarcane by Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu) (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Clay Eaters by Gregory Kan (Auckland University Press)
E kō, nō hea koe by Matariki Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Hinerangi) (Dead Bird Books)
Giving Birth to my Father by Tusiata Avia (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
If We Knew How to We Would by Emma Barnes (Auckland University Press)
Joss: A History by Grace Yee (Giramondo Publishing)
No Good by Sophie van Waardenberg (Auckland University Press)
Sick Power Trip by Erik Kennedy (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Standing on my Shadow by Serie Barford (Anahera Press)
Terrier, Worrier: A Poem in Five Parts by Anna Jackson (Auckland University Press)
BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
Atlas of the New Zealand Wars: Volume One 1834-1864, Early Engagements to the Second Taranaki War by Derek Leask (Auckland University Press)
Books of Mana: 180 Māori-Authored Books of Significance edited by Jacinta Ruru (Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui), Angela Walhalla (Kāi Tahu) and Jeanette Wikaira (Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāpuhi) (Otago University Press)
Garrison World: Redcoat Soldiers in New Zealand and Across the British Empire by Charlotte Macdonald (Bridget Williams Books)
Groundwork: The Art and Writing of Emily Cumming Harris by Michele Leggott and Catherine Field-Dodgson (Rongowhakaata, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Te Aitanga a Mahaki) (Te Papa Press)
He Puāwai: A Natural History of New Zealand Flowers by Philip Garnock-Jones (Auckland University Press)
Mark Adams: A Survey – He Kohinga Whakaahua by Sarah Farrar (Massey University Press and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki)
Mr Ward’s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street by Elizabeth Cox (Massey University Press)
Takoto ai te Marino: Selected Works 2018-2025 by Raukura Turei (Ngā Rauru Kītahi, Taranaki, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki), Greta van der Star, Vanessa Green and Katie Kerr (Raukura Turei)*
The Collector: Thomas Cheeseman and the Making of the Auckland Museum by Andrew McKay and Richard Wolfe (Massey University Press)
Whenua edited by Felicity Milburn, Chloe Cull (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāi te Ruahikihiki) and Melanie Oliver (Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū)
General Non-Fiction Award
50 Years of the Waitangi Tribunal: Whakamana i te Tiriti edited by Carwyn Jones (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki) and Maria Bargh (Te Arawa, Ngāti Awa) (Huia Publishers)
A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, Penguin Random House)*
An Uncommon Land: From an Ancestral Past of Enclosure Towards a Regenerative Future by Catherine Knight (Totara Press)
Everything But the Medicine: A Doctor’s Tale by Lucy O’Hagan (Massey University Press)*
Hardship and Hope: Stories of Resistance in the Fight Against Poverty in Aotearoa by Rebecca Macfie (Bridget Williams Books)
Northbound: Four Seasons of Solitude on Te Araroa by Naomi Arnold (HarperCollins Aotearoa New Zealand)
Polkinghorne: Inside the Trial of the Century by Steve Braunias (Allen & Unwin)
Ruth Dallas: A Writer’s Life by Diana Morrow (Otago University Press)
The Covid Response: A Scientist’s Account of New Zealand’s Pandemic and What Comes Next by Shaun Hendy (Bridget Williams Books)
The Hollow Boys: A Story of Three Brothers & the Fiordland Deer Recovery Era by Peta Carey (Potton & Burton)
The Middle of Nowhere: Stories of Working on the Manapōuri Hydro Project by Rosemary Baird (Canterbury University Press)
The Welcome of Strangers: A History of Southern Māori by Atholl Anderson (Bridget Williams Books and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu)
This Compulsion in Us by Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā) (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Tony Fomison: Life of the Artist by Mark Forman (Auckland University Press)*
This year the General Non-Fiction judges have longlisted 14 titles, a discretionary allowance that reflects the number of entries and range of genres in this category.
The 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlist of 16 titles (four books in each category) will be announced on 4 March 2026. The finalists, winners and the four Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book Award recipients will be celebrated on 13 May 2026 at a public ceremony held as part of the Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki.
The winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction will receive $65,000 and each of the other main category winners will receive $12,000. Each of The Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book winners (for fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction) will be awarded $3000.
The Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction is judged by novelist, short story writer and reviewer Craig Cliff (convenor); novelist, poet and Arts Foundation Te Tumi Toi Laureate Alison Wong; and bookseller, writer and reviewer Melissa Oliver (Ngāti Porou).
Judging the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry are poet, musician and multi-disciplinary artist Daren Kamali (convenor); poet, writer, performer and editor Jordan Hamel; and writer, musician and translator Claudia Jardine.
The General Non-Fiction Award judges are journalist, author and reviewer Philip Matthews (convenor); academic and writer Georgina Stewart (Ngāpuhi-nui-tonu, Pare Hauraki); and screen director, producer, and author Dan Salmon.
The BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction is judged by art historian and curator Lauren Gutsell (convenor); photographer, moving-image artist, writer and academic Natalie Robertson (Ngāti Porou, Clann Dhonnchaidh); and non-fiction writer and former magazine editor Rebekah White.
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, The Mātātuhi Foundation and the Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki.
ENDS
Download longlisted book covers here
Editor’s Notes:
In order to support the generosity of the funders associated with these awards, please use the full and correct names for each category prize, as shown in the copy above and below, and for the overall 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, Elizabeth Jones, Garth Biggs, Renée Rowland, Kim Tairi, 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 eleventh 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 $25 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 Te Herenga Waka—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, the Martinborough Music Festival, the Featherston Heritage Festival, and the Wairarapa’s Kokomai Arts Festival. Peter was Chair of Creative New Zealand from 1999 to 2006 and is active across numerous governance roles, including Chair of the Featherston Booktown Trust, which he and Mary founded in 2015. Peter 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 has been the driving force behind the growth and success of the popular annual Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival.
Founded in 1921, Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand is the national association for bookshops. It helps booksellers 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 26 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 12 – 17 May 2026.
