WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2026
Jacinda Ardern’s memoir a finalist in the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2026
Oxford fellow and former New Zealand Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern’s first book, A Different Kind of Power, has made the shortlist of the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
Ardern’s memoir is one of four finalists announced today in the awards’ General Non-Fiction category. She is up against journalist and natural history writer Naomi Arnold’s Northbound: Four Seasons of Solitude on Te Araroa; TV producer/director, documentary maker and writer Peta Carey’s The Hollows Boys: A Story of Three Brothers & the Fiordland Deer Recovery Era; and This Compulsion in Us by novelist, essayist, short story writer and creative writing teacher Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā).
The awards’ General Non-Fiction category convenor of judges Philip Matthews says the shortlisted books are highly readable works that give honest impressions of this country and its people.
“The final four were elevated by artful writing and personal reflections that also offered profound insights. Each came as a surprise, even to those who thought they knew the story,” he adds.
The four General Non-Fiction finalists are joined on the shortlist by a further 12 writers, across the genres of fiction, poetry, history, botany, art and te ao Māori. These 16 finalists were selected by panels of specialist judges from a longlist of 44 books across four categories: fiction, poetry, illustrated non-fiction and general non-fiction.
Internationally acclaimed New Zealand writer Catherine Chidgey is in the running for the awards’ $65,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction with The Book of Guilt. She has won the award twice before – the only author to have done so – for The Wish Child in 2017 and The Axeman’s Carnival in 2023.
Contesting Chidgey for this, the country’s richest writing prize, is creative writing teacher, poet, travel writer and essayist Ingrid Horrocks with All Her Lives; poet and short story writer Laura Vincent (Ngāti Māhanga, Ngāpuhi) with Hoods Landing; and artist and author Sam Mahon with How to Paint a Nude.
The awards’ fiction category convenor of judges, Craig Cliff, says these four books indicate the breadth and brio of fiction being produced in Aotearoa today.
“You laugh, you shudder, you are pulled along by character and voice and plot. Set in different time periods and across the globe, these four authors speak directly to the contemporary concerns of New Zealanders. How free are we really? How much have attitudes to gender and sexuality actually changed? What might be killing us and what sustains us?” he says.
As in previous years, the fiction panel will be joined by an overseas judge when it makes its deliberations about the winner. This year that judge is Leslie Hurtig, the artistic director of the Vancouver Writers Fest and a respected Canadian literary juror.
The finalists in the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry are poet and academic Anna Jackson for Terrier, Worrier: A Poem in Five Parts; poet and critic Erik Kennedy for Sick Power Trip; and debut poets Sophie van Waardenberg for No Good and Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu) for Black Sugarcane.
“As judges we were filled with imagination and excitement, and we were also torn by the reasoning, culture, storytelling and language of the high-quality poetry collections in this year’s submissions,” says category convenor of judges Daren Kamali. “We salute the four finalists, from the island realness of Black Sugarcane and the love, loss and distance in No Good, to long COVID in Sick Power Trip and the shape and form of Terrier, Worrier.”
The authors in the running for the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction are emeritus professor of history Charlotte Macdonald for Garrison World: Redcoat Soldiers in New Zealand and Across the British Empire; first-time author and emeritus professor of botany Philip Garnock-Jones for He Puāwai: A Natural History of New Zealand Flowers; art curator Sarah Farrar for Mark Adams: A Survey – He Kohinga Whakaahua; and historian Elizabeth Cox for Mr Ward’s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street.
The category’s convenor of judges Lauren Gutsell says books that complicate what we think about ourselves, our history, and the land we live on comprise this year’s shortlist.
“These four titles each bring new understandings of their subject matter, not only through research and narrative but through photography, artwork, illustration, and mapping. Each book makes a notable contribution to our understanding of our country,” she says.
Nicola Legat, spokesperson for the New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa, says this year’s shortlisted books are fresh, reflective, and pack a punch.
“It’s a very exciting finalist list – 16 titles that readers of any genre will enjoy. They have been beautifully crafted by their authors and produced with great care by their publishers. The Book Awards Trust salutes them all.”
The 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlisted titles are:
*represents debut authors
Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction
All Her Lives by Ingrid Horrocks (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Hoods Landing by Laura Vincent (Ngāti Māhanga, Ngāpuhi) (Āporo Press)
How to Paint a Nude by Sam Mahon (Ugly Hill Press)
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry
Black Sugarcane by Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu) (Te Herenga Waka University Press)*
No Good by Sophie van Waardenberg (Auckland University Press)*
Sick Power Trip by Erik Kennedy (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Terrier, Worrier: A Poem in Five Parts by Anna Jackson (Auckland University Press)
BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
Garrison World: Redcoat Soldiers in New Zealand and Across the British Empire by Charlotte Macdonald (Bridget Williams Books)
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)
General Non-Fiction Award
A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, Penguin Random House)*
Northbound: Four Seasons of Solitude on Te Araroa by Naomi Arnold (HarperCollins Aotearoa New Zealand)
The Hollows Boys: A Story of Three Brothers & the Fiordland Deer Recovery Era by Peta Carey (Potton & Burton)
This Compulsion in Us by Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā) (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
The 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards winners – including the four Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book Awards recipients and potentially, at the discretion of a specially appointed judge, Te Mūrau o te Tuhi Māori Language Award – will be announced at a public ceremony on 13 May during the Auckland Writers Festival.
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 Best First Book winners, for fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction, will be awarded $3,000.
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 finalists book covers here
Download finalists author images here
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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 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards judges are: For the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction: 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). For the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry: poet, musician and multi-disciplinary artist Daren Kamali (convenor); poet, writer, performer and editor Jordan Hamel; and writer, musician and translator Claudia Jardine. For the General Non-Fiction Award: 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. And for the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction: 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.
Leslie Hurtig is Artistic Director of the Vancouver Writers Fest. She has worked in a range of senior positions across the Canadian literary landscape for the last 35 years. In addition to curating year-round and festival events, Leslie regularly moderates literary conversations, acts as juror for a number of prizes, and sits on the board of the Canadian Association of Literary Festivals and organizing committee for the Global Association of Literary Festivals.
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.
