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. Photo: 123RF
The longlist for the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards has been released with 43 titles making the cut.
The awards showcase the best of the country's literary talent - covering poetry, fiction, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction.
Judges whittled 175 entries down to 43.
New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa chair Nicola Legat said it was a fantastic line-up.
"Across poetry, prose and non-fiction the list includes books by some of our finest thinkers and most inventive writers. Some tackle today's burning issues and others are entertaining and escapist reads," she said.
"Quite a few of winners in previous years have got books here, such as Diana Wichtel, Becky Manawatu and Vincent O'Malley, so it's really a year for the heavy hitters to return to form."
"There are young poets, there's also probably our most distinguished older poet C.K. Stead who is 90. Really strong compelling books across all the categories, it's been a really fantastic year for publishing."
Legat said the shortlist of 16 titles would be released on 5 March, with the winners announced at a public ceremony on 14 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 Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book winners (for fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction) will be awarded $3,000.
Legat said the Trust was grateful for the support of organisations and individuals.
"New Zealand publishing is a tough sector to be in, it doesn't receive the big government funding or any sort of funding other sectors attract, so we are really grateful to all those organisations that help us run the awards and offer prize money to authors which can often just make such a difference, because it's a very difficult field to make your way in with not many financial awards," she said.
Photo: Supplied/ONZBA
The 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlisted books are:
*represents debut authors
Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction
All That We Know by Shilo Kino (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Maniapoto) (Moa Press)
Amma by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press)*
Ash by Louise Wallace (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
At the Grand Glacier Hotel by Laurence Fearnley (Penguin, Penguin Random House)
Delirious by Damien Wilkins (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Kataraina by Becky Manawatu (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe, Waitaha) (Mākaro Press)
Poorhara by Michelle Rahurahu (Ngāti Rahurahu, Ngāti Tahu-Ngāti Whaoa) (Te Herenga Waka University Press)*
Pretty Ugly by Kirsty Gunn (Otago University Press)
The Mires by Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā) (Ultimo Press)
The Royal Free by Carl Shuker (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry
Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud by Lee Murray (The Cuba Press)
Hibiscus Tart by Carin Smeaton (Titus Books)
Hopurangi - Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka by Robert Sullivan (Ngāpuhi, Kāi Tahu) (Auckland University Press)
In the Half Light of a Dying Day by C.K. Stead (Auckland University Press)
Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit by Emma Neale (Otago University Press)
Manuali ʻi by Rex Letoa Paget (Saufoʻi Press)*
/Slanted by Alison Glenny (Compound Press)
Slender Volumes by Richard von Sturmer (Spoor Books)
Slim Volume by James Brown (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
The Girls in the Red House are Singing by Tracey Slaughter (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction
A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa by Catherine Hammond and Shaun Higgins (Auckland University Press)
Edith Collier: Early New Zealand Modernist by Jill Trevelyan, Jennifer Taylor and Greg Donson (Massey University Press)
Fenoga Tāonga Niue I Aotearoa: Niue Heritage Journey in Aotearoa by Molima Nolly Pihigia, Toluma'anave Barbara Makuati-Afitu, Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai, Hikule'o Fe'aomoeako Melaia Māhina and Janson Chau (Mafola Press)
Force of Nature Te Aumangea o Te Ao Tūroa: A Conservation History of Forest & Bird 1923-2023 by David Young and Naomi Arnold (Potton & Burton)
Golden Enterprise: New Zealand Chinese Merchants 1860s-1970s by Phoebe H. Li (Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust)
Leslie Adkin: Farmer Photographer by Athol McCredie (Te Papa Press)
Sam the Trap Man: Cracking Yarns and Tall Tales from the Bush by Sam Gibson (Allen & Unwin New Zealand)*
Sight Lines: Women and Art in Aotearoa by Kirsty Baker (Auckland University Press)*
Te Ata o Tū The Shadow of Tūmatauenga: The New Zealand Wars Collections of Te Papa by Matiu Baker (Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Whakaue), Katie Cooper, Michael Fitzgerald and Rebecca Rice (Te Papa Press)
Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art by Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) and Ngarino Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou) with Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī) (Auckland University Press)
General Non-Fiction Award
Bad Archive by Flora Feltham (Te Herenga Waka University Press)*
Becoming Aotearoa: A New History of New Zealand by Michael Belgrave (Massey University Press)
Feijoa: A Story of Obsession & Belonging by Kate Evans (Moa Press)*
Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker (Massey University Press)
Hine Toa: A Story of Bravery by Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku (Te Arawa, Tūhoe, Ngāpuhi, Waikato) (HarperCollins Publishers Aotearoa New Zealand)
Kahurangi: The Nature of Kahurangi National Park and Northwest Nelson by Dave Hansford (Potton & Burton)
The Beautiful Afternoon by Airini Beautrais (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
The Chthonic Cycle by Una Cruickshank (Te Herenga Waka University Press)*
The Invasion of Waikato Te Riri ki Tainui by Vincent O'Malley (Bridget Williams Books)
The Mermaid Chronicles: A Midlife Mer-moir by Megan Dunn (Penguin, Penguin Random House)
The Twisted Chain by Jason Gurney (Ngāpuhi) (Otago University Press)*
The Unsettled: Small Stories of Colonisation by Richard Shaw (Massey University Press)
Unreel: A Life in Review by Diana Wichtel (Penguin, Penguin Random House)
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, Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand, The Mātātuhi Foundation and the Auckland Writers Festival.
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