News

• Australian Residency for NZ Writers – applications open

  12-03-2025

  New Zealand’s national writer-residency organisation announces its 2025 International Residency with Australia.

  The Michael King Writers Centre in association with Varuna, The National Writers’ House in Katoomba, NSW, Australia is pleased to announce for the fourth time, a residency in Australia for New Zealand writers. The writer awarded the residency will receive return flights to Sydney, four weeks accommodation and meals at Varuna and the opportunity to appear at the Blue Mountains Writers’ Festival. The residency is from 20 October – 17 November 2025.

  Applications open Tuesday 11 March and close Monday 31 March 2025. For the application form and more details see here.

  For more information on the exchange see Michael King Writers Centre Website.

• Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2025 Finalists Announced

  05-03-2025

  Congratulations to the Ockhams shortlisters!

  The $65,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction in the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards will be contested by three former winners of the award – Laurence Fearnley, Kirsty Gunn and Damien Wilkins – and Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner Tina Makereti.

  The four novelists are joined by a further 12 acclaimed and debut authors of books of memoir, poetry, history, art and te ao Māori on the Ockhams shortlist announced today. These 16 finalists were selected from a longlist of 43 books by panels of specialist judges across four categories: fiction, poetry, illustrated non-fiction, and general non-fiction.

  Fearnley, who won the fiction prize in 2011 for The Hut Builder, is a finalist for At the Grand Glacier Hotel; Gunn, whose novel The Big Music was judged Book of the Year in 2013, is shortlisted for the short story collection Pretty Ugly; Wilkins, who won the fiction award for The Miserables in 1994 and was runner-up in 2001 and 2007 is a finalist with Delirious; and Makereti, who won the 2016 Pacific Region Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize, is a finalist for The Mires.

  The finalists in the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry are the acclaimed poet, essayist and novelist C.K. Stead (In the Half Light of a Dying Day), who is 92 years old; award-winning poet and novelist Emma Neale (Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit); literary polymath Robert Sullivan (Hopurangi – Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka); and poet and song writer Richard von Sturmer (Slender Volumes).

  In the running for the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction are four senior curators at our national museum, Te Papa: Athol McCredie (Leslie Adkin: Farmer Photographer); and Matiu Baker, Katie Cooper, Rebecca Rice and museum research associate Michael Fitgerald (Te Ata o Tū The Shadow of Tūmatauenga: The New Zealand Wars Collections of Te Papa). They are up against former Book of the Year winner Jill Trevelyan and her co-authors Jennifer Taylor and Greg Donson (Edith Collier: Early New Zealand Modernist); and eminent academics and authors Deirdre Brown, Ngarino Ellis and the late Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art).

  The 2025 shortlist’s two debut authors are both finalists in this year’s General Non-Fiction category: Flora Feltham (Bad Archive) and Una Cruickshank (The Chthonic Cycle). Esteemed academics Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku (Hine Toa: A Story of Bravery) and Richard Shaw (The Unsettled: Small Stories of Colonisation) join them as finalists in this category.

  The 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards’ winners, including the four Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book Awards recipients, will be announced at a public ceremony on 14 May during the 2025 Auckland Writers Festival.

  The winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction will receive $65,000 and each of the three 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 $3000.

  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 presented by Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand, The Mātātuhi Foundation, and the Auckland Writers Festival.

  For more information on the shortlist and awards see here.

• Rest in Peace Brian Turner

  06-02-2025

  

  We are very sad to farewell Otago poet, creative nonfiction writer, editor and conservationist Brian Turner. The New Zealand Poet Laureate in 2003-05, Brian also had an honorary doctorate of literature from the University of Otago, an ONZM for his services to literature and the environment, the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Poetry, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize and several national book awards for poetry. Brian has written plays and television scripts and his work has appeared in countless magazines, journals and anthologies.

  Vale Brian. Arohanui to Brian’s partner, his family and friends.

• 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Longlist Announced

  30-01-2025

  Congratulations to all those who have made the longlist, in particular the following ANZL fellows and members:

  Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction: 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: 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), The Girls in the Red House are Singing by Tracey Slaughter (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

  General Non-Fiction Award: The Mermaid Chronicles: A Midlife Mer-moir by Megan Dunn (Penguin, Penguin Random House)

  The 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlist of 16 titles (four books in each category) will be announced on 5 March. The winners, including the four Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book Awards recipients, will be 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 in 2025 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.

  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. For more details, including the complete longlisted titles follow this link.  

• 2024 Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement announced

  05-12-2024

  Internationally renowned children’s author Dame Lynley Dodd, historian and environmentalist Neville Peat, and multi-talented poet Apirana Taylor are being recognised for their contributions to literature with this top literary award.

  The Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement is presented annually in three categories: fiction, non-fiction and poetry.  The award is managed by Creative New Zealand and decided by the Arts Council following public nominations and recommendations from an external panel of experts.

  Kent Gardner, Chair of the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa, says this year’s recipients fully embody the spirit of these awards, which take into consideration writers’ national acclaim, international recognition, and leadership within the New Zealand literary sector.

  “All three recipients bring multiple gifts to their work. Dame Lynley Dodd has achieved global success by combining her talents as a writer and illustrator to make reading a joy for countless children. Neville Peat’s natural history writing is compelling for the combination of analytic rigour and passion for the environment. Apirana Taylor’s poetry is product of years of experience writing and performing for the eye, the ear and the stage as an actor and teacher,” Kent says.

  This year’s recipients will be celebrated at an event in Wellington on 12 December to be attended by the Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture & Heritage. For more information see here.

• Mātātuhi Foundation’s record funding round ends 2024 on a high note.

  21-11-2024

  Congratulations to ANZL Gigi Fenster who has been awarded a Mātātuhi Foundation to develop close reading resources to promote and support the study of Aotearoa New Zealand literary masters in secondary and tertiary organisations.

  Following the release of a new set of funding criteria in July, including an increase in grant size from $5,000 to $20,000, the Mātātuhi Foundation is proud to announce record funding for five more initiatives under the categories: Legacy Projects, Platform and Children’s Literature. Grants to date have supported workshops, websites, podcasts, digital resources, and community projects, including those that celebrate and preserve our literary history. For more information and list of initiatives on this round see here.

• NZ Booklovers Awards 2025 – open for entries

  14-11-2024

  Entries are open for books published between 1 January and 31 December 2024. The prize is $500 for each category to the winning author. Shortlist announced 20 February 2025, and winners announced 20 March 2025. Find out more and enter here.

• NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize 2025 – open for applications

  05-11-2024

  The NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize celebrates the life and work of the writer Laura Solomon. As set by Laura, the main criteria for the exciting prize is for new writing with a ‘unique and original vision’. Published and unpublished writers are invited to enter with completed manuscripts written across all genres i.e. fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, drama or children’s writing.

  

  The NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize:

  – paves the way for new and exciting writing to make its way into the market place

  – awards the winner an ‘advance’ of $1000 and a publishing contract supplied by The Cuba Press

  – pays for the book production and printing. The Cuba Press will edit, design, print, market, distribute and promote the book and e-book and pay standard author royalties

  The prize is open to writers holding New Zealand citizenship or who are permanent residents of New Zealand.

  Applications are open from 5 November 2024 to 13 March 2024

  The application form and  terms & conditions for the NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize are available on the NZSA website, authors.org.nz

• Alison Wong 2024 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate

  21-10-2024

  Congratulations to Alison Wong, 2024 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate, who has received the Burr/Tatham Trust Award recognising her contributions to literature.  Her debut novel As the Earth Turns Silver, a decade in the making, won awards and received international success. In recent years she co-edited, with Paula Morris, A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand – the first-ever anthology of Asian New Zealand creative writing. The Arts Foundation panel describe Alison’s writing as “speaking to the complex richness of our social history and diasporic experiences.”

• Surrey Hotel Writers Residency Announced

  16-10-2024

  Paula Morris (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāti Manuhiri) has won the Surrey Hotel Writers Residency Award in association with Newsroom and Jude and Dick Frizzell. The prize is $3000 and a week’s stay at the Surrey. A past winner of the national fiction prize for her novel Rangatira (2012), who also won the best first book of fiction prize with her debut Queen of Beauty (2003), Morris intends to work on her novel in progress about three Māori living in Britain at the time of the Brexit vote.

• RIP Fleur Adcock 1934-2024

  14-10-2024

  We are saddened to hear of the passing of ANZL Fellow Fleur Adcock, aged 90, whose style is often described as cool, observational and slyly ironic, and whose talent Carol Ann Duffy described as like ‘a razor blade in a peach’. To one of our most celebrated poets, rest in peace.

  

• Bidding War for Catherine Chidgey’s Ninth Novel

  26-09-2024

  Rights to internationally acclaimed New Zealand author Catherine Chidgey’s ninth novel, The Book of Guilt, have been bought by UK publishing house John Murray at a contested auction which will see the novel published in New Zealand and globally in May 2025.

  John Murray is one of Britain’s most esteemed publishers. Established in 1768, its publishing canon includes Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, Jane Austen’s Emma, Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and more recently Booker shortlisted Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies and Stephen Hawking’s final book, Brief Answers to the Big Questions.

  New Zealand rights for The Book of Guilt remain with Te Herenga Waka University Press, the publishing house behind Catherine Chidgey since her first novel In A Fishbone Church, was published in 1998.

  Rights to The Book of Guilt have already been sold to Reagan Arthur for her new Hachette Book Group US imprint, as well as Knopf in Canada, Penguin Random House in Australia and Heyne in Germany.

  Catherine Chidgey says she is delighted to be joining John Murray and to see The Book of Guilt strike a chord with so many stellar international publishers.

  ‘I like to challenge myself with each new book, and I can’t wait for readers to engage with this story – my first foray into dystopian fiction,’ she says.

  Catherine says she is excited to be working with Te Herenga Waka University Press for The Book of Guilt and sharing this story with Aotearoa New Zealand readers.

• Ockham NZ Book Awards 2025 Judges’ Announcement

  12-09-2024

  Award-winning writers, journalists, reviewers, respected academics, curators and booksellers are among the 12 experts selected to judge the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

  The $65,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction will be judged by novelist, short story writer and lecturer in creative writing Thom Conroy (convenor); bookshop owner and reviewer Carole Beu; and author, educator and writing mentor Tania Roxborogh (Ngāti Porou). They will be joined in deciding the ultimate winner from their shortlist of four by an international judge.

  Judging the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry will be poet, critic and writer David Eggleton (convenor); poet, novelist and short story writer Elizabeth Smither MNZM; and writer and editor Jordan Tricklebank (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Mahuta).

  The General Non-Fiction Award will be judged by author, writer and facilitator Holly Walker (convenor); author, editor and historical researcher Ross Calman (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tahu); and communications professional, writer and editor Gilbert Wong.

  The Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction will be judged by former Alexander Turnbull chief librarian and author Chris Szekely (convenor); arts advocate Jessica Palalagi; and historian and social history curator Kirstie Ross.

  New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa chair Nicola Legat says each of this year’s judging panels represent a wide range of readers and experts in literature.

  “These awards are high stakes for longlisted, shortlisted and winning authors and so it’s critical to get it right. These 12 fine judges have great depths of knowledge and diversities of experience, as befits their responsibilities,” she says.

  The New Zealand Book Awards Trust is currently inviting submissions for the second tranche of entries for the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Online entries for titles published between 1 September 2024 and 31 December 2024 opened on Thursday 12 September and close 5pm on Wednesday 23 October 2024. Submissions for titles published between 1 January and 31 August 2024 have closed. 

  Click here for eligibility criteria and a Call for Entries information pack, then enter online here.

  Category longlists will be announced on 30 January 2025, and the shortlist of 16 books on 5 March 2025.The finalists and winners will be celebrated on 14 May 2025 at an awards ceremony held as part of the Auckland Writers Festival.

  The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are supported by Ockham Residential, Creative New Zealand, the late Jann Medlicott MNZM and the Acorn Foundation, Mary and Peter Biggs CNZM, Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand, The Mātātuhi Foundation and the Auckland Writers Festival.

• Moth Short Story Prize Winner announced

  30-08-2024

  Tracey Slaughter’s ‘reasons to end us (an aerial view)’ has been crowned winner of the £3,000 Moth Short Story Prize. Her story will be published as part of the summer fiction series in the Irish Times. In 2018, Slaughter was awarded second prize for “Postcards are a Thing of the Past”.

  The Moth Short Story Prize is an international prize, open to anyone from anywhere in the world, as long as their story is original and previously unpublished. This year’s judge was Louise Kennedy.

• Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship announced!

  18-08-2024

  Selina Tusitala Marsh has been awarded the 2024 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship. She will be the first female Pacific writer to receive this honour, marking a significant moment in recognising Pacific voices in Aotearoa New Zealand’s literary landscape.

  Established in 1970, the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship is one of New Zealand’s most prestigious and long-running Fellowships. It offers New Zealand writers the opportunity to live and write for three months or more in Menton, southern France, working on their chosen project or projects. The Fellowship provides a grant of $43,000 to cover travel, insurance, living, and accommodation costs.