News

• Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2023: Novel that New Zealanders have ‘clasped to their hearts’ wins country’s richest writing prize.

  18-05-2023

  Celebrated New Zealand writer Catherine Chidgey has won the $64,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for The Axeman’s Carnival . It is the second time Catherine Chidgey has won the big-ticket fiction prize  – the first writer to do so. She won the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize in 2017 for The Wish Child. Both books are published by Te Herenga Waka University Press. To find out more about the winners’ books go to http://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/2023-awards/winners/

• The Arts Foundation 2023 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship – applications open

  17-04-2023

  The Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship is for an established creative writer to spend three months or more in Menton in southern France to work on a project or projects. The residency is open to creative writers across all genres including fiction, children’s fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction and playwriting. The successful applicant will become an Arts Foundation Laureate. Applications for the Fellowship are open until 18th June 2023.

• NZ’s national writer-residency organisation announces 2023 International Residency with China

  29-03-2023

  The Michael King Writers Centre in association with the New Zealand China Friendship Society and the Shanghai Writers’ Association is pleased to announce the call for applications for a New Zealand writer to hold a residency in Shanghai.

  The successful writer will receive accommodation in an inner-city apartment, a stipend for living expenses and return economy class air travel. Writers will take part in discussions and literary events as part of the programme. The residency is from 1 September to 31 October 2023 and is open to mid-career or established writers.

  Applications close on Monday 24th April. For the application form and more details see here.

  Since the exchange began in 2013, three writers from Aotearoa have spent time in Shanghai and four Chinese writers have held a residency at the Michael King Writers Centre in Devonport, Auckland.

  In 2018 Frances Edmond was the recipient of the exchange to Shanghai and she wrote ‘One cannot live in a place even for a short time without it becoming a part of the psyche, leaving its imprint on the essence of who you are. The opportunity provided by the Shanghai residency, the experience of living and writing in that enormous, vibrant, hospitable city is a rare gift, one to be treasured and always remembered’. 

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

• Register events now and unleash the power of poetry across Aotearoa on 25 August

  22-03-2023

  National Poetry Day is scheduled for 25 August 2023, and as its administrators open registrations for events and seed-funding, they are inviting organisers across the motu to join in to unleash the uplifting power of poetry. Aotearoa’s much-loved one-day nationwide celebration of poetry – now in its 26^th year – is gearing up for its biggest and most joyous range of events yet, and is encouraging regional organisers to think about all the ways that poets and poetry can soothe, delight and rejuvenate as they plan their 25 August activities.

  NPD’s national coordinator Erica Stretton encourages organisers to register early to access seed-funding, promotional materials, guidance, and to be included in the heavily promoted official calendar of NPD 2023 events.

  Interested organisers will find registration documents, templates and a full range of useful planning and promotional resources on the NPD website at www.poetryday.co.nz. Applications for seed funding close at 5pm on 1 June 2023. The official Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day 2023 calendar will be announced on 2 August. For further information contact NPD national coordinator Erica Stretton at poetryday@nzbookawards.org.nz and to keep up with plans for NPD 2023, follow NZPoetryDay on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

• Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Shortlist Announced

  08-03-2023

  Bestselling books by both debut writers and established literary luminaries feature among the 16 finalists in the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards announced today.

  The shortlist – selected from a longlist of 44 books by four panels of specialist judges (for fiction, poetry, illustrated non-fiction and general non-fiction) – offers entertaining and enriching reading experiences that traverse Aotearoa’s cultural and physical landscapes, revealing relationships and deepening our understanding of the world.

  The 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlisted titles are:

  *represents debut authors

  Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction

  Better the Blood by Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) (Simon & Schuster)

  Kāwai: For Such a Time as This by Monty Soutar (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngāti Kahungunu) (Bateman Books)

  Mrs Jewell and the Wreck of the General Grant by Cristina Sanders (The Cuba Press)

  The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

  Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry

  Always Italicise: How to Write While Colonised by Alice Te Punga Somerville (Te Āti Awa, Taranaki) (Auckland University Press)

  People Person by Joanna Cho (Te Herenga Waka University Press)*

  Sedition by Anahera Maire Gildea (Ngāti Tukorehe) (Taraheke | Bush Lawyer)*

  We’re All Made of Lightning by Khadro Mohamed (We Are Babies Press, Tender Press)*

  Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction

  Jumping Sundays: The Rise and Fall of the Counterculture in Aotearoa New Zealand by Nick Bollinger (Auckland University Press)

  Robin White: Something is Happening Here edited by Sarah Farrar, Jill Trevelyan and Nina Tonga (Te Papa Press and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki)

  Secrets of the Sea: The Story of New Zealand’s Native Sea Creatures by Robert Vennell (HarperCollins)

  Te Motunui Epa by Rachel Buchanan (Taranaki, Te Ātiawa) (Bridget Williams Books)

  General Non-Fiction Award

  A Fire in the Belly of Hineāmaru: A Collection of Narratives about Te Tai Tokerau Tūpuna by Melinda Webber (Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whakaue) and Te Kapua O’Connor (Ngāti Kurī, Pohūtiare) (Auckland University Press)

  Downfall: The Destruction of Charles Mackay by Paul Diamond (Ngāti Hauā, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi)

  (Massey University Press)

  Grand: Becoming my Mother’s Daughter by Noelle McCarthy (Penguin, Penguin Random House)*

  The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi by Ned Fletcher (Bridget Williams Books)*

  The 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards’ winners, including four Best First Book Awards recipients which are this year supported by the Mātātuhi Foundation, will be announced at a public ceremony on 17 May during the 2023 Auckland Writers Festival.

  The winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction will receive $64,000 in 2023 and each of the other main category prizes will earn their winners $12,000 (up from $10,000 in recent years). Each of the Best First Book winners, for fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction, will be awarded $3000 (up from $2500).

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

  To find out more about the shortlisted titles go to https://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/2023-awards/shortlist/

• Summer Writing Seminars at the University of Auckland

  07-02-2023

  On Saturday 11 March (NOTE NEW DATE!) the UoA is offering a day on campus for writers to hone their skills in a packed programme of in-depth craft seminars and Professional Development sessions. The Summer Writing Seminars are taught by creative writers Paula Morris, Selina Tusitala Marsh, Ruby Porter, Sonya Wilson, Pip McKay and Jack Remiel Cottrell. 

  There are twelve sessions. Participants can choose one session from each time slot for a four-session package. For the full programme (and writer bios), and to book a place, please visit this link.

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• Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Longlist Breaks All Records

  02-02-2023

  Highly personal memoir, probing political treatise and gut-punching poetry collections sit alongside trailblazing fiction and books exploring our whenua, moana, artists and entertainers in the longlists for the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

  Today’s longlist announcement is the largest and widest ranging in the recent history of the awards, with a record number of 44 poetry, prose, general and illustrated non-fiction titles.

  The increase from 40 longlisted titles in previous years is due to the General Non-Fiction judges accepting an invitation from the New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa to select up to 14 titles, rather than the standard 10 in their category. The General Non-Fiction shortlist will still be four, in line with the other categories.

  Trust chair Nicola Legat says that the discretionary increase reflects the volume of submissions for the General Non-Fiction award, the number and range of which well exceeds the other three categories.

  “This gives the judges more opportunity to honour more books, and more types of books. This category longlist certainly reflects the terrific depth and breadth of non-fiction publishing in New Zealand and is a credit to its authors and publishers.”

  There were 191 award entries this year – more than ever before, and an increase of 20 percent compared to 2022. Almost a third (14) of longlistees are first-time authors – an increase from 10 debutants on the 40-strong list last year. With 19 publishers represented across all categories, the longlist’s wide distribution is a reflection of Aotearoa’s vibrant literary industry.

  “The New Zealand Book Awards Trust was thrilled by the record number of entries to the awards this year. It’s very heartening to see the longlist shared among so many publishing houses, both big and small,” says Nicola Legat. “When you consider that many of these books were produced and went to print during the stressful Covid restrictions of late 2021, it’s even more of an achievement. We congratulate all concerned.”

  The 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlisted titles are:

  *represents debut authors.

  Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction

  Better the Blood by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster)

  Chevalier & Gawayn: The Ballad of the Dreamer by Phillip Mann (Quentin Wilson Publishing)

  Down from Upland by Murdoch Stephens (Lawrence & Gibson)

  Home Theatre by Anthony Lapwood (Te Herenga Waka University Press)*

  How to Loiter in a Turf War by Coco Solid (Penguin, Penguin Random House)*

  Kāwai: For Such a Time as This by Monty Soutar (Bateman Books)

  Mary’s Boy, Jean-Jacques and other stories by Vincent O’Sullivan (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

  Mrs Jewell and the Wreck of the General Grant by Cristina Sanders (The Cuba Press)

  The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

  The Fish by Lloyd Jones (Penguin, Penguin Random House)

  Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry

  Always Italicise: How to Write While Colonised by Alice Te Punga Somerville (Auckland University Press)

  Echidna by Essa May Ranapiri (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

  Meat Lovers by Rebecca Hawkes (Auckland University Press)*

  Night School by Michael Steven (Otago University Press)

  People Person by Joanna Cho (Te Herenga Waka University Press)*

  Sedition by Anahera Maire Gildea (Taraheke | Bush Lawyer)*

  Super Model Minority by Chris Tse (Auckland University Press)

  Surrender by Michaela Keeble (Taraheke | Bush Lawyer)*

  The Pistils by Janet Charman (Otago University Press)

  We’re All Made of Lightning by Khadro Mohamed (We Are Babies Press, Tender Press)*

  Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction

  I am Autistic by Chanelle Moriah (Allen & Unwin)*

  Jumping Sundays: The Rise and Fall of the Counterculture in Aotearoa New Zealand by Nick Bollinger (Auckland University Press)

  Kai: Food Stories and Recipes from my Family Table by Christall Lowe (Bateman Books)*

  Nature Boy: The Photography of Olaf Petersen edited by Catherine Hammond and Shaun Higgins (Auckland University Press)

  Paradise Camp by Yuki Kihara, edited by Natalie King (Thames & Hudson Australia)

  Robin White: Something is Happening Here edited by Sarah Farrar, Jill Trevelyan and Nina Tonga (Te Papa Press and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki)

  Secrets of the Sea: The Story of New Zealand’s Native Sea Creatures by Robert Vennell (HarperCollins)

  Tāngata Ngāi Tahu | People of Ngāi Tahu Volume Two edited by Helen Brown and Michael J Stevens (Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and Bridget Williams Books)

  Te Motunui Epa by Rachel Buchanan (Bridget Williams Books)

  Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art edited by Nigel Borell (Penguin Random House New Zealand in association with Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki)

  General Non-Fiction Award

  A Fire in the Belly of Hineāmaru: A Collection of Narratives about Te Tai Tokerau Tūpuna by Melinda Webber and Te Kapua O’Connor (Auckland University Press)

  A History of New Zealand in 100 Objects by Jock Phillips (Penguin, Penguin Random House)

  Democracy in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Survival Guide by Geoffrey Palmer and Gwen Palmer Steeds (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

  Downfall: The Destruction of Charles Mackay by Paul Diamond (Massey University Press)

  Empire City: Wellington Becomes the Capital of New Zealand by John E Martin (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

  Every Sign of Life: On Family Ground by Nicholas Lyon Gresson (Quentin Wilson Publishing)

  Gaylene’s Take: Her Life in New Zealand Film by Gaylene Preston (Te Herenga Waka University Press)*

  Grand: Becoming my Mother’s Daughter by Noelle McCarthy (Penguin, Penguin Random House)*

  Lāuga: Understanding Samoan Oratory by Sadat Muaiava (Te Papa Press)*

  So Far, For Now: On Journeys, Widowhood and Stories that are Never Over by Fiona Kidman (Vintage, Penguin Random House)

  The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi by Ned Fletcher (Bridget Williams Books)*

  The Road to Gondwana: In Search of the Lost Supercontinent by Bill Morris (Exisle Publishing)*

  Thief, Convict, Pirate, Wife: The Many Histories of Charlotte Badger by Jennifer Ashton (Auckland University Press)

  You Probably Think This Song is About You by Kate Camp (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

  The 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlist of 16 titles will be announced on 8 March. The winners, including four Best First Book Awards recipients, will be announced at a public ceremony on 17 May during the 2023 Auckland Writers Festival.

  The winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction will receive $64,000 in 2023 and each of the other main category prizes will earn their winners $12,000 (up from $10,000 in recent years). Each of the Best First Book winners, for fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction, will be awarded $3000 (up from $2500).

  The Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction will be judged by bestselling author, critic and creative writing teacher Stephanie Johnson (convenor); editor and literature assessor John Huria (Ngāi Tahu, Muaūpoko, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Ngāti Rangi); and Rotorua bookseller Jemma Morrison. 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 Dunedin poet, author and creative writing tutor Diane Brown (convenor); poet and kaiako Serie Barford; and Wellington poet and Grimshaw-Sargeson Fellow Gregory Kan.

  The Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction will be judged by award-winning writer, historian and archivist Jared Davidson (convenor); writer and curator Dr Anna-Marie White (Te Ātiawa); and veteran television producer Taualeo’o Stephen Stehlin MNZM.

  The General Non-Fiction Award will be judged by writer and award-winning columnist Anna Rawhiti-Connell (convenor); prize-winning author, academic and researcher Alison Jones; and historian Professor Te Maire Tau (Ūpoko of Ngāi Tūāhuriri, a hapu of Ngāi Tahu).

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

  Find out more about the longlisted titles here.

   ____________________________________

• Public Lending Rights registration opens

  18-01-2023

  Calling New Zealand authors! It’s time to register for the Public Lending Right scheme & see if you are entitled to receive a payment to recognise the use of your books in NZ libraries. To be eligible you must register each year. Registrations close on 1 March 2023.

  Don’t delay, register today! Visit our webpage to register

  For more information see here

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• Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement Announced!

  01-12-2022

  

  

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  Congratulations to the recipients of the 2022 Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement!
  POETRY : James Norcliffe – award-winning poet, editor and writer of young adult fiction.
  FICTION: Stephanie Johnson – award winning novelist, short-story writer, playwright and writing teacher.
  NON-FICTION: Vincent O’Malley – historian, founding partner of HistoryWorks, and 2022 Ockham NZ book award winner.

  .

  Each writer will each receive $60,000 in recognition of their significant contribution to New Zealand literature in the areas of fiction, poetry and non-fiction. The three winners will be honoured at a special lunch hosted by the Prime Minister in March 2023. Members of the public will also get the chance to enjoy readings and discussions from the winners in a separate online event in February. Read more about the awards and winners here.

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• RIP Geoff Cochrane

  14-11-2022

  The literary landscape of New Zealand Aotearoa has lost a great poet, novelist and short fiction writer, and an immensly likeable man with the passing of Geoff Cochrane. Amongst his accolades, Geoff’s first novel was a 1996 Commonwealth Best First Book Prize regional finalist, he won the Janet Frame Prize for Poetry (2009) and the inaugural Nigel Cox Unity Books award (2010). In 2014, he was made an Arts Foundation New Zealand Laureate. Geoff described his books as ‘the milestones’ in his life. Farewell Geoff. Rest in peace.

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• The Michael King Writers Centre announces 2023 Residencies

  14-11-2022

  This year’s Michael King Writers Centre residency selection panel once again had their work cut out for them with a high number of applications received for the 18 residencies planned across 2023. There were 108 applicants totalling 509 individual applications across all of the available categories. A continuing trend is the high number of applicant in the emerging writers category. There is clearly a large and growing demand for developing writers to have an opportunity to retreat and work on their craft. This underpins our kaupapa of supporting grassroots growth in the literary sector.  

  The Michael King Writers Centre Trust is looking forward to welcoming and hosting a diverse cohort of writers who, during their time in Devonport’s Signalman’s House, will work on an exciting and eclectic range of topics including: an indigenous Moana Pasifika “eco-gothic” vampire novel, a play about friendship, and how power status shifts and evolves in friendships over a series of years, a collection of creative non-fiction stories about migration, Ukraine, alienation, escapism and belonging, a novel which has at its essence a whakatauki which points to the strength of women and another novel that is about the collapse of democracy in an organisation of alpaca breeders. For the first time, a collection of short stories in te reo for adult readers is going to be the focus for one writer.

  Established writers to receive residencies are: Duncan Sarkies, Sam Brooks, Rosetta Allan, Jacquie McRae, Caroline Barron, Helen Heath, Liz Breslin, Mary-anne Scott, Sherryl Clark and Joan Fleming.

  Emerging writers awarded a residency are: Daniel Satele, Josie Shapiro, Gwynneth Porter, Nataliya Oryshchuk, Amber Esau, Hana Aoake, Atakohu Middleton, and Ruby Porter.

  ‘Reading and assessing this year’s applications was a huge privilege for the selection panel’, says board of trustees Chair, Melanie Laville-Moore. ‘We were impressed by the breadth and quality of writing across a wide spectrum of proposed projects, and especially delighted to award an eight-week residency. Acclaimed Wellington poet, Helen Heath will enjoy an extended stay in the Signalman’s House as she works upon an exciting work of non-fiction’.

  All residencies are made possible with thanks to support from Creative New Zealand.

  The Michael King Writers Centre thanks all applicants and wishes our residency recipients the very best of luck with their work.

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• Allen & Unwin Commercial Fiction Prize – entries open

  13-10-2022

  Submissions are now open for the Allen & Unwin NZ Commercial Fiction Prize 2023! If you’ve been working on a novel, here’s your chance to work with one of the best publishers in NZ and a publishing contract with an advance against royalties of $NZD 10,000. The Allen & Unwin NZ Commercial Fiction Prize has been created to support New Zealand writers and to give our readers fantastic, home-grown stories that resonate. The competition will be open to all unpublished full-length commercial fiction manuscripts between 70,000 and 100,000 words in length written by New Zealand citizens and residents. Both debut writers and already-published writers will be eligible to enter. Entries close 31 March 2023. Full entry details see here

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• CNZ Arts Grants 2022/23 – Round 2 now open

  04-10-2022

  
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  Creative New Zealand Arts Grants are open to emerging and established artists, arts practitioners and arts organisations for a range of activity. Arts Grants offer short-term project funding between $5,000 to $75,000. This funding enables more sustainable careers, encourages innovation and the development of arts practice, and provides opportunities for diverse communities to access the arts. You can apply even if you haven’t applied for or received funding from Creative New Zealand before. Deadline: Round 2 closes when 250 applications are submitted. Results due 9 Dec 2022. To find out more visit the website.
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• Mātātuhi Foundation Funding – applications open

  04-10-2022

  

  LET’S GO NZ LITERARY SECTOR … If you, or a group you belong to, have a great project idea that will help to increase the profile and engagement between Kiwi readers and writers, then we’ve got the funding. Apply for a $5k seed funding grant online before 31 October.
  Submissions due by 31 October 2022

  Review criteria and apply ONLINE

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• Announcing the 2023 Ockham NZ Book Awards Judges

  28-09-2022

  Distinguished academics, historians and curators, together with acclaimed writers and journalists, are among the 12 experts selected to judge the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

  The $62,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction will be judged by bestselling author, critic and creative writing teacher Stephanie Johnson (convenor); editor and literature assessor John Huria (Ngāi Tahu, Muaūpoko, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Ngāti Rangi); and Rotorua bookseller Jemma Morrison. 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 Dunedin poet, author and creative writing tutor Diane Brown (convenor); poet and kaiako Serie Barford; and Wellington poet and Grimshaw-Sargeson Fellow Gregory Kan.

  The General Non-Fiction Award will be judged by writer and award-winning columnist Anna Rawhiti-Connell (convenor); prize-winning author, academic and researcher Alison Jones; and historian Professor Te Maire Tau (Ūpoko of Ngāi Tūāhuriri, a hapu of Ngāi Tahu).

  The Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction will be judged by award-winning writer, historian and archivist Jared Davidson (convenor); writer and curator Dr Anna-Marie White (Te Ātiawa); and veteran television producer Taualeo’o Stephen Stehlin MNZM.

  New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa chair Nicola Legat says judging Aotearoa’s best books demands debate and full consideration by informed and avid readers with diversities of experience.

  “This year’s stellar group of judges, each with their own expertise and point of view, seeks to honour this wero.”

  The New Zealand Book Awards Trust is now inviting entries for the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Online entries for titles published between 1 September 2022 and 31 December 2022 opened on Wednesday 14 September and close 5pm on Wednesday 26 October 2022. Submissions for titles published between 1 January and 31 August 2022 have closed.

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

  The judges will advise their longlists in each category on 2 February 2023 and the shortlist of 16 books will be announced on 8 March. The finalists and winners will be celebrated mid-May 2023 at an awards event held at the Auckland Writers Festival.

  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, the Crystal Arts Trust, Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand and the Auckland Writers Festival.

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