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 Hollows 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 $3,000.

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.