‘Visual tour de force of enduring significance’ wins at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2025

Art historians Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) and Ngarino Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou) have won the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction at the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art – a landmark title 12 years in the making.

Published by Auckland University Press, Toi Te Mana is a six-hundred-page comprehensive survey of Māori art, from Polynesian voyaging waka to contemporary Māori artists.

Illustrated Non-Fiction category convenor of judges Chris Szekely says Toi Te Mana is a book of enduring significance with international reach.

‘Toi Te Mana is extensively researched and thoughtfully written, casting a wide inclusive net. The result is a beautifully designed visual tour de force, and a cultural framework that approaches toi mahi with intelligence and insight.

‘It is dedicated to the late Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī), one of the three authors responsible for this magnum opus. Congratulations to Professors Deirdre Brown and Ngarino Ellis for carrying the baton to completion, a herculean task akin to the mahi of Maui himself,’ says Mr Szekely.

Wellington author and professor Damien Wilkins has won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction for his novel Delirious (Te Herenga Waka University Press).

Wilkins, the author of 14 books, also won the Fiction Award in 1994 for The Miserables, and he was runner-up for the prize twice – for Nineteen Widows Under Ash in 2001 and for The Fainter in 2007.

Fiction category convenor of judges Thom Conroy says Delirious is an unforgettable work of fiction that navigates momentous themes with elegance and honesty.

‘With a gift for crisp, emotionally rich digression, Damien Wilkins immerses readers in Mary and Pete’s grapples with ageing and their contemplations of lost loved ones who still thrive in vivid memories.

‘What stood out to the judges was the assured but understated touch of prose as it flows elegantly across decades, threads the intricacies of relationship, and fathoms the ongoing evolution of a couple’s grief.

‘Intimate, funny, and, above all, honest, Delirious is an absorbing, inspiring novel, and a damn fine read,’ says Dr Conroy.

Curator, critic, activist, and the first female Māori Emeritus Professor from a university Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku (Te Arawa, Ngāpuhi, Waikato) has won the General Non-Fiction Award for her memoir Hine Toa: A Story of Bravery (HarperCollins Publishers Aotearoa New Zealand).

General Non-Fiction convenor of judges Holly Walker says Hine Toa is a rich, stunningly evocative memoir that defies easy categorisation.

‘As well as painting a vivid picture of Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku’s early life, from her childhood on 'the pā' at Ōhinemutu to her many creative and academic achievements, it is also a fiery social and political history that chronicles the transformative second half of the 20th century in Aotearoa from a vital queer, Māori, feminist perspective.

‘From its extraordinary opening sentence, it weaves Māori and English storytelling traditions: “Once upon a time there was a pet tuatara named Kiriwhetū; her reptile skin was marked with stars.” Hine Toa is both a personal testimony and a taonga,’ says Ms Walker.

Editor, novelist and poet Emma Neale has won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry for her collection Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit (Otago University Press).

Poetry category convenor of judges David Eggleton says Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit displays an exceptional ability to turn confessional anecdotes into quicksilvery flashes of insight.

‘It's a book about fibs and fables; and telling true stories which are perceived by others as tall stories; and the knock-on or flow-on effects of distrust, the scales dropping from one's eyes. It's about power and a sense of powerlessness; it's about belief and the loss of belief, it's about trust and disillusion; it's about disenchantment with fairytales. It's about compassion.

‘Emma Neale is a writer fantastically sensitive to figurative language and its possibilities,’ says Mr Eggleton.

The Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction winner was presented with $65,000. The Poetry, Illustrated Non-Fiction, General Non-Fiction award recipients were each presented with $12,000.

Four Best First Book Awards, sponsored by the Mātātuhi Foundation, were also presented at the 14 May Ockham New Zealand Book Awards ceremony, which marked 10 years of association with principal sponsor Ockham Residential.

Hubert Church Prize for Fiction

Poorhara by Michelle Rahurahu (Ngāti Rahurahu, Ngāti Tahu–Ngāti Whaoa) (Te Herenga Waka University Press).

Jessie Mackay Prize for Poetry

Manualiʻiby Rex Letoa Paget (Samoan/Danish) (Saufoʻi Press)

Judith Binney Prize for Illustrated Non-Fiction

Sight Lines: Women and Art in Aotearoa by Kirsty Baker (Auckland University Press)

E.H. McCormick Prize for General Non-Fiction

The Chthonic Cycle by Una Cruickshank (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

Each Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book Award winner received $3,000 and a 12-month membership subscription to the New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi o Aotearoa.

New Zealand Book Awards Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa trustee Renee Rowland says each of this year's winners' books speaks powerfully to times past or present.

‘In hotly contested categories, these titles offer much to enrich their readers. They are by turns highly personal and moving; fierce and shocking; culturally insightful and challenging; and funny and loving.

‘The Trust warmly congratulates the authors and publishers of these vital books,’ she says.

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.

The awards ceremony, emceed by Miriama Kamo and attended by politicians, publishers, writers, and the book-loving public, was hosted at the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre in Aotea Centre as part of the 2025 Auckland Writers Festival programme.

To find out more about the winners’ titles go to https://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/2025-awards/winners/