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 – a page-turning novel of depth, pathos and humanity that skilfully infuses comedy with a building sense of menace, narrated by a precocious magpie called Tama.
Ms Chidgey received the fiction prize ahead of screenwriter and author Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) (Better the Blood); historian and novelist Monty Soutar (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngāti Kahungunu) (Kāwai: For Such a Time as This); and sailor and novelist Cristina Sanders (Mrs Jewell and the Wreck of the General Grant).
It is the second time Catherine Chidgey has won the big-ticket fiction prize offered since 2016 thanks to the late Jann Medlicott – 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.
The Fiction category’s convenor of judges, Stephanie Johnson, says The Axeman’s Carnival is a novel that has been clasped to New Zealanders’ hearts.
“The unforgettable Tama – taken in and raised by Marnie on the Te Waipounamu high country farm she shares with champion axeman husband Rob – constantly entertains with his take on the foibles and dramas of his human companions. Catherine Chidgey’s writing is masterful, and the underlying sense of dread as the story unfolds is shot through with humour and humanity.
“The Axeman’s Carnival is unique: poetic, profound and a powerfully compelling read from start to finish.”
Scholar, poet and irredentist Alice Te Punga Somerville (Te Āti Awa, Taranaki) has won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry for Always Italicise: How to Write While Colonised (Auckland University Press).
Poetry category convenor Diane Brown says Ms Te Punga Somerville’s collection voyages out like a waka seeking new ground.
“Readers are challenged but crucially invited in to accept that challenge and reach a new understanding of what it is to be a Māori woman scholar, mother and wife in 2022 encountering and navigating uncomfortable and hostile spaces.
“Always Italicise stood out amongst a very strong field for its finely crafted, poetically fluent and witty explorations of racism, colonisation, class, language and relationships. It’s a fine collection, establishing and marking a new place to stand.”
Broadcaster, music critic and author Nick Bollinger has won the Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction for Jumping Sundays: The Rise and Fall of the Counterculture in Aotearoa New Zealand (Auckland University Press).
Category convenor Jared Davidson says Jumping Sundays is a triumph of production and design.
“The cover alone is one of the best of the year and signals the visual excellence that follows: vibrant endpapers, distinctive typography and bountiful images on an appropriately uncoated stock. Yet Jumping Sundays is more than just a well-designed book. Drawing on archival research and rich personal narratives, Nick Bollinger has written a compelling account of an epoch-making period, linking international trends to the local context in a purposeful-yet-playful way.
“A joy to read and to hold, Jumping Sundays is a fantastic example of scholarship, creativity and craft.”
Historian and lawyer Ned Fletcher has won the General Non-Fiction Award for his work, The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi (Bridget Williams Books).
Category convenor of judges Anna Rawhiti-O’Connell says Fletcher’s book is a meticulously constructed work of scholarship that provides surprising and essential analysis of Te Tiriti.
“The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi will shift and inform debates about the intentions of those who constructed and signed the Treaty and how we interpret it today. Fletcher’s comprehensive examination sheds new light on the document’s implications and contributes fresh thinking to what remains a very live conversation for all of us that call this country home.”
The Poetry, Illustrated Non-Fiction and General Non-Fiction category award winners each took home a $12,000 prize.
Four Best First Book Awards, supported this year by the Mātātuhi Foundation, were also presented at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards ceremony.
Hubert Church Prize for Fiction
Home Theatre by Anthony Lapwood (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Whakaue, Pākehā) (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Jessie Mackay Prize for Poetry
We’re All Made of Lightning by Khadro Mohamed (We Are Babies Press, Tender Press)
Judith Binney Prize for Illustrated Non-Fiction
Kai: Food Stories and Recipes from my Family Table by Christall Lowe (Ngāti Kauwhata, Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto) (Bateman Books)
E.H. McCormick for General Non-Fiction
Grand: Becoming my Mother’s Daughter by Noelle McCarthy (Penguin, Penguin Random House)
Each Best First Book Award winner received $3,000 and a 12-month membership subscription to the New Zealand Society of Authors.
New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa spokesperson Jenna Todd (Kāi Tahu) says this year’s winners are a demonstration of the quality and virtuosity of Aotearoa writers today.
“It’s a joy to celebrate these innovative, thought-provoking, conversation-starting books across fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction; each of them singing and fizzing and demanding to be read.
“These titles of excellence are a tribute to the broad range of publishers who produced them, from the boutique to the established and multinational. Publishers are the power houses behind these books and also deserve the recognition.”
The 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards’ judges were:
Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction: 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); Wellington bookseller Jemma Morrison; and British writer, publisher and host of the books podcast Backlisted, John Mitchinson (UK).
Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry: Dunedin poet, author and creative writing tutor Diane Brown (convenor); poet and kaiako Serie Barford; and Wellington poet and Grimshaw-Sargeson Fellow Gregory Kan.
Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction: 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.
General Non-Fiction Award: 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, the Mātātuhi Foundation, and the Auckland Writers Festival, which hosts the awards ceremony as a marquee event in its annual programme.
To find out more about the winners’ books go to http://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/2023-awards/winners/
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.
I can’t look past Blue Blood by Andrea Vance, which became my first ever #1 bestseller. Piecing together the inside story of the National Party’s chaotic and embarrassing recent years in opposition, this book made me gasp and cackle. To echo John Key, ‘at the end of the day’ it’s just a bloody good read.
Nicola Legat, Publishers Massey University Press and Te Papa Press
Robin White Something Is Happening Here, edited by Sarah Farrar, Nina Tonga and Jill Trevelyan
My book of the year is The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey. It was so original and clever. I admire the imagination of a writer who can think of using a magpie as the narrator. The story was dark, yes, but also very funny. And the husband was not a total monster which would have been too easy, and too lazy. And what a piece of work the sister was. OMG. I also learned a lot about magpies. Great cover too, excellent cover.
In terms of OUP’s Publishing Picks for 2022, we’re extremely proud of all our publications and would love to pick each one for various reasons. But to select two, we’d love to highlight Notes on Womanhood by Sarah Jane Barnett and Fossil Treasures of Foulden Maar: A window into Miocene Zealandia by Daphne Lee, Uwe Kaulfuss and John Conran. We’ve picked Notes on Womanhood as it’s such a beautifully-written and powerful memoir / coming-of-middle-age story, where Sarah starts an open conversation about what the concept of womanhood means to her. It’s also the first book in our new KA HAEA TE ATA series (KA HAEA TE ATA: books that cast light on issues of importance in Aotearoa today). We pick Fossil Treasures of Foulden Maar because of it’s amazing local, national and international significance and because of its beautiful illustrations. This book is a fantastic tribute to years of focused research at the Foulden Maar paleontological site and tells an amazing story of discovery and preservation. I’ve attached the cover image files for both if you’d like to use.
Craig Gamble, Publishing Manager Te Herenga Waka University Press 
Among the Oratia offspring this year, one that really deserves recognition is Richard Wolfe’s Footprints on the Land: How Humans Changed New Zealand. As we increasingly experience the impacts of climate change and environmental depredation, it’s instructive to explore what got us to this point. Richard does this in a brilliant summary that’s enlivened by his curatorial selection of artwork. 
We’re impressed with Ariana Tikao’s Mokorua – ngā kōrero mō tōku moko kauae – my story of moko kauae which is a multi-layered poem of a book, published by AUP. Ka rawe!
For the kids, we think every book the team at Huia puts out is beyond amazing and [heart emoji] Potton and Burton’s books by Ned Barraud. Among Puffins, there are three little words for one big book we love.: Roar, Squeak, Purr – Paula Green’s epic anthology of animal poems adorably illustrated by Jenny Cooper. Little Tales of Hedgehog and Goat is gentle, poetic and characterful, with each chapter a perfect bite of story to read at bedtime – and Have You Seen Tomorrow just makes you smile. Kyle’s spare, careful writing at its best, complemented by Laura Bee’s delicately delightful illustrations.
We’ve been absolutely delighted at the response to Monty Soutar’s debut novel, the first in a trilogy: Kāwai – For such a time as this. Number one on the NZ fiction bestseller list for 12 weeks straight and counting, its success indicates a clear appetite for Māori stories written by Māori writers.
The biggest highlight of my year has to be publishing Ruby Tui’s memoir Straight Up. As everyone now knows, Ruby is an absolutely extraordinary person – on and off the rugby field – and the response to her book has also been nothing short of extraordinary. I’ve never seen anything like it before. People have taken her story and her messages to heart and the book inspires people of all kinds. The book has sold out numerous times since the Black Ferns won the Rugby World Cup and we have been reprinting constantly in New Zealand to try and keep up with demand. It’s exceptional. I’m so delighted for Ruby and for the fact that the memoir of a woman sports star can sell so strongly here. It feels like just the beginning of a new way for books to be in this country.
The book that tugged on my heartstrings this year is I Am Autistic, by a fantastic young writer and illustrator, Chanelle Moriah. The book has sold incredibly well, including selling U.S. rights to it. I also had a great time publishing Chris Finlayson’s memoir, Yes, Minister. He’s a very funny man.
Hard to narrow it down to just two highlights from 2022; Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez is the story of a feisty whip smart young Puerto Rican woman and her emotionally and politically complicated family and was a revelation from start to finish. I love everything Maggie O’Farrell writes, and The Marriage Portrait was no exception; she is absolutely at the top of her game and this beautifully written page turning novel about Lucrezia de Medici is on all the 2022 Must Read lists with good reason.
The top picks for 2022 from Mila’s Books are:
The Lovelock Version meets Moby Dick meets Treasure Island
A Month at the Back of My Brain: A third memoir by Kevin Ireland
From another publisher:
It was a joy for PANZ to be back at the Frankfurt Book Fair last week. For obvious reasons we haven’t been able to host a collective stand since 2019 but this year we made our presence felt with a vibrant, stunning stand which provided a beautiful backdrop for some very fine books from Aotearoa New Zealand.
We received a very warm welcome from the book fair team and were thrilled to be gifted a certificate and some delicious bubbles and chocolates to acknowledge 25 years of the PANZ collective stand at Frankfurt. We’d also like to give a shout out to our trailblazing colleague, Dame Wendy Pye who led the way and has been attending Frankfurt with Sunshine Books for 40 years.
It was also a delight to reconnect with old friends – particularly Joy Reifgens and Christiane and Ann-Sophie Geipert-Arheilger our amazing stand helpers, and to make some new friends including Head of Mission at the NZ Embassy in Germany, Craig Hawke and Marina Wilmerstadt from Education NZ who both came along to our stand party. And on the party, thanks go to the NZ Embassy team for their support in providing some much enjoyed NZ wine and special thanks to Cornelia Loser who helped to ensure that it reached the stand at just the right time.
