Just announced! OCKHAM NEW ZEALAND BOOK AWARDS — 2025 long lists

The long lists for the this year’s premier book awards in Aotearoa have just been announced. Get your copies and start reading now. Tell us what you think!

New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa chair Nicola Legat says this year’s longlist is a testament to the talent of the authors and the farsighted publishers who back them.

“Across poetry, prose and non-fiction the list includes books by some of our finest thinkers and most inventive writers. Some tackle today’s burning issues and others are entertaining and escapist reads. All deserve our admiration.

“The 2025 longlist is one of great riches. The judges have a difficult job ahead of them to select the shortlists and eventual winners,” she says.

We can have your books dispatched by overnight courier, or ready to collect from our door in Church Street, Whakatū.

Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction

• All That We Know by Shilo Kino (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Maniapoto) (Moa Press)

• Amma by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press)

• Ash by Louise Wallace (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

• At the Grand Glacier Hotel by Laurence Fearnley (Penguin, Penguin Random House)

• Delirious by Damien Wilkins (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

• Kataraina by Becky Manawatu (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe, Waitaha) (Mākaro Press)

• The Mires by Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā) (Ultimo Press)

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

• Pretty Ugly by Kirsty Gunn (Otago University Press)

• The Royal Free by Carl Shuker (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry

• Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud by Lee Murray (The Cuba Press)

• The Girls in the Red House are Singing by Tracey Slaughter (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

• Hibiscus Tart by Carin Smeaton (Titus Books)

• 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)

• Manuali ʻi by Rex Letoa Paget (Saufoʻi Press)

• /Slanted by Alison Glenny (Compound Press)

• Slender Volumes by Richard von Sturmer (Spoor Books)

• Slim Volume by James Brown (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction

• Te Ata o Tū The Shadow of Tūmatauenga: The New Zealand Wars Collections of Te Papa by Matiu Baker (Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Whakaue), Katie Cooper, Michael Fitzgerald and Rebecca Rice (Te Papa Press)

• A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa by Catherine Hammond and Shaun Higgins (Auckland University Press)

• Edith Collier: Early New Zealand Modernist by Jill Trevelyan, Jennifer Taylor and Greg Donson (Massey University Press)

• Fenoga Tāoga Niue I Aotearoa: Niue Heritage Journey in Aotearoa by Molima Molly Pihigia, Toluma'anave Barbara Makuati-Afitu, Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai, Hikule'o Fe'aomoeako Melaia Māhina and Janson Chau (Mafola Press)

• Force of Nature Te Aumangea o Te Ao Tūroa: A Conservation History of Forest & Bird 1923-2023 by David Young and Naomi Arnold (Potton & Burton)

• Golden Enterprise: New Zealand Chinese Merchants 1860s-1970s by Phoebe H. Li (Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust)

• Leslie Adkin: Farmer Photographer by Athol McCredie (Te Papa Press)

• Sam the Trap Man: Cracking Yarns and Tall Tales from the Bush by Sam Gibson (Allen & Unwin New Zealand)

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

• Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art by Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) and Ngarino Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou) with Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī) (Auckland University Press)

General Non-Fiction Award

• Bad Archive by Flora Feltham (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

• The Beautiful Afternoon by Airini Beautrais (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

• Becoming Aotearoa: A New History of New Zealand by Michael Belgrave (Massey University Press)

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

• Feijoa: A Story of Obsession & Belonging by Kate Evans (Moa Press)

• Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker (Massey University Press)

• Hine Toa: A Story of Bravery by Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku (Te Arawa, Tūhoe, Ngāpuhi, Waikato)(HarperCollins Publishers Aotearoa New Zealand)

• The Invasion of Waikato Te Riri ki Tainui by Vincent O’Malley (Bridget Williams Books)

• Kahurangi: The Nature of Kahurangi National Park and Northwest Nelson by Dave Hansford (Potton & Burton)

• The Mermaid Chronicles: A Midlife Mer-moir by Megan Dunn (Penguin, Penguin Random House)

• The Twisted Chain by Jason Gurney (Ngāpuhi) (Otago University Press)

• Unreel: A Life in Review by Diana Wichtel (Penguin, Penguin Random House)

• The Unsettled: Small Stories of Colonisation by Richard Shaw (Massey University Press)