‘Visual Tour De Force Of Enduring Significance’ Wins At The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2025

14 MAY, 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

Manuali’I by Rex Letoa Paget (Samoan/Danish) (Saufo’i 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/

This year’s Ockham New Zealand Book Awards judges are: Thom Conroy (convenor); bookshop owner and reviewer Carole Beu; author, educator and writing mentor Tania Roxborogh (Ngāti Porou); and international judge, the esteemed literary festival chair, books editor, broadcaster and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature Georgina Godwin (Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction); poet, critic and writer David Eggleton (convenor); poet, novelist and short story writer Elizabeth Smither MNZM; and writer and editor Jordan Tricklebank (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Mahuta) (Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry); former Alexander Turnbull chief librarian and author Chris Szekely (convenor); arts advocate Jessica Palalagi; and historian and social history curator Kirstie Ross (BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction); author, writer and facilitator Holly Walker (convenor); author, editor and historical researcher Ross Calman (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tahu); and communications professional, writer and editor Gilbert Wong (General Non-Fiction Award).

The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are the country’s premier literary honours for books written by New Zealanders. First established in 1968 as the Wattie Book Awards (later the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards), they have also been known as the Montana New Zealand Book Awards and the New Zealand Post Book Awards. Awards are given for Fiction (the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction), Poetry (the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry) Illustrated Non-Fiction (the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction) and General Non-Fiction. There are also four Best First Book Awards for first-time authors (The Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book Awards) and, at the judges’ discretion, Te Mūrau o te Tuhi, a Māori Language Award. The awards are governed by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa (a registered charity). Current members of the Trust are Nicola Legat, Richard Pamatatau, Garth Biggs, Renée Rowland, Laura Caygill, Suzy Maddox and Elena de Roo. The Trust also governs the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day. 

Ockham Residential is Auckland’s most thoughtful developer. Through creating elegant and enduring buildings that are well-loved by those who make them home, Ockham hopes to enhance Auckland – and to contribute to its many communities. Founded in 2009 by Mark Todd and Benjamin Preston, Ockham supports a number of organisations in arts, science and education. These include the Ockham Collective, their creative and educational charity, the acclaimed BWB Texts series, the People’s Choice Award in New Zealand Geographic’s Photographer of the Year Award, and Ponsonby’s Objectspace gallery. But its principal sponsorship of the New Zealand Book Awards, a relationship now in its tenth year, is perhaps Ockham’s most visible contribution. Says Mark Todd: “Our communities would be drab, grey and much poorer places without art, without words, without science – without critical thought. That’s why our partnership with the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards means the world to us.”

Creative New Zealand has been a sustaining partner of New Zealand’s book awards for decades. The national arts development agency of the New Zealand government encourages, promotes and supports the arts in New Zealand for the benefit of all New Zealanders through funding, capability building, an international programme, and advocacy. Creative New Zealand provides a wide range of support to New Zealand literature, including funding for writers and publishers, residencies, literary festivals and awards, and supports organisations which work to increase the readership and sales of New Zealand literature at home and internationally.

Acorn Foundation is a community foundation based in the Western Bay of Plenty that encourages people to establish an endowment fund to support causes they love in the local community forever. Donations are pooled and invested, and the investment income is used to make annual donations to local charities, while the capital remains intact. Acorn has now distributed over $20 million to causes important to their donors. Community foundations are the fastest growing form of philanthropy worldwide, and there are currently 18 located across the country, with more than 85% of New Zealanders able to access a local foundation. The Prize for Fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards has been provided through the generosity of one of Acorn’s donors, the late Jann Medlicott, and will be awarded to the top fiction work each year, in perpetuity.

Mary and Peter Biggs CNZM are long-time arts advocates and patrons – particularly of literature, theatre and music.  They have funded the Biggs Family Prize in Poetry at Victoria University of Wellington’s International Institute of Modern Letters since 2006, along with the Alex Scobie Research Prize in Classical Studies.  They have been consistent supporters of the International Festival the of the Arts, the Auckland Writers Festival, Wellington’s Circa Theatre, the New Zealand Arts Foundation, Featherston Booktown, Read NZ Te Pou Muramura, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Featherston Sculpture Trust and the Wairarapa’s Kokomai Arts Festival.  Peter was Chair of Creative New Zealand from 1999 to 2006.  He led the Cultural Philanthropy Taskforce in 2010 and the New Zealand Professional Orchestra Sector Review in 2012.  He was appointed a Companion of New Zealand Order of Merit for arts governance and philanthropy in 2013.  Mary is the Operations Manager for Featherston Booktown Karukatea.  She has driven the festival’s success and growth, and it is now regarded as one of the leading cultural events in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Founded in 1921, Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand is the national association for bookshops that helps its members grow and succeed through education, information, advocacy, marketing campaigns – such as Bookshop Day – and services – such as BookHub. Launched in 2023, BookHub is an e-commerce platform that enables people to browse books, buy books and find local bookshops, directly connecting readers with independent bookstores across the motu. Local bookshops are essential community hubs, and champions of Aotearoa New Zealand books and of the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

The Mātātuhi Foundation was established by the Auckland Writers Festival in 2018 to support the growth and development of New Zealand's literary landscape. To achieve this outcome, the Foundation funds literary projects that have the potential to develop sustainable literary platforms that help grow awareness and readership of New Zealand books and writers, increase engagement with New Zealand children’s literature, or build access to, and awareness of, New Zealand’s literary legacy.

For 25 years, the Auckland Writers Festival Waituhi o Tāmaki has been a champion of thought leadership, literary engagement and community building. It is New Zealand’s premier celebration of books and ideas, with annual attendances of over 80,000. The Festival offers a six-day programme of inspiring discussions, conversations, readings, debates and performances for every age, audience and interest. Featuring over 200 of the world’s best writers and thinkers from Aotearoa and overseas and with 25 percent of the programme delivered free, this year’s Festival takes place 13 – 18 May 2025.

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