Catherine Chidgey's book The Axeman's Carnival won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction. Photo / Supplied
Catherine Chidgey's book The Axeman's Carnival won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction. Photo / Supplied
New Zealand authors have provided us with plenty of beloved and award-winning books over the years. From Lynley Dodd’s Hairy Maclary to Witi Ihimaera’s The Whale Rider and all the classics in between, now the country has celebrated both new and respected authors at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
The awards took place in Auckland’s Aotea Centre last night and saw the winners of the General Non-Fiction Award, the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry and theJann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction among many others.
Taking out one of the biggest awards of the night, New Zealand writer Catherine Chidgey won the $64,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for her book, The Axeman’s Carnival. Marking the second time she has won the impressive prize – the first time was in 2017 for The Wish Child.
Catherine Chidgey's book The Axeman's Carnival won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction. Photo / Supplied
The Fiction category’s convenor of judges, Stephanie Johnson said the reason for her win was because her book “clasped to New Zealanders’ hearts.
“Catherine Chidgey’s writing is masterful, and the underlying sense of dread as the story unfolds is shot through with humour and humanity.” she said adding, “The Axeman’s Carnival is unique: poetic, profound and a powerfully compelling read from start to finish.”
Another impressive win of the night saw irredentist Alice Te Punga Somerville’s book, Always Italicise: How to Write While Colonisedwin the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry.
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. Photo / Supplied
Judge Diane Brown said the book “stood out” for its “finely crafted, poetically fluent and witty explorations of racism, colonisation, class, language and relationships”.
As for the winner of the Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction, the title was claimed by broadcaster Nick Bollinger for his book Jumping Sundays: The Rise and Fall of the Counterculture in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The book was described as “compelling” and judge Jared Davidson who also noted it was “a joy to read” and couldn’t help but judge a book by its cover. “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,” he said.
Both Somerville and Bollinger won a prize of $12,000 for their wins.
Historian and lawyer Ned Fletcher has won the General Non-Fiction Award for his work, The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi. Photo / Supplied
Other wins during the evening saw historian and lawyer Ned Fletcher win the General Non-Fiction Award for his work on The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi, while Anthony Lapwood’s Home Theatre won the Hubert Church Prize for Fiction and Christall Lowe’s Kai: Food Stories and Recipes from my Family won the Judith Binney Prize for Illustrated Non-Fiction.
Khadro Mohamed’s We’re All Made of Lightning won the Jessie Mackay Prize for Poetry, while Noelle McCarthy’s Grand: Becoming my Mother’s Daughter won the E.H. McCormick for General Non-Fiction award. Each Best First Book Award winner received $3000 and a 12-month membership subscription to the New Zealand Society of Authors.
Jenna Todd, a spokesperson for the New Zealand Book Awards Trust said the award winners this year are “a demonstration of the quality and virtuosity of Aotearoa writers today”.
Jumping Sundays, Home Theatre and We're All Made of Lightning all took out big wins at the Ockham NZ Book Awards tonight. Photo / Supplied
“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 powerhouses behind these books and also deserve the recognition.”
