A longlist has been released for the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. The shortlist will be unveiled March 5 and the winners named on May 14 during the Auckland Writers Festival. Check out the complete NZ Book Awards longlist here.
The winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction will receive NZ$65,000 (about US$36,725), and each of the other main category winners will receive NZ$12,000 (about US$6,780). Each of The Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book winners (for fiction, poetry, general nonfiction and illustrated nonfiction) will be awarded NZ$3,000 (about US$1,695).
New Zealand Book Awards Trust Te Ohu Tiaki i Te Rau Hiringa chair Nicola Legat said: "Across poetry, prose and nonfiction 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."