 | In the first entirely virtual presentation in the history of the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, debut authors Becky Manawatu and Shayne Carter took out not only their respective categories in the MitoQ Best First Book Awards, but also two of the main category prizes. Westport writer Becky Manawatu won the $55,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction for her first novel Auē, as well as the Hubert Church Prize for a best first book of Fiction. Dunedin’s Straitjacket Fits frontman Shayne Carter won the General Non-Fiction Award for Dead People I Have Known, and also the E.H. McCormick Prize for a best first work of General Non-Fiction. The other main category winners on the night were Wellington writer, editor and publisher Helen Rickerby, who won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry for her collection How to Live, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa curator team of Stephanie Gibson, Matariki WIlliams and Puawai Cairns, who won the Illustrated Non-Fiction Award for Protest Tautohetohe: Objects of Resistance, Persistence and Defiance. |
Ana Pickering and Helen Heath from the LIANZA Office were just two of hundreds of people that gathered to watch the live stream of the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards last night. We were on the edge of our seats as the winners were announced! Ana was excited to see Auē win as she had bought a copy the day before lockdown. Helen, a past winner of the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry was delighted to see her long-time friend and publisher, Helen Rickerby, take out the poetry category.
The results were announced by MC Stacey Morrison during a virtual ceremony simultaneously live-streamed via the Awards’ YouTube channel and Facebook page as well as the New Zealand Herald website.
The Fiction category judges were unanimous in their decision to select Auē for both Fiction prizes. “There is violence and sadness and rawness in this book, but buoyant humour too, remarkable insights into the minds of children and young men, incredible forgiveness and a massive suffusion of love,” they said.
The Fiction category judges were unanimous in their decision to select Auē for both Fiction prizes. “There is violence and sadness and rawness in this book, but buoyant humour too, remarkable insights into the minds of children and young men, incredible forgiveness and a massive suffusion of love,” they said.
“With its uniquely New Zealand voice, its sparing and often beautiful language, Auē patiently weaves the strands of its tale into an emotionally enveloping korowai, or cloak.
If you missed the live-streaming last evening, you’ll find the recordings of both the 6pm presentation of the MitoQ Best First Book Awards and the 7pm presentation of the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards on our YouTube channel. There you can also enjoy the series of Ockhams Out Loud finalist author readings, recorded and aired in the four weeks leading up to the winners’ announcement.
Resources to help promote all the winners can be found on the Trust’s website.
Resources to help promote all the winners can be found on the Trust’s website.
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