The finalists for the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards have been announced, showcasing a wide range of New Zealand writing across fiction, poetry, illustrated works and non-fiction.
Among the shortlisted authors is former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern, whose memoir A Different Kind of Power has been named as a finalist in the general non-fiction category.
The book joins three other works in contention: Northbound: Four Seasons of Solitude on Te Araroa by natural history writer Naomi Arnold, The Hollows Boys: A Story of Three Brothers & the Fiordland Deer Recovery Era by Peta Carey, and This Compulsion in Us by Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā).
The awards also highlight notable contenders in fiction. Catherine Chidgey has been shortlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction for her novel The Book of Guilt. If she takes out the prize, it will mark her third win in the category, following previous victories in 2017 for The Wish Child and in 2023 for The Axeman’s Carnival.
The fiction shortlist also includes All Her Lives by Ingrid Horrocks, Hoods Landing by Laura Vincent (Ngāti Māhanga, Ngāpuhi), and How to Paint a Nude by Sam Mahon.
In the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry, finalists include Black Sugarcane by Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu), No Good by Sophie van Waardenberg, Sick Power Trip by Erik Kennedy, and Terrier, Worrier: A Poem in Five Parts by Anna Jackson.
The BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction shortlist features Garrison World: Redcoat Soldiers in New Zealand and Across the British Empire by Charlotte Macdonald, He Puāwai: A Natural History of New Zealand Flowers by Philip Garnock-Jones, Mark Adams: A Survey – He Kohinga Whakaahua by Sarah Farrar, and Mr Ward’s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street by Elizabeth Cox.
The awards also recognise emerging writers through the Mātātuhi Foundation Best First Book Awards, which are presented across four categories: fiction, poetry, general non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction.
The Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction carries the largest award, with the winner receiving $65,000, while winners of the other main categories receive $12,000 each. Best First Book winners receive $3,000.
The winners of the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards will be announced on 13 May during the Auckland Writers Festival.