This week I had the honour of attending the NZ Ockham Book awards. The awards promote excellence in and provide recognition for, the best books published annually in New Zealand. We are a country rich in literary talent and I hope you will buy one of these books and support New Zealand literature.

The LONGLIST 

The SHORTLIST

The WINNERS

The audience erupted in applause when Fiona Kidman, was announced as the winner of the 2019 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize, the richest prize in New Zealand literature $53,000, for This Mortal Boy, she had tough competition from the  extraordinary Vincent O’Sullivan, Lloyd Jones and Kate Duignan.

The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are supported by Ockham Residential, Creative New Zealand, the Acorn Foundation, the Royal Society Te Apārangi, Mary and Peter Biggs CNZM, MitoQ and the Auckland Writers Festival.

Next week I will be reviewing my personally signed copy of ‘This Mortal Boy’ my congratulations to Dame Fiona Kidman.