Our Finest Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction An Exquisite Legacy: The Life Hiakai: and Work of New Zealand Modern Māori Cuisine The New Zealand Book Awards Trust takes great Naturalist G.V. Hudson Monique Fiso pleasure in presenting the 16 finalists for 2021 in the Published by Godwit, Penguin Random House George Gibbs Hiakai is no ordinary cookbook but rather one Published by Potton & Burton Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, the country’s which, unusually, lets us see our natural environment most prestigious awards for literature. George Hudson’s grandson has produced a with fresh eyes. Coming from award-winning chef glorious tribute to his grandfather, not only one Monique Fiso, it is the result of years of labour of New Zealand’s greatest naturalists but also and research into Māori cuisine and all it represents. Reading all of this year’s 179 entries and narrowing a competitive field an artist of dazzling skill. In reproducing so many Passionately written, of these paintings for well edited, beautifully down to a shortlist of 16 is an enormous task, and we owe a debt of the first time, the author illustrated and presented, gratitude to our 12 local judges, whose names appear on each category is scientifically and Hiakai weaves tikanga, artistically scrupulous, history, cultivation, foraging page that follows, as do their comments on the finalists. The fiction with detailed captions and hunting into an panel was joined at this stage by award-winning American novelist and superb production influential classic of the values. Crucially, this kitchen, and also of and writer, Tommy Orange. is also an enlightening cultural history; in these and lovingly written recipes Fiso shows the The Trust is also very grateful to the organisations that continue biography — we are range of indigenous drawn inside the world ingredients with to share our belief in the undeniable value of literature to Aotearoa. of an insect-mad fellow sophisticated flair. Creative New Zealand remains our stalwart cornerstone funder, and we who became a significant figure in our natural commend the vision of our naming-rights sponsor, Ockham Residential. history landscape. This year we are delighted to welcome Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand back to our sponsor whānau, which also includes Jann Medlicott and the Acorn Foundation, Mary and Peter Biggs, and MitoQ. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. Marti Friedlander: Nature — Stilled Portraits of the Artists Jane Ussher Published by Te Papa Press We are fortunate to partner with the Auckland Writers Festival, Leonard Bell which showcases the awards ceremony as a marquee festival event Published by Auckland University Press This sumptuously beautiful book presents a wondrous selection of specimens from This elegantly produced collection of and features a number of the finalists in its 2021 programme. Te Papa’s natural history collection. Brilliantly photographs, the bulk of which have never photographed and produced, it highlights not been published before, is exquisitely designed just the breadth of these collections but also the We are thrilled for all the authors whose work has been recognised and and edited — and the image reproduction is knowledge and passion exceptional. The accompanying text breathes honoured, and we encourage you to seek out their titles in bookstores of those who care for life into these individuals and, thanks to the them. Jane Ussher and libraries countrywide. layout, Marti Friedlander’s is one of Aotearoa’s uncanny ability to most accomplished capture the spirit of her And do join us at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards ceremony in photographers and she subjects shines through. has clearly approached the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre at Auckland’s Aotea Centre on Wednesday With images of over 110 this project with great artists, photographed 12 May. For more details and tickets visit www.writersfestival.co.nz respect and enthusiasm over several decades, for the exhibits which this important volume represent our vanishing is a wonderful cultural natural world, and account of mid-to-late have never been more twentieth century worthy of our attention. creative life in New Zealand. Judges: Dale Cousens (convenor), Jenny Nicholls, Brian Phillips Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction Funkhaus Magnolia 木蘭 Bug Week & Other Stories Nothing to See Hinemoana Baker Nina Mingya Powles Airini Beautrais Pip Adam Published by Victoria University Press Published by Seraph Press Published by Victoria University Press Published by Victoria University Press The language of Funkhaus pumps and flows as if Magnolia 木蘭 grows and blooms through mother- Atmospheric and refined, Bug Week is Looking at surveillance, identity, gender and the collection were a great red heart. Hinemoana daughter conversations across generations, compelling from start to finish. A tightly wound people living on the margins under the fallout Baker’s poems reference Sylvia Plath, Wi Parata, cultures and languages. Seeking to understand collection of short stories which explore the of capitalism, Nothing aunties, and P.J. Harvey. Vacuum cleaners, dogs, her place in the world, weird, the eerie and the to See follows the lives and polaroids also appear in imaginative ways. a young writer journeys mordantly funny, there’s of Peggy and Greta, The book’s shifts in from New Zealand a sense of quiet unease who are recovering subject matter, migratory to China, England to and slow-burning rage. alcoholics (or rather, metaphors and language Malaysia, from film to A talking albatross one alcoholic who has encompass satirical contemporary art, and at an open mic night, splintered off into two). political poetry, tender from English to Mandarin, an envious sibling, a And just when you think love lyrics and memorable Hakka and Māori. desperate ex-lover and you’ve cracked what is street tunes. Like the Subtly but insistently a melancholy brothel going on, Pip Adam emanations from the radio exploding prejudices owner are some of the turns everything in this station of the title, these and expectations, Nina characters encountered dazzling novel inside poetry messages travel; Mingya Powles presents in this collection, which out, leaving the reader from Lake Geneva to a poetic mosaic that delves into the female momentarily disoriented Waitangi, Berlin to more than lives up to the experience, anger, but exhilarated. Ihumātao, Funkhaus brilliant elegance, or male entitlement and transmits an unstaunchable mingya 明雅, promised restless malaise. array of emotions in by her Chinese name. rhythmic form. National Anthem The Savage Coloniser Book Remote Sympathy Sprigs Mohamed Hassan Tusiata Avia Catherine Chidgey Brannavan Gnanalingam Published by Dead Bird Books Published by Victoria University Press Published by Victoria University Press Published by Lawrence & Gibson Mohamed Hassan shapes the emotional Tusiata Avia turns her vociferous intellect and This transcendent novel about ‘wilful blindness’ A searing novel which examines violence, outpouring of performance and the fast footwork satirical vehemence to recording recent events is written as a series of letters, interviews and racism and toxic masculinity, Sprigs looks at of slam into perfectly timed poems of political and finds a base space for poetry in which to pick diary entries told from four different angles the consequences of a sexual assault at a high commentary, personal awareness and metaphorical up the pieces and keep — the newly-appointed camp administrator school rugby game aftermatch, and the ripple virtuosity. Refusing the easy on moving. While furiously at Buchenwald labour camp Sturmbannführer effect of trauma that follows. Brannavan refrains of nationalism, rejecting the destructive Dietrich Hahn, his wife Gnanalingam deftly National Anthem syncopates legacies of colonialism, her Frau Greta Hahn, Dr brings together a hefty family history, displacement poems acknowledge that Lenard Weber, who has cast of characters, and personal trauma with contradictions live at the invented a machine called skillfully orchestrating a devastating commentary centre of contemporary a Sympathetic Vitaliser multiple voices and on racism’s most ugly commitments. From which he believes can perspectives. Written manifestations. It mixes garrulously hilarious cure cancer by using a with sensitivity, nuance compromise and commitment, observations to expressions process called ‘remote and not without bursts Egypt and Aotearoa, English of profound grief, the sympathy’, and the of comic relief, Sprigs and Arabic, laughter and collection activates her collective reflections of is an unflinching novel anger, skepticism and love insights, reforming our Weimar citizens. Immersive, which forces us to reckon to sound out a new beat consciousness of what profound and plotted with uncomfortable truths for poetry in this country constitutes poetry as with a breathtaking about power and and beyond. she goes. dexterity, Remote Sympathy privilege in Aotearoa. is vividly evoked. Judges: Briar Wood (convenor), Jacob Edmond, Anne Kennedy Judges: Kiran Dass (convenor), Claire Finlayson, Paul Little General Non-Fiction Award How do you like your book money? Specimen: Personal Essays Te Hāhi Mihinare | Whether you’re a gift card-lover Madison Hamill The Māori Anglican Church or a paper person, we’ve Published by Victoria University Press Hirini Kaa got you covered. This compulsively readable collection charts the Published by Bridget Williams Books inner life of someone