NZ Book Awards

In 2016 the NZ Book Awards was reinstated after a year off due to lack of funding. Not only was there a new sponsor – thanks Ockham Residential! – but the prize was promised prominence at the yearly Auckland Writer’s Festival in May. So, what are bookclubbers to do but read the shortlist and try and predict the winners?!

With four categories and 16 books shortlisted and only eight weeks in which to read them, we don’t imagine we’ll read everything, but we’ll start with the fiction and see where we end up, making wild predictions along the way!

NZ Book Awards 2025
Fiction winner: Delirious by Damien Wilkins
Suzy’s pick to win: At The Grand Glacier Hotel by Laurence Fearnley
Rachel’s pick to win: The Mires by Tina Makereti

Best debut novel: Poorhara by Michelle Rahurahu
Non-fiction winner: Hine Toa: A Story of Bravery by Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku
Poetry winner: Liar, Liar, Lick, Spit by Emma Neale
Illustrated non-fiction winner: Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art by Deidre Brown, Ngarino Ellis and Jonathan Mane-Wheoki

NZ Book Awards 2024
Fiction winner: Lioness by Emily Perkins
Suzy & Rachel’s pick to win: Lioness by Emily Perkins

Best debut novel: Ruin by Emma Hislop
Non-fiction winner: An Indigenous Ocean: Pacific Essays by Damon Salesa
Poetry winner: Chinese Fish by Grace Yee
Illustrated non-fiction winner: Don Binney: Flight Path by Gregory O’Brien

NZ Book Awards 2023
Fiction winner: The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey
Suzy & Rachel’s pick: Kāwai: For Such A Time As This by Monty Soutar

Best debut novel: Home Theatre by Anthony Lapwood
Non-fiction winner: The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi by Ned Fletcher
Poetry winner: Always Italicise: How To Write While Colonised by Alice Te Punga Somerville
Illustrated non-fiction winner: Jumping Sundays: The Rise and Fall of the Counterculture in Aotearoa New Zealand by Nick Bollinger

NZ Book Awards 2022
Fiction winner: Kurangaituku – Whiti Hereaka
Suzy’s & Rachel’s pick: Kurangaituku – Whiti Hereaka

Best debut novel: Greta & Valdin – Rebecca K Reilly
Non-fiction winner: Voices from the New Zealand Wars | He Reo nō ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa – Vincent O’Malley
Poetry winner: Tumble – Joanna Preston
Illustrated non-fiction winner: Dressed: Fashionable Dress in Aotearoa New Zealand 1840 to 1910 – Claire Regnault

NZ Book Awards 2021
Fiction winner: Bug Week – Airini Beautrais
Suzy’s & Rachel’s pick: – Remote Sympathy – Catherine Chidgey

Best debut novel: Victory Park – Rachel Kerr
Non-fiction winner: The Dark is Light Enough: Ralph Hotere A Biographical Portrait – Vincent O’Sullivan
Poetry winner: The Savage Coloniser Book – Tusiata Avia
Illustrated non-fiction winner: Hiakai: Modern Māori Cuisine. – Monique Fiso

NZ Book Awards 2020
Fiction winner: Aue – Becky Manawatu
Suzy & Rachel’s pick: Halibut On The Moon – David Vann

Best debut novel: Aue – Becky Manawatu
Non-fiction winner: Dead People I Have Known – Shayne Carter
Poetry winner: How To Live – Helen Rickerb
Illustrated non-fiction winner: Protest Tautohetohe: Objects of Resistance, Persistence and Defiance – Stephanie Gibson; Matariki WIlliams and Puawai Cairns

NZ Book Awards 2019
Fiction winner: This Mortal Boy – Dame Fiona Kidman
Suzy & Rachel’s pick: The Cage – Lloyd Jones

Best debut novel: The Sound of Breaking Glass – Kirsten Warner
Non-fiction winner: Hudson & Halls: The Food of Love by Joanne Drayton
Poetry winner: Are Friends Electric? by Helen Heath
Illustrated non-fiction winner: Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing by Sean Mallon and Sébastien Galliot
Maori language winner: He Kupu Tuku Iho: Ko te Reo Māori te Tatau ki te Ao by Sir Tīmoti Kāretu & Professor Te Wharehuia Milroy

NZ Book Awards 2018
Fiction winner: The New Animals – Pip Adam
Suzy & Rachel’s pick: Sodden Downstream – Brannavan Gnanalingam

Best debut novel: Baby – Annaleese Jochems
Non-fiction winner: Driving To Treblinka: A Long Search For A Lost Father – Diana Witchel
Poetry winner: Night Horse – Elizabeth Smither
Illustrated non-fiction winner: Tuia: A Traveller In Two Worlds – Alison Jones & Kuni Kaa Jenkins

NZ Book Awards 2017
Fiction winner: The Wish Child by Catherine Chidgey
Suzy & Rachel’s pick: The Wish Child by Catherine Chidgey

Best debut novel: Black Ice Matter – Gina Cole
Non-fiction winner: Can You Tolerate This? by Ashleigh Young
Poetry winner: Fits & Starts by Andrew Johnston
Illustrated non-fiction winner: A History of NZ Women by Barbara Brookes

NZ Book Awards 2016
Fiction winner: Coming Rain by Stephen Daisley
Rachel & Suzy’s pick: Coming Rain by Stephen Daisley

Best debut novel: The Invisible Mile – David Coventry
Non-fiction winner: Maori Boy by Witi Ihimaera
Poetry winner: The Conch Trumpet by David Eggleton
Illustrated non-fiction winner: Tangata Whenua by Judith Binney, Aroha Harris & Atholl Anderson