Awards

From Ingrid Horrocks’ historic fiction win to Jacinda Ardern’s debut memoir, this year’s Ockham winners represent a fearless new era of New Zealand storytelling. Explore the titles that defined the year in poetry, prose, and history.

For the first time in 14 years, a graphic novel has taken the $60,000 Stella Prize. Lee Lai’s Cannon is a breathtaking exploration of queer identity, burnout, and the weight of being the "responsible one." A cinematic masterpiece that proves comics can do what prose alone cannot.

A hypnotic, propulsive novel following Istvan, whose life unravels after a troubling relationship in his youth, slowly carrying him from isolation in Hungary to the heights of wealth and power in London.

Flesh is a spare, penetrating exploration of ambition, desire, and what ultimately sustains or destroys a life.

From the spellbinding Book of the Year to the dazzling Best First Book, this year’s finalists are bursting with so much story-magic, your bookshelf will need extra room just to hold all the wonder!