Win all 16 books shortlisted for Ockham

2026-03-04 - 16:07

Every single book shortlisted for the 2026 Ockham New Zealand national book awards—that’s 16 titles, the best of the best—is up for grabs in the greatest book giveaway of all times. One reader will win the lot. The offer is exclusive to ReadingRoom in our fourth annual contest in association with the national book awards. The shortlist was announced yesterday. The books have a total retail value of somewhere north of $1000 not that you can put a price on beauty. There are four illustrated books including the remarkable picture book that comes with a pair of 3D glasses, He Puāwai: A Natural History of New Zealand Flowers. There are four novels, including the hot favourite to win the $65,000 fiction prize, the biggest-selling NZ novel of 2025, The Book of Guilt by the sage of Cambridge, Catherine Chidgey. There are four collections of poetry in what I think is the strongest shortlist in years. And there are four books of nonfiction, including a memoir by Sydney resident Jacinda Ardern. The contest rules are simple. Readers need to nominate their favourite NZ book of last year, and share a few lines stating why that is so. They can draw from the shortlist of 16 books, enumerated below; they can draw from books that got as far as the Ockham longlist; or they can draw from any NZ book whether it was nominated or not, so long as it was published in 2025, and you genuinely loved it. You may have written it or published it. Vanity is acceptable. The book that receives the most votes will be crowned as winner of the People’s Choice Award on the morning of the Ockham awards on May 13. It’s an entirely informal award and the author doesn’t receive a red cent for it. But the honour is deep and meaningful, and at this juncture it seems likely it will be a race between The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey or the biggest-selling book of any kind in 2025, A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern. Or it could be the loveliest cookbook of the year, Nourish by Chelsea Winter. Or it could be the novel I think was the best work of fiction published last year, Before the Winter Ends by Khadro Mohamed, which made it as far as the Ockhams longlist. Or it could be another longlisted title, my character study Polkinghorne: Inside the trial of the century. That’s a good book! Anyway there are a lot to choose from and everything published last year is eligible for readers to nominate and wax lyrical upon at any length. A few lines will suffice but there is no word limit. All that’s needed is any kind of intelligent and genuine appreciation of the NZ book that made the biggest impression. Be wise, be witty—whatever. Some effort is required to win such an incredible prize. It’s the greatest book prize of all times since 2024, when ReadingRoom last offered every Ockham shortlisted book as a giveaway. We also offered it in 2023, 2022 and 2021. Previous winners include Marina Lathouraki, Damien Holder, and Betty Davis. The winner this year could be you. To enter, send in your vote for your favourite NZ book of 2025, make sure to share your thoughts on your nomination, and email it to stephen11@xtra.co.nz with the subject line I WANT TO WIN ALL 16 BOOKS SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2026 OCKHAM NZ AWARDS PLEASE. The deadline is midnight on Sunday, April 26. So you’ve got a bit of time to give it some thought but contest judges look favourably on early birds and why put off tomorrow what you can do today to stand a chance of winning the greatest book prize of all times. Good luck to all who enter. As below, the shortlisted books in the 2026 Ockham NZ national book awards, to be held on May 13. JANN MEDLICOTT ACORN PRIZE FOR FICTION The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press) Ingenious tale about mutant children who learn the truth about their lives. All Her Lives by Ingrid Horrocks (Te Herenga Waka University Press) Good long short stories. Hoods Landing by Laura Vincent (Āporo Press) 4-star GoodReads review, from Rosie: “It was poetic and queer and kiwi.” How to Paint a Nude by Sam Mahon (Ugly Hill Press) Not especially inviting blurbology: “Set in Christchurch, it centres around a Belarus refugee who fled his country to find freedom. Sam and Gregor meet weekly to discuss art’s purpose.” MARY AND PETER BIGGSY AWARD FOR POETRY Black Sugarcane by Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Te Herenga Waka University Press) Very powerful poems on the 2019 tsunami that hit Samoa, viz: A tidal pool fenced with mangroves is a buoyant graveyard for tens of thousands of empty water bottles. No Good by Sophie van Waardenberg (Auckland University Press) Elliptical debut, viz: In summer when I picked dandelions for the geriatric guinea pig I changed the world. I killed a weed. I filled a mouth with gold. Sick Power Trip by Erik Kennedy (Te Herenga Waka University Press) I love every line, viz: There is some evidence to suggest that cold water swimming boosts the immune system but almost no research on if it’s good to feel like frozen diamonds are growing in your skin. Terrier, Worrier: A Poem in Five Parts by Anna Jackson (Auckland University Press) Chickens, viz: I read that birds dream about songs in their sleep, rats dream about running, and I wondered if my hens ever dreamt of me. BOOKHUB AWARD FOR ILLUSTRATED NONFICTION He Puāwai: A Natural History of New Zealand Flowers by Philip Garnock-Jones (Auckland University Press) Comes with 3D glasses. Good luck with that. Garrison World: Redcoat Soldiers in New Zealand and Across the British Empire by Charlotte Macdonald (Bridget Williams Books) Imperial forces, 1840-1870. Mark Adams: A Survey – He Kohinga Whakaahua by Sarah Farrar (Massey University Press and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki) Career survey of 65 photos, including his celebrated documentation of tattooing in Samoan communities in Auckland. Mr Ward’s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street by Elizabeth Cox (Massey University Press) Incredible images from a 1891 map of Wellington, revealing its slumhouses, whorehouses, oyster saloons, horse stables, lunatic asylum and other specificities.