Diversity’s the winner of this year’s Ockham Book Awards, with people of colour dominating the stage.
Poetry, a cook book, a biography of an acclaimed artist, and a short story collection were all winners last night.
Whanganui science educator Airiri Beautris won the top fiction prize.
It’s the second time in the award’s 53-year history a collection of short stories has taken the top award.
Her work, Bug Week, tells stories spanning from 1960s Wellington to post-communist Germany.
“Another theme that kept coming up for me was female experience. There’re stories about young women, children and women towards the end of their lives,” Beautris said.
Tusiata Avia is the first Pacific woman to win the poetry prize.
Her collection, The Savage Coloniser, is a middle finger to those who inflict racial wounds.
“We’re not even really minority ... we’re everywhere and we’re not going away,” Avia said.
The award for non-fiction went to veteran writer Vincent O’Sullivan for his biography into acclaimed artist Ralph Hotere.
The judges described his portrait of the artist as an extraordinary achievement.
Chef Monique Fiso also delivered a recipe for success in Hiakai, named after a restaurant in Wellington, which showcases modern Māori cuisine.
The Māori Language Award was given to our country’s first Māori Language Commissioner, Sir Timoti Karetu.
His book Mātāmua ko te Kupu is all about the Māori performing arts.
Ockham NZ Book Awards trustee Paula Morris said this year’s awards were one of the most diverse ever.
The ceremony was part of the Auckland Writers Festival running this week.
Among the hundreds of entries are 13 first-time writers, which is a new record for the awards.
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