The Ockham New Zealand Books Awards shortlists were announced this morning as longlists of 10 were whittled down to just four titles in each of the four categories.
Otago University Press continued its traditionally strong showing in the poetry section and will have its hopes pinned on Canterbury-based finalist Joanna Preston for her collection Tumble.
New Zealand Book Awards Trust spokeswoman Paula Morris said the shortlists were surprising and surprisingly diverse.
"Shortlisted writers range from iconic names to emerging voices; publishers range from multinational to small independents.
"The quality of our writers, illustrators, editors and publishers makes these awards increasingly competitive and the winners impossible to predict," she said.
Winners will be announced on May 11.
Fiction: A Good Winter, Gigi Fenster; Entanglement, Bryan Walpert; Greta & Valdin, Rebecca K. Reilly; Kurangaituku, Whiti Hereaka.
Poetry: Rangikura, Tayi Tibble; Sleeping with Stones, Serie Barford; The Sea Walks into a Wall, Anne Kennedy; Tumble, Joanna Preston.
Illustrated Non-Fiction: Dressed: Fashionable Dress in Aotearoa New Zealand 1840 to 1910, Claire Regnault; NUKU: Stories of 100 Indigenous Women, Qiane Matata-Sipu; Shifting Grounds: Deep Histories of Tamaki Makaurau Auckland, Lucy Mackintosh; The Architect and the Artists: Hackshaw, McCahon, Dibble, Bridget Hackshaw.
General Non-Fiction: From the Centre: A Writer’s Life, Patricia Grace; The Alarmist: Fifty Years Measuring Climate Change, Dave Lowe; The Mirror Book, Charlotte Grimshaw; Voices from the New Zealand Wars|He Reo no nga Pakanga o Aotearoa, Vincent O’Malley.
