Press Release – Ockham Book Awards
The shortlist for the 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, released today, is a dazzling reflection of the robust, innovative literature scene of Aotearoa New Zealand, revealing a deeper engagement with our culturally diverse society.
In the Fiction category, two past winners are vying for the same award. Catherine Chidgey and Pip Adam are both contenders for the $57,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, alongside Brannavan Gnanalingam, a previous nominee, and the critically acclaimed story writer Airini Beautrais.
The works on the Fiction shortlist explore the range of human experience, from the ‘wilful blindness’ of Nazi-occupied Germany demonstrated in
Sodden Downstream, is in the running again with his new novel,
Sprigs.
Bug Week & Other Stories. Fiction category convenor of judges Kiran Dass said the qualities the four shortlisted works had in common were “craft, nuance, urgent storytelling, rage against injustice, and new perspectives”.
Ross Giblin/Stuff Set in Nazi Germany,
Remote Sympathy explores the attractions and evils of obliviousness.
Nothing to See explores life in the era of surveillance capitalism and the increasingly thin line between reality and simulation.
Sprigs takes on violence, racism and toxic masculinity in the context of an all-boys’ school, while
Bug Week’s stories touch on subjects including male entitlement and death.
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The Dark is Light Enough - Ralph Hotere, a biographical portrait, by Vincent O Sullivan.
By: David Herkt Evasion, shyness, self-defence, cunning, writes Vincent O Sullivan. The synonyms fit neatly together. This first extensive – and now controversial - examination of the life of New Zealand s premier late-20th century painter, Ralph Hotere, is a provocative revelation of a man who, despite his fame, remained enigmatic. There are few things I can say about my work that are better than saying nothing, he once remarked.