FICTION
1 Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly (Victoria University Press, $35)
The chances are really quite high that 2022 will witness the first time in New Zealand literary history that all the winners of the national book awards are Māori writers. Rebecca Reilly (at number one for the fourth consecutive week!) and Whiti Hereaka (at number three in this week’s chart) are shortlisted for the $60,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction. Tayi Tibble’s spectacular second book Rangikura is shortlisted for the poetry award, Patricia Grace’s graceful memoir From the Centre is shortlisted for the non-fiction award, and the sumptuous NUKU: Stories of 100 Indigenous Women by Qiane Matata-Sipu.
There was very nearly a clean sweep in 2019, when Becky Manawatu (Auē), Matariki Williams and Puawai Cairns (Protest Tautohetohe: Objects of Resistance, Persistence and Defiance) and Shayne Carter (Dead People I Have Known) won three of the four awards. But it was only as recently as 2017 that Paula Morris wrote in Newsroom, “This year there are no Māori writers shortlisted in the fiction or poetry categories, and only one Pasifika poet, Tusiata Avia… This low tally disappoints me – but it doesn’t surprise me… I think there simply aren’t enough books being written and published by Māori and Pasifika writers. They represent only 3 percent of all locally published poetry and fiction.”
I don’t know the statistic in 2022. Certainly though the Ockham shortlist very accurately reflects a new kind of dynamism in Māori publishing, and a shake-up in diversity and representation in New Zealand books. Pasifika publishing, too, is on the rise, with two new collections of short fiction – Vā by Lani Wendt Young & Sisilia Eteuati (number seven on this week’s chart), and the publication this week of Beats of the Pa‘u by Maria Samuela (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $30). “Plaza de Toros”, one of the stories from Beats of the Pa‘u, will appear soon in ReadingRoom. It’s very, very good; her book is already looking like a likely candidate for the 2023 Ockhams.
2 She’s a Killer by Kirsten McDougall (Victoria University Press, $30)
From an unusually thoughtful review at GoodReads, by a man called Anthony O’Brien: “A few weeks ago I read CK Stead’s Smith’s Dream so it was interesting to find a new dystopian New Zealand novel being published very recently. This novel is very modern, post pandemic even, set in a future Wellington. Wellington is degenerating and the cost of living is skyrocketing. Water is rationed. Armed guards protect hyperexpensive restaurants…To come back to the reference to Smith’s Dream, She’s a Killer is a much more satisfying novel with a deeper, darker, but more human main character. It also ties up its loose ends well, while leaving plenty for the reader to ponder in terms of the future of its characters and New Zealand society.”
3 Kurangaituku by Whiti Hereaka (Huia Publishers, $35)
4 The Library of Unfinished Business by Patricia Bell (Cloud Ink Press, $34.99)
From the Radio New Zealand site: “In Auckland writer Patricia Bell‘s novel, we join recently deceased librarian Maurice in a Heaven where everyone has to wear bright yellow. He also gets to rub shoulders with perky Heavenly Hosts as well as Biblical characters like Adam and Eve…”
5 The Fish by Lloyd Jones (Penguin Random House, $36)
“In Lloyd Jones’ first novel since his 2018 allegory The Cage, a baby who is both boy and fish is born to an unmarried teenage mother ‘on this long puzzling sandbar we call home.’ We’re close to the sea and close to Wellington, with a story that unfolds largely in the 1950s and 60s: the climax of the novel is the Wahine disaster of 1968 and its sad aftermath, described in riveting and original detail”: from a review by Paula Morris.
6 In Amber’s Wake by Christine Leunens (David Bateman, $34.99)
7 Vā by Lani Wendt Young & Sisilia Eteuati (Dahlia Malaeulu, $35)
Anthology of new fiction by Cook Island, Chamorro, Erub Island (Torres Strait), Fijian, Hawaiian, Māori, Ni-Vanuatu, Papua New Guinean, Rotuman, Samoan and Tongan writers.
8 Loop Tracks by Sue Orr (Victoria University Press, $35)
We cross live to the Adelaide Writers Festival where the author is pictured with her agent Martin Shaw.
9 To Italy, With Love by Nicky Pellegrino (Hachette, $34.99)
10 The Last Guests by J.P. Pomare (Hachette, $34.99)
NON-FICTION
1 Flavourbomb: Fast fresh keto fun for Kiwis by Belinda MacDonald (Penguin Random House, $45)
Featuring over 150 keto recipes, including her very delicious-looking smoked salmon, avocado, caper & cream cheese sandwich, below.
2 Letters to You by Jazz Thornton (Penguin Random House, $30)
3 Dancing with the Machine by Jo Morgan & John McCrystal (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
Publisher’s blurbology: “Morgan took up climbing in her late fifties. She set herself a goal of summiting all 24 of New Zealand’s 3000-metre-plus mountain peaks, with the help of her guide and friend Wolfgang, nicknamed The Machine. They would ascend all but two of them before tragedy struck, killing both Wolfgang and his colleague Martin.”
4 Salad by Margo Flanagan & Rosa Flanagan (Allen & Unwin, $45)
5 Aroha by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30)
6 Māori Made Easy by Scotty Morrison (Penguin Random House, $38)
7 This Changes Everything by Niki Bezzant (Penguin Random House, $37)
8 Don’t Sweat It by Nicky Pellegrino (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
9 Words of Comfort by Rebekah Ballagh (Allen & Unwin, $24.99)
10 After the Tampa by Abbas Nazari (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
Tomorrow in ReadingRoom: a rural gothic short story set in lockdown by Palmerston North writer Thom Conroy
