by NZBA

Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2022

Every May, as part of the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize is awarded to the best contemporary adult fiction novel.

In 2022 the winner is announced on May 11. The four finalists this year are:

A Good Winter Gigi Fenster
Olga is a woman who views the world and those around her in a negative way. She is constantly looking for the motives in any interaction and fails to see anyone in a positive way. Olga has one good friend, Lara, whose friendship Olga is quite obsessive about. When Lara's daughter Sophie has a baby, Lara is called upon to help out as, sadly, Sophie's partner dies soon after the birth,  and Sophie is battling post-natal depression. Olga sees her role as caring for Lara as she views Sophie as selfish and inconsiderate towards her mother. Will Olga's obsessive need to be the centre of Lara's attention result in tragedy?

Kurangaituku Whiti Hereaka
The modern retelling of the Māori myth of Hatupatu and the bird-woman Kurangaituku. In the older version Hatupatu tells the story but this version is told from the viewpoint of the bird-woman herself. Karungaituku takes the reader on a journey of her life, from the birds who first sang her into life, to the arrival of the Song Makers, and eventually to her death and her wanderings in the underworlds of Rarohenga.

Greta & Valdin Rebecca K Reilly
Greta and Valdin are brother and sister, part of the unconventional and emotional Vladisavljevic family. They are both trying to navigate the delicate path of true love as gay and lesbian people, inevitably getting their hearts broken in the process. The story involves a large cast of characters, all single, and finding their way in the pursuit of love and friendship in modern-day Auckland.

Entanglement Bryan Walpert
A novel essentially about the concept of time.  Three stories, seemingly separate, are woven into this story of time travel and attempting to correct past mistakes.  Driven by guilt over a past misdemeanour, the main character attempts to change the past, but is this possible?  The story is woven over twenty years and several countries while the three stories become enmeshed, each with the other.

SEE ALSO
(Previous winners)

Bug Week & Other Stories. Airini Beautrais (2021)
Aue. Becky Manwatu (2020)
This Mortal Boy. Fiona Kidman (2019)
The New Animals. Pip Adam (2018)
The Wish Child. Catherine Chidgey (2017)