University alumni recognised in Ockham awards longlist

Over 25 alumni of Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington feature on the 2022 longlist for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, announced yesterday by the Book Awards Trust.

image of books with no titles, with text 'ockhams longlist announced' and a logo of the ockham book awards
They include 11 alumni of the International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML), with 2019 Adam Prize award-winner Rebecca K. Reilly longlisted for Greta & Valdin, the book published from her MA thesis. Three of the IIML alumni on the list—Whiti Hereaka, Sue Orr, and Kirsten McDougall—are teaching in the creative writing programme in 2022.

The University’s publisher, Te Herenga Waka University Press (THWUP), has eight books on the longlist, including She’s a Killer by Kirsten McDougall, and Rangikura by Tayi Tibble (Te Whānau ā Apanui, Ngāti Porou), both staff of the publisher. THWUP is particularly well-represented in the poetry section, with four of ten longlisted books.

THWUP publisher Fergus Barrowman says, “I am thrilled for the eight Te Herenga Waka University Press writers who have received this deserved recognition. I am thrilled too at our strong showing as we move forward under our new name.”

Director of the museum and heritage studies programme Professor Conal McCarthy is also on the longlist for his contribution to Hei Taonga mā nā Uri Whakatipu | Treasures for the Rising Generation: The Dominion Museum Ethnological Expeditions 1919-1923 (Te Papa Press).

Awhina Tamarapa (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Pikiao), a teaching fellow in the same programme, is longlisted for her contribution to Te Puna Waiora: The Distinguished Weavers of Te Kāhui Whiritoi (Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū).

“We’re delighted at our colleagues’ success across categories—fiction, illustrated non-fiction, general non-fiction, and poetry— and their contributions to a thriving community of writers in New Zealand. What a great group of books,” says the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, Professor Jennifer Windsor.

The eight THWUP publications are:

  • She’s a Killer, by Kirsten McDougall
  • Greta & Valdin, by Rebecca K. Reilly
  • Loop Tracks, by Sue Orr
  • Sea-Light, by Dinah Hawken
  • Rangikura, by Tayi Tibble
  • Party Legend, by Sam Duckor-Jones
  • Tōku Pāpā,by Ruby Solly
  • The Alarmist: Fifty years measuring climate change, by Dr Dave Lowe.

The full longlist is available here.