The 2024 NZ Booklovers Awards shortlist is out, and this year has added a young adult category.
The awards, now in their 6th year and judging 119 entries across adult fiction, lifestyle titles, YA, junior fiction and picture books, have become known for recognising books and genres that often don’t make the shortlists of the higher-profile Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
The adult fiction shortlist, chosen for the quality of storytelling according to the judges, comprises eight titles this year. Several thrillers made the shortlist, including Chasing the Dragon, Double Jeopardy, El Flamingo and Ritual of Fire. Historical fiction also featured in Where Light Meets Water and Light Keeping. The Waters, by one of our most feted writers, Carl Nixon, and Jade Keke’s identity drama Checkerboard Hill complete the list.
Seven books were shortlisted in the Lifestyle category, four in the Young Adult category, and six in the Junior Fiction and Picture Book categories.
The Lifestyle category includes Te Papa’s substantial hardback Flora but also a book on Massey University’s Toioho ki Āpiti arts programme, a taco cookbook and an account of NZ sporting heroes.
NZ Booklovers Director Karen McMillan says the lifestyle award “applauds beautifully presented non-fiction books that can enrich our daily lives”. For the children’s book awards, the judges looked for books that engage kids and foster a love of books. In the new Young Adult category, they sought a read that would “entertain and provoke thought”.
The winners will be announced on March 28, each receiving $500.
Best Adult Fiction Book, sponsored by Lighthouse PR
Chasing the Dragon by Mark Wightman (Hoebeck)
Checkerboard Hill by Jade Kake (Huia)
Double Jeopardy by Stef Harris (Quentin Wilson)
El Flamingo by Nick Davies (YBK)
Light Keeping by Adrienne Jansen (Quentin Wilson)
Ritual of Fire by DV Bishop (Macmillan)
The Waters by Carl Nixon (Penguin)
Where Light Meets Water by Susan Paterson (S&S)
Best Lifestyle Book 2023, sponsored by Benefitz
Enjoy by Kelly Gibney (Beatnik)
Flora: Celebrating Our Botanical World edited by Carlos Lehnebach et al (Te Papa)
Good Sports by Stuart Lipshaw (PRH)
Living Beyond Land and Sea by Jane Robertson (MUP)
The Lucky Taco Cookbook by Sarah and Otis Frizzell (PRH)
Ki Mau Ki Muri – 25 years of Toioho ki Āpiti by Cassandra Barnett and Kura Te Waru-Rewiri (MUP)
Through Shaded Glass by Lissa Mitchell (Te Papa)
NZ Booklovers Award for Young Adults 2024, sponsored by The Kiwi Kids’ Bookstore
Before George by Deborah Roberts (Huia Publishers)
Catch a Falling Star by Eileen Merriman (Penguin Random House)
Iris and Me by Philippa Werry (The Cuba Press)
The Sparrow by Tessa Duder (Penguin Random House)
Best Junior Fiction Book 2023, sponsored by The Kiwi Kids’ Bookstore
Below by David Hill (Penguin)
Children of the Rush Book Two by James Russell (Dragon Brothers)
Lopini the Legend by Feana Tu’akoi (Scholastic)
Once Upon a Wickedness by Fleur Beale, illustrations by Lily Uivel (Penguin)
Tui Street Legends by Anne Kayes (Wildling Books)
NZ Booklovers Award for Best Children’s Picture Book 2024, sponsored by Duckling Publishing
At the Bach by Joy Cowley, illustrated by Hilary Jean Tapper (Gecko Press)
Dazzlehands by Sacha Cotter, illustrated by Josh Morgan (Huia)
Lucy and the Dark by Melinda Szymanik, illustrated by Vasanti Unka (PRH)
Tama and the Taniwha by Melanie Koster, illustrated by Monica Koster (Scholastic)
There Was an Odd Farmer Who Swallowed a Fly by Peter Millett, illustrated by Paul Beavis (PRH)
When Grandpa Wore a Tutu by Dawn McMillan, Illustrator Jenny Cooper (Scholastic)
