Data provided by Nielsen BookScan NZ.
Let it be known, New Zealanders read novels by New Zealand writers. The best of our novelists, featured here in Listener’s Top 10 power list, have sold more than 320,000 books between them in our fair land in the past 10 years.
And they’re not all names you might expect to see.
Sure, literary mavens Eleanor Catton, Witi Ihimaera and Catherine Chidgey feature – and deservedly so. But you may not be familiar with the work of paranormal romance writer Nalini Singh, who comes in at number five; and if we included international sales of her books, she’d be number two, beaten only by Te Awamutu-born and raised author Heather Morris with her runaway bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz which has sold a whopping 18 million copies globally.
Nicky Pellegrino, New Zealand’s undisputed literary star of food, love and all things Italian, ranks, as do beloved historical fiction writers Deborah Challinor and Jenny Pattrick. Charity Norman, a relative newcomer to call New Zealand home (she arrived in 2002), can claim her rightful place as our queen of crime fiction.
The list features writers across a variety of fiction genre, with books set in the past, present and future, but if there is a common thread to be found, all but one are women. They and their publishers deserve applause.
But perhaps we should cheer the loudest for Becky Manawatu, whose singular title published in the time frame – Auē – sold so many copies, it earned her a place on the list.
Without further ado, here is the list of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most successful fiction writers in the last decade.
#1 Eleanor Catton (local publisher Te Herenga Waka University Press)
How long she has been writing for: Catton has been writing for 15 years with a 10-year break between The Luminaries and Birnam Wood.
Break out book that made her famous: Catton catapulted to global stardom when her second book, The Luminaries, won the 2014 Booker Prize. She is the award’s youngest recipient and only the second New Zealander to win it (Keri Hulme was first with The Bone People).
Global sales: The Luminaries has sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide. It is published in 32 languages and is the biggest-selling book in Catton’s international publisher, Granta’s, history.
Awards won: Catton’s debut novel, The Rehearsal (2009), won the New Zealand Best First Book of Fiction Award and the Betty Trask Prize, and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Dylan Thomas Prize, and longlisted for the Orange Prize.
The Luminaries (2013) won the Booker Prize, the Canadian Governor General’s Literary Award, and the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction.
Tv/film adaptations: As a screenwriter, Catton adapted The Luminaries for television, and wrote Jane Austen’s Emma for feature film. Catton’s debut novel The Rehearsal was made into a film of the same name directed by Alison Maclean.
#2 Heather Morris (MacMillan)
How long she has been writing for: Morris studied writing and wrote screenplays while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne. In 2003, she was introduced to an elderly gentleman who “might just have a story worth telling”. The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. The Tattooist of Auschwitz was published in 2018.
Break through title/the book that made her famous: The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Global sales: More than 18 million copies of The Tattooist of Auschwitz have sold worldwide; 4 million in the US and 5 million in Brazil. More than 800,000 copies have sold in Poland, with rights sold in 55 territories.
Awards won: The Tattooist of Auschwitz has won numerous awards all over the world, including the Neilsen Gold Bestseller Award (2019), Apple Book of the Year (2018), and the Lubimy Czytać Best Historical Novel Award in Poland (2018). The book spent 37 weeks on the New York Times Trade Paperback Fiction list.
TV and/or film adaptations: The 2024 TV series of The Tattooist of Auschwitz directed by Tali Shalom Ezer became a global sensation, trending in the top five on streaming platforms in countries such as Argentina, Belize, Mexico and Peru.
#3 Deborah Challinor (HarperCollins)
How long she has been writing for: Challinor has been a full-time historian and writer since 2000.
Break out book: Tamar (2002)
Awards won: Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in 2018
Global sales: Challinor’s novels are published in Germany, UK, Russia, the Czech Republic as well as Australia and NZ.
TV and/or film adaptations: None! Given the rich history, strong female characters and compelling plots any one of Challinor’s books would surely make a popular TV or film adaptation.
#4 Nicky Pellegrino (Hachette NZ)
How long she has been writing for: Pellegrino began writing her first novel, Delicious in 2001 – spurred on to fulfil her long-held dream of becoming a fiction writer when her much-loved television presenter friend Angela D’Audney was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Global sales: More than 50,000 of Pellegrino’s novels have sold worldwide. Rights to her novels have sold in 84 territories and have been published in 17 different languages including Dutch, Hebrew and Russian.
Breakthrough title/the book that made her famous: Pellegrino’s very first novel - Delicious (2005).
TV and/or film adaptations: Any and all of her novels would make for perfect escapist film or TV bingeing. Think Chocolat starring Juliette Binoche, Jonny Deppe and Judy Dench, adapted from the eponymously named novel by Joanne Harris.
#5 Nalini Singh (Penguin Random House)
How long she has been writing for: In 2001, Singh’s manuscript Coaxing the Sheik won the Jane Porter Award for highest-placed Mills & Boon and the Clendon Award’s Readers’ Choice Award. The accolades alerted the romance publisher at Harlequin (Hachette), who published Coaxing the Sheik under the title Desert Warrior in 2002. Singh has never looked back. More than 60 paranormal romance novels and novellas written by Singh make up her total fiction sales by volume in the 10-year period. These include the Psy/Changeling series; the Psy/Changeling Trilogy series; the Guild Hunter series; the Rock Kiss series; and the Hard Play series.
Breakthrough title/the book that made her famous: Some 30 of Singh’s novels have made it onto the New York Times bestseller list.
Global sales: Singh has sold more than 7 million books worldwide and her work has been translated into more than 20 languages.
Awards won: Two-time winner of the Sir Julius Vogel Award for best novella (2008, 2009). Wolf Rain was chosen as one of the Best Romance Novels of 2019 by Oprah magazine. Alpha Night won the Favourite Paranormal Romance at the 2020 Australian Romance Readers Awards.
TV and/or film adaptations: Not yet but Singh’s Psy-Changeling series, with its wildly imaginative good over evil plotline and its cast of other worldly animals and humans could be a winner.
#6 Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin)
How long she has been writing for: Norman’s writing career began when she moved to New Zealand with her family in 2002. Her first novel, Freeing Grace, was published in 2010.
Breakthrough title/the book that made her famous: After the Fall (2013)
Global sales: Norman’s work is wildly popular in the UK and in NZ. Her books have been translated into French, German, Hungarian and Turkish.
Awards and achievements: The Secret Life of Luke Livingstone and The Secrets of Strangers were Radio 2 Book Club choices in the UK. After the Fall was a Richard and Judy Book club choice. Remember Me won the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel.
TV and/or film adaptations: Several of Norman’s books have had film rights optioned, including one that is very active.
#7 Witi Ihimaera: Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki; and affiliations with Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Porou, and Whakatōhea (Penguin Random House)
How long he has been writing for: Ihimaera has been writing since the 1960s. He had his first short story, The Liar, accepted for publication by the Listener in May 1970. His 1973 novel Tangi was the first novel published by a Māori author.
Breakthrough title/the book that made him famous: The Whale Rider – first published in 1987 and reprinted several times, including a film edition.
Global sales: Ihimaera’s books have sold in their tens of thousands across Australia, NZ and the UK in the past 10 years. His books are sold in eight territories and translated into six languages.
Awards won: Ihimaera has twice won first prize in the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards: for Tangi (1974) and The Matriarch (1986); and he won the Montana Book Award for Fiction for Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies (1995).
Witi Ihimaera was made a Distinguished Companion in the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004 for services to literature. He was the recipient of the Te Tohutiketike a Te Waka Toi Award in 2009, the highest honour given by Māoridom in the arts, and he received an Arts Foundation Laureate Award in the same year.
TV and/or film adaptations: Whale Rider was released as a film in 2002 directed by Niki Caro and there is a current option on The Uncle’s Story.
#8 Jenny Pattrick (Penguin Random House)
How long she has been writing for: Pattrick was a highly regarded jeweller before she wrote her first novel in 2003.
Breakthrough title/the book that made her famous: The Denniston Rose.
Global sales: Pattrick is a bestselling novelist right here in NZ.
Awards won: OBE for services to the Arts (1990), Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship (2009)
TV and/or film adaptations: The Denniston Rose was optioned by Bohemia Group Originals in 2018.
#9 Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
How long she has been writing for: In 1997, Chidgey was in the first intake to Professor Bill Manhire’s Master of Arts in Creative Writing course where she completed her first novel In a Fishbone Church.
Gap in writing: Chidgey had a 13-year gap in writing (from 2003-2016). She has publicly commented that infertility issues keeping her from writing; she and her husband finally had their daughter in 2015.
Breakthrough title that made her famous: Chidgey’s first novel In a Fishbone Church caught the eye of British literary agent Caroline Dawnay, who brokered deals that launched her onto the world stage. The debut title won Best First Book at the New Zealand Book Awards and at the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (South East Asia and South Pacific). In the UK, it won the Betty Trask Award and was longlisted for the Orange Prize.
Global sales: All of Chidgey’s novels were published internationally. Her ninth novel – The Book of Guilt – scheduled for publication in May 2025 - was the subject of a bidding war, won by revered English publishing house John Murray.
Awards won: In addition to the awards Chidgey won for her first novel, she has won the Prize in Modern Letters, the Katherine Mansfield Award, the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship, the Janet Frame Fiction Prize, the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize for The Wish Child and the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction for The Axeman’s Carnival.
Film adaptations: There is considerable film adaptation interest in Pet.
#10 Becky Manawatu: Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe, Waitaha (Mākaro Press)
Manawatu’s massively successful debut title Auē earns her a place in the top 10.
Novels
Auē (2019)
How long she has been writing for: Manawatu trained as a journalist in 2016 and writes for the Westport News. Her debut novel Auē, published in 2019, catapulted her to literary stardom in Aotearoa, and to the world. Her second book, Kataraina, came out in 2024.
Breakthrough title/the book that made her famous: Auē
Global sales: Auē was published by Scribe in the UK, US and Australia in 2022. It been translated into many languages including French, Bulgarian, Uruguayan Spanish and Turkish.
Awards won: In 2020, Auē won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, the Hubert Church Best First Book Award and the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel.
TV and/or film adaptations: Auē has been optioned by Caravan Carpark Films
* Data includes books that were published earlier but still selling in the date range (2013 – 2023). Data is for printed books only (no audio or e-books included).