Creative Writing graduates on Ockham NZ Book Awards Fiction shortlist
Pip Adam's The New Animals and Annaleese Jochem's Baby have been shortlisted for the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize in this year's Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
Pip Adam has published a collection of short stories, Everything We Hoped For, and a novel, I'm Working on a Building. She completed the MA in Creative Writing in 2007 and was awarded a PhD in Creative Writing from Victoria in 2012. She co-convenes the Short Fiction workshop at the IIML, with William Brandt, and teaches creative writing at Rimutaka and Arohata Prisons, as a member of the Write Where You Are Collective. She also makes the Better off Read podcast.
The judging panel described The New Animals as 'a strange, confrontational, revelatory novel that holds up a mirror to contemporary New Zealand culture.'
Annaleese Jochems completed the MA in Creative Writing in 2016, and won that year's Adam Foundation Prize for the manuscript that was subsequently published as Baby in 2017.The judging panel called it 'a savagely funny and daring debut' and 'a strange and strangely moving love story built on obsession, narcissism and damage.'
Both books were published by Victoria University Press, along with the shortlisted Salt Picnic by Patrick Evans. The fourth shortlisted book was Sodden Downstream by Brannavan Gnanalingam (Lawrence and Gibson).
Winners in the Fiction, Poetry, General and Illustrated Nonfiction categories will be announced on 15 May.
Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors and publishers and to the writers longlisted for all all categories, including graduates Airini Beautrais, Catherine Chidgey, Mandy Hager, Kirsten McDougall, Hannah Mettner and Redmer Yska.