NZ Booklovers Awards 2026 shortlists announced

• 1985 (Dominic Hoey, Penguin)
• A Beautiful Family (Jennifer Trevelyan, A&U)
• Fulvia (Kaarina Parker, Echo)
• The Girl from Sarajevo (Stef Harris, Quentin Wilson Publishing)
• Softly Calls the Devil (Chris Blake, Echo)
• Three Dogs, Two Murders and a Cat (Rodney Strong, LoreQuin Publishing)
• Vividwater (Jacqueline Owens, Four Elements Press)
• Wonderland (Tracy Farr, The Cuba Press)

Best Lifestyle Book

• Ara: A Māori Guidebook of the Mind (Hinemoa Elder, Penguin)
• Eat Wild: A Foraging Journey Across Aotearoa (Sophie Merkens, Penguin)
• The Food Farm: A Life Growing and Eating Our Own Food (Angela Clifford & Nick Gill, Bateman)
• My Weekend Table: Celebrating Simple Food from Aotearoa and Beyond (Gretchen Lowe, Bateman)
• New Zealand Photography Collected: 175 Years of Photography in Aotearoa (Athol McCredie, Te Papa Press)
• Olveston: Portrait of a Home (Jane Ussher & John Walsh, Massey University Press)

Best Young Adult Fiction Book

• Bear (Kiri Lightfoot, A&U Children’s)
• It’s a Bit More Complicated Than That (Hannah Marshall, A&U Children’s)
• Kings of This World (Elizabeth Knox, A&U Children’s)
• The Lost Saint (Rachael Craw, A&U Children’s)
• The People I Know Now (Jasmine Donaldson, Mary Egan Publishing)

Best Junior Fiction Book

• Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town (Li Chen, Penguin)
• Dragonfall: The Fate of Dragons (Sarina Clark, illus by Alba Gil Celdrán, Little Moa)
• Dreamslinger (Graci Kim, Penguin)
• The Last Journey (Stacy Gregg, S&S Children’s)
• The Secret Green (Sonya Wilson, A&U Children’s)
• Violet and the Velvets: The Case of the Missing Stuff (Rachael King, A&U Children’s)

Best Children’s Picture Book

• Anahera: The Mighty Kiwi Māmā (Ruth Paul, Picture Puffin)
• Granny McFlitter Stitches Up a Storm (Heather Haylock, illus by Lael Chisholm, Picture Puffin)
• Mum’s Busy Work (Jacinda Ardern, illus by Ruby Jones, Picture Puffin)
• Pukapuka (Vasanti Unka, Te Reo Māori trans by Justin Kereama, Beatnik Publishing)
• Taniwha (Gavin Bishop, Penguin)
• Te Ngahere i te Pō/The Forest at Night (Kiri Lightfoot, illus by Pippa Keel Situ, A&U)
• The Tractor Has a Wobbly Wheel (Tim Saunders, illus by Carla Martell, A&U Children’s).

The awards, now in their eighth year, celebrate Aotearoa New Zealand authors.