Live updates from the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards
Welcome to the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards! These are the awards for writing for adults across fiction and nonfiction. The prize money is the largest in the land and a win can change a book's life.
Tune in from 4pm for some warm-up posts, and from 7pm for a blow-by-blow of the ceremony as it unfolds.
The Spinoff Books section is proudly brought to you by Unity Books and Creative New Zealand. Visit Unity Books online today.
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NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Cian Parker's show explores family ties, heritage in Whangārei debut
Described as a heartfelt and hilarious story about growing up on the mean streets of Aotearoa with a sometimes-there, mostly-not dad, Parker shares her story about reclaiming her heritage when she is unexpectedly introduced to a father and a family she didn't know existed. 'We met briefly when I was 9,' she shares. 'I mean, it went well … I guess it's as people would suspect; a little bit awkward but a little bit of excitement. It all plays out in the show – there's the childhood filling in the gaps and longing to connect with my Māori culture and trying to find where I belong.' Cian Parker grew up in a tight-knit but low-decile community. Raised by her mother and the eldest of six, Parker grew up in a low socioeconomic setting but with a close-knit community. As far as Parker knew at the time, she was the only member of the family to take an interest in performing arts. She took drama through high school, before being granted a scholarship in theatre at the University of Waikato. She graduated with a bachelor of secondary teaching and a bachelor of arts, double majoring in English and theatre. She was a secondary school teacher for a year before a programme was launched between Creative Waikato and Creative New Zealand for local artists to develop new works with mentorship. She submitted her idea, it was accepted and she stepped away from teaching to use the grant to tour the show. However, this wasn't before a rewrite came about after a serendipitous encounter with a family member from her dad's side. 'I like to tell real stories,' Parker explains. 'Real people on stage getting the spotlight with mundane stories. I was interested in what it meant to be bicultural, the idea of having a foot in two worlds but never landing in either. I brought this idea to Victor Rodger, who was a mentor at the programme. He said, 'That's been done a lot, how can you make it yours?' 'Across the table was my niece technically and, although we had Facebooked each other, we had never met before. The show is accompanied by live music from Andrew Duggan but the set is minimal – five pieces of rope hanging from the ceiling, which Parker says was purposefully done. She was working as a professional actor: 'It turned out performing ran in my dad's family – and for this programme, we got to workshop our ideas with professional actors for a weekend intensive. 'My niece was hired as one of the professional actors and they needed another actor so she reached out to me to see if I could do it but I realised I was already going to be there as one of the participants workshopping work! 'So the first time we met face-to-face was during Victor's writing session. Victor picked up on those vibes and was like, 'What the heck is going on?' And the story of my relationship with my dad, who is her relation as well, came out and Victor said, 'Okay, that's interesting. This is the show'.' The show became about growing up without connection to whakapapa (genealogy) from birth until her early 20s and she teamed up with director and dramaturge Laura Haughey, who 'brought life into it'. Parker explains: 'I've lived the story, it was all autobiographical, then Laura came in and has an eye for the correct emotional gear shifts and she was able to direct me physically in movement while I brought in the dialogue and we were able to sew the story together. Cian Parker has always longed to bring her show to Whangārei. 'I don't think I could make a show without a dramaturge in the room, someone who sits a little bit further back and watches from an audience perspective but they're looking at the whole picture. 'You feel a lot and you have instinct but the dramaturge is saying, 'You're feeling that emotion but we, as an audience, haven't quite got there yet so maybe we can build that in'.' The title Sorry For Your Loss was taken from a Facebook message shown in the play about a loss of culture, loss of memory-making and a loss of relationships. The show is accompanied by live music from Andrew Duggan, while the set itself is fairly bare, with only five pieces of rope hanging from the ceiling, which Parker says was purposefully done. 'It was just me and Laura and a bare room and I had to build the world. In the opening of the show, I walk out as the actor Cian and slowly I will set the scene for them with very few details in terms of dialogue,' she says, describing how in one scene she is at a Kiwi garage party and will physically show that the floors are sticky. 'I will see other people and, through my interactions with them, they can see what kind of vibe it is. I have an idea of what this garage looks like, what I'm drinking, is it cold, is it hot, but I think the beauty of this show is it's actually just me in front of some rope moving around so the audience are able to then place their ideas of a Kiwi garage party. We are building the world together.' Parker plays multiple characters, including herself at different stages, a neighbour, her mother and her father, whose character her niece was instrumental in guiding her with, having known him well. Sorry For Your Loss plays in Whangārei on August 15 and 16. Photo / Kelsey Scott 'She knew him much better than I did so she was amazing at helping me play him. I think, as a story, it's been really important for me that, on paper, it might seem like he was a distant or absent father but the show itself is a recognition that he was a guy and, through no fault of his own, life pulled him in a different direction to where I was at. The crux of the show is that your parents are human and they do their best. 'If somebody can walk away from watching any of my pieces and feel seen or feel like they can recognise themselves or someone they know in that story or the story itself, that's a good sign that I'm telling the story that should be told. Director Laura Haughey. 'I'm not here just to give you a nice night out and a laugh and then, as soon as you walk out the door of the theatre you forget about it and you go on about your day. I want the piece to be able to talk beyond me and if I can do that then I think it's got a bit more power.' After its hiatus, the show toured to Melbourne and is set to go to Canada in September. However, Whangārei is the place Cian has always longed to bring it. 'We have tried to bring it up but it was all during Covid. I've never been more north than Auckland so it's my first time and I'm pretty excited, it feels like full-circle.' Parker will be spending about a week in Northland and performing Sorry For Your Loss over two nights on August 15 and 16. The show runs from 7pm-8pm at OneOneSix. Tickets can be purchased from Eventfinda.
The Spinoff
3 days ago
- The Spinoff
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending August 8
The top 10 sales lists recorded every week at Unity Books' stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Invisible Intelligence: Why Your Child Might Not Be Failing by Welby Ings (Otago University Press, $45) Ings argues for an education system that doesn't pin children into a narrow academic view of intelligence and success. Bravo! 2 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (Penguin, $24) One suspects #BookTok has something to do with pinging this 1947 classic near the top of the Unity charts. 3 Aroha: Māori Wisdom for a Contented Life Lived in Harmony With Our Planet by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin, $30) Timeless yet urgent. 4 The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wouden (Penguin, $26) Perfect historical fiction. 5 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) A spooky old house, identical triplets, medicines, Margate … don't miss this latest ripping yarn from one of the country's best storytellers. 6 James by Percival Everett (Picador, $27) Another ripping yarn that's rippling all the way to Hollywood. 7 The Unlikely Doctor by Dr Timoti Te Moke (Allen & Unwin, $38) A powerful new memoir. Here's the blurb: 'The extraordinary story of Dr Timoti Te Moke who – having endured a horrific childhood of beatings and abuse, then gang life, stints in prison and an unsupported manslaughter charge – became a doctor at the age of 56 and is a staunch advocate for Māori.' 8 Eurotrash by Christian Kracht (Serpents Tail, $30) The road trip novel about intergenerational trauma. 9 Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (Canongate, $28) Stunning memoir of animal-human connection and transformation. 10 Rabbit Heart: A Mother's Murder, a Daughter's Story by Kristine S. Ervin (Counterpoint, $44) A couple of curious patters in this here list: two invisibles, one hare and one rabbit. WELLINGTON 1 In the Hollow of the Wave by Nina Mingya Powles (Auckland University Press, $25) The beautiful second collection of poetry by award-winning Powles is a glorious weaving of words about living between shorelines, the qualities of material and domestic life, and making art with them. Also wonderful to see poetry at the top of the charts ahead of National Poetry Day on August 22. 2 Holding the Heavy Stuff: Making Space for Critical Thoughts & Painful Emotions by Ben Sedley (Little Brown, $35) An illustrated guide to coping with worry, low mood and feeling stuck. 3 Welcome of Strangers: A History of Southern Māori by Atholl Anderson (Bridget Williams Books, $70) This is an updated edition of Anderson's 1998 book. Here's the publisher's blurb: 'Professor Anderson traces the origins of early Waitaha and Kāti Māmoe, and the later migrations, conflicts and settlements of the hapū who became Ngāi Tahu. Drawing on tribal knowledge, early written records and archaeological insights, he details the movements, encounters and exchanges that shaped these southern regions. He shows how people lived seasonally from the land and sea, supported by long-distance trade and a deep knowledge of place. These were the communities that the first Europeans in Niu Tīreni encountered, as whalers, sealers and missionaries made their way around the coast.' 4 The Unlikely Doctor by Dr Timoti Te Moke (Allen & Unwin, $38) 5 A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan (Allen & Unwin, $37) 'A Beautiful Family is set on the Kāpiti Coast in the 1980s. We know this because Trevelyan is meticulous with her references to the time period: the child's prized possession is a Walkman through which she plays Split Enz; The Exorcist has aired on TV; there are Seventeen magazines with sealed sections; the child and her sister Vanessa get terrifically sunburned and only after getting blisters does their mother buy some SPF15. There is also casual racism at play in varying degrees of intensity. A Chinese family is talked about in grotesque terms; a Māori character is described as having 'skin the colour of burnt caramel'. It makes you grind your molars until you remember that this is the 80s and such clangers were horrifyingly commonplace.' Read more, right here. 6 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, $60) Bumped from the charts in Auckland, still going strong in Wellington. 7 Underworld by Jared Savage (Harper Collins, $40) Savage's latest exploration of New Zealand's criminal underbelly. 8 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Vintage, $26) Welcome back old friend! We can now start betting on the next Booker Prize winner as the 2025 longlist has been announced. 9 M ātauranga Māori by Hirini Moko Mead (Huia Publishers, $45) 'In Mātauranga Māori, Hirini Moko Mead explores the Māori knowledge system and explains what mātauranga Māori is. He looks at how the knowledge system operates, the branches of knowledge, and the way knowledge is recorded and given expression in te reo Māori and through daily activities and formal ceremonies. Mātuaranga Māori is a companion publication to Hirini Moko Mead's best-selling book Tikanga Māori.' 10 The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (Faber & Faber, $28) Another classic! Who can forget Plath's description of eating a shrimp cocktail? A brilliant, unsettling first and only novel. The Spinoff Books section is proudly brought to you by Unity Books and Creative New Zealand. Visit Unity Books online today.
The Spinoff
01-08-2025
- The Spinoff
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending August 1
The top 10 sales lists recorded every week at Unity Books' stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND Highly educated Professor Ings hated school. He was always put in the problem class and was eventually kicked out of high school. His latest book looks at the problematic ways in which we define intelligence and how that leads to kids being labelled 'dumb' when they're not. 2 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Fourth Estate, $35) Books are better value for money than butter. 3 Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (Canongate, $28) A beautiful, and bestselling memoir about Dalton's relationship with a rescue baby hare and how the long-eared creature changed her life. 4 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, $60) New Zealand's most successful political memoir? At least in terms of sales? 5 When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Rizden (Doubleday, $38) Fresh fiction! Here's the blurb: 'Bo is running out of time. Yet time is one of the few things he's got left; his body is failing him and his quiet existence is only broken up by the daily visits from his home care team. His hands soon too weak to open the precious jar housing the scarf of his Alzheimer-stricken wife Frederika, which still bears her scent. Fortunately he still has his beloved elkhound Sixten for company, only now his son insists upon taking the dog away. The very same son that Bo is wanting to mend his relationship with before his time is up. The threat of losing Sixten stirs up a whirlwind of emotions that make him look back at his life, his fatherhood and the way he expresses his love.' 6 The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wouden (Penguin, $26) Exquisitely wrought historical fiction that brings the past to life. 7 The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (Arrow Books, $26) A killer classic. 8 Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn (Viking Penguin, $26) A collection of conversations with people named Candice and Dolly and Alain and Esther on the various states of love. 9 James by Percival Everett (Picador, $27) The Huck Finn retelling that's taken over the world. 10 A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan (Allen & Unwin, $37) The kind of novel you need on a long haul flight: absorbing. Read a review on The Spinoff, right here. WELLINGTON 1 M ātauranga Māori by Hirini Moko Mead (Huia Publishers, $45) Mead's earlier book, Tikanga Māori, was a bestseller and now, too, is this latest one. 2 Invisible Intelligence: Why Your Child Might Not Be Failing by Welby Ings (Otago University Press, $45) 3 Secret Art Powers by Jo Randerson (Barbarian Productions, $35) One of Aotearoa's most interesting and acclaimed theatre makers and writers, Jo Randerson, has created an absolute asset for anyone interested in creative thinking. Secret Art Powers draws on Randerson's extensive experience in art for social change to reveal what creative thinking really does and how it really can be used to respond to problems both big and small. Art powers include Lies, Multiplicity, Fluidity and Imagination. The production is exquisite, too: with brilliant illustrations and superb design by Sarah Maxey. 4 No, I Don't Get Danger Money by Lisette Reymer (Allen & Unwin, $38) A superbly entertaining memoir from journalist Lisette Reymer who recently starred in The Spinoff's My Life in TV column. 'Terrifically compelling,' says The Spinoff's review, here. 6 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, $60) True crime. 8 James by Percival Everett (Picador, $27) 9 Men in Love by Irvine Welsh (Jonathan Cape, $38) The sequel to Trainspotting. A beautifully produced book for the family to learn from and share. Learn more about Farnham and his bookish life over on The Spinoff's Books Confessional.
