NZ Booklovers Awards 2025 shortlists announced

• Better Left Dead (Catherine Lea, Bateman Books)
• The Call (Gavin Strawhan, A&U NZ)
• A House Built on Sand (Tina Shaw, Text)
• The Secrets of the Little Greek Taverna (Erin Palmisano, Moa Press)
• The Space Between (Lauren Keenan, Penguin)
• The War Photographers (SL Beaumont, Paperback Writer’s Publishing)
• Weeping Angels (Riley Chance, CopyPress)
• Woman, Missing (Sherryl Clark, HQ Fiction)

Best Lifestyle Book Award

• 101 Ways to Find Calm (Rebekah Ballagh, A&U NZ)
• Edith Collier: Early New Zealand Modernist (Jill Trevelyan, Jennifer Taylor & Greg Donson, Massey University Press)
• Kai Feast: Food Stories & Recipes from the Maunga to the Moana (Christall Lowe, Bateman Books)
• The Laden Table: Recipes to Share, Infused with Spice (Ashia Ismail-Singer, photography by Lottie Hedley, Bateman Books)
• Myths & Legends of the Ancient Pākehā (Glenn Colquhoun, illus by Nigel Brown, Old King Press)
• Play Wild: Nature Craft Projects for Tamariki (Rachel Clare, Bateman Books)
• Wild Wellington Ngā Taonga Taiao: A Guide to the Wildlife and Wild Places of Te Upoko-o-te-Ika (Michael Szabo, Te Papa Press)

Best Young Adult Fiction Book Award

• Grasshopper (Mandy Hager, OneTree House)
• The Mess of Our Lives (Mary-anne Scott, OneTree House)
• Migration (Steph Matuku, Huia Publishers)
• The Night She Fell (Eileen Merriman, Penguin)

Best Junior Fiction Book Award

• Brave Kāhu and the Pōrangi Magpie (Shelley Burne-Field, A&U Children’s NZ)
• Children of the Rush, Book 3 (James Russell, Dragon Brothers Books)
• The Grimmelings (Rachael King, A&U Children’s NZ)
• Nine Girls (Stacy Gregg, Penguin)
• The Raven’s Eye Runaways (Claire Mabey, A&U Children’s NZ)
• Rimu: The Tree of Time (Lauren Keenan, Huia Publishers)

Best Children’s Picture Book Award

• The Dream Factory (Steph Matuku, illus by Zak Ātea, Huia Publishers)
• Elephant Park (Melanie Koster, illus by Jenny Cooper, Scholastic NZ)
• Hineraukatauri me Te Ara Pūoro (Elizabeth Gray & the Haumanu Collective, illus by Rehua Wilson, Huia Publishers)
• Little Axel’s Axolotl (Juliette MacIver, illus by Christopher Nielsen, Walker Books)
• The Squeakling (Kristin Kelly, illus by Ronja Schiller, Scholastic NZ)
• The Very Best Words (Erin Munro, illus by Sarah Trolle, Little Moa).

The awards, now in their seventh year, celebrate Aotearoa New Zealand authors. Shortlisted titles were chosen from 151 entries across the 5 categories, with each category winner to receive NZ$500.