The publisher of popular Kiwi author Elizabeth Knox is shocked she was not selected as a finalist for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
Elizabeth Knox. Photo: Grant Maiden
Knox's latest release,The Absolute Book, is one of the bestsellers of the year, so popular it led to a bidding war between American publishers.
It had been labelled as the biggest surprise of the Ockham Book Awards' shortlist, which was narrowed down from 10 nominations for each category to four.
The Absolute Book sold 6000 copies and a reprint is on the way. Photo: Victoria University Press
Knox said she'd rather not comment, but her publisher and husband, Fergus Barrowman, said the judges got it wrong and it was a disappointing result.
"I have absolutely no idea why she is not on the list. I would love to have seen it get the recognition it deserves and see it on the shortlist."
He said the book had resonated with many readers already. "It's a book readers genuinely love."
The fantasy book sold out, with the first 6000 copies flying off the shelves, and more prints are on the way.
"One of the things that struck me about the way readers had responded to the book was how personal their response had been and the mixture of the quest narrative and the need to care for people," Barrowman said.
Sixteen works have made it on to the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards finalist list for fiction, poetry, illustrated non-fiction and general non-fiction.
Vincent O'Malley's New Zealand Wars | Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa is also missing from the final four in the general non-fiction list.
The 2020 finalists for the fiction prize worth $55,000 include Becky Manawatu, Owen Marshall, Carl Shuker and David Vann.
The winners of the poetry and non-fiction categories will each receive a $10,000 prize.
Winners will be announced at a ceremony on Tuesday 12 May during the 2020 Auckland Writers Festival.