Ingrid Horrocks has won the prestigious Jann Medlicott Acorn prize, the top category at the 2026 Ockham New Zealand book awards, for her debut short story collection All Her Lives. The award, worth NZ$65,000 (approximately A$53,000 or £28,500), was announced on Wednesday night. Horrocks, a Wellington-based poet, essayist, and memoirist, expressed being "stunned and shocked" upon hearing her name called.
A Rare Win for Short Stories
Horrocks' victory marks only the fifth time in the awards' 58-year history that a short story collection has claimed the top fiction prize. Her book follows nine women across different life stages and generations, exploring themes of politics, gender, and motherhood. The stories range from rural New Zealand at the end of World War I to Berlin's Weiberfastnacht and the 1981 protests against the Springbok tour, featuring appearances by pioneering feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.
Judges' Praise
Fiction judge Craig Cliff described the collection as "crisp, clear and unencumbered," highlighting Horrocks' assured handling of gender and sexuality. International guest judge Leslie Hurtig noted she read the book in one sitting, praising the range of women's experiences from child to artist that transcend timelines and borders.
Other Winners and Firsts
Several other categories celebrated first-time authors. Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won the EH McCormick prize for general nonfiction for her memoir A Different Kind of Power. Auckland author John Prins took the Hubert Church prize for best first book with his short story collection Pastoral Care. Poet Nafanua Purcell Kersel won the Mary and Peter Biggs award for poetry with Black Sugarcane. Novelist Tina Makereti won the general nonfiction award for This Compulsion in Us, her first nonfiction book, while historian Elizabeth Cox won the illustrated nonfiction award for Mr Ward's Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street.
Horrocks, who has previously written nonfiction about women's lives, said fiction allowed her to get closer to her characters, a liberating experience. She hopes her win encourages more people to read her book and inspires her to continue writing fiction.
