A novel set on a Central high country farm has won the $64,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

‘The Axeman’s Carnival’ by award winning writer Catherine Chidgey infuses comedy with a building sense of menace, and is narrated by a precocious magpie called Tama.

Catherine Chidgey PHOTO: Helen Mayall

The fiction category’s convenor of judges Stephanie Johnson said the novel has been “clasped to New Zealanders’ hearts”.

“The unforgettable Tama – taken in and raised by Marnie on the Te Waipounamu high country farm she shares with champion axeman husband Rob – constantly entertains with his take on the foibles and dramas of his human companions. Catherine Chidgey’s writing is masterful, and the underlying sense of dread as the story unfolds is shot through with humour and humanity.

“The Axeman’s Carnival is unique: poetic, profound and a powerfully compelling read from start to finish.”

Catherine received the fiction prize ahead of screenwriter and author Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) (Better the Blood); historian and novelist Monty Soutar (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngāti Kahungunu) (Kāwai: For Such a Time as This); and sailor and novelist Cristina Sanders (Mrs Jewell and the Wreck of the General Grant).

It is the second time Catherine has won the big-ticket fiction prize offered since 2016 thanks to the late Jann Medlicott – the first writer to do so. She won the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize in 2017 for The Wish Child. 

Read more on the New Zealand book awards here.