May 12, 2021
Fiso cooks up Ockham winner
Wellington chef Monique Fiso’s treasury of Māori food, Hiakai, has won the illustrated non-fiction and the best first book of illustrated non-fiction tohu in this year’s Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
The awards were presented at a gala event in Auckland last night.
Fiso will speak on Sunday at the Auckland Writers Festival on her mission of taking Māori cuisine to the world.
A discretionary Māori Language Award, Te Mūrau o te Tuhi, went to Tā Tīmoti Kāretu for Mātāmua ko te Kupu!, which draws on his life's work composing, performing and teaching haka and waiata.
83-year-old Vincent O'Sullivan won the general non-fiction category for The Dark is Light Enough, a biography of his friend, artist Ralph Hotere.
Tusiata Avia became the first Pasifika woman to win the best book of poetry for Savage Coloniser, while the top prize for fiction went to Whanganui writer Airini Beautrais for her short story collection Bug Week.
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