Wellington could nab the title of literary capital of New Zealand, with half of the finalists for the country's top book competition coming from the region.
The finalists for the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards were announced on Wednesday morning and include some of the country's biggest names in literature, from Lloyd Jones to Maurice Gee.
Of the 16 finalists across four categories, eight hail from Wellington. On the shortlist for the top fiction prize, three of the four authors are based in the capital.
Author Lloyd Jones has been shortlisted for the Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize for his book The Cage. (File photo)
The Cage by Lloyd Jones, This Mortal Boy by Fiona Kidman, All This By Chance by Dunedin-based Vincent O'Sullivan, and The New Ships by Kate Duignan have all made the shortlist for the coveted $53,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize.
New Zealand Book Awards trustee Jenna Todd said the calibre of finalists was amazing and the judges would have their work cut out for them.
"There's some really big names, but it's also so good to see the new writers coming through. It's such a wonderful snapshot of the literary scene in New Zealand," Todd said.
Amongst the four fiction prize finalists, there was a strong emphasis on the theme of what it means to tell the truth.
"There does seem to be that theme, which reflects a time of our history as well, where we are looking for a truth in society."
To help determine the fiction winner, award-winning New York-based author Joseph O'Neill has been brought in to help judge.
In the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry, the finalists are: Helen Heath with Are Friends Electric?; Erik Kennedy's There's No Place Like the Internet in Springtime; Therese Lloyd's The Facts and Poūkahangatus by Tayi Tibble.
The Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction finalists are best-selling author and academic Joanne Drayton for Hudson & Halls: The Food of Love; Maurice Gee for Memory Pieces; debut author Chessie Henry for We Can Make A Life, and Anna Rogers for With Them Through Hell: New Zealand Medical Services in the First World War.
In the Illustrated Non-Fiction category, the finalists are: Fight for the Forests: The Pivotal Campaigns that Saved New Zealand's Native Forests by Paul Bensemann; Wanted: The Search for the Modernist Murals of E. Mervyn Taylor edited by Bronwyn Holloway-Smith; Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing by Sean Mallon with Sébastien Galliot, and Birdstories: A History of the Birds of New Zealand by Geoff Norman.
The winners will be announced on May 14 at the Auckland Writers' Festival.