‘Stunned and shocked’: Ingrid Horrocks wins top prize at New Zealand’s Ockham awards for her fiction debut

All Her Lives is only the fifth short story collection to win the prestigious NZ$65,000 prize in 58 years

First-time fiction writer Ingrid Horrocks has won New Zealand’s richest literary prize for her debut short story collection, All Her Lives.

The Wellington-based poet, essayist and memoirist won the prestigious NZ$65,000 (A$53,000, £28,500) Jann Medlicott Acorn prize for fiction at the 2026 Ockham New Zealand book awards on Wednesday night. The book follows nine women across nine different life stages and generations, as they navigate politics, gender and motherhood.