Pikihuia Awards Celebrate Māori Literature
The 2025 Pikihuia Awards honored the best of Māori literature in poetry and short fiction, in both te reo Māori and English.
Becky Manawatu: Award-Winning Author
Becky Manawatu, a renowned New Zealand author, is known for her bestselling debut novel, Auē, and its 2024 sequel, Kataraina. She is of Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe, and Waitaha descent.
Manawatu was born in Nelson in 1982 and grew up in Waimangaroa on the West Coast. Her first novel, Auē (2019), won several major awards, including the $55,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction and Best Crime Novel at the Ngaio Marsh Awards in 2020.
Her work has been widely recognized, with Auē becoming the best-selling New Zealand novel of 2020 and 2021. The sequel, Kataraina, was released in New Zealand in 2024 and internationally in 2025.
Manawatu's short story "Abalone" was long-listed for the 2018 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. In October 2025, she won the Sargeson Prize, New Zealand's largest short story competition, for her work "The Vase".
Author's summary: Pikihuia Awards honor Māori literature excellence.
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