How to separate good books from the excellent

Lynn Freeman is the Booksellers Aotearoa New Zealand Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction judges’ convenor for the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. She lives in Te Whanganuia-Tara Wellington, and regularly chairs book-related events.

How do you become a judge for the Ockham Book Awards and why did you want to be one?

When I was last a judge in these awards, back in 2008, the three of us read every book in every genre. It was a privilege, and we had an advisor for each of the eight categories. But, on reflection, there were some categories that we were simply better qualified to judge than others. So, when I saw the invitation for judges for this year’s Ockham Book Awards, I put my name forward for a genre I particularly love, Illustrated Non-Fiction.

How many hours did you spend reading entries?

Our category isn’t the largest in terms of the number of entries, but Illustrated Non-Fiction books, by their nature, do tend to be on the large-to-very-large scale. Many are so big (and heavy) that it’s not practical to read them in bed (sad face). The stories these writers are telling also tend to be comprehensive – a biography, a social history, the full history of an event or a place. Don’t be fooled by these books having lots of pictures – they are also wordy (in a good way!) I am a fast reader, which was useful to get to the longlist, but now my co-judges Ane and Marianne and I are re-reading and re-evaluating the finalists to choose ‘the one’. So, it’s a long way of saying it’s involved hundreds of hours of reading, and I have learnt so much along the way.

What separates the good, from the very good, to the excellent?

Let me answer this in reverse order, because I am surrounded, as I type this, by excellent books. A highly respected book reviewer told me they believe Illustrated Non-Fiction is the strongest category this year. I can believe that. We are now judging degrees of excellence – the story must be compelling and well researched, the illustrations must be equally engaging as well as enriching the text, the design must make the most of both elements. They don’t have to be lush and expensive productions. Very good books will have an interesting subject and a great selection of images, but one of our criteria is for the finalists to have a long life, a kind of legacy, and that’s what separates the excellent from the very good. The good book might have a great topic that’s not fully explored, or be well written but on a topic that doesn’t sustain the reader from start to finish. Perfectly good book, just might not linger in the memory afterwards.

Aside from the Ockham entrants, what else is on your reading list right now?

I’m currently immersed in Patricia Grace’s latest short story collection, Bird Child & Other Stories and Takahē - Bird of Dreams by my former RNZ colleague Alison Ballance (and longlisted for the Ockham NZ Book Awards General Non-Fiction category this year). The Body by Bill Bryson awaits me after that.