Whanganui writer Airini Beautrais has won the premier award at the 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for her book Bug Week - it's her first book of fiction and it's also the first time the category has been won by a collection of short stories in more than a decade. Airini Beautrais. Photo: Tracy Grant Beautrais won the $57,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction with a book that convenor of judges Kiran Dass described as a knockout from start to finish. "Casting a devastating and witty eye on humanity at its most fallible and wonky, this is a tightly-wound and remarkably assured collection. Atmospheric and refined, these stories evoke a strong sense of quiet unease, slow burning rage and the absurdly comic," Dass said.