Tauranga's Acorn Foundation is once again providing $50,000 for the top fiction prize in the 2017 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, for which the longlist has been released.

The prize was first awarded last year, after a generous donor requested their funds be used to support the award 'annually and in perpetuity.”

Longlisted author Tracey Slaughter moved to Tairua at age 10, and attended high school in Thames. The small towns and beaches of the Coromandel form the milieu of many of her early stories, and although she no longer lives there, she says the area is '100 per cent” her landscape.

'I think anyone who reads the collection will recognise the imagery.”

Her short fiction has been recognised with several awards, although this is the first time one of her books has been longlisted for a prize.

'It's a total thrill – I'm hugely honoured. It does feel exciting that short stories have made a mark and connected with people as novels do. It's great to see short fiction of varying lengths up there in the final cut.”

She says short stories are sometimes undervalued by the marketplace, although not necessarily by readers.

'While publishers often argue short stories are not as well received, you meet readers who say the exact opposite: they love short stories,” she says.

'They really respond to the immediacy and intensity of the form, rather than the long, slow haul of a novel.”

Her subject matter can often be confronting – she's written about the realities of sex and violence in contemporary New Zealand – although her fiction can also explore the tender moments in life, perhaps better than anyone else writing in New Zealand today.

The true hallmark of Tracey's work, however, is her style, which is visceral and poetic, albeit in a sometimes ‘untidy' way.

'I'm always listening for the language, and getting people to fall back in love with the music of language; the moods and atmospheres words and their rhythms can create.

'But I would always come down on the side of intensity, rather than tidiness.”

She says it's a little daunting to be up against such well-established names as Owen Marshall and C.K. Stead on the longlist.

'It's hard not to see yourself as a bit off an outsider, but I'm thrilled to be up alongside writers of that standing and calibre. I'm determined just to celebrate, and not look forward too much,” she laughs.

On behalf of all writers, she's thankful to the Acorn Foundation for the opportunity the prize provides.

'It's fantastic there are still institutions and people in society who still have passion for the arts and believe in supporting them. Writers are incredibly indebted to people willing to offer that kind of support.”

SunLive has one copy of Tracey's longlisted collection 'Deleted Scenes of Lovers' to give away to one lucky reader who can tell us which small Coromandel town Tracey spent her childhood?

Enter online at www.sunlive.co.nz under the competition section. All entries must be received by Wednesday, December 30.

THE ACORN FOUNDATION FICTION PRIZE LONGLIST:

• The Wish Child by Catherine Chidgey (Victoria University Press)
• A Briefcase, Two Pies and a Penthouse by Brannavan Gnanalingam (Lawrence & Gibson)
• My Mother and the Hungarians by Frankie McMillan (Canterbury University Press)
• Love as a Stranger by Owen Marshall (Penguin Random House)
• Tail of the Taniwha by Courtney Sina Meredith (Beatnik Publishing)
• Billy Bird by Emma Neale (Penguin Random House)
• Deleted Scenes for Lovers by Tracey Slaughter (Victoria University Press)
• The Name on the Door is Not Mine by C.K. Stead (Allen & Unwin)
• Dad Art by Damien Wilkins (Victoria University Press)
• Strip by Sue Wootton (Makaro Press)