Allen & Unwin Aotearoa signs Penny Richards's debut 'Soft' through its 2026 Fiction Prize

The Nelson writer's Christchurch novel wins a publishing contract with a $10,000 advance and is due in mid-2027.

Allen & Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand will publish Soft, the debut novel by Nelson writer Penny Richards, after naming it the winner of the publisher's 2026 Fiction Prize. The book is scheduled for release in mid-2027.

The prize comes with a publishing contract that includes a $10,000 advance. The judges singled out the novel's characters, plot and writing, and noted its portrait of Christchurch as the city rebuilt after the earthquakes. Richards wrote Soft as the thesis for her Master of Creative Writing at the University of Otago, completed this year.

Richards also holds a management master's degree from Massey University and has worked in local government communications, emergency management and social research. She is a practising artist as well.

The prize began in 2022 and accepts unpublished manuscripts of 70,000 to 100,000 words from New Zealand citizens and residents, whether or not they have been published before. Earlier winners are Josie Shapiro, Gavin Strawhan and Anne Cleary, whose three novels have together sold more than 40,000 copies.

Entries for the 2027 prize are open and close on 31 March 2027.