This year's finalists for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards have been revealed. 

Four fiction authors, including Catherine Chidgey and Emma Neale, are nominated for their page-turners - which could see them take out the $50,000 prize.

It's the first year the Ockhams are attracting an international judge - with Canadian writer Madeleine Thien to help in selecting the winner.

Other categories include poetry, non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction.

The winners will be announced in May.

The full list of finalists includes: 

FICTION

The Wish Child by Catherine Chidgey (Victoria University Press)

Love as a Stranger by Owen Marshall (Vintage, Penguin Random House)

Billy Bird by Emma Neale (Vintage, Penguin Random House)

The Name on the Door is Not Mine by C.K. Stead (Allen & Unwin)

POETRY

Fale Aitu | Spirit House by Tusiata Avia (Victoria University Press)

Hera Lindsay Bird by Hera Lindsay Bird (Victoria University Press)

Fits & Starts by Andrew Johnston (Victoria University Press)

This Paper Boat by Gregory Kan (Auckland University Press)

ILLUSTRATED NON-FICTION

A History of New Zealand Women by Barbara Brookes (Bridget Williams Books)

New Zealand Wine: The Land, the Vines, the People by Warren Moran (Auckland University Press)

Ann Shelton: Dark Matter, edited by Zara Stanhope and managing editor Clare McIntosh (Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki)

Bloomsbury South: The Arts in Christchurch 1933-1953 by Peter Simpson (Auckland University Press)

GENERAL NON-FICTION

This Model World: Travels to the Edge of Contemporary Art by Anthony Byrt (Auckland University Press)

My Father’s Island by Adam Dudding (Victoria University Press)

The Big Smoke: New Zealand Cities, 1840-1920 by Ben Schrader (Bridget Williams Books)

Can You Tolerate This? By Ashleigh Young (Victoria University Press)