Aight, so check it. Ingrid Horrocks just snatched the Jann Medlicott Acorn prize at the Ockham New Zealand book awards for her short story collection, All Her Lives. That's that top prize, the big bag – NZ$65,000. Salute to her for gettin' that bread.

Word is, All Her Lives is 'bout nine women, different ages, different struggles. Talkin' politics, gender, motherhood and all that. I'm not mad at it, but is it really speakin' to the struggles we face everyday, yaknowwhatimsayin'?

Only the fifth time a short story collection won the whole thing in 58 years. Shows you they usually ain't tryna give the shine to the short form. But maybe the game changin'. Maybe. Gotta see if it trickles down to the rest of us. Gotta see if it lift up other sistas gettin' they paper in this writing game.

They sayin' her stories go from rural New Zealand after World War I to Berlin and protests 'gainst the Springbok tour. Got Mary Wollstonecraft in there too. Okay, a lil' bit of history. I can dig it, if it's real. If it ain't just some whitewashed version of our stories. Gotta keep it 100.

Fiction judge Craig Cliff callin' her work “crisp, clear and unencumbered.” That's cool and all, but can my moms understand it? Can my cousins relate to it? That's the real test. International guest judge Leslie Hurtig sayin' she “loved the range of women’s experiences represented.” Aight, cool. As long as it ain't just tokenism. As long as they really seein' us.

Horrocks said she was “stunned and shocked.” Maybe she ain't used to gettin' that recognition. Hope she ain't forget where she came from. Hope she use that platform to uplift others.

Jacinda Ardern won for her book too. Politicians winnin' book awards now? This ain't 'bout politics tho, this 'bout the culture. This 'bout seein' if they gonna finally start puttin' some respek on our stories, ya feel me?

So, congrats to Ingrid Horrocks. Get that bag. But remember to keep it real. Remember who you doin' it for. Remember the ones who ain't got a voice. Keep pushin' for our narratives. Make sure they know we here, and we ain't goin' nowhere. Gotta stay woke, fam. No cap.

Sources:

* Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (Māori Language Commission): [https://www.reomaori.co.nz/](https://www.reomaori.co.nz/) * Ministry for Culture and Heritage Manatū Taonga: [https://mch.govt.nz/](https://mch.govt.nz/)