Peter Russell looks at his childhood reading through the eyes of Ovid. At the time when the story opens, a little boy named Maui … was playing on the sea-shore. He was so happy, picking up shells and watching the…
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Blog Archives
From stage to page, Laurie Atkinson
Three Plays Gary Henderson Playmarket, $24.95, ISBN 9780908607303 Two Plays Toa Fraser Playmarket, $22.95, ISBN 9780907310 Does anyone read plays any more? Go into any of our major bookshops and you’ll have difficulty finding shelves devoted to “Drama” or “Theatre”.…
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Tagged with: Gary Henderson, Issue 82, Laurie Atkinson, Playmarket, Toa Fraser, Winter 2008
Posted in Literature, Plays, Review
Posted in Literature, Plays, Review
Rough justice, Tom Brooking
The Newest Country in the World: A History of New Zealand in the Decade of the Treaty Paul Moon Penguin Books, $39.95, ISBN 978014300670 Paul Moon is one of the most prolific historians currently holding an academic position (Moon is…
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Tagged with: Issue 82, Paul Moon, Penguin Books, Tom Brooking, Winter 2008
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review
No tame dusky maiden, Peter Calder
Makereti: Taking Maori to the World Paul Diamond Random House, $44.99, ISBN 9781869419004 In 1911, the year of George V’s coronation, a “Festival of Empire” was staged at London’s Crystal Palace exhibition centre. A forerunner of the great mid-century expos…
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Tagged with: Issue 82, Paul Diamond, Peter Calder, Random House, Winter 2008
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review
Differently wired, Harvey Molloy and Latika Vasil
A Perfect World: A Father’s Quest to Unriddle the Mysteries of Autism David Cohen Random House, $34.95, ISBN 9781869418151 As New Zealanders, we like to pride ourselves that we live in a caring egalitarian society with decent, though imperfect, health…
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Tagged with: David Cohen, Harvey Molloy, Issue 82, Latika Vasil, Random House, Winter 2008
Posted in Health, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Health, Non-fiction, Review
The rain on her face, John B Turner
Monsoon Brian Brake David Bateman, $59.99, ISBN 13978186953608 For those familiar with Brian Brake’s “Monsoon” essay from Life and other magazines in the early 1960s, or those who more recently enjoyed the large-print exhibition at the Museum of New Zealand…
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Tagged with: Brian Brake, David Bateman, Issue 82, John B Turner, Winter 2008
Posted in Non-fiction, Photography, Review
Posted in Non-fiction, Photography, Review
Telling responses, Hamish Clayton
Look This Way: New Zealand Writers on New Zealand Artists Sally Blundell (ed) Auckland University Press, $44.99, ISBN 9781869403713 Art and letters have always had a close working relationship in New Zealand. Our cultural landscape is pock-marked with painter-poets, jacks-of-all-trades…
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Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Hamish Clayton, Issue 82, Sally Blundell, Winter 2008
Posted in Art, Essays, Language, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Art, Essays, Language, Non-fiction, Review
Ghost in the machine, John McCrystal
John McCrystal explores the practice and ethics of ghost-writing. Everyone has a book inside them, as the saying goes. But not everyone can bring their inner book into the world without intervention. And as with childbirth, varying degrees of intervention…
Posted in Comment