Blog Archives

Galling truth, Megan Dunn

Posted on May 26, 2019 by NZ Books

Kaitiaki o te Pō: Essays
John-Paul Powley
Seraph Press, $35.00,
ISBN 9780994134592

I am in two minds about John-Paul Powley’s Kaitiaki o te Pō – this is a good essay collection, even really good. But goodness is also Powley’s Achilles heel. The collection, his first, contains 17 personal essays – some convey his perspective as both a high school teacher and a dean. The best of these, like “Pastoral Scene”, are a wrench. The sentences hit deep and low, and the truth rings out. But the catch? A touch of didacticism.

Tagged with: Issue 126, John-Paul Powley, Megan Dunn, Seraph Press, Winter 2019
Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review

No country for old men, Megan Dunn

Posted on June 9, 2015 by NZ Books

Grahame Sydney Paintings 1974-2014
Grahame Sydney (essay by Vincent O’Sullivan)
Craig Potton, $100.00,
ISBN 9781927213254

Myself, Looking Back is Grahame Sydney’s extensive memoir of his childhood and formative artistic years up until his sell-out solo exhibition in 1975. Early on in this detailed and reflective piece, Sydney’s boyhood self asks: “Weren’t all lives like ours?” This question is rhetorical and it hits the right elegiac note, but ultimately the answer is no.

Tagged with: Craig Potton Publishing, Grahame Sydney, Issue 110, Megan Dunn, Vincent O’Sullivan, Winter 2015
Posted in Art, Non-fiction, Review

A quality of incision, Megan Dunn

Posted on February 27, 2014 by NZ Books

Lateral Inversions: The Prints of Barry Cleavin Melinda Johnston Canterbury University Press, $55.00, ISBN 9781927145470 Lateral Inversions: The Prints of Barry Cleavin contains over 120 colour plates and is a beautifully produced book that affords serious consideration to Barry Cleavin’s…

Tagged with: Autumn 2014, Canterbury University Press, Issue 105, Megan Dunn, Melinda Johnston
Posted in Art, Non-fiction, Review