Floating Worlds: Essays on Contemporary New Zealand Fiction Anna Jackson and Jane Stafford (eds) Victoria University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9780864736017 The increased tempo of public debate in the last decade over issues such as public policy and the arts, canon…
Kiwi Compañeros: New Zealand and the Spanish Civil War Mark Derby (ed) Canterbury University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781877257711 For the great bulk of New Zealanders between 1936 and 1939 the Spanish Civil War was like any other civil war; it…
The Blind Singer Chris Price Auckland University Press, $24.99, ISBN 9781869404338 Vivid Familiar Stephanie de Montalk Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780864735980 The Tram Conductor’s Blue Cap Michael Harlow Auckland University Press, $24.99, ISBN 9781869404307 Pocket Edition Geoff Cochrane Victoria…
Aphrodite’s Island: The European Discovery of Tahiti Anne Salmond Viking, $65.00, ISBN 9780670073962 The publication of a new book by Anne Salmond is always an occasion worth celebrating and savouring. Aphrodite’s Island, about the European discovery of, and encounter with,…
Helen Clark: A Political Life Denis Welch Penguin Books, $40.00, ISBN 9780143202417 I admire Helen Clark, and I was pleased to be asked to review this book. Unlike David Lange, who flashed meteor-like across the parliamentary firmament, Clark became a…
In the Footsteps of Ethel Benjamin: New Zealand’s First Woman Lawyer Janet November Victoria University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9780864736079 The title is important. Janet November has not, in fact, written a biography of Ethel Benjamin, New Zealand’s first woman lawyer.…
Chance is a Fine Thing Philip Temple Vintage, $36.99, ISBN 9781869419851 In his preface to Chance is a Fine Thing, Philip Temple – writer, mountaineer, campaigner, explorer and historian – essays a distinction between memoir and autobiography. The latter, he…
Courier to Times New Roman — Paula Boock
Paula Boock surveys the pros and cons of moving from the dark side of TV script writing back to the novel. Damien Wilkins accuses me of being a scriptwriter at heart. Despite my protestations that this year I am writing…
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