Blog Archives

Editorial – Issue 74

Posted on June 1, 2006 by NZ Books

Love and theft At first glance, what does and doesn’t constitute literary plagiarism looks pretty straightforward. Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh certainly thought so. They tried to prove in a London court that Dan Brown took “at least 15 core…

Tagged with: Harry Ricketts, Issue 74, Jane Westaway, Winter 2006
Posted in Editorial

Editorial – Issue 73

Posted on March 1, 2006 by NZ Books

Guest editorial Against complacency When I arrived in New Zealand 28 years ago I confessed to an eminent seismologist that, although an avid reader, I knew little about New Zealand writing. Fortunately for me he was a Renaissance man with…

Tagged with: Autumn 2006, Issue 73, Rosemary Wildblood
Posted in Editorial

Editorial – Issue 68

Posted on June 1, 2005 by NZ Books

The dispraise problem Witty essays by Iain Sharp and Paula Morris in recent issues of Landfall (May and November 2004) have again brought up that perennial hot topic – literary reviewing in New Zealand – and prompted us to…

Tagged with: Harry Ricketts, Issue 68, Jane Westaway, June 2005
Posted in Editorial

Editorial – Issue 70

Posted on June 1, 2005 by NZ Books

Review and be damned There is in Britain a financial journalist called Peter Jay, who, when he was economics editor of The Times, famously dismissed a sub-editor’s querying of his incomprehensible copy by informing him haughtily that the article was…

Tagged with: Guy Somerset, Issue 70, Winter 2005
Posted in Editorial

Editorial – Issue 69

Posted on March 1, 2005 by NZ Books

Miffed, maltreated and murderous In our last editorial we looked at reviewing from the relatively unimpassioned viewpoint of what’s good for New Zealand writing, reviewers and readers. But what, to misapply Freud, do authors want? The question is nowhere near as…

Tagged with: Autumn 2005, Harry Ricketts, Issue 69, Jane Westaway
Posted in Editorial

Editorial – Issue 66

Posted on June 1, 2004 by NZ Books

How not to run a book launch It’s one of life’s great mysteries why, when many publishers are cutting back on book launches on the grounds that they don’t cover their own costs, invitations to these events continue to pile…

Tagged with: Harry Ricketts, Issue 66, Jane Westaway, Winter 2004
Posted in Editorial

Editorial – Issue 65

Posted on March 1, 2004 by NZ Books

Dark horses and wild cards In July I attended the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, held in Auckland at the Hilton. It’s the night we in the book trade celebrate writers, poets, books, reviewers, first books, sponsors, even publishers. There…

Tagged with: Autumn 2004, Barbara Larson, Issue 65
Posted in Awards, Editorial

Editorial – Issue 64

Posted on December 1, 2003 by NZ Books

Catering for the “common reader” The October 1991 issue of New Zealand Books reviewed 6 titles. Twelve years and 57 issues later, the figure was almost exactly the same: NZB October 2003 covered 38 new books. So what’s changed? Certainly…

Tagged with: Harry Ricketts, Issue 64, Jane Westaway, Summer 2003
Posted in Editorial

Editorial – Issue 63

Posted on September 1, 2003 by NZ Books

A funny sort of pride This is an unusual issue of New Zealand Books, dominated by the loss of two of our pre-eminent writers. When Janet Frame died in January, we decided to commemorate her achievement in this June issue…

Tagged with: Harry Ricketts, Issue 63, Jane Westaway, Spring 2003
Posted in Editorial

Editorial – Issue 62

Posted on June 1, 2003 by NZ Books

First person singular It’s often said that everyone has a novel inside them. That they have, of course, is a story – their own story – and nowadays the popular way of telling it is not as fiction, thinly disguised…

Tagged with: Harry Ricketts, Issue 62, Jane Westaway, Winter 2003
Posted in Editorial