Blog Archives

The two cultures, Ray Henwood

Posted on June 1, 2001 by NZ Books

As a science undergraduate in the mid-1950s I was aware of C P Snow’s attempts to awaken people to the problem of the two cultures. Perhaps my growing interest and work in theatre had given me an edge over my…

Tagged with: Issue 48, June 2001, Ray Henwood
Posted in Imprints

A Case of Identity, Owen Marshall

Posted on August 7, 2000 by NZ Books

My father loved to share his enjoyment of books, and would often emerge from his study with some gem, declaim it to one of the family, and then disappear again – slightly crestfallen if its reception didn’t quite match his…

Tagged with: Issue 44, Owen Marshall
Posted in Imprints, Review

The child, the book and the future, Margaret Mahy

Posted on June 25, 2000 by NZ Books

When I was a child of about eleven, I read a book which not only entertained me but flattered me too, for it seemed to take me seriously as a reader. It admitted me to an adult world. The girl…

Tagged with: Issue 43, Margaret Mahy
Posted in Imprints

“A genius for upholstery”, Kim Hill

Posted on June 1, 1999 by NZ Books

Henry James’s The Portrait of a Lady: such an adolescent cliché, you could say, not to mention a literary one. Spirited young thing falls in thrall to a superficially sophisticated older man, and ruins her life. The Victorians were apparently…

Tagged with: December 2000, Issue 46, Kim Hill
Posted in Imprints

Enlightening Africans, Nicholas Reid

Posted on June 27, 1995 by NZ Books

A History of Christianity in Africa Elizabeth Isichei SPCK Press, London, British price £25.00 ISBN 0 281 04764 2 When I told friends I was reading a history of christianity in Africa, I could immediately hear the stereotypes clicking into…

Tagged with: Elizabeth Isichei, Nicholas Reid, SPCK Press
Posted in History, Imprints, Non-fiction, Religion, Review

Publisher’s Profiles 7, Daphne Brasell Associates, Helen Forlong

Posted on June 1, 1993 by NZ Books

The quiet atmosphere in the light-filled, softly carpeted offices of Daphne Brasell Associates in the romantic Wellington suburb of Thorndon belies the frantic pace of a business which has produced at least 40 books from its press, hundreds of government…

Tagged with: Daphne Brasell Associates Press, Helen Forlong, Issue 9, Winter 1993
Posted in Imprints

Publisher Profiles 6, Rawhiti Press, Rachel Lawson

Posted on March 1, 1993 by NZ Books

‘Out where I live, the hills rise steep and harsh from the sea, but on some evenings they seem to light up from within, and the gullies soften and overflow with shadows, blue against the yellow’ – from The Australian…

Tagged with: Autumn 1993, Issue 8, Rachel Lawson, Rawhiti Press
Posted in Imprints

Publisher Profiles 5, Staying alive: the house of McIndoe, Lynley Hood

Posted on December 1, 1992 by NZ Books

There’s been a subtle change in the south. Over the past month, without any fanfare, Dunedin-based John McIndoe Ltd – the South Island’s biggest publishing house – has become McIndoe Publishers. The three women who now run the firm wanted…

Tagged with: Issue 7, Lynley Hood, Summer 1992
Posted in Imprints

Publisher Profiles 4, Quentin Wilson of the Hazard Press

Posted on September 1, 1992 by NZ Books

If Grant Fox plans to publish his memoirs, it is unlikely that the Hazard Press of Christchurch would be his saviour. If, however, he writes a series of black, All Black poetic meditations on the art of penalty kicking and…

Tagged with: Hazard Press, Issue 6, Mark Stocker, Quentin Wilson, Spring 1992
Posted in Imprints

Publisher Profiles 3, Geoff Walker of Penguin Books, Kevin Ireland

Posted on July 1, 1992 by NZ Books

Penguin’s Geoff Walker is an easy person to talk to; he puts himself out to be available for seminars and panel discussions, book launchings and other literary events. Many of his writers are close friends. He is a committed publisher…

Tagged with: Geoff Walker, Issue 5, Kevin Ireland, Penguin Books, Winter 1992
Posted in Imprints