Learning our Living: a teaching autobiography Charmaine Pountney Cape Catley, $29.95, ISBN 0908561865 For many people a teaching autobiography might not seem an exciting prospect. Charmaine Pountney, however, is no ordinary teacher. This book is an account of nearly 60…
I Live Here Now: Sarah Campion in 1950s New Zealand ed Rachel Scott Shoal Bay Press, $29.95, ISBN 1877251054 Over the summer of 2000, National Radio was the unlikely backdrop for a rumble over New Zealand in the 1950s. The…
The Better Part Meg Campbell Hazard Press, $21.95, ISBN 1877161276 Postscripts J C Sturm Steele Roberts, $19.95, ISBN 1877228354 It would be remiss of this reviewer not to note that these two women poets, who have their own growing reputations,…
Haunt Bronwyn Bannister Otago University Press, $24.95, ISBN 1877133841 Between Black and White Eirlys Hunter Vintage, $24.95, ISBN 1869414284 I find that when reading a first novel I often flick to the little publisher logo on the spine. I acknowledge…
The Beetle in the Box: a love story Chris Else Vintage, $24.95, ISBN 1869414527 Anyone who has sat on the selection panel for a writer’s fellowship knows that the worst thing applicants can do is include a bald précis of…
Gone Surfing: The Golden Years of Surfing in New Zealand, 1950-1970 Luke Williamson Penguin, $34.95, ISBN 0140298908 Over the past few years I’ve spent a considerable amount of surfing time sitting on various beaches, board beside me, wondering why I’d…
Talking Pictures: Selected Poems Riemke Ensing HeadworX, $26.95, ISBN 0473068044 The cover of Riemke Ensing’s latest collection sends mixed typographic signals. You read Selected Poems first, at the top; but it’s in italic, and grey, so it defers to the…