Swallowing Diamonds Marilyn Duckworth Vintage, $26.95, ISBN 1869415485 In Marilyn Duckworth, New Zealand has its finest writer of the absurd. Although others have written about states of unreality or non-reality – most particularly Janet Frame, younger novelists like Elizabeth Knox,…
Manifold Utopia: The Novels of Janet Frame Marc Delrez Rodopi, $59.95 approx, ISBN 904201508X The appearance of the term “manifold” in the titles of two recent books on Janet Frame’s fiction suggests a current fascination with the multiple modes of…
Life on Earth Sue McCauley Vintage, $26.95, ISBN 1869415493 Water Bernard Steeds Penguin, $27.95, ISBN 0143018353 The Chandrasekhar Limit and other stories Sugu Pillay The Writers Group, price unavailable, ISBN 0473087316 There is a common misconception that big themes require…
Tracing the Arc John Saker Four Winds Press, $14.95, ISBN 0958237557 On Make-up and Makeover Paula Boock Four Winds Press, $14.95, ISBN 0958237549 Notes of a Bag Lady Margaret Mahy Four Winds Press, $14.95, ISBN 0958237522 Until recently, the essay…
Going the Distance – Women Outdoors in New Zealand Tess Redgrave Tandem Press, $34.95, ISBN 1877298018 Seduced by the Sea ed Tessa Duder HarperCollins, $29.95, ISBN 1869504461 Te Araroa: The New Zealand Trail Geoff Chapple Random House, $34.95, ISBN 186941537X…
Environmental Histories of New Zealand ed Eric Pawson and Tom Brooking Oxford University Press, $49.95, ISBN 019558421X Environmentally and in other ways, New Zealand is a last frontier – the last temperate-climate land on earth to be discovered and colonised…
Literary honours
Playwright Roger Hall of Auckland was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in the latest Queen’s Birthday honours. Jo Noble, also of Auckland, was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM)…
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