Writers In Residence: A Journey with Pioneer New Zealand Writers Jenny Robin Jones Auckland University Press, $44.99, ISBN 1869403029 As Edward Gibbon Wakefield wrote in 1829: Literary men, men of science, philosophers, do not emigrate to new colonies where their…
The Transformation Catherine Chidgey Victoria University Press, $29.95, ISBN 0864734654 In Mutes and Earthquakes Bill Manhire gives his creative writing pupils a couple of pieces of advice: 1) write what you know, and 2) write what you don’t know. If,…
John Pascoe Chris Maclean Craig Potton Publishing in association with The Whitcombe Press, $59.95, ISBN 0473094436 When I was a runty little joker, I often heard my father’s mother, Liz, describe people as “silly buggers”. John Pascoe would have…
The Temptations of Frederick Weld Michael Wall Black Swan, $26.95, ISBN 1869415930 Devil’s Apple Simon Snow Black Swan, $26.95, ISBN 1869415477 The Monstrance David McGill Silver Owl Press, $24.95, ISBN 095824510X Chicane Colin D Peel HarperCollins, $21.99, ISBN 1869504887 Alternative…
John Kinder’s New Zealand Ron Brownson (with contributions from Peter Shaw, Michael Dunn and Roger Blackley) Godwit and Auckland Art Gallery, $49.95, ISBN 1869621077 John Kinder turned his back on taunts of religious inflexibility and charges of being a “stiff-necked”…
The Night Kite Peter Bland, illustrations by Carl Bland, Mallinson Rendel, $24.95, ISBN 0908783833 Napoleon and the Chicken Farmer Lloyd Jones, illustrations by Graeme Gash, Mallinson Rendel, $29.95, ISBN 0908783752 Cat’s Whiskers – 4 Favourite Lynley Dodd Stories Lynley Dodd…
Icons Nga Taonga: From the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Te Papa curatorial team Te Papa Press, $79.99, ISBN 090901096X On a recent visit from his Tasmanian hideaway, art museum guru Daniel Thomas expressed amazement that Te Papa’s…
Taua – Musket wars, land wars, or tikanga? Warfare in Maori society in the early nineteenth century Angela Ballara Penguin, $59.95, ISBN 0143018892 Reviewing R D Crosby’s The Musket Wars: A History of Inter-iwi Conflict 1806-1845 (New Zealand Books, March…
Good Luck Anna Livesey Victoria University Press, $24.95, ISBN 086473459X The Adulterer’s Bible Cliff Fell Victoria University Press, $24.95, ISBN 0864734603 Both these collections of poetry come from recent graduates of Victoria University’s creative writing programme. The publisher is Victoria…