Blog Archives
All aboard, Don Aimer
Trainland: How Railways Made New Zealand Neill Atkinson Random House, $39.99, ISBN 9781869419059 I’ve always loved trains. A job in Timaru once in the days of steam had me driving regularly to Oamaru. North of the Waitaki River the main…
Tagged with: Don Aimer, Issue 83, Neill Atkinson, Random House, Spring 2008
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology
Good dog! Norman Bilbrough
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy Lynley Dodd Mallinson Rendel, $30.00, ISBN 9781877423147 Beginner writers often think that writing a picture book must be easy. But a story – any story – needs drafts and more drafts before it is ready…
Tagged with: Issue 83, Lynley Dodd, Mallinson Rendel, Norman Bilbrough, Spring 2008
Posted in Children, Literature, Review
Posted in Children, Literature, Review
Obituary — Gerry Evans
Gerry Evans (1937-2008) One-time seaman, wharfie and union leader, writer Gerry Evans of Wellington jokingly asked that his ashes be scattered in Karori Library. Born in Wales, he went to sea as a 16-year-old, and didn’t begin writing until 1994,…
No easy heroics, James Norcliffe
Shadow of the Mountain Anna Mackenzie Longacre Press, $18.99, ISBN 9781877460005 Smashed Mandy Hager Random House, $18.99, ISBN 9781869419424 Gool Maurice Gee Puffin, $19.95, ISBN 9780143304005 Each of these kidult novels tells a compelling story in a tightly written yet…
Tagged with: Anna Mackenzie, Issue 83, James Norcliffe, Longacre Press, Mandy Hager, Maurice Gee, Puffin, Random House, Spring 2008
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults
The Dr Johnson of New Zealand literature, Michael Hulse
Book Self C K Stead Auckland University Press, $38.99, ISBN 9781869404123 It isn’t in the spirit of the age that a Goethe will still attract his Eckermann, or a Dr Johnson his Boswell. A companion free of all other commitments,…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, C K Stead, Issue 83, Michael Hulse, Spring 2008
Posted in Literature, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Literature, Non-fiction, Review
Mermaids, miners and mystics, Anne Else
Saltskin Louise Moulin Black Swan, $27.99, ISBN 9781869419608 Ribbons of Grace Maxine Alterio Penguin Books, $35.00, ISBN 9780143006442 Acts of Love Susan Pearce Victoria University Press, $29.99, ISBN 9780864735652 Three first (or at any rate, first published) novels, all by…
Tagged with: Anne Else, Black Swan, Issue 83, Louise Moulin, Maxine Alterio, Penguin Books, Spring 2008, Susan Pearce, Victoria University Press
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Championing the local, Margot Schwass
Margot Schwass pays tribute to Ruth Dallas who died earlier this year. Silent bush, rain-soaked paddocks, solitary farmhouses hunkered down beneath black macrocarpas …. The landscapes so intensely reflected in the work of the late Ruth Dallas are very recognisably…
Pebbles at the window, Elizabeth Smither
Posted in Comment