Blog Archives

Warning and consolation, Mark Houlahan

Selected Poems Ian Wedde Auckland University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9781869408596 If you dine at Ian Wedde’s, the poetic indications are you’ll eat well. Among the many charms of this seductive, fatly packed Selected Poems are the number of food groups…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Plays and playmaking, Mark Houlahan

Performing Dramaturgy Fiona Graham Playmarket, $40.00, ISBN 9780908607648 Floating Islanders: Pasifika Theatre in Aotearoa Lisa Warrington and David O’Donnell ISBN 9781988531076 Dawn Raids Oscar Kightley Playmarket, $18.00, ISBN 97809080607631 “What is a dramaturg?” I overheard that question earlier this year…
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Posted in Art, Literature, Non-fiction, Pacific, Plays, Review

The play’s the thing, Mark Houlahan

Best Playwriting Book Ever Roger Hall Playmarket, $22.00, ISBN 9780908607600 Shift Alison Quigan, Vivienne Plumb and Lynda Chanwai-Earle Playmarket, $35.00, ISBN 9780908607617 Bats Plays Ken Duncum and Rebecca Rodden Playmarket, $30.00, ISBN 9781776560899 To review Best Playwriting Book Ever, I…
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Posted in Literature, Plays, Review

Stories on stage, Mark Houlahan

The Plays of Bruce Mason: A Survey John Smythe Playmarket and Victoria University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9781776560554 Here/Now: 8 Plays by Award-Winning New Zealand Playwrights David O’Donnell (ed) Playmarket, $35.00, ISBN 9780908 607594 John Smythe’s survey of the plays of…
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Posted in Literature, Plays, Review

Constant fizz and playful grace, Mark Houlahan

Alan Brunton: Beyond the Ohlala Mountains: Poems 1968-2002 Michele Leggott and Martin Edmond (eds) Titus Books, $38.00, ISBN 9781877441479 Sweeping the Courtyard: The Selected Poems of Michael Harlow Michael Harlow Cold Hub Press, $40.00, ISBN 9780473274207 My first Red Mole…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Phrases that catch the breath, Mark Houlahan

Heartland  Michele Leggott Auckland University Press, $28.00, ISBN 9781869408084 In 2007, Leggott was New Zealand’s inaugural poet laureate; in England, there is a long tradition of poets laureate being crowned at the point in their careers where the muse has…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Time’s wingèd chariot, Mark Houlahan

Us, Then Vincent O’Sullivan Victoria University Press, $28.00, ISBN 9780867438929 The Lifeguard: Poems 2008-20013 Ian Wedde Auckland University Press, $28.00, ISBN 9781869407698 Life and Customs Bernadette Hall Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780864739001 “But at my back I always hear…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Moving the world along, Mark Houlahan

These Rough Notes Bill Manhire, Anne Noble, Norman Meehan, Hannah Griffin Victoria University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9780864738318 Selected Poems Bill Manhire Victoria University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9780864737625 “In the future,” Bill Manhire predicts, while introducing his sweeping 2005 anthology of…
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Posted in Literature, Photography, Poetry, Review

Strip-mines and elegies, Mark Houlahan

Slip Stream Paula Green Auckland University Press, $24.99, ISBN 9781869404628   Crumple Vivienne Plumb Seraph Press, $25.00, ISBN 9780473177171   Time of the Icebergs David Eggleton Otago University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781877578021   The Radio Room Cilla McQueen Otago University…
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Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

Time out, Mark Houlahan

Chinese Opera Ian Wedde Victoria University Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780864735850 When a story by Ian Wedde called “Chinese Opera” was published in Sport 2, readers were informed that he expected to “finish Chinese Opera, his fourth novel, in 1989.” Nineteen…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
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