Blog Archives
Obituary – Peter Wells (1950-2019)
Obituary Peter Wells (1950-2019) Siobhan Harvey Into the apparent silence of diverse voices in Aotearoa New Zealand literature, award-winning novelist, essayist, historian, anthologist, filmmaker and playwright, Peter Wells spoke. His was an articulation which, in life, was strong, uncompromising, inquisitive,…
“A kind of undressing”, Elspeth Sandys
Dear Oliver: Uncovering a Pākehā History Peter Wells Massey University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9780994143 Peter Wells is a wonderful writer, and this is almost a wonderful book. Writing a family memoir (or, as the author calls this particular memoir, Uncovering…
Tagged with: Elspeth Sandys, Issue 123, Massey University Press, Peter Wells, Spring 2018
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
“The retrospective glance”, Bronwyn Dalley
Journey to a Hanging: The Events that Set New Zealand Race Relations Back by a Century Peter Wells Vintage, $45.00 ISBN 9781775533900 As a child, I owned a Webster’s Illustrated Dictionary. My brother had bought it in mail-order instalments over…
Tagged with: Bronwyn Dalley, Issue 108, Peter Wells, Summer 2014, Vintage
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review
Life in the bush, by the bay, Dougal McNeill
Speaking Frankly: The Frank Sargeson Memorial Lectures 2003-2010 Sarah Shieff (ed) Cape Catley, $31.99, ISBN 9781877340277 Celebrating Katherine Mansfield: A Centenary Volume of Essays Gerri Kimber and Janet Wilson (eds) Palgrave Macmillan, $162.00, ISBN 9780230277731 It was a…
Tagged with: C K Stead, Cape Catley, Christine Cole Catley, Dougal McNeill, Frank Sargeson, Gerri Kimber, Issue 98, Janet Wilson, Katherine Mansfield, Lawrence Jones, Michael King, Owen Marshall, Palgrave Macmillan, Peter Wells, Sarah Shieff, Vincent O’Sullivan, Winter 2012
Posted in Essays, Lecture, Literature, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Essays, Lecture, Literature, Non-fiction, Review
What we call the past, Martin Edmond
The Hungry Heart: Journeys with William Colenso Peter Wells Vintage, $49.99, ISBN 9781869794743 Give Your Thoughts Life: William Colenso’s Letters to the Editor Ian St George (ed) Otago University Press, $60.00, ISBN 9781877578144 The Greek word historia, from…
Tagged with: Autumn 2012, Ian St George, Issue 97, Martin Edmond, Otago University Press, Peter Wells, Vintage, William Colenso
Posted in Biography, History, Letters
Posted in Biography, History, Letters
Meeting the ancestors, Peter Wells
A new history of homosexuality prompts Peter Wells to look back on his early life as a gay New Zealander. It’s probably a reflection on the heft of a book that it makes you question your own sense of the…
Scarred by difference, Ruth Nichol
Lucky Bastard Peter Wells Vintage, $27.99, ISBN 9781869419431 At a recent funeral for a friend’s father many of us were surprised – and surprisingly moved – when a uniformed soldier played The Last Post. It struck a sombre note during…
Tagged with: Autumn 2008, Issue 81, Peter Wells, Ruth Nichol, Vintage
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Self-portrait with wooden spoon, Lois Daish
The Kindness of Strangers: Kitchen Memoirs Shonagh Koea (illustrations by Peter Wells) Vintage, $34.99, ISBN 9781869419189 It wasn’t in her own mother’s kitchen that the young Shonagh found out food could make her happy. Things at home were a bit…
Tagged with: Autumn 2008, Issue 81, Lois Daish, Peter Wells, Shonagh Koea, Vintage
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
Bovver boys
Posted in Comment