Blog Archives

NZ Post Book Awards

The shortlist for the 2004 New Zealand Post Book Awards was announced in early February. Finalists are: Junior fiction – The Serpents Of Arakesh: Book One – The Karazan Quartet by V M Jones; My Story: Journey To Tangiwai –

See more ›

Tagged with: ,
Posted in Imprints

Writers off the page, Jane Stafford

New Zealand International Arts Festival Writers and Readers Week begins on 9 March in Wellington. It is an event which in the past has mixed an eclectic selection of novelists, poets and essayists – celebrated and little known – with

See more ›

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Comment

Taking poetry for a walk, John Allison

Millionaire’s Shortbread  Mary-Jane Duffy, Mary Cresswell, Mary Macpherson, Kerry Hines University of Otago Press, $29.95, ISBN 187727643X Len & other poems Jo Thorpe Steele Roberts, $$19.95, ISBN 187722894X Soundings Cilla McQueen University of Otago Press, $29.95, ISBN 1877276383 I once

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review

“Something like a cult”, Margaret Clark

Treasury: The New Zealand Treasury 1840-2000 Malcolm McKinnon Auckland University Press, $50, ISBN 1869402960 At the launch of this book a former assistant secretary to the Treasury pointed out to me that this is an administrative history of the Treasury,

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

Forerunner or footnote? Kim Worthington

Mason: The Life of R A K Mason Rachel Barrowman Victoria University Press, $49.95, ISBN 0864734638 Many people will be familiar with the broad outline of the life of the man Allen Curnow called New Zealand’s “first wholly original, unmistakably

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , ,
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review

Hills, weather, houses, Norman Bilbrough

Why Go To The Riviera: Images of Wellington Peter Shaw Godwit, $99.95, ISBN 1869621018 When Evelyn Page arrived in Wellington in 1947 she was captured by the capital’s energy and bustle. She often painted scenes from her car, even obtaining

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Art, Non-fiction, Review

A stitch-up, Louise O’Brien

Hummingbird James George Huia, $34.95, ISBN 1877283665 The Mango’s Kiss Albert Wendt Vintage, $34.95, ISBN 1869415809 Hummingbird, James George’s second and very readable novel, recounts the unlikely convergence of four sharply drawn characters, who, for very different reasons, find themselves

See more ›

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Letters – Issue 62

Well said, Elspeth! Congratulations to Elspeth Sandys on her Comment piece in the December New Zealand Books, “In search of the ‘good’ writer”. My own choice of a good writer but not so good human being would have been Evelyn

See more ›

Tagged with: ,
Posted in Letters

Girl behind the good keen man, Jane Tolerton

When did I first see the cover of Jean Watson’s Stand in he Rain – that strong, elegant black cover with a woman looking as if she has been doing exactly that? And the photograph of the author on the back

See more ›

Tagged with: , ,
Posted in Imprints

Heart of the matter, Catharina van Bohemen

The Heart Sutra Caren Wilton University of Otago Press, $29.95, ISBN 187727660X Bosom Buddies: Women’s Stories about Friendship, Love and Life  [Editor not given] Black Swan/Random House, $26.95, ISBN 1869415842 Got the T-shirt? Now buy the book. Bosom Buddies: Women’s

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , , ,
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Short stories
Search the archive
Search by category