How not to run a book launch It’s one of life’s great mysteries why, when many publishers are cutting back on book launches on the grounds that they don’t cover their own costs, invitations to these events continue to pile…
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Blog Archives
Hearing the voice, James Norcliffe
The Singing Harp Iain Sharp Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, $15.00, ISBN 1869420365 The Dwarf and the Stripper and other poems Stephen Sinclair Addenda, $19.95, ISBN 095821865X To … Bill Dacker Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, $15.00, ISBN 1869420357 Many…
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Tagged with: Addenda, Bill Dacker, Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, Iain Sharp, Issue 66, James Norcliffe, Stephen Sinclair, Winter 2004
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
Unprickling the pair, Spiro Zavos
The Prickly Pear: Making Nationalism in Australia and New Zealand Denis McLean University of Otago Press, $49.95, ISBN 18772776472 About 20 year ago I was sitting at my desk at The Sydney Morning Herald wondering what I would write for…
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Tagged with: Denis McLean, Issue 66, Otago University Press, Winter 2004
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review, Sociology
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review, Sociology
Shock, horror on the colonial frontier, Bronwyn Dalley
Captured by Maori: White Female Captives, Sex and Racism on the Nineteenth-century New Zealand Frontier Trevor Bentley Penguin, $35.00, ISBN 0143019236 Nineteenth-century writers of broadsheets would have had a field day with the title and cover of Trevor Bentley’s new…
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Tagged with: Bronwyn Dalley, Issue 66, Penguin, Trevor Bentley, Winter 2004
Posted in History, Māori, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in History, Māori, Non-fiction, Review
A million miles from Palmerston North, Linley Boniface
The Miss Tutti Frutti Contest: Travel Tales of the South Pacific Graeme Lay Awa Press, $29.95, ISBN 0958250901 Liars and Lovers: A Travel Memoir Diane Brown Vintage, $26.95, ISBN 1869416147 As a child, I used to read adventure stories featuring…
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Tagged with: Awa Press, Diane Brown, Graeme Lay, Issue 66, Linley Boniface, Vintage, Winter 2004
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Review
Frame with a lighter hand, Mark Williams
Book Book Fiona Farrell Vintage, $26.95, ISBN 1869416198 I associate being in Christchurch with knowing Fiona Farrell. Both of us came down from provincial North Island cities, Hamilton and Palmerston North, in the early 1990s. I came to teach in…
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Tagged with: Fiona Farrell, Issue 66, Mark Williams, Vintage, Winter 2004
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Infinite last gasps in Niu Sila, Dougal McNeill
The Life and the Dark Richard Reeve Auckland University Press, $21.99, ISBN 1869403126 Wild Dogs Under My Skirt Tusiata Avia Victoria University Press, $24.95, ISBN 0864734743 Richard Reeve fits the definition: he is a man possessed of more than usual…
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Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Dougal McNeill, Issue 66, Richard Reeve, Tusiata Avia, Victoria University Press, Winter 2004
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
Once upon a time in West Auckland, Denis Welch
Black and White John Tamihere (with Helen Bain) Reed, $29.95, ISBN 0790009641 Few politicians these days have lives interesting enough to write about, let alone turn into saleable books. No one is going to queue up at Whitcoulls for Steve…
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Tagged with: Denis Welch, Helen Bain, Issue 66, John Tamihere, Reed, Winter 2004
Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Autobiography, Non-fiction, Review
The House that we built, Colin James
The House: New Zealand’s House of Representatives 1854-2004 John E Martin Dunmore Press, $59.95, ISBN 0864694636 Parliament is a brutal place. Only the idealistic, the ideological, the hard-nosed and the ruthless gather there. No person is inviolate, no secret safe,…
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Tagged with: Colin James, Dunmore Press, Dunmore Publishing, Issue 66, John E Martin, Winter 2004
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review
Art and craft – the story so far, Megan Clayton
Ask someone with a literature PhD why they did it and you’ll get a grab-bag of answers, from feeling the devil’s shoulder-tap of academic ambition to it seeming like a good idea at the time. I did mine for both…
Posted in Comment