New verse by Oturehua writer Brian Turner. Small Town Blues To hell with the songs of birds, the buzzing of bees and the breeze breathing in the trees, there’s always someone who thinks the whole village appreciates their taste in music. Brian Turner, 2018 The Spinoff Review of Books is proudly … Read more
All week this week we look at the life and writing of Greymouth writer and conservationist Peter Hooper (1919-91). Today: a memoir by Hooper’s longtime friend and editor Brian Turner, taken from his speech at the launch in the weekend of Pat White’s biography. Peter Hooper is a name that is seldom mentioned when NZ … Read more
Brian Turner wades through the hyperbole in Brendon McCullum’s biography, and recalls the old saying: “Self-praise is no recommendation.” On the front flap of the cover of Declared, the blurbist trumpets Brendon McCullum “could reduce the world’s bowling elite to quivering wrecks”, and “As a captain… his influence has been so profound it will likely change the way … Read more
New verse by Otago writer and optimist Brian Turner. Solo You can almost guarantee no one’s going to stop for a single shoe lying in scraggy roadside grass: not for that lone soul.
An extract from Boundaries, a collection of essays and verse by the holy philosopher king of Central Otago, Brian Turner. What locals call Black’s Hill is a steep climb on the main road which takes you up from Ophir in the Manuherikia Valley and down into Poolburn in the Ida Valley. It’s about four kilometres to … Read more
Brian Turner’s 2015: life and bicycles in Oturehua, ‘lucky still to be alive’, his new book Boundaries: People and Places of Central Otago, a visit to London, Anton Oliver’s birthday party, ‘the neo-liberal pandemic’, Richie McCaw. A couple of days ago I met a bloke at the café by the Hayes Engineering Works about a kilometre … Read more
Chum Likes, friends, the more chum we spread the more our pond fills up with eager, hungry fish.
Everyday Confession After ages online and hours in front of TV he got up because he supposed he ‘had to do something’. Brian Turner
As it Happens In Queen’s Crescent off Malden Road one’s not likely to meet many once famous men and women, or current nearly-notables in with a chance of becoming household names in Britain. ‘There comes a time,’ an old geezer told me, ‘when you realise you’ve gone about as far as you can go.’ And … Read more