Matt VanceMatt Vance

Matt vance is a New Zealand writer and passionate sailor. He has been a lecturer and guide on numerous expeditions to the outposts of the Southern Ocean, from the subantarctic islands to the Antarctic continent.

Greed is the thing with feathers: inside the world of natural history thieves

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Book of the Week: Matt Vance reviews an investigation into “the freaks, maniacs and the greed-addled madmen” who obsessively collect, plunder and steal bird specimens. What is it about birds and obsessives? Birds, like no other animal, seem to bring out the freaks, maniacs and the greed-addled madmen of infinite detail. In June 2009, Edwin … Read more

Books: The Monday Extract – The Time Governor-General Sir Paul Reeves Shot and Killed an Albatross

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Matt Vance is known to Dave Dobbyn, Lloyd Jones, Graeme Sydney, Jane Ussher and many other artists, musicians and writers across New Zealand as a good bastard. In his former capacity at Antarctica New Zealand, he ran the Artists in Antarctica programme, personally guiding many creative types around the ice in the summer months. His wide experience in … Read more