Greetings from The Spinoff Tech team! We have an exciting announcement to make about a new feature we’re adding to the site. In our rapidly changing media landscape, it’s often difficult to draw new eyes from the fast-paced pull of shorts and tiktoks. Here at The Spinoff we value bringing you high quality journalism with … Read more
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The following is a real Facebook Messenger conversation between Samuel Walsh and Dominic Hoey, founders and publishers of Dead Bird Books. Books editor Catherine Woulfe writes: This convo is extracted with permission from the eclectic, fascinating new book Dwelling in the Margins: Art Publishing in Aotearoa, edited by Katie Kerr and published by GLORIA Books. … Read more
The following is a real Facebook Messenger conversation between Samuel Walsh and Dominic Hoey, founders and publishers of Dead Bird Books. Books editor Catherine Woulfe writes: This convo is extracted with permission from the eclectic, fascinating new book Dwelling in the Margins: Art Publishing in Aotearoa, edited by Katie Kerr and published by GLORIA Books. … Read more
At the age of 39, having spent almost half his life as a professional rugby player, Dan Carter has retired. Dan Carter: My Story by Dan Carter and The Spinoff managing editor Duncan Greive, and published by Upstart Press, was published just days after his man-of-the-match-winning performance in the 2015 World Cup final. Here, the man … Read more
All the news and gossip from the free summer festival brought to you by Verb Wellington and The Spinoff, happening this weekend at Wellington’s Botanic Gardens. 2.00pm: Strange happenings during a discussion of NZ sci-fi Toby Morris writes: Elizabeth Knox, Kim Hill and Witi Ihimaera took the stage to discuss the anthology Monsters in the … Read more
Tara Ward transcends the cat v dog debate with a list that also includes a goat, a duckling, and a butcher who likes to share his meat. New Zealand bloody loves Hairy Maclary. We’ve made films about his life, erected statues in his honour, and turned Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy into the bestselling book … Read more
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Access All Areas: The Diversity Manifesto for TV and Beyond by Lenny Henry (Faber & Faber, $27) “Draws on decades … Read more
A new poem from Tim Upperton. My childhood I was Dick. I teased Anne and George. I was Edmund, betrayed my friends for a sweet. Something rotten in me. Cast out, castaway. For long years I had an island to myself. I lived on corn, goat-meat, fish. All changed by a single footprint in the … Read more
This weekend’s Garden Party festival in Wellington sees the premiere of Navigating the Stars, a live performance for families based on Witi Ihimaera’s acclaimed collection of the same name. Ahead of the show, Ihimaera spoke to his friend and former collaborator Whiti Hereaka about bringing the stories to the stage. Witi Ihimaera describes himself as … Read more
Chloe Blades spent two years working to rehabilitate men like those in Jared Savage’s Gangland: New Zealand’s Underworld of Organised Crime. She explains how the book has upended her thinking. Gangland has the kind of title I’ve spent six years avoiding. Books and films on gangs are too often sensationalist. Typically, we get brief intros … Read more
Dr Sarb Johal is an expert in emergency management and disaster psychology. His advice has been central to our government’s world-leading Covid-19 response, and he’s helped NZ, the UK and WHO develop psychosocial responses to crises such as H1N1, the Canterbury earthquakes, and the Christchurch mosque attack. This is an extract from his new book … Read more
A selection of highlights from the upcoming Garden Party Festival, presented by Verb Wellington and The Spinoff. What are you doing next weekend? Want to come to a party? If you’re in Wellington February 20-21, consider yourself invited to The Garden Party, a brand new summer festival presented by Verb Wellington and The Spinoff. Held … Read more
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown (Vermillon, $38) A selection of quotes, via Goodreads: … Read more
A new poem by Joan Fleming. HISTORY after TOMAŽ ŠALAMUN Joan Fleming is discomposed. She gathers the soft rabbits of complaint. She has a special cage. She is as happy as clay and strawberries. Joan Fleming is ashamed not to love all the things her mother keeps for her. The burgundy handknit with the flaccid … Read more
Books editor Catherine Woulfe reviews Bethany Clift’s Last One at the Party. What lots of reviewers mean when they say “compelling” is, I think, something like, “Reading is my job now; thank god this one was actually quite good.” I’m going to say “compelling” about this one and I mean something closer to the dictionary … Read more
Ockhams-longlisted novel Sorrow and Bliss is set to be a film and we at The Spinoff Review of Books could not be more excited. From the press release, which we got our mitts on first due to our abject and enduring public love for this novel: “New Regency has acquired the film and television rights … Read more
For all its faults, writes Danyl Mclauchlan (whose new book Tranquillity and Ruin is itself published this week), the Labour-turned-ACT politician’s 1996 books speaks for something that now seems almost old-fashioned: a group of true believers that had a vision of how the world works. Read Richard Prebble’s reflections on I’ve Been Thinking, 25 years … Read more
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Aroha: Māori Wisdom for a Contented Life Lived in Harmony with our Planet by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30) “He hono … Read more
A new poem by recent IIML graduate Joanna Cho. Send to Robyn Immediately On Thursdays I clean for a woman who looks like Robyn. I love Robyn! She’s so sexy, in a way that I’m working on, you know, like she is in tune with her body… Robyn’s dance moves are as smooth as eye … Read more
Grounded in the UK, Scarlett Cayford is nostalgic for a very specific reading experience. In order to qualify as an “airport book” a novel must meet a very specific set of requirements. The first, unsurprisingly, is that it must be purchased at an airport. But this is far from being the only defining characteristic of … Read more
At times, the knowledge that a return to NZ won’t be likely for an unknowable amount of time can bring an achy sort of feeling, writes Emma Gilkison. In Berlin, we are in the middle of a long, dreary Covid winter. We’ve been back in lockdown since mid December, after the “lockdown-lite” of November. The … Read more
What’s the best way to get adults reading? Get them reading when they’re children – and there’s no better place to start than the Unity Children’s Bestseller Chart. AUCKLAND 1 The Noisy Board Book by Soledad Bravi (Gecko, $25, 0-3) Very good option for a baby shower gift. Pleasingly cuboid. Does not make actual noise. … Read more
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Aroha: Māori wisdom for a contented life lived in harmony with our planet by Hinemoa Elder (Penguin Random House, $30) A surprise … Read more
A new poem from Wellington poet Dani Yourukova. All my plants are dead and I’m pretty sure it’s your fault I think it’s extremely inconsiderate of you – showing up and being exactly the sort of person that I would become immediately obsessed with. The planet is dying and so is my half price orchid … Read more
At 5am today, cock’s crow, the embargo lifted on the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist. Here are the books in the race, followed by thoughts from poetry editor Chris Tse and books editor Catherine Woulfe. A shortlist of four books in each category will be announced March 3, with winners announced during a ceremony … Read more
Auckland writer Olivia Hayfield* explains how she resurrected 16th-century playwright Christopher Marlowe to star in her new novel, Sister to Sister. Olivia Hayfield is a pen name. Real name: Sue Copsey. When I’m planning my modern retellings of historical tales, I read widely on the characters and see who leaps out at me. I try … Read more
Levin GP Glenn Colquhoun talks with books editor Catherine Woulfe about his new collection of poetry, Letters to Young People. Glenn Colquhoun is an acclaimed and accomplished poet. He has published four collections, including Playing God, in December 2002, which sold a massive 10,000 copies. He’s won a clutch of Montanas and the 2004 Prize … Read more
A new poem from Dunedin poet Jenny Powell. Her uncle’s eye She introduced us to her uncle’s eye floating in a jar. Lost in an accident, he hadn’t wanted to lose it again. He left it to her in his will. We must have looked shocked. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I turn him to the … Read more