From a new anthology of bird writing in New Zealand, the great naturalist Herbert Guthrie-Smith describes the introduction of a bird known by all: the sparrow. This excerpt is from his classic 1921 book Tutira. In October of 1882, a month, that is, after our arrival at Tutira, a small flight of sparrows rested for a … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Bill Manhire. Thread A new poem. Wow just wow A new poem that no one will forget any time soon. A new poem. I think it’s important. I wrote a new poem. You’ll be amazed at what happened next. It’s all about momentum A new poem #maintainingthebrand A … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best book stores above ground. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Out of the Woods: Journey Through Depression & Anxiety by Brent Williams, illustrated by Öztekin Korkut (Educational Resources, $40) A memoir of surviving family violence by the son of a Wellington philanthropist. 2 Cities In NZ: Preferences Patterns & Possibilities edited … Read more
The hotly-anticipated film version of Margaret Mahy’s novel The Changeover opens in cinemas today. Scarlett Cayford examines the peculiar genius of Mahy, and compares the film with the book. I associate Margaret Mahy with colour; I suspect I’m not the only one. Part of the reason is the rainbow wig she wore to all her readings, … Read more
Michael Botur shares his experience with running a Boosted campaign to publish his sci-fi novel. This is the story of how I went about trying to crowdfund my latest novel. If I get enough donations, I’ll shortly wrap up a crowdfunding campaign to self-publish a kickass young adult novel. Moneyland is a YA dystopian sci-fi … Read more
An excerpt from Colin Hogg’s new book The High Road: A Journey to the New Frontier of Cannabis, in which he and his mate Bruce travelled to the US for a tour of legally available dope. Today’s big event is the Budz and Sudz Grow and Dispensary Tour. There’s a big neon noticeboard behind the reception … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Freya Sadgrove. Georgie Porgie I wanna kiss you and make you cry obviously I find you dangerously unsentimental in fact I worry that you might be harbouring a small violence in your daily life such as such as muttering insults at the elderly or writing scathing reviews of high … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores for people who like reading books. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton (Simon & Schuster, $50) The record of a woman who lost a political election to a lying sack of shit. 2 Choice by Edith Eger (Rider Books, $35) Eger was 16 when … Read more
Steve Braunias asks: is there a book to be written about the 2017 election campaign? As an author, publisher, and relentless self-publicist, I’m always on high-alert for whatever ideas that enter the dark, hollow chamber of my head and might form the basis for my next book. I’m committed to a couple of book projects … Read more
Max Harris reports on the mood of the country during his nationwide book tour of his best-seller The New Zealand Project – and sees the start of ‘a new movement’. In the lead-up to the election, there’s been a lot of talk of a shift in the political mood – and a generational change in … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in New Zealand’s two most populous residential centres. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Legacy of Spies by John Le Carre (Penguin, $37) Le Carre’s latest makes it to number one in the same week it was revealed a National Party MP used to teach English to spies in China. … Read more
New verse by Northland writer Briar Wood. Kuramārōtini So the story goes that trickster Kupe cheated his friend into diving overboard to free the lines then paddled rapidly away. Some hoa. Best to know that legendary navigators take huge risks and do not make the safest companions. Ākuanei— she asked herself— … Read more
Louisa Kasza celebrates the arrival of a “terrifying talent” – Annaleese Jochems, the young author of a novel about an Auckland princess who falls in lust with a gorgeous woman fitness instructor. Baby, the debut novel from the rudely 23-year-old Annaleese Jochems, signals the arrival of a terrifying talent. It exists in the world of … Read more
The Spinoff Review of Books salutes the unbylined New Zealand Herald correspondent who filed this fantastically arse-licking report from the election campaign trail on November 7, 1935. During the present election campaign probably no man connected with politics has been busier than the Minister of Finance, Mr Coates, who, after a week of campaigning, is now in … Read more
Steve Braunias reports from the 2017 Going West festival – held for the first time, and forever, he hopes, in Henderson. There were writers of distinction all over the place at the 2017 Going West literary festival held in the weekend but the star of the show was Henderson. The annual event has been staged in Titirangi for … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores on land. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Sleeps Standing: A Story of the Battle of Orakau by Witi Ihimaera and Hemi Kelly (Vintage, $35) Publisher’s blurbology: “During three days in 1864, 300 Maori men, women and children fought an Imperial army and captured the imagination of the world…Instead of following … Read more
Holly Walker reviews a moody, gothic novel set in the brooding countryside of the Wairarapa. There’s something about the Wairarapa. Big skies. Beautiful old villas. Close-knit communities, with a pointy edge of small town meanness. There’s also something about the dying days of 1999, that strange, tense moment before we ticked over into the 21st … Read more
‘The book is the catalyst, the key.’ An essay by Scarlett Cayford about the secret society of book clubs. When I moved to London, I joined a book club. It was an easy decision to make – I wanted to meet new people, I’m terrible at most team sports, and I have a lot of … Read more
A memoir by Dave Armstrong about how he got it into his head to jump in his rusting Japanese car and spend six weeks covering the 1996 election campaign – and then wrote a book about it. During the first part of 1996 I had a job writing comedy sketches for a Wellington television company. … Read more
Political verse by Dunedin writer Diane Brown. Every day my name is out there Some say it’s pointless, we have no say but every day they land in my inbox or on Facebook, petitions asking for my name: on state housing, refugees, the TPPA, the writers imprisoned for telling the truth, the stoning of … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores known to science. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Strange Beautiful Excitement: Katherine Mansfield’s Wellington 1888-1903 by Redmer Yska (Otago University Press, $40) “Wellington is revealed as grim, filthy, dangerous to health, and yet, in the course of this idiosyncratic mix of biography and memoir, Yska transforms the terrain into … Read more
Charlotte Grimshaw reviews A Strange Beautiful Excitement, Redmer Yska’s superb telling of Katherine Mansfield’s childhood and teenage years in Wellington. Samuel Revans, who died in 1888, the year Katherine Mansfield was born, was an enthusiastic promoter for the New Zealand Company. His handbills were distributed in London and went in for a fantastic degree of license, … Read more
Australian feminist author Clementine Ford is in town this week for Shifting Points Of View at WORD Christchurch. Leonie Hayden talked to her about feminist parenting, the power of the Twitter thread and how to start a revolution on your own. Golden Girl Betty White once questioned why people say ‘grow some balls’. “Balls are … Read more
Who wrote the novel about a vain, womanising, and corrupt New Zealand political party leader? Who wrote The Spin? In 1996, now-extinct publishers Hodder Moa Beckett copied the idea of Primary Colors, a steamy, silly, best-selling novel of American political life by Anonymous, and rushed out The Spin, a steamy, silly, okay-selling novel of New … Read more
Like the podcast, but a book! While that sounds boring and pointless, Duncan Greive controversially argues that it’s actually good. I found the 9th Floor “urgent and revelatory” upon its release in April and May, writing somewhat pompously that it “strips our recent political history of much of the distracting rancour which accompanied it in … Read more
What does adolescence look like in New Zealand? Bloody teenagers. Always having a good time despite the deep boringness of New Zealand life. A new book on the history of Kiwi adolescence shows teenagers having fun in boring towns where they attend boring schools and get boring jobs; over 230 snapshots, plus writings taken from … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in creation. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 The New Zealand Project by Max Harris (Bridget Williams Books, $40) Max! 2 The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (Vintage, $26) “Blessed be the fruit”: Atwood’s sci-fi vision of America as the deeply fucked-up republic of Gilead. 3 Swing Time by Zadie … Read more
We conclude our week-long series on New Zealand poetry with the winning poem of the 2017 national schools poetry award: ‘Dampening’, by Wellington High School Year 12 student Zora Patrick. Dampening Playing dead in the seeming shallows a man floats face down estranged from the crying children and bikini grandmas. He looks … Read more
All week this week the Spinoff Review of Books devotes itself to poetry in the build-up to Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day on Friday. Today: Kirsten Warner explores why it is that New Zealand poetry has such a friend in Phantom. The first time I saw one of Phantom Billstickers’ poster poems I couldn’t believe … Read more