Queenstown writer Jane Bloomfield has spent the year writing the second novel in her Lily Max series for kids aged 8-12 – the first book was a finalist in this year’s NZ Post Children’s Book Awards, and the sequel is even better. But what else does she get up to in that part of the world? … Read more
Who are the most powerful figures in the new generation of New Zealand literature? The most innovative, the most awarded, the most industrious? A panel of young experts exchanged their views over Snapchat and things like that until they agreed on the top 10. 1 Hera Lindsay Bird But not just for the 46,000+ views … Read more
New verse by poet Michael Hall. Tip Top Bread The sound that a loaf of bread makes when it hits the supermarket floor – is the sound of a heart breaking. No one really hears it, though a few nearby in the aisle might see the person picking, to stoop it up. Then trying to … Read more
The weekly best-seller chart at Unity stores in Wellington and Auckland, for the week just ended: October 28 WELLINGTON STORE 1 Murdoch: The Political Cartoons of Sharon Murdoch (Potton & Burton, $40) by Sharon Murdoch The smash-hit cartoon book by the 2016 Canon Media Awards cartoonist of the year who was born in Invercargill, worked … Read more
Steve Braunias writes about Lucky, the unlucky dog of Mercer, in a new anthology of writing about dogs – dogs as pets, dogs as farm animals, dogs as meals, and other kinds of mutts. The graveyard was across the road from the school, and over the fence from a three-bedroom house on the edge of … Read more
Charlotte Grimshaw on the selfie novels of acclaimed English writer Rachel Cusk. Rachel Cusk’s previous novel, Outline, was a narrative experiment that followed her divorce memoir Aftermath. The author’s voice – her world view – was so strident and solipsistic in Aftermath that she was accused of being a “brittle little narcissist.” In Outline, Cusk … Read more
Is there any such thing as privacy in the age of social media and smart phones? Exciting new YA thriller novelist LJ Ritchie talks to author Nicky Hager about the realities – and unjustified fears – of state surveillance. LJ Ritchie: One question that often comes up in discussions on surveillance is, “If I’m not doing anything wrong, why … Read more
The weekly best-seller chart at Unity stores in Auckland and Wellington, for the week just ended: October 21 AUCKLAND STORE 1 Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (Harvill Secker, $40) by Yuval Noah Harari “The epic, widely celebrated Sapiens gets the sequel it demanded – a breathless, compulsive inquiry into humanity’s apocalyptic, tech-driven future”: … Read more
Talia Marshall reviews what is likely the year’s most entertaining, readable, and popular New Zealand novel, Daylight Second by Kelly Ana Morey. I remember the Phar Lap skeleton at the old Dominion Museum off Buckle St in Wellington. He was in a glass case just after the Victorian settlers listless in their life-sized dioramas, and … Read more
The great Australian writer Tim Winton talks to Linda Herrick. Australian writer Tim Winton has dedicated his new book of essays The Boy Behind the Curtain to his mum and dad, now in their 80s. His subjects include surfing, asylum seekers, and other issues in the wider world, but a stand-out essay in the collection is … Read more
Margo White reviews the greatest novel ever written from the point of view of an opinionated and somewhat pompous foetus – Nutshell, by Ian McEwan. We might as well start with the novel’s memorable opening sentence: “So here I am, upside down in a woman.” Ian McEwan has said the sentence came to him when … Read more
They say everyone has a book in them – even assorted Real Housewives – but how many of us actually get published? And how healthy is the industry that supports our novelists, poets and non-fiction writers? Two charts from Figure.NZ take a closer look. For more data on the New Zealand publishing industry, check out … Read more
Trish Harris developed acute arthritis when she was six. In this extract from her memoir The Walking Stick Tree, she ponders her relationship with her lifelong worst enemy – pain. How do children cope with pain? How does anyone live with it? How did I manage it, survive it, and what about now? When I was growing … Read more
New verse by New Plymouth poet Elizabeth Smither The heart heals itself between beats When the Middlesex Hospital was coming down I walked through empty corridors to the chapel and stood behind a rood screen, admiring self-sacrificing matrons and eminent surgeons. The heart heals itself between beats. The heart heals itself between beats. … Read more
The weekly best-seller chart at Unity stores in Wellington and Auckland, for the week just ended: October 14 WELLINGTON STORE 1 Broken Decade: Prosperity, Depression & Recovery in NZ 1928-39 (Otago University Press, $50) by Malcolm McKinnon Meticulous new study. 2 Hera Lindsay Bird (Victoria University Press, $25) by Hera Lindsay Bird “Take me out … Read more
James Robins reviews the new novel by funnyman Matt Suddain. John Tamberlain, the hero and narrator of Matt Suddain’s second novel Hunters & Collectors, is a successful critic. This is the first sign that we’re dealing with a wild imagination. As if to push the fold even further, we find that Tamberlain is in demand, … Read more
One of the year’s best books is End of Watch, by the great master of readable fiction, Stephen King. Steve Braunias recalls an appointment with the author in London. Then there was the time I saw a ghost. It was Stephen King. It happened 10 years ago, in London, at this time of year – … Read more
Kelly Dennett, winner of the 2016 The Surrey Hotel Steve Braunias Memorial Writers Residency in Association with The Spinoff Award, wrote 30,000 words during her week at the Grey Lynn hotel. Runner-up Antony Millen wrote 28,000 words. Second runner-up, Wellington poet Ashleigh Young, managed to write approximately 43 words. But she met a nice cat. On my first day … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Kate Camp. Welcome to your new sky It is impossible to build an unhackable computer. That’s why the US Navy is equipping its ships with sextants and teaching their crews to navigate by the stars. You can’t hack the stars. Yet. All in all though and on balance I … Read more
The best-seller chart at Unity Books for the week just ended: October 7 Steve Braunias is on a well-deserved break this week and as a result, the best-seller lists are presented without comment. WELLINGTON STORE 1 Constitution for Aotearoa NZ (Victoria University Press, $25) by Geoffrey Palmer and Andrew Butler 2 Like Nobody’s Watching (Escalator … Read more
By day, Newshub’s Angus Gillies is a mild-mannered, smoothie-guzzling news producer. But his alter ego is as the author of violent and hard-boiled crime fiction. His short novels Just Breathe and Boom and Bust reveal Auckland’s underbelly, as does his latest book, Good Cop, Bad Cop. Where does a part-time, wannabe crime writer look for … Read more
Steve Braunias reviews a peculiar new book by a living legend of American journalism. This is the way the publishing career ends for one of the great innovators of literary journalism: not with a whimper, but a bang, the story blowing up in his face. American writer Gay Talese’s latest book – and maybe his … Read more
Wonder Woman is the latest and biggest star of Marvel and DC’s quest to appear as diverse as possible in an attempt at drawing in readers. But as Ethan Sills discusses, their superficial efforts leave a lot to be desired. We all know that, when it comes to comic books, no one really dies. People … Read more
The best-seller chart at Unity Books for the week just ended: September 30 AUCKLAND STORE 1 The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life (Viking, $38) by John le Carré By all means take note of a curious tale in the Guardian by Le Carre’s biographer, who was greatly puzzled at his subject bringing out a … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Chris Tse. Selfie with landscape Let’s unpick what you think you know about me—what I’ve revealed, what I’ve left at the door of my favourite wolf, just for him to make eye contact the next time we pass in the street. Those stories all had emergency exits, just like … Read more
Christchurch art writer Andrew Paul Wood and Auckland art writer Anthony Byrt shoot the shit about Byrt’s brilliant new book on contemporary art, This Model World. Who makes good art in New Zealand? Who doesn’t? Where do they stand on the wretched Billy Apple, who once nearly killed Duncan Greive’s dog? And much, much more. … Read more
To mark the publication of a stunning collection of black and white photographs taken of a West Coast ghost town, Steve Braunias posts a Sunday Star-Times column he wrote about the place in June 2006. The old always seem to be up and about early, so I phoned Bill Gidley, 88, at his home in … Read more
Antony Millen of Taumarunui was runner-up of the 2016 Surrey Hotel Steve Braunias Memorial Writers Residency in Association with The Spinoff Award – and used his time at the spacious and splendid Grey Lynn hotel to write 28,000 words of his next YA novel. Yowsa! My Surrey Hotel writing residency really started and ended on the train … Read more
The best-seller chart at Unity Books for the week just ended: September 23 WELLINGTON STORE 1 Through the Eyes of a Miner: The Photography of Joseph Divis (Friends of Waiuta, $40) by Simon Nathan Fantastic black and white photographs of the West Coast coalmining town that died. A feature will appear at the Spinoff Review … Read more