THE BEST–SELLER CHART AT UNITY BOOKS FOR THE WEEK JUST ENDED: AUGUST 19 WELLINGTON STORE 1 Can You Tolerate This? (Victoria University Press, $30) by Ashleigh Young Essays of genius and insight by the finest writer of prose in New Zealand. “She leads us…into the mystery that is our life,” wrote reviewer Tim Upperton at … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Jenny Bornholdt Time We woke to spring nuzzling at the window. Winter’s passed, like last night’s hail in the gin. Frozen puddle in the freezer a reminder; like our son’s placenta, still there after eleven years— us frozen by indecision, which tree and where? Sons grown to men. One … Read more
Steve Braunias leads a special Spinoff investigation into fresh claims that 1971 was the greatest year in music ever. David Hepworth makes the fairly audacious but sustained and kind of also really persuasive argument in his new book 1971: Never A Dull Moment that 1971 was the greatest year in the history of popular music. … Read more
Saradha Koirala reviews two teen novels which both deal with girls who have “survived something horrific at the hands of a male classmate”. I will talk literature with anyone who’ll listen. Most recently the ones listening have been clinical psychologists. And yes, I’m sure it’s all very Freudian that my mum and my partner share … Read more
Nick Bollinger reviews What Happened Miss Simone?, the biography of black American singer and activist, Nina Simone. If music is some kind of social barometer, then America is brewing a civil war. It would be hard to find a significant hip-hop or R&B record in the past year that hasn’t raised its voice in anger … Read more
An excerpt taken from the introduction to Dad Goes to the Movies (1941), a World War II diary edited and published by Auckland writer Jaq Tweedie, the daughter of serviceman Les Tweedie. Everything has a beginning and an end, and when I was young I was mostly interested in how things started. I knew my … 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.
A weekly feature at the Spinoff Review of Books: The best-selling books at the Wellington and Auckland stores of Unity Books. THE BEST–SELLER CHART FOR THE WEEK JUST ENDED: AUGUST 12 WELLINGTON STORE 1 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I and II (Little Brown, $50) by J K Rowling, Jack Thorne and John … Read more
Tim Upperton reviews a new collection of essays by Wellington writer Ashleigh Young. Some essayists shine a torch in the darkness, and propose a way forward. Another kind of essayist – the Ashleigh Young kind – whispers, “We are lost, we are lost. Let’s try this way,” and, taking us by the hand, leads us deeper … Read more
An essay by Talia Marshall, taken from her readings of two books published by Bridget Williams – the award-winning Tangata Whenua, and the condensed version, The First Migration: Māori Origins 3000BC-AD1450. 800 years ago, give or take a century, Kupe chased the giant octopus Te Wheke o Muturangi across the vast Pacific ocean away from Hawaiki … Read more
Steve Braunias marks the anniversary of Richard Nixon’s farewell from the White House. Trump, so hysterical and dangerous, can almost make that other, earlier Republican sonofabitch Nixon look good. Almost, but not quite. Today is another anniversary of that happy day on August 9, 1974, when Nixon left office, skipped town, rode out on Chopper … Read more
Steve Braunias reports live from the children’s book awards held tonight at Circa Theatre in Wellington. All the winners! All the drunks! A who’s who of New Zealand children’s literature – Stacy Gregg! Patricia Grace! Jane Bloomfield! Wassisname! – gathered tonight at Circa Theatre, that old shack beside a dismal pond on Wellington’s waterfront, for … Read more
A tribute to the great illustrator Peter Gossage by whanau member and author Paula Morris. Peter Gossage died last weekend. He was not quite 70 years old, but he’d been ill for a long time. I last saw him in late May, at my cousin Tilly’s tangi up at Omaha marae; he was frail, wrapped in … Read more
New verse by Australian writer Catherine Vidler. the ghost held special significance for the ghost at St. Bathans the ghost held me down the ghost held me in position the ghost held up a glowing torch the ghost held its ground the ghost held a darker picture the ghost held … Read more
A weekly feature at the Spinoff Review of Books: The best-selling books at the Wellington and Auckland stores of Unity Books. THE BEST–SELLER CHART FOR THE WEEK JUST ENDED: August 5 AUCKLAND STORE 1 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Little Brown, $50) by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany Plot summary, courtesy of … Read more
Holly Walker reviews The Natural Way of Things, the award-winning novel by Australian writer Charlotte Wood There’s something inevitable, natural even, about the way victims of sexual abuse can end up being blamed for what’s happened to them. Sometimes it’s so overt and egregious that we’ll all be outraged – like the Canadian judge who … Read more
Sarah Forster interviews the awesome David Hill, a finalist at next week’s childrens book awards, when he goes head to head with veteran author Kate De Goldi, horsist writer Stacy Gregg, and Luncheon Sausage Books star Jane Bloomfield. David Hill is one of New Zealand’s best-known authors of young adult fiction. He takes on serious thermes, … Read more
The use of the word “outlier” has been condemned, and continued use will result in stiff penalties. When did the word “outlier” become a thing, and why? It’s such a lame word. But it’s enjoying a tremendous vogue, and it must be stopped. It’s one of those words that make writers look smart. It looks … Read more
Sarah Forster interviews the awesome Kate De Goldi, a finalist at next week’s childrens book awards, when she goes head to head with veteran author David Hill, horsist writer Stacy Gregg, and Luncheon Sausage Books star Jane Bloomfield. Kate De Goldi is one of New Zealand’s finest writers. She has won the overall Children’s Book of … Read more
Harry Potter tragic obsessive fan Charlotte Graham reviews Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. [SPOILERS] everywhere. You’ve been warned. Harry Potter hasn’t slept much for 20 years and it has made him sort of a dickhead. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a delicious hot mess of time travel and popular fanfiction tropes from the … Read more
Nine years after the latest instalment in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has just had its embargo lifted and The Spinoff’s Madeleine Chapman has her hands on a copy. (Spoilers ████████████ aka redacted for readers’ safety). I remember when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out. I was in year nine and it was … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Nick Ascroft. This Poem Is Guaranteed to Awaken a Coma Victim Is someone you love in a coma? A family member perhaps. Perhaps a pet. Perhaps you yourself are in a coma. Perhaps someone is reading this to you in the hopes of awakening you. If … Read more
A weekly feature at the Spinoff Review of Books: The best-selling books at the Wellington and Auckland stores of Unity Books. THE BEST–SELLER CHART FOR THE WEEK JUST ENDED: July 29 WELLINGTON STORE 1 Hera Lindsay Bird (Victoria University Press, $25) by Hera Lindsay Bird In its second week at number one in Wellington and Auckland – … Read more
Peter Simpson writes exclusively for the Spinoff about his new, much talked-about book on the all-painting, all-chattering intelligentsia of Christchurch in the 1930s. In 1938 the musician Fred Page returned to Christchurch from studying at the Royal College of Music in London. On his first day back he ran into his friend the poet Allen … Read more
Enter the draw and win some very cool literary things! Ten years ago today one of New Zealand’s most elegant and brilliant men of letters, novelist and essayist Nigel Cox, died. He was 55. He was special. He wrote very cool books, none cooler than his remarkable novel Tarzan Presley, in 2004, an antic and … Read more
A reissue of an earlier piece in honour and remembrance of Nigel Cox, who passed away ten years ago today. Alongside David Slack, who always has a cackle on his lips, I appeared as guest speaker at a session on satirical writing at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival in May, and it’s possible that I came across … Read more
Peter Wells expands on his recent, pathetically small Listener review of What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell to say exactly why he thinks it’s a masterpiece. Once upon a time, and comparatively recently, gay fiction provided a window not only into how gay men lived, but also a portal into the eroticism and interior of our … Read more
Rebecca Thomas conducts a full-on interview with Brix Smith Start, ex-wife of the Fall genius Mark E Smith, on the occasion of her brilliant, crazy tell-all memoir. All photos by Rebecca. Brix Smith Start’s crazy, dramatic, glamorous life is all laid out in her book The Rise, The Fall and The Rise. She grew up in Hollywood; … Read more
Glen Campbell’s classic hit “Galveston” – what was that all about, and where the hell is Galveston, anyway? Karl du Fresne goes exploring in his new book about the birthplaces of American songs. We arrived in the city that inspired Jimmy Webb’s song “Galveston”, a hit for Glen Campbell in 1969, not knowing quite what to expect. … Read more