Nelson writer and photographer Ian Trafford on the fraught origins of his new book, Into the Unknown. Alick survived World War I by the skin of his teeth, and thus so did his illicit diaries, and now my book. I called my grandfather Papa as a child, and by the time I was born into … Read more
To stamp out rampant rumours, we must turn to fearless and fastidious scholarship – and writers, says Jared Davidson. On a spring morning in March 1906, people making their way to work along Oxford Street in central London were alarmed to see well-built men wearing Prussian army uniforms prowling up and down the pavement. From … Read more
Books editor Catherine Woulfe emerges from her Twilight reverie just long enough to write a review. Twilight has me in a lasting swoon. It is a cup of sweet tea, to be dispensed in times of shock and sadness. Big stuff, like miscarriages, and terminal diagnoses, and on the eve of level four. I resent … Read more
A review of Rat King Landlord, the new novel by activist and satirist Murdoch Stephens, by Josie Adams, who lives with a rat. This is the first book I have finished in four years. The last book I read was Sisterhood of Dune, because I am no longer capable of entering new literary universes and … Read more
There’s nothing that makes a pointless task suddenly compelling like the return of a virus-fuelled lockdown, writes Michelle Langstone. I lay on the carpet and stared at the smoke alarm sensor flashing off and on. I tried to synchronise my blinks with the tiny red light, squeezing my eyelids shut and opening them at the … Read more
An adventure story that splits the difference between action-packed intrigue and touching melancholy, Sam Brooks reviews Lizard’s Tale, which has just won the Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction. When you think of settings for a children’s novel, the dawn before the dusk of the Second World War in Singapore is probably … Read more
Before we get to the top 10s, a note from the good folk at Unity Auckland: Wednesday, first thing, we found people knocking on the shop door before we had a chance to flick the lights on. This time around folk were not going to be without their reading materials. There was lovely Judith, who … Read more
A new poem from Christchurch poet and environmental activist E Wen Wong. passport to the seasons leaves f a l l crisp like coconut husks, fraying threads of winter’s snow. the hairs of the pōhutukawa stand on their necks doused in a chilli seeds they hang like red alfalfa … Read more
Odessa To’o on Selina Tusitala Marsh’s picture book Mophead, which was just named the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year. I almost didn’t read this book because of the title. Mophead. Instantly recognisable as an insult for anyone with big hair, even though I’ve never been called it myself. The kids at my primary school … Read more
Announcing the winners of the 2020 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. The supreme prize of the night, the Margaret Mahy Book of the Year Award, goes to Selina Tusitala Marsh for her super-personal picture book, Mophead. Mophead is memoir and clapback and wild doodle; it’s the story of what it felt … Read more
Linda Burgess reviews Curtis Sittenfeld’s much-anticipated novel, Rodham. I read Rodham a while ago now but I put off writing about it. I was waiting. Waiting for what exactly? Well, waiting to see if they do what Trump kept insisting they do, back then, when the world seemed what we nostalgically think of as normal. … Read more
Christchurch writer Chris Stuart spent decades toggling between high-stakes overseas aid work and the strange safety of home. Out of that has emerged a crime novel: For Reasons of Their Own. I used to always tell people that when you work in war zones and disasters, you are only ever a brick in the wall … Read more
A poem by Rhian Gallagher from her new collection Far-Flung. At the Boatshed for Sonja Mitchell We carried the day through the door the harbour had earned its keep light laid its hands on each contour the shed held abreast with the shore spreading the waves in pleats we carried the day through the door … 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 Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump (Simon & Schuster, … Read more
Catherine Woulfe reviews Upstream on the Mataura, a memoir by Gore flyfisherman Dougal Rillstone chronicling his journey along the Southland river. Dougal Rillstone is some guy you’ve never heard of, who grew up in Gore and is in love with a river. He also loves to fish for trout. He’s in his 70s. He fishes … Read more
The Sir Julius Vogel Awards last Thursday were meant to be a celebration of some of our best genre writers. It didn’t turn out that way, as Casey Lucas, one of the winners, explains. This is the story of how the nominees and recipients of the 2020 Sir Julius Vogel Awards, New Zealand’s most prominent … Read more
A new Twilight book launches today. Its author told Catherine Woulfe about gender politics, anxiety, and the challenges of writing the Twilight story from Edward Cullen’s perspective. Midnight Sun is the original Twilight story, except instead of Bella Swan narrating it’s her vampire love, Edward Cullen. It’s a book that I and the rest of … Read more
On Saturday the man behind Game of Thrones hosted the ceremony for the prestigious Hugo Awards. Sam Brooks recaps. In a blog post just over a year ago, American writer George RR Martin said that New Zealand had “formal written permission” to jail him if he didn’t have The Winds of Winter (the latest entry … Read more
The Crazy Rich Asians author creates froth that may in fact be genius, says Sam Brooks. Kevin Kwan’s first novel Crazy Rich Asians had the kind of success every populist author dreams of. It became a beloved bestseller, which turned into a slightly less beloved trilogy, which then turned into a blockbuster movie that was … Read more
We can’t tell you who wrote this piece, or where they work. What we can tell you is it’s not Unity. A little while ago, I said to a friend that working at a bookshop kind of sucks. He was clearly bamboozled. “I thought working at a bookshop would be lovely and magical. Being surrounded … 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 Sleepy Kiwi by Kat Merewether (Illustrated Publishing, $20, 0-3) Black-and-white board book by the author/illustrator of all the Kuwi books. Tiny bubs love to look … Read more
The publishing debut of New York-based New Zealand poet Gus Goldsack. Go North I got a little thick about the middle, but I’m not talking waist. Waste, though, fuck – I’ve accumulated some baggage. Some I picked up more than willingly, garbage in garbage in garbage in through my eyeballs and out through my mouth. … 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 Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump (Simon & Schuster, … Read more
With Sprigs, Brannavan Gnanalingam delivers a great New Zealand novel, writes Uther Dean. Since 2011 Brannavan Gnanalingam has pumped out Major Work after Major Work. Every two years brought another book: Getting Under Sail; You Should Have Come Here When You Were Not Here; Credit in the Straight World; A Briefcase, Two Pies and a … Read more
Kathy Errington introduces a conversation with Anjum Rahman on online harm, an extract from the upcoming BWB text Shouting Zeroes and Ones, edited by Andrew Chen. Articulating what matters when we look to reduce online harm is becoming ever more important in a context where states are increasingly turning to regulation to address harms caused … Read more
Departing Friday Poem editor Ashleigh Young talks to incoming Friday Poem editor Chris Tse. The concept was always simple: on Friday, publish a poem. A new poem or an old poem, but always a good poem. It could be by anyone. When Friday Poem founding editor Steve Braunias invited me to take up the post, … 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 How Do We Know We’re Doing it Right? Essays on Modern Life by Pandora Sykes (Penguin Random House, $40) I’m … Read more
Kiran Dass interviews Mark O’Connell, whose new book sprang from terror about what climate change meant for his kids. Dublin writer Mark O’Connell reckons we’re alive in a time of worst-case scenarios, and that we can only really survive in a meaningful sense as part of a community. Following his first book, 2017’s To Be … Read more
The oldest independent literary festival in Aotearoa is putting its massive back-catalogue online. Going West’s producer James Littlewood explains why – and what’s next. February, 2020. We’d just pulled together a crack team and were poised to launch into full-blown planning when the virus hit and we went into lockdown. Suddenly, the future ceased to … Read more