Spinoff Review of Books literary editor Steve Braunias reports from the Christchurch WORD literary festival. Everyone who is anyone in New Zealand literature was at the Christchurch WORD festival this weekend, apart from Eleanor Catton, CK Stead, Fiona Kidman, Witi Ihimaera, Kelly Ana Morey, Max Harris, Jess Berentson-Shaw, Damien Wilkins, Linda Burgess, Vincent O’Sullivan, Emily … Read more
Facebook, Facebook, Facebook. Murdoch Stevens details how to use and get around the Zuckerberg Empire in his attempts to spread public awareness about increasing the quota of refugees into New Zealand. I was curious about what it would actually take to get the refugee quota increased. I knew I could draw on friends across the … Read more
“We rule the book-reading world”: Catherine Robertson reports from the Romance Writers of New Zealand annual conference. “Charlotte Stein writes the best cunnilingus scenes. And I’m a gay guy. Think about what I’m saying.” Damon Suede cannot shock his audience. This is the Romance Writers of New Zealand annual conference, held recently at the Novotel … Read more
Our man in London, Neil Young, meets Kiwi expat author Kirsty Gunn for a drink and a chat about her acclaimed new novel – and then wanders off for more drinks with Max Porter. With notebook in hand, I meet Kirsty Gunn at The Burr on Russell Square, and we order G&Ts. Outside there’s a heatwave. … Read more
In this powerful extract from her new book, Chessie Henry interviews her father – a Kaikōura doctor who was caught up in the terrible drama of the Christchurch earthquakes. Dad recounted this story to me on February 14, 2017, nearly six years after the Canterbury earthquake which claimed 185 lives. For some reason we were … Read more
We asked former All Black great Bob Burgess to review a new book on his team-mate Keith Murdoch. But then we changed our mind, and asked his wife Linda Burgess to write whatever she wanted about rugby. A rugby game lasts a whole day. Your father wears a gaberdine raincoat and takes the family to … Read more
In this edited extract from the new book by Steven Adams, he tells how as a rookie he got NBA veterans ejected, and it wasn’t that hard. The moment I was drafted someone tweeted WELP STEVEN ADAMS TO OKC and Kevin Durant apparently replied “smh”. He deleted the tweet and replaced it with “Welcome Steven Adams”. … Read more
Spinoff writer Madeleine Chapman co-wrote basketball star Steven Adams’ autobiography, in shops next week. She tells how she wrote the book alongside an athlete she’s known since they were both teenagers. Warning: contains a lot of food. I knew of Steven Adams before I met him. A common situation now but not so much in … Read more
An extract from a music memoir by Lisa Nimmo, one half of Wellington pop-rock duo Pearl, who were a successful live act in the 2000s. A month after the album release, Chris, Shelley and I headed off to Whanganui and Palmerston North for our first out-of-town gigs as recording artists. We were excited about getting to … Read more
Nadine Anne Hura (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi) is one of six writers who have been selected for Te Papa Tupu 2018, a writing programme developed by the Māori Literature Trust and organised by Huia Publishers. We asked her to write about what it means for her as a Māori writer. In 2013 a friend rang to offer me … Read more
Diana Wichtel won the non-fiction book of the year award in May with her Holocaust book Driving to Treblinka. Her partner Chris Barton writes about his own profound experiences – and life-changing revelations – when he accompanied Diana to the Nazi death camps. It was an odd place to be having a ridiculously obvious realisation about my life. … Read more
A new study by human rights activist Maire Leadbeater looks at New Zealand’s reluctance to do anything to halt the crimes against humanity in our Pacific neighbor, West Papua. A few years ago I wrote about New Zealand’s betrayal of the people of East Timor during the 24 years they suffered under brutal military rule … Read more
Huzzah! We announce the winners of New Zealand’s most coveted writers residency in central Auckland. An author who wants to write a book about professional mermaids – there is such a thing, and it’s worryingly kind of huge – is the winner of the 2018 Surrey Hotel Steve Braunias Memorial Writers Residency Award in Association with … Read more
Forensic psychiatrist Rees Tapsell tells the story of “Tama”, who killed his aunt in a psychotic episode, and was referred to a kaupapa Māori rehabilitation unit. As a Māori forensic psychiatrist, I have been responsible for the treatment and rehabilitation of Māori who suffer mental illness and have committed violent offences while mentally unwell. In … Read more
Niki Harré, professor of psychology at the University of Auckland, explains how we can make the world a better place by playing something she calls “the infinite game”. You probably know the drill: people are failing to recycle, driving their cars too much, or eating the wrong food. But changing the behaviour of other adults … Read more
John Summers gets to grips with one of the year’s most popular books, a self-help guide to feeling good, deciding what’s really important in your life, and “banging blondes”: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. Surely weekends are the most stressful days of the week. The petty anxieties of the workday are nothing … Read more
As the deadline looms for the 2018 Surrey Hotel writers residency award, and entries continue to pour in from published authors and exciting nobodies, 2017 winner Charlotte Graham-McLay files a report on her experience at the Surrey. She danced a lot. During the school holidays, I used to throw tights and leotards and grubby, smelly … Read more
Christchurch writer Amy Head on the setting for her new novel – Rotoroa, an island near Waiheke, where the Salvation Army ran a rehab centre for alcoholics. When I first learned about Rotoroa, an island east of Waiheke where the Salvation Army ran a rehabilitation facility between 1911 and 2005 (known early on as an … Read more
As the deadline fast approaches for entries to the 2018 Surrey Hotel Steve Braunias Memorial Writers Residency In Association With The Spinoff Award, Wairarapa essayist and 2017 winner John Summers presents his diary of the prize – a five-night stay in Grey Lynn’s Surrey Hotel. I arrive overdressed. I got up at 5:30am, and wore my overcoat … Read more
Serena Benson was the grand winner of the 2017 Surrey Hotel writers residency award in association with the Spinoff. Here she writes about the project she worked on at the Surrey – a chronicle of her drug addiction nightmare. After seven years in recovery, I’ve mustered up the courage to chronicle my journey into addiction … Read more
In the latest in our occasional series which look for signs of literary life in the regions, Kerry Sunderland studies Nelson – and talks to an author whose book is being filmed right this second, in Prague, by some guy called Taika Waititi. Two words: Maurice Gee. Of course literature exists in Nelson; New Zealand’s … Read more
No other road in New Zealand is as rich in history, suffering, war, immigration, hope and hard, hard work as the Great South Road that joins Auckland to the Waikato. Scott Hamilton walked its length and felt its pulse. For the last five years I’ve travelled the Great South Road. My journeys have been spasmodic, erratic, circuitous. They began when … Read more
Neil Young, our man in London, reports on Hera Lindsay Bird’s appearance last week at the coolest bookstore belonging to the coolest literary magazine in the English-speaking world. A bowl of cold spaghetti hoops was on the kitchen table. Meghan Markle was on the TV with the sound off. In three days’ time I was … Read more
Auckland – glassy, dusty, unfinished, trying its best – is captured in a new art book by Wellington photographer Mary Macpherson. Big, vibrant, empty, fucked-up, under-construction Auckland. The city looms and loiters in a beautiful new art book – and exhibition, at The Pah Homestead – by Mary Macpherson, a Wellington photographer. “With its fly-overs, by-passes, and often shambolic orchestration of … Read more
A new book of translated Māori verse joins Taika Waititi “in his calling out of language laziness”. So why were the authors ignored by a literary festival looking for new voices? An essay by the book’s co-editor, Vana Manasiadis. Tātai Whetū means constellation of stars. It also means tongue twister. In Tātai Whetū: Seven Māori Women … Read more
Amy Goldstein wanted to know what happened to the ordinary people impacted by the GFC. Ahead of her Auckland Writers Festival appearance, chaired by Toby Manhire, she tells Duncan Greive about the extraordinary book she wrote about the fallout after GM shut its oldest manufacturing plant. By June of 2008 the global financial crisis had been … Read more
The Spinoff Review of Books editor Steve Braunias writes an appreciation of Diana Wichtel, who has just been announced as the winner of the best book of non-fiction at the Ockham New Zealand national book awards. There were a lot of writers who I wanted to meet when I first started composing terrible attempts at … Read more
Murdoch Stephens from the anarchist publishing firm Lawrence & Gibson,on working with Brannavan Gnanalingam, a finalist in tonight’s Ockham New Zealand national book awards. Some of our authors come to us with a title that encapsulates the concept of their book and which we’re instantly sure of: Milk Island was an example of a title arriving … Read more
This week’s Ockham New Zealand national book awards marks the 50th anniversary of book awards in New Zealand. To mark the occasion, we asked 50 experts – authors, publishers, academics, booksellers – to name the very best local books published since 1968. And the winner is Plumb. Maurice Gee’s 1979 novel was almost immediately regarded … Read more