Introducing the Ockhams-ready Spinoff book awards bingo card!

Pour some bubbly, stick some sausage rolls on a platter, and park yourself in front of the laptop – the lockdown Ockhams are being broadcast live tonight on YouTube. Courtesy of illustrator Toby Morris, we have just the thing to complete your viewing experience. Tonight, the 2020 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards ceremony goes live … Read more

Three mums, six kids, and one award-winning self-published book: The story of Little Gems

In Tibet babies are named by a respected elder. In Borneo, turtles are kept out of the birthing room, and the Gusii women of East Africa paint their breasts with bitter herbs when they’re ready to wean. Thalia Kehoe Rowden learned all of this and more from a beautiful new book, Little Gems, produced by … Read more

Another Spinoff Review of Books Exclusive: Who won what and who got trollied at tonight’s children’s book awards

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

“The book didn’t sell and yes, I was mean-spirited enough to rejoice”: An essay on the dark arts of book editing

One of New Zealand’s best and most illustrious book editors, Stephen Stratford (“I am a polite person, mostly”), vents about having to deal with writers and publishers. What I dread #1 When meeting someone new, the question I most dread is, “What do you do?” It is really hard to answer. As a freelancer, I do … Read more