Haggis, neeps and tatties and whisky may not be a traditional spread for a summer gathering in NZ, but trust Auckland city councillor and Kiwi-Scot Cathy Casey on this one. Gie it laldy! Rule one: Hold it on (or near) January 25 Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759. Since the early 19th century, … Read more
Every day in the lead-up to Christmas, open the door to reveal a Spinoff writer’s short, sizzling commentary on a weighty subject. Our arbitrary and strictly enforced word limit: 365. Today: Simon Day on the scourge of the scone. I’ve spent the last six months trying to like scones. After seeking advice on where the … Read more
Hayden Donnell surveys one of the more rare whiskies to ever go on sale in New Zealand, and asks whether it’s worth its gigantic purchasing price. Last Wednesday night, I pulled into a North Shore industrial zone to taste-test rare and expensive whisky. It was an event put on by the Fine Wine Delivery Company and … Read more
Why is so much writing too afraid to ever dare be offensive? A new literary journal produced in the Orkney Islands attempts to introduce some bad manners – with assistance from New Zealand authors. In February of this year, Craig Marriner published an essay with all the stoor of Hunter S Thompson at full throttle. … Read more
New verse by Scottish poet Robin Robertson, who will appear at the Christchurch WORD literary festival and at LitCrawl in Wellington. Beside Loch Iffrin for Catherine Lockerbie Late January, and the oak still green, the year already wrong. The season miscarried – the lambs in the field, and the blossom blown – the … Read more
Featuring hints of marshmallow, Prince Charles, booze-soaked shoes and being bullied by a large Scottish man named Paul. This story originally ran in Barker’s 1972 magazine. It was 11am and I was drunk. Whisky was dribbling over the top of my glass and a large Scottish man was standing over me yelling, “Is that enough?” He … Read more
Duncan McLean is a writer and publisher living on the Orkney Islands in Scotland. He travelled to New Zealand, drawn by the books of Frank Sargeson – and discovered the forgotten man of New Zealand writing, Craig Marriner. I first encountered Frank Sargeson in Jane Campion’s film An Angel at my Table. It was quite a hit on the … Read more
A conversation with the Dunedin scientist who stumbled on a way to talk to people about his work, in spite of sniffy colleagues who think his Nessie study is nonsense. Professor Neil Gemmell heads up the University of Otago’s Gemmell Lab at the University of Otago, where he juggles research into ecology, conservation, evolutionary biology … Read more
Alea Balzer talks to journalist, critic and experimental music obsessive David Keenan about his debut novel This Is Memorial Device. When is life the equivalent of music, except in memory, except in dreams? Can you be alive for the moment in the moment or is it always retrospectively that you understand the magic of it? In … Read more