Auckland writer Dean Parker backgrounds the making of his novel – a kind of sequel to a classic of New Zealand fiction, Man Alone. I started writing my novel Johnson in 2008. Originally it carried the more effusive title, Hooray, Fuck. I know the year when I started it because of the date on an early file … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in Auckland and Wellington. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38) “Roy is good at titles”: pretty much the nicest thing our reviewer Marion McLeod had to say about this sprawling mess. 2 Strange Beautiful Excitement: Katherine Mansfield’s Wellington 1888-1903 … Read more
The results of a new poll show that the cover of the Cazador cookbook is not “shit”. The people have spoken. A new cookbook, slandered as “shit” by Spinoff books editor Steve Braunias, has been declared in an important new opinion poll to be “good”. The Spinoff ran a story of two halves on Tuesday. … Read more
Neil Young reviews the diaries of everybody’s favourite memoirist, David Sedaris. In one of my favourite books, A Little History of the World, the author Ernst Gombrich compares our experience of the past to a scrap of burning paper falling down a bottomless well. The burning paper falls and briefly lights up the sides of … Read more
Awesome photos from a magnificent new book on the history and glory of tōtara. Golden Bay botanist Philip Simpson knows his trees. He is the tree man. He is the root of all knowledge on trees, the first and last word on trees, the guy who puts trees on the map – he is the author of the magnificent … Read more
Books editor Steve Braunias and Auckland editor Simon Wilson debate the merits of the book cover just named New Zealand’s best of the year. Steve Braunias: People say New Zealand literature is short of laughs but the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ!) book design awards are reliably LOL. Oh hang on they’re not joking. Year after … Read more
A special investigation headed by Steve Braunias asks: Has much happened this year in New Zealand writing? Nothing much has happened this year in New Zealand writing. It’s been pretty quiet. No new sensation, like Hera Lindsay Bird in 2016; a lot of stuff from Victoria University Press, some of it readable; trash from the … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores which sell books. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38) Tedious, fatuous novel longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker award. 2 The New Zealand Project by Max Harris (Bridget Williams Books, $40) Max! 3 Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls … Read more
Paula Morris responds to the ‘glorious, painful, sharp and funny’ anthology of Māori writing, Black Marks on a White Page. Nobody likes a Māori writer. First of all, nobody knows who we are. Nobody knows the names of any writers, apart from the ones with movies [see: Frame, Ihimaera, Duff, Wendt]. This is really our … Read more
Whangarei writer Michael Botur describes how the shit jobs he’s had have provided valuable material for his new collection of short stories, Lowlife. It was hard moving to Northland in 2015 and finding income and inspiration in its very small economy. I laboured on the catamaran of a rich lawyer with obvious plastic surgery. He … Read more
Huzzah! Congratulations to the winner and two runners-up of New Zealand’s grooviest writers residency award. Auckland writer Serena Benson is winner of the prestigious 2017 Surrey Hotel Steve Braunias Memorial Writers Residency In Association With The Spinoff Award. Jesse Mulligan made the announcement on his Radio New Zealand show this afternoon, and also named the … Read more
Herald police reporter Anna Leask takes a look inside women’s prisons, in this powerful excerpt from her new book Behind Bars. When they locked her up for the first time her baby girl wasn’t even two months old. The day she went to court for sentencing she couldn’t bear to bring her daughter with her. … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the galaxy. NOTE: The Spinoff’s mystery bestseller commentator is off on a hike or something, leaving this week’s list stripped of furniture. But the important details still remain. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 A Horse Walks Into a Bar by David Grossman (Vintage, $26) 2 No Is Not … Read more
Andra Jenkin reviews The Power, a wildly successful feminist sci-fi novel which imagines a world where women are in control. Naomi Alderman’s The Power is speculative fiction set in a future and based on the fascinating premise that women are suddenly able to inflict pain and death at will. This is the power of the … Read more
Charlotte Graham reviews the ‘horrifying’ new memoir by Roxane Gay. Content warning: this article discusses sexual assault and eating disorders, which may be distressing for sufferers and survivors. When Roxane Gay was 12 years old she rode her bike into the woods with a boy she was dating, and he and his friends took turns raping her. … Read more
We received close to 100 entries for the coolest writers residency award in New Zealand. Today, right now, we name the 10 writers who have made the shortlist. Ten finalists have been chosen in the 2017 Surrey Hotel Steve Braunias Memorial Writers Residency in Association with The Spinoff Award. Applications for the second annual extremely groovesome writers award … Read more
You need this book in your life, right now, this instant. Steve Braunias recommends a New Zealand classic. Finally a guidebook that takes you somewhere you want to go, like right now, as the country trembles under a cold snap and is dying for some warmth. Sally Jackson is the author of a new edition … Read more
What the hell is Sarah Quigley playing at in her novel about three mentally ill young people on the brink of suicide, wonders Holly Walker. Last week’s “Break the Silence” series by Olivia Carville in the New Zealand Herald was intended to start a national conversation about youth suicide. Are we not already having that … Read more
An essay by Thom Shackleford on the relationship between the lost, desolate characters in the latest book by Japanese superstar writer Haruki Murakami, and the ghostliness of Japan. The densely inhabited cities of Japan are miracles of metropolitan safety and goodwill, populated almost exclusively by people who are polite and friendly to the point of excess. … Read more
Calling all New Zealand writers! Apply now for the writers residency at the Surrey Hotel in Auckland. New Zealand literature’s coolest writing residency is up and running again. The fabulous Surrey Hotel – named the Best Hotel in Auckland by a well-known writer in the New Zealand Herald – has once again agreed to offer a writers … Read more
New Zealand career diplomat Gerald McGhie witnessed the fall of Gorbachev and the rise of Yeltsin when he served as our ambassador to Russia – but seems to have seen nuzzink, writes reviewer Tony Simpson. I have encountered quite a number of New Zealand foreign service staff, some at quite senior levels in my own … Read more
An extract from the extraordinary Woman in the Wilderness, a memoir by Miriam Lancewood about her decision to leave civilisation to live – and hunt – in the New Zealand bush. We lit a fire, toasted some bread on hot coals and, after two cups of tea, I stood up and took my bow. “I … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores south of Aberdeen. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 No is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need by Naomi Klein (Allen Lane, $35) From the introduction: “This is one attempt to uncover how we got to this surreal political moment. It is also an … Read more
A personal essay by Kaipara novelist Kelly Ana Morey. ‘I can’t be the ‘Māori’ writer people want me to be,’ she writes, ‘all I can be is myself.’ Two weeks ago I buried my father. He had a good innings and largely got to die in the privacy and comfort of his own home due to … Read more
Thalia Kehoe Rowden tracks down 22 picture books which actually reflect the New Zealand of today. Where are the characters in New Zealand books that look like Pasifika or Māori children? What books can they read to see their faces, families and lives reflected? I’ve reviewed every single book I’ve found that has been published in the … Read more
Apirana Taylor backgrounds his new novel set in “the criminal underbelly of New Zealand’s underworld”. I sat down one morning to write a sentence which culminated in a 245-page novel several years later. A little bird sang, “This story is true. Write it.” And so I wrote Five Strings, a love story about two alcoholic drug … Read more
The latest best-selling books at the world’s two best bookstores. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Wish Child by Catherine Chidgey (Victoria University Press $30) Winner of the 2017 Victoria University Press and International Institute of Modern Letters book award (in association with Ockham New Zealand). 2 The New Zealand Project by Max Harris (Bridget Williams Books, … Read more
Louisa Kasza reviews the full-on memoir by former beauty editor and fulltime drug addict Cat Marnell. Charming, strung-out ex-beauty editor Cat Marnell represents many things traditionally despised about that walking thinkpiece, the millennial. Born into privilege, Marnell recognises her own potential as a writer, preferably for Condé Nast magazines, and merrily sets forth into a … Read more
Long-time political insider Tony Simpson has written his 17th book – this time about himself, and the times he lived through. Writing a memoir is almost the only human activity I can think of which is literally and by definition a once in a lifetime experience. Of course you get the occasional smart-arsed maverick. Cyril … Read more