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
The week’s biggest selling books at the Unity stores in Willis St, Wellington, and Hight St, Auckland. WELLINGTON 1 Poūkahangatus by Tayi Tibble (Text Publishing, $37) Ashleigh Young, speaking at the book launch: “Hinemoana Baker has said that Tayi’s poems have a liquid quality in the way they rush through time and the way their form … Read more
Veteran sports hack Joseph Romanos reviews My Life, My Fight by Steven Adams with Madeleine Chapman. Disclaimer: Madeleine Chapman is a staff writer at The Spinoff. This review was commissioned independently by our books editor, Steve Braunias. To judge by his autobiography, Steven Adams must be about the most down-to-earth, unprepossessing 25-year-old multi-millionaire on Earth. … Read more
Stephanie Johnson suspects the debut novel by English writer Lisa Halliday is “the first flaring of a great talent”. Lisa Halliday’s novel Asymmetry is divided into three parts. “Folly” is the first and longest, and concerns a love affair between Alice, a young publishing assistant, and Ezra Blazer, a famous Pulitzer Prize-winning author many years … Read more
The story of the illustration of an unnamed Māori trading a crayfish with Joseph Banks, drawn by the Endeavour‘s onboard navigator Tupaia, is told in a beautifully produced book on Cook’s three voyages to New Zealand. Tupaia’s only known drawing of New Zealand may have been made during or soon after the visit to Tolaga Bay. … Read more
New verse by Auckland writer Carin Smeaton. Our Lady every noon moses calls to our lady of the rosary she jus ‘round the corner eyes always 2 her heart that gurl ‘cept for the time she set the methodist church on fire feeding it all the dreams she ever held bright & o … Read more
The week’s biggest selling books at the Unity stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 My Life, My Fight by Steven Adams with Madeleine Chapman (Penguin, $40) Woah! Number one with a bullet, in its first week in the stores; and on Thursday, Penguin announced it had sold the North American … Read more
Wyoming Paul is grossed out and engrossed by the new novel by English humourist Caitlin Moran. I love a book that isn’t afraid to make people squirm through sheer grossness. There are so many things that are usually sanitised or hidden away — female masturbation, naked parents, bad sex, apartment filth, inter-species sex fantasies — … Read more
Tina Shaw reviews Fiona Kidman’s powerful and haunting new novel based on the short life and brutal death of Albert Black, hanged at Mt Eden jail in 1955. Fiona Kidman is adept at casting her imagination into the past and bringing to life significant characters and times. She stepped back to the Sydney and New … Read more
The week’s bigget selling books at the Unity stores in Willis St, Wellington and High St, Auckland. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson (Macmillan, $35) Wellington succumbs to the lure of Manson’s liberating advice. We blame John Summers. 2 Warlight by Michael Ondaatje (Jonathan Cape, $35) “For … Read more
Vincent O’Sullivan admires Caroline’s Bikini by Kirsty Gunn, who continues to write and shape novels like no other New Zealand author. A few years ago Witi Ihimaera gave the New Zealand Book Council Lecture, which he called “Where is New Zealand Literature Heading?” He ticked us off, in his engagingly vague way, for writing fiction … Read more
Michael Field reviews a new study of Niue’s role in World War I, when Sir Māui Pōmare despatched 150 Niueans to fight in a mysterious war. Millions of dollars have been spent in adoration of New Zealand’s mythology which says sending 18,000 men to die in the Great War made us a really great nation. Gallipoli, … 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
The week’s bestsellers at the Unity Books stores in Willis St, Wellington and High St, Auckland. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Poūkahangatus by Tayi Tibble (Victoria University Press, $20) The first book of poetry to claim the number-one spot since the Hera Lindsay Bird phenomenon. “The poetry event of 2018“: Steve Braunias, the Spinoff Review of Books. 2 … Read more
Anthony Byrt reviews an exciting new study of Pablo Picasso, genius and visionary, who comedian Hannah Gadsby called out as a disgusting #metoo pig. One way to measure Picasso’s greatness is that he’s never far beneath the surface of our collective cultural consciousness. His monumental anti-fascist statement Guernica, for example – his second-most important painting … Read more
Spinoff Review of Books editor Steve Braunias revives the revolutionary live email interview with a new star of New Zealand literature – the wildly talented Tayi Tibble, author of Poūkahangatus, her debut collection of verse which is launched later today by Victoria University Press. I’ve been thinking for a little while now that something extraordinary … Read more
Chloe Blades finds joy in a memoir of the Obama Presidency by a millennial stenographer, who is instructed to ‘exude femininity in a strictly non-sexual way’. Since The Donald was sworn in as leader of the free world, raucous exposés have made their way out of the White House and into the once resistible American … 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
The week’s best-selling books at the Unity stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson (MacMillan, $35) Number one for the third consecutive week! Auckland is really mastering the subtle art of not giving a fuck. 2 Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday (Granta, $33) “Initially, … Read more
Danyl Mclauchlan reads the 1977 book Bob Jones on Property, and wonders about the role it played in creating today’s distorted housing market. Sir Bob Jones has been in the news a bit recently. In February he published a column in the NBR suggesting that Waitangi Day be abolished and replaced with “Maori Gratitude Day”, in … 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
The week’s best-selling books at the Unity stores in Willis St, Wellington, and High St, Auckland. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Warlight by Michael Ondaatje (Jonathan Cape, $35) Ondaatje’s Facebook page features a photo of himself as a young, really good-looking guy, lying on his side, wearing jeans, looking all soulful and brooding; the caption is a … Read more
“I am wary of reading any more feminist manifestos these days because they are very exhausting! Who the fuck just loves themselves all the time?”, writes Charlotte Graham-McLay, in her review of a brilliant new memoir hailed as a feminist manifesto but it isn’t, really. All I want famous women to talk about these days … Read more
Over 80 writers entered New Zealand’s premier literary award – but only 10 have made the shortlist. We’ve sent out emails of regret to the unsuccessful applicants for the 2018 Surrey Hotel Steve Braunias Memorial Writers Residency Award in Association with The Spinoff but right here, right now is the first time that the 10 shortlisted … Read more
Louisa Kasza reviews Rachel Kushner’s novel The Mars Room, which is hailed in this week’s New Yorker – alongside the US edition of Can You Tolerate This? by Ashleigh Young – as one of America’s best new books. A cool, Joan Didion-esque breeze of seeming indifference blows through the writing of US novelist Rachel Kushner. The … 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
The week’s best-selling books at the Unity Books stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson (MacMillan, $35) “Manson doesn’t go in for the positive thinking school of self-help. He makes a good case for struggle….He writes about the need to hone … 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