Read our independent reviews of the latest books from Aotearoa.
Pānuihia ā mātou arotakenga tūhake o ngā pukapuka hou nō Aotearoa.
World famous for creating Aotearoa's 'Bird of the Year' competition, Michael Szabo here turns his hand to a guidebook of flora and fauna found in the Wellington region. Rebekah Stretton looks at the mass of useful information within the pages and gives us her thoughts.
David Hill considers the masterful writing and predominantly male protagonists in Owen Marshall's latest book, the laconically-named NEW STORIES.
'Each of the essays has their own story to tell, about an extraordinary wide range of subjects - from a religious sect in the late-18th/ early-19th century in rural New York State, to coral reef polyps, the Great Exhibition, electricity and ergot poisoning, to the burning of the deceased on the banks of the Ganges, but they still string together...'
Taranaki author Jacqueline Bublitz racked up accolades at home and internationally with her sublime debut Before You Knew My Name. Now she’s back with another fascinating feminist thriller which delves into the ongoing trauma that can sit beneath our obsession with true crime.
Racism against Māori is all around us, systemic and from individuals. David Veart considers the perspectives of Pākehā who are confronting this racism in this new Potton & Burton book LEAVE YOUR BIG BOOTS AT THE DOOR: Pākehā confronting racism against Māori.
Damien Wilkins's 14th novel mulls over the contradictions and privilege of ageing in a smart and sensitive way, writes Clare Travaglia.
'Tapiata is upfront in sharing that these stories are the versions she knows. She has been deliberate in sharing a generalised version that does not rely on iwi and hapū-specific mātauranga. In some instances, she presents multiple versions, allowing these to sit alongside one another...'
Lianza reviewer Bernadette Cassidy takes a journey through high-country hills with Carly Thomas in her new book, THE LAST MUSTER, on the role of horses in mustering in Aotearoa.
'I predict that this time around Kāwai will win at the Ockhams. It is essential reading for those in our increasingly multicultural nation...'
'In her professional life, Bree’s job has been to select and edit the anecdotes that will entertain, amuse and connect with her audience. The writing it down part is new, but a life in radio appears to be excellent prep for a book like this one...'
'...Kai Feast tells a very intimate family story. In large part, it’s a heartfelt homage to Lowe’s grandad Don Beadle, 'the hangi pit master who always had a good feed on the go', who died while she was writing it. But it also opens the door on a world of hakari...'
PRETTY UGLY, Kirsty Gunn's new collection of short stories, published by Otago University Press, goes out of its way not to be forgettable or ordinary. Nat Baker reviews it and is left considering the stories long after she closes the book.
'Kane’s memoir reflects a life lived large, whether she’s spooning All Blacks’ Ritchie McCaw atop a mountain, shimmying to Tina Turner in the final round of Dancing with the Stars, or entrusting her passport to a Greek dentist while she works out how to pay for her emergency treatment...'
...'a gripping, page-turning memoir, both due to Ferguson’s incredible career, but also due to her grasp of what makes a compelling story: drama, a touch of humour, and a theme to tie it all together. In this case, it’s how the bodies of women are as much a battlefield as an actual war zone...'
Savannah Patterson delves into the world of POORHARA, Michelle Rahurahu's debut novel, which won the Modern Letters Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the Michael Gifkins Prize. Cockroaches, a 1994 Daihatsu Mira, and two compelling characters, Erin and Star, take the reader on a journey through dark territory.
'If nothing else, the book provides periodic dopamine hits of pure sporting pleasure, as you bathe in the glory of some brilliant sporting memories once more....'
Kelly Ana Morey considers Kataraina, Becky Manawatu's much anticipated second novel, sequel to Auē, and is struck by the beauty of Manawatu's writing and her captivating characters.
...'the book is for anyone who doesn’t have it all together but keeps putting one foot in front of the other. Hireme-Smiler reveals her troubled childhood and candidly describes the heart-breaking tragedies that have peppered her life – and almost seems to be saying: If I can prevail, you can too....'
Rose Carlyle is back with her second novel, a new twisty thriller packed with secrets, lies, and boats, set in a remote part of Tasmania. Greg Fleming shares his thoughts in this review.
'This book will go a long way towards restoring the Waikato War to its rightful place in our history, and to stimulate discussion about how we can best remember and honour it...'
'Julia Waite, from Auckland Art Gallery, should be commended for the breadth and depth of the research which lies behind both exhibition and publication, and for her interesting selections which are bound to arouse discussion and debate for their inclusions and omissions...'
Kerikeri author Catherine Lea has crafted a terrific heroine in Detective Inspector Nyree Bradshaw and, in a second outing for what deserves to be a long series, spins a page-whirring tale while soaking readers in some of the problems lurking beneath the Far North’s picturesque landscapes.
'He's most impressive when he's most vulnerable: his own tribulations; his Mum's death; his involvement with Al Noor Mosque survivors and families; his work on behalf of cystic fibrosis. You watch him cry – and swear. You want to hug the guy...'
'Massey University Press’ gorgeous new book on Collier is a comprehensive introduction to her life and art which follows on from Joanne Drayton’s excellent biography published in 1999...'
'Ngā Hapa Reo, e puta ki te ao mārama hei nanao atu mā te hunga ako e whai nei kia pakari ake, kia Māori ake, kia tika ake ō rātou nā reo...'
Ngā arotake a ngā kaipānui tamariki. 'Ko Poaka taku tino kiripuaki, nā te mea he pōrangi rawa atu ia...'
'Mārama ana tā te kaituhi whakaatu i ngā kiripuaki me te kōrero whānui, rumaki tonu atu te kaipānui ki roto, nā runga i te hiranga o te tuhituhi a Makereti...'
‘He mea pei ia ki ētehi āhuatanga kāore i tonoa e ia, kāore hoki e paingia ana e ia, ā, kua hōhā, kua tūhāhā hoki a Māreikura Pohe.’
Ngā arotake a ngā kaipānui tamariki. 'I pai māua ki te māia o Rangi, nā te mea i whakaohooho ia i a māua...'
Ngā arotake a ngā kaipānui tamariki. 'He kupu hou, pēnā i te whakamahinehia, te tukutahi, me te paratītanga, engari he pai ngā kupu...'
Ngā arotake a ngā kaipānui tamariki. 'He kupu ātaahua, pēnā i ngā kupu nei, i te hoa piripono, ka mau te wehi, tētehi, me te kōpatapata...'
Ngā arotake a ngā kaipānui Tamariki. 'Ko te tino kiripuaki, ki ō mātau whakaaro, ko Nanny, nā te hātakēhi o āna kōrero...'
Ngā arotake a ngā kaipānui Tamariki. 'He pai ki a mātou ngā whakaaro i ngā pikitia. Te maha hoki o ngā tae me ngā mea ka kitea...'
Ngā arotake a ngā kaipānui tamariki. 'He maha ngā kupu hou, pēnā i te makawe pākura, te karapetau, te whaupa, me te kūpā. He pai tērā, nā te mea ka ako koe i ngā kupu hou...'
'In his first book, Jason Gurney does a remarkable job of weaving his own family story with the story of rheumatic fever prevention and control in Aotearoa...'
'Maxine reminds us repeatedly that she still has all her marbles, thank you very much, just one or two have been misplaced, like that important file from her job as a social worker...'
'Regardless of which end one starts from, in either language, Ngarewa’s storytelling is lyrical and evocative, offering us a window into a world rich with culture and history; of afternoons at the local pool, and of knowing everybody from the lifeguards to the cops as ‘aunty'...'
'The book is staunchly laconic and always keen to get to the point. Whitelock epitomises the quintessentially stoic All Black, reminding us that in his role as unflappable world-class lock he always seemed far more comfortable letting his on-field actions do the talking...'
'You learn about a roaring horn and a hummel; how a single snapped ponga frond can spook a deer. If your steak has grown green edges, then trim them and rub with horopito leaves...'
Mermaids and new motherhood: Claire Williamson reviews artist Megan Dunn's latest book.
Tracey Slaughter's new book's vibrant cover hints at the psychedelic. Inside, the poetry doesn’t disappoint,
'Koe refers to the cry of a bird. H.W. Williams’ Dictionary of the Māori Language also defines ‘koe’ as a scream; a disturbing scream from the forest, or the shore, or the marshes, or the bush-lined gullies and gorges...'
'brave, heartbreaking, and darkly comedic. Undressing in slow motion is full of these revealing moments...'
'The collection's obsession with the flora of Te Wai Pounamu will delight lovers of Aotearoa’s native plants, as will the blooming colour images...'
'this book is about / a glow in the dark / statue of the virgin mary / with a busted nose / a red ribbon shoelace / a queer torso slick with glitter / a hell-bound harlot...'
Jake Arthur tackles the riotous nature of the 1909 Rider Waite tarot deck in his second collection, Tarot.
“You will find me in the meeting point between open seas and solid land, in the seam of sky and earth, between what you think you know and what you don’t...”
Scott Denby is on a search for answers. He knows they're out there, and if he falls into YouTube on the way, nae's the bother. He's grieving, he needs time... but what will he find, deep in the depths?
'Much of the book reads like te reo Māori transposed into English, with the structures and features of our reo, our worldview and our thinking pushed through the prism of our new tongue...'
'Memoir is combined with data to create a complex, nuanced description of how rural Aotearoa New Zealand, both Māori and Pākehā, lived and ate between 1800 and 1940...'
Snakes on the page: Libby (11) and her mum Kirsteen discuss book one in the new Miles and Jones graphic novel series.
'Chisholm leads the reader straight into the realities of farming life, hilariously and accurately describing the frustration of moving lambs just a day after weaning them from their mothers...'
'The book gets off to a cracking start, with a suspected murderer — Scottish body-snatcher William Hare — escaping the death penalty in Edinburgh and being set loose to wander who knows where. In this imagining, we are asked the question: why not Wellington?'
'Cousins Pipi and Pou, aided by their Nana, are kaitiaki of the environment. They protect the natural world using their shapeshifting abilities, transforming into a pouākai and a taniwha...'
'Trials and tribulations occur as the team is transferred to the ice at a headland they name Cape Dennison, and begin to build the base they’ll stay in for most of the year. The relentless wind and weather hampers their work...'
'O’Neill has done a brilliant job of portraying the total mess the three main characters ... have made of their lives as they navigate life and friendship.'
'If you think you’ve figured out who did it in a Pomare novel, well sorry, but you’re probably wrong...'
'Like the Sherlocks, the novels’ authors are police officers turned book shop owners. Gareth and Louise Ward, too, are originally from England, and have made their home in Hawke's Bay, complete with dog. This work is the first in The Bookshop Detectives series...'
'Sight Lines features a wide range of contributors, and it is this genuine polyphony of voices that defines the book. Baker, in this sense, is a weaver, stitching together the contributions of others into a cohesive whole.'
'Thrust into circumstances she didn’t ask for and doesn’t like, Māreikura Pohe is frustrated and disconnected'
Accidental courtroom lurker Steve Braunias brings the gavel down on his terrific trilogy of true crime books, grappling with himself alongside his investigations into the variegated lives of others.
'Feltham’s debut collection, Bad Archive, features thirteen intricate essays that explore the space between what remains and what happened. ‘How do you plunge your eyes and hands into the world around you?’ she wonders.'
'Cooking, or “the clatter of cockles, the sizzle of bacon, the blipblap of something simmering”, is an essential ingredient in Nici Wickes' recipe for a contented life. Why rush to be ‘perfect’, Wickes asks, when you can find happiness in pottering along and being ‘good enough’?'
'Migration has echoes of things I know: the word ‘ngāti’ attributed to different groups of people in the same way as we’d have the British class system, and ‘māma’ and ‘pāpā’ for mum and dad. The wānanga itself is a strict military training academy complete with the same squabbles and hierarchy you’d find in the dorms of many boarding schools...'
'Eleanor Preston – aka Nell – is born in 1897 on a South Island sheep farm homestead. During childhood, her world is the blue mystery of the hills, the sense of accomplishment of moving stock on horseback, of ice skating and cocoa – anything and everything is possible.'
'Fittingly, it's a narrative with books at the core. Getwin and her Mum work at stitching, stamping and clandestinely reading them. Lea and others slave at copying them. A nasty, entitled social elite schemes at restricting access to them...'
'Nustrini somehow manages to find new narrative ground thanks to a likable, laconic Kiwi perspective that turns it all into something interesting and entertaining rather than just another sortie through well-trodden territory....'
'Novel, autofiction, creative non-fiction or memoir, this work eludes the boundaries of conventional expectation and form. It's also a cracking story, displaying the fine novelistic impulse that has won Coventry literary awards.'
‘Jacqueline Leckie’s latest book Old Black Cloud: A cultural history of mental depression in Aotearoa New Zealand is a highly accessible, uniquely insightful, and in-depth exploration of mental depression as an intrinsic part of our national fabric…’
Vincent O’Sullivan’s literary career was long and glittering. Still Is has an added poignancy because so many of the poems would have been written with the poet knowing that his end was not far away. Given this however, there is no sense of doom in the work…
'In this book, Henwood has generously and bravely let us know more of the 'private Dai' behind the popular clown. For all that his outrageous comedy persona has brought him popularity and accolades over the years, this will probably make you like him even more. '
‘A tender and beautifully written story about learning to live again. The writing is gently humorous, while also tinged with a deep sense of loss… June 2024 release
‘There was a period of time, not that long ago, when no one in their right mind would take advice from DJ and TV personality Matt Heath…’
Max is about to finish high school. On the surface it appears he has everything, but underneath he is floundering. Grappling with questions about his birth parents and his sexuality, he feels that there is a seed of badness deep within him that will inevitably be exposed.
‘When a brilliant polymath like Harry Ricketts takes to memoir, you just know it is going to be something special…’
People in the district would often say Roy Mitchell was not quite the same after he come back from the war. There was a twin brother, Tony. Killed on Crete in 1941. The hut he built when he returned was on a bit of flat ground above the Mangawhero Creek. He called it his whare. Corrugated-iron chimney on the south wall.’
Distinctive, fresh and compellingly present, AUP New Poets 10 features three exciting new voices. Hebe Kearney gives Kete the lowdown on this three-chapbook collection.
‘Why are we so obsessed with the childbirth and child-rearing capabilities of others?’ Jackie Lee Morrison reviews the ‘beautiful and tragic and funny and compelling, not all easy to read,’ Otherhood.
Eighteen-year-old Grace has struggled all her life with her place in this family and in the world. Obviously of Asian descent, she has been unable to get the truth about her parentage from her mother, a woman who is struggling with her own demons, that date back to her life in Taiwan where she survived an earthquake while giving birth to Grace.
Marilynn Webb: Folded in the hills is a substantial bilingual publication to mark the monumental retrospective of Ngapuhi, Te Roroa and Ngati Kahu artist Marilynn Webb (NZOM) (1937-2021) at Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
Warmth, humour, and depth in a ‘quiet, kind book about a quiet, kind kid.’ A new mother-daughter review from 11 year-old Libby and (slightly older) Kirsteen.
Tidelines interweaves the poet's own life with the tragic story of Hinerangi, who lived at Karekare in the distant past. These are poems of Auckland's west coast, reflecting the steady rhythms of daily existence, alongside grief, mental unwellness, disintegration and resolution.
Two murders. Two decades apart. One chance to get justice. Hana Westerman has left Auckland and her career as a detective behind her. Settled in a quiet coastal town, all she wants is a fresh start…
“Over my lifetime I have given most things a crack when presented with the opportunity,” Susan Devoy writes in her funny and fascinating new biography, Dame Suzy D: My Story. From self-described ‘working-class girl’ to Dame, Race Relations Commissioner to reality TV star, unbeatable squash world number one to all-too-relatable mother of four…
Editors: Catherine Hammond, Shaun Higgins Reviewer: David Veart In 1848, two decades after a French inventor mixed daylight with a cocktail of chemicals to fix the view outside his window onto a metal plate, photography arrived in Aotearoa. How did these 'portraits in a machine' reveal Maori and Pakeha to themselves and to each other? Were the first photographs 'a good likeness' or were they tricksters? What stories do they capture of the changing landscape of Aotearoa?April 2024 release
‘Katūīvei: Contemporary Pasifika Poetry from Aotearoa New Zealand is the latest in a decades-long line of anthologies of Pasifika poetry written in English. The title is a neologism created by editors David Eggleton, Vaughan Rapatahana and Mere Taito, referencing the Rotuman verb to navigate and the tūī, bird of two voiceboxes.’
‘Ash is a bruising portrait of what boils in the belly of a woman who is “coping”, revealed with humour and a rare candour.’
‘This substantial book of letters selected by esteemed Colin McCahon scholar Peter Simpson shines a light on one of the most remarkable relationships in New Zealand art. The painter Colin McCahon and the librarian Ron O'Reilly first met in 1938, in Dunedin, when McCahon was 19 and O'Reilly 24. They remained close, writing regularly to each other until 1981…’
'A deep dive into an area that affects all of us, if we’re lucky.' Catherine Milford reviews Evolving by journalist, news anchor, television presenter, and mother of the nation, Judy Bailey and finds solace in the book’s running thread ‘that getting older doesn’t have to mean becoming invisible.'
‘Intergenerational, diasporic story-telling that is polished and compelling. I consumed it greedily within a few days, much like the young queer character Annie consumes her grandmother’s delicious Sri Lankan cooking.’
David Hill weighs in on how Deborah Challinor's latest novel strikes the right balance between the familiarity of the now and the foreign land of the past.
“Take Two is light and sweet, but never cloying or sickly. Like getting the tea from your school bestie after you've been out of touch for a few years, accompanied by a slice of your favourite cake.”
This selection transcends its colonial origins literally in 'The Colonial Museum' creating a powerful narrative using the artefacts woven together with subtle curation and a strong Māori voice, a voice which doesn't simply murmur 'ghostly' echoes from the past but instead speaks truth powerfully into the present.
Strawhan's crime novel is cinematic, which comes as no surprise given his previous writing credits. The co-creator of Go Girls and Nothing Trivial, he also has form in the TV crime thriller genre, including Bad Mothers and This Is Not My Life. While The Call doesn't read like a screenplay, it could easily become one. The scenes are sharp, ending with an eye to the cut: a wry line and then a clean shift to a deserted beach, a flashback, or a suburban gang house.
“The format is intriguingly diverse: emails, texts, passages of verse are scattered throughout. An immediate, coming-at-ya present tense keeps the plot belting along. Dissanayake knows when to pause, to leave things for the reader...”
“Being entrusted with another person’s life, plunging your hands into their body cavities while they are in a sedated coma, takes a lot of nerve. A confident exterior belies the very human doctor underneath. This beautifully written memoir deftly paints human flesh and vulnerability onto those God-like creatures we see in scrubs and reminds us that medical professionals do bring their whole selves into each patient encounter.”
“I feel as though I stepped through a portal to glimpse the poverty and hardship experienced in an 1860s Taranaki settlement on the brink of the New Zealand Wars.”
“Auger keeps the central narrative thread squarely focused on reporting matches, with The Three Quicks subsequently aimed more at the patient test cricket purists over casual white ball enthusiasts with shorter attention spans. Heavily results and statistics-focused, it harks back to a time when cricket almanacs were poured over, and test cricket wasn't staring down the existential threats it now faces.”
If you're a fan of slow-burn, character-driven thrillers, you will have a great time with The Night She Fell. There may not be any Jack Reacher action sequences but you'll be on the edge of your seat as you reach the end.
This story has love and heart, and gorgeous descriptions of the little magical village make you feel like you're exploring the cobbled streets of Potamia alongside Jory. This is author Palmisano's own supernatural talent, bringing places to life. The delicious passages about food and baking where the language is stripped bare to its raw ingredients are also a treat.
When is a horse book not a horse book? When it’s a kelpie book, of course, of course. Kirsteen Ure and her daughter Libby (11) give an unbridled review of Rachael King’s new intermediate-age fantasy book, The Grimmelings.
This novel incorporates two main timelines, one set in the middle of the 20th century and the other set in 1989. The historical backdrop of war-era Bletchley Park and its remarkable team of codebreakers is fascinating. Author SL Beaumont spends sufficient time developing this setting. Similarly, the Cold War era and its aftermath provide rich material that expands throughout the book's second half.
This beautiful new collection by Patricia Grace is divided into three sections, each positioned from a different time or context. Fans of Patricia Grace will be immediately won over by this rich and immensely readable collection, writes Jade Kake.
“Within his story, Nazari pulls back to offer the bigger picture: the history of Afghanistan, the rise of the Taliban, convoluted global politics, demonisation of migrants, this country’s generous treatment of refugees, Afghanistan today and the Christchurch mosque killings. But he sketches into his writing small yet telling incidents from that childhood of flight and fear.”
This sumptuous social and environmental history of Whakaraupō Lyttelton Harbour takes the reader around the harbour that separates Ōtautahi Christchurch from Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū Banks Peninsula.
‘Albrecht, who turns 80 this year, has had a consistently productive and successful career now stretching across six decades … a feast for eye and mind.’
‘Hoey is making our local literary landscape exciting again and there’s no better proof than this collection…’
‘When we are yet again debating the modern meaning of Te Tiriti, with questions on Māori representation on councils, co-governance and suggestions of a referendum on the future of our ‘founding document.’ Against all this Dame Anne Salmond’s latest book presents a more nuanced point of view …’ release
Priestley’s new memoir explores the complications of living in a world under threat across two parallel timelines. Her primary, present-tense narrative is a road trip down the South Island West Coast in the company of her lifelong friend Maz in the winter of 2021 – almost a whistlestop tour of various aspects of climate crisis … Interleaved with the weeklong road trip, in the past tense, are the experiences of teenaged Rebecca and Maz in the 1980s...’
‘Bodman makes us realise that rugby league has done well to survive, let alone thrive. The fact it is ensconced as a popular sport in this country is something of a miracle, given the efforts of rugby union over almost a century to stamp it out.’
‘An impressive debut … Kake paints her novel as much as pens it: there are colours and textures portrayed throughout, while shades of light, passages of penumbra also pervade the pages.’
‘For almost 50 years, ‘the Jaws effect’ has resulted in what psychologists have termed galeophobia — an irrational fear of sharks. Even though statistics show driving to the beach is far more likely to result in injury…’ Alex Eagles reviews this celebration of mangō and whai for young New Zealanders and joins the authors in encouraging others to admire these amazing animals.
‘Flora, Te Papa’s showcase of botanical art from its collections, is huge, sumptuous and gorgeous.’
‘His Favourite Graves deserves to win Paul Cleave many more fans; it’s another twisty, gory and disturbing outing (one of the characters suffers from a psychological condition which makes him think he is infested with parasites) and a reminder that Cleave was initially drawn to the horror genre but changed his mind after reading FBI profiler John Douglas’s Mindhunter.’
‘In less capable hands, adding Lovecraftian-type monsters to the grim horror of war might have turned the story into an unpalatable mess but Lee Murray plays these disparate elements beautifully against each other. The visceral and heart-wrenching elements of both serve to lift the narrative into the realms of a classical epic tale, echoing Herman Melville’s Moby Dick in its imagery, from which emerges a powerful work which left this reader devastated.’
‘Bird Life’s clipped sentences, taut and crisp, have a spare Japanese aesthetic, like haiku. There is delicate lyrical beauty, precise detail and stark contrasts, like the strange shack of the animal vendor on the roof of the luxury department store where Yasuko goes to find birds and beetles for her rituals.’
‘…a brilliantly researched and compelling look at one of our most significant unsolved cases, one that also gives readers a fascinating peek into our cultural and legal history.’
‘…this is a lively, readable, thought-provoking and occasionally funny account of the central and important subject matter: Art that doesn't just “raise questions” but frequently posits answers.’
‘Remember Me is full of poetry to read aloud and remember. For funerals, weddings, occasions, evenings at home etc... There’s long been a gap for this book and Auckland University Press has brought it to life.’
‘I would recommend this book to kids 9 - 13, and people who like dramatic fiction. You don’t have to particularly like history to enjoy it. I find history boring but the Children of the Rush series made me want to learn more. It was interesting, fun, dark and heartwarming.’
‘Given Robert never got round to writing the book about New Zealand and his life, Robert Lord Diaries fills the bill in ways that are sometimes tantalising, making this reader feel like a director or actor, seeking clarity and deeper truths in the subtext, and prompting further searches via the internet which Robert never got to experience. As such it is informative, evocative and curiously engaging.’
‘The latest book from bestselling natural history author Robert Vennell is a fantasy foray through the forests of Aotearoa, full of fascinating facts about fungi, lichens, liverworts, mosses and slithery slime moulds.’
‘Articulations is a collection of Bollinger’s essays, many of which were originally published in Salient as the column they established there, Token Cripple. It’s relatively short, 131 pages with 19 chapters spaciously typeset. Bollinger has said they hoped to make it small and light enough to take to a café to read. This is indeed what I did and recommend doing.’
‘Vintage Aviators evokes superlatives. Not just the subject matter but the whole physical object. It’s a beautiful amalgam of all that is best in modern photography, printing and bookbinding technology. ’
‘Dani Yourukova’s debut poetry collection Transposium has a striking cover: one that promises a fascinating book within. And the poetry definitely doesn’t disappoint; it takes Plato’s Symposium and brings it to life into modern form, incorporating concerns and problems from 2023 to make a playful, philosophical and thoughtful book.’
‘Hot on the heels of Francis Pound’s great book on Gordon Walters, Auckland University Press has published another superb art historical monograph, this time on Don Binney, a comparably significant figure in New Zealand art history, by writer and art historian Gregory O’Brien.’
‘Adrienne Jansen’s work is poignant. There is no getting away from the all too believable grief and we feel much sympathy for the plights of all our four. With an extensive and detailed narrative, it is easy to be drawn in.’
‘Originally from the United States, Vyas’ composes a work in which an instance of traumatic personal loss acts as a starting point to poetically examine and dismantle the private and public impacts of British colonialism, American imperialism, patriarchy and caste hierarchies. The result is a politically charged meditation upon the world we live in and the world we might bequeath to those who come after us..’
‘Untouchable Girls is a rollicking, intimate, uproarious romp through the triumphant lives of Jools and Lynda that will make you want to sing, to go on the road, ride horses, fall in love and never stop laughing.’
‘The devastating results of climate change are clear and obvious - but how does a writer, let alone a writer slash activist, fashion a compelling thriller from the subject?’
‘I enjoyed reading this slim volume. Why? Not just because the plot momentum and machination transported me swiftly through the pages, augmented as they are by much of the script being written in unrhyming free verse, but because Nelson writes well, scribes skilfully. The book is easy to explore.’
‘The World I Found is Wellington author Latika Vasil’s first YA novel, and she’s included a lot of her local landscape here. She’s had a number of short stories published, and I look forward to seeing her fiction repertoire grow and develop.’
‘Like many first novels, Backwaters feels as if it slices very close to personal truths – non-fiction wrapped and teased in layers of fiction - but Sidnam employs deft skill and assurance as well as lightness of touch.’
Paku Manu Ariki Whakatakapōkai is philosophical, smart, wry and highly recommended.
‘Little Doomsdays, whatever it is, is a tour-de-force of the power of art to capture and express complex, heavy ideas and spark deep contemplation and conversation.’
‘This huge (464 pages), dense, richly illustrated book tells you everything you could possibly want to know about the great New Zealand abstract painter Gordon Walters (1919-95). Art lovers, students and specialists will relish the almost obsessive degree of attention to every detail about Walters’ work.’
‘Moving with a relentless and increasing sense of foreboding, Nicholas Sheppard’s How To Disappear Completely is an extensive diagnosis of a disturbing disorder in recent American life. It is not a novel where the ends are neatly tied – instead it opens a social and psychological world to exploration.’
‘Why don't I read more poetry? Partly it's narrow-mindedness. I don't write poetry, so it's not my first choice to read. Laziness also features, I don't focus enough; I read extensively rather than intensively. I find the linear movement of fiction and most non-fiction easier. I miss out by not reading more poets. These two new selections from Roger Hickin's Cold Hub Press – and all hail to that faithful servant / practitioner – prove the point.’
‘Rewi navigates a variety of wonderful easy-to-read mediums which positions itself as a fun book with colours, pictures, drawings, texts and interviews that aim at collating the voices of some of the industry’s leading professionals and academics. The book draws the reader in, like the design of an interesting house or an abstract painting.’
Nā Paula Morris i ētita me Darryn Joseph. Nā Mikaia Leach I arotake. ‘Ko tā Hiwa he pōhiri i te kaipānui ki te ao o ngā kaituhi (Māori) tautōhito, tautata hoki.’ ’Hiwa beckons the reader to the world of both known and new Māori writers.’
Tā Pou Temara. Nā Maumahara Horsfall i arotake. ‘He tirohanga onamata ki te wā i ō tātau tīpuna me te rerekē rawa atu o te ao i nohoia e rātau.’ ‘a window to the past, to the time of our ancestors and the very different world that they lived in.’
Nā Te Haumihiata Mason i whakamāori. Nā Racheal McGarvey i arotake. ‘Ko te paki mō te aroha aukati me ngā whānau hoariri nō mai iho, engari ko te whakapuaki me te whakaahua i te wairua o tēnei whakaari ki te reo Māori ki tōna tino taumata e e titikaha ai ki te ngākau tangata, he tino ekenga tēra.’‘… to articulate and illustrate the messages of this play in te reo Māori in a way that, in my opinion, resonates with te ao Māori is a feat.’
Kaituhi: Dr Emma Espiner. Nā Hineko Kingi i arotake.‘Mā te wairua whakakatakata o Espiner e kaingākautia ai te kōrero nei …’‘Espiner's dark humour keeps it interesting…’
The Artist nā Ruby Solly. Nā Robert Sullivan i arotake.He takinga kōrero mā te toikupu mō ngā iwi whakahirahira o Te Tonga 'and ways of knowing grounded in whakapapa'.An account in poems of our great Southern iwi 'and ways of knowing grounded in whakapapa'.
Kaituhi: Carl Hayman; Dylan Cleaver. Nā Michael Burgess i arotake.‘Kāore a Hayman e pupuri, engari kē ia ka tuku ia i tana katoa.’’Hayman spares nothing and gives everything.’
Kaituhi: Monty Soutar. Nā Dan Rabarts i arotake.‘I ētahi wā he whanokē ngā kōrero pono i ngā kōrero paki, ā, he pērā rawa ngā kōrero a Tākuta Monty Soutar i roto i tana pakimaero tuatahi e whakaatu ana he whakatumatuma, he taumaha ake pea te hītori i te pakiwaitara.’‘…Dr Monty Soutar has demonstrated in this impressive first novel that history, likewise, can be more confronting, and more challenging, than fiction.’
Kaituhi: David Riley. Nā Milo Lilo Morrison i arotake.‘Ka whakaatu tēnei pukapuka i te manawatītī, te aumangea, te kaha me te māia.’ ‘This book was an amazing way of showing determination, resilience, strength and bravery.’
Author: Emily King. Reviewer: Lauraine Jacobs.‘… nothing could be as good as this book being required reading for every thinking person and, of course, for elected officials of government, both local and national.’June 2023 release
.‘…an ambitious book, written by a polar adventurer who knows this volcano inside out – after all, in 1978 he was the first person to abseil down into the Inner Crater of Erebus.’
Author: Suzanne Frankham. Reviewer: David Gadd.Engaging characters and a puzzle that gets murkier the deeper police dig make this tightly written murder mystery just what you want in crime fiction - a story told so well that you want to keep reading it in one go.May 2023 release
Walking With Rocks, Dreaming With Rivers is a book that is more than a book, one of those rare works which transcends itself and takes the reader on a journey of discovery and reflection.
“One of the most profoundly bisexual pukapuka I’ve ever read. An immersive sense of ‘both/and’ permeates the whole work: Māori and Pākehā, land and sea, she and they.”
Immersive, incisive and beautiful, The Waters is a gradually unfolding tale of shifting sympathies and nuance, involving you intimately in the family’s fate.
Author: Airana Ngarewa. Reviewer: Jack Remiel Cottrell. The Bone Tree is an exquisitely written book, the story of two boys – Kauri and Black – and the depth of secrets that have been hidden from them their entire lives. August 2023 release
Author: Denis Welch. Reviewer: David Herkt.In We Need to Talk About Norman: New Zealand’s Lost Leader, Denis Welch focuses on the New Zealand Labour Party Prime Minister, Norman Kirk, who died in office in 1975. He ventures into this relatively recent history and finds new importance. In Welch’s version, Kirk is a gauge for our age.June 2023 release
Author: Charlotte Lobb. Reviewer: Dionne Christian. Author Charlotte Lobb has been open about writing Hannah & Huia to highlight mental health topics and to provide hope for those in need. To succeed, one needs a strong story that resonates with readers and, for me, there must be hope alongside the heartbreak. Hannah & Huia more than hits the mark. July 2023 release
Author: Jared Davidson. Reviewer: David Veart. This powerful book describes yet another hidden layer in the history of these islands, a place where imprisonment, labour, punishment, class and ethnicity all combine to create a narrative at odds with any imagined story of sturdy pioneers and well earned progress. Blood & Dirt: Prison Labour and the Making of New Zealand is recommended reading in a time where the urge to imprison and punish remains strong undeterred by the failure of the system to do anything but that. August 2023 release
Author: Shaneel Lal. Reviewer: Demi Cox.‘For me, there are not enough words to describe just how stunning One of Them really is.’July 2023 release
'Baylis brings an academic’s rigour to Dice; the courtroom questioning of the complainants is relayed in detail but more interesting is how this is filtered through the various personalities on the jury and how each hears and sees the same scene differently. In doing so, Baylis examines issues of race, justice, bias and class.'
Author: Thomasin Sleigh. Reviewer: Dionne Christian.The Words For Her is one of the most inventive, provocative and layered novels released this year. In the world Thomasin Sleigh carefully constructs, she builds on uncertainties and ideas to pose successive new and tricky considerations. June 2023 release
Author: Emily Perkins. Reviewer: Josie Shapiro.The fifth novel by Emily Perkins, Lioness showcases her skill, charged by a crisp, steady voice punctuated with powerful insight which lures readers into a beguiling tale of a woman unravelling. July 2023 release
The must-read book on what New Zealand's changing climate means for our everyday lives, Under the Weather is a picture of a planet in danger, a reality-check on what that means for this country, and a reminder that the shape of our future is up to us.
Author: Andrew Paul Wood. Reviewer: Graham Reid. Shadow Worlds: A history of the occult and esoteric in New Zealand is a fascinating, readable book – if complex, have pencil handy - which illuminates numerous subcultures and belief systems which often found sizeable audiences here. July 2023 release
Author: Emma Espiner. Reviewer: Elizabeth Heritage.There’s a cure for this is Dr Emma Espiner’s pukapuka about entering the hothouse world of medical studies as an adult, beginning in 2015. May 2023 release
Head On is compelling and confronting and sets a new benchmark for sporting memoirs, one that will be hard to top. Carl Hayman spares nothing and gives everything.
Catch A Falling Star is another thought-provoking, real-world read for young adults by this very able writer, Eileen Merriman.
Matakana’s queen of crime, Madeleine Eskedahl, returns with the second thriller in her Matakana series, Rings on Water.
Author: Blair McMillan. Reviewer: Anne Ingram. There are difficult themes in Here Upon the Tide – refugees and their need for a safe home, the loss of a parent, depression and mental health. These matters impact the characters deeply but never weigh the book down. Blair McMillan has explored each theme with understanding and compassion… June 2023 release
Author: Alison Ballance. Reviewer: Alex Eagles. ‘Like the birds, Takahē: Bird of Dreams is colourful and heavy-duty; its glossy pages filled with fascinating information and beautiful photos…’ June 2023 release
Written by a world-leading chronobiologist, Night Owls and Early Birds illuminates the fascinating science of biological time and offers a stark warning to anyone giving up on a night’s sleep to get more out of their busy waking hours.
Filled with hickeys, puttanesca and tart wit, BITER is an apt title for Claudia Jardine’s debut collection of verse where fresh translations of erotic Greek epigrams are threaded through boozy sonnets, ecstatic odes and startlingly vulnerable love poems.
Author: Catherine Chidgey. Reviewer: Dionne Christian. ‘Catherine Chidgey is causing confusion. Unity Books explains via social media post that when people asking for Chidgey’s new book, they have to clarify whether they want The Axeman’s Carnival, winner of the 2023 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, or Chidgey’s actual newest book, Pet… both are a testament to Chidgey’s virtuoso talent …’ June 2023 release
The contribution of women to the first century of photography has been overlooked across the world, including in New Zealand. With few exceptions, photographic histories have tended to focus on the male maker. Through Shaded Glass: Women and Photography in Aotearoa New Zealand 1860 – 1960 tilts the balance, unearthing a large and hitherto unknown number of women photographers, both professional and amateur, who operated in New Zealand from the 1860s to 1960.
Author: Kayleen M Hazlehurst. Reviewer: David Hill.Kayleen Hazlehurst brings to us a powerful new wartime novel set in Aotearoa/ New Zealand during World War II. Who Disturbs the Kūkupa? is a sweeping tale of courage, love and awakening during one of the world’s darkest moments in history. June 2023 release
Jack & Sandy is an adventure story told across three generations - a story about friendship, family and the devastating effects of war. Written and illustrated with graphic novel sections by Bob Kerr, the award-winning illustrator of Terry Teo.
Beautifully written and illustrated with maps and stunning photography, Katherine Mansfield’s Europe is part travelogue, part literary biography, part detective story and part ghost story.
Set on a single day in 2016, The Spanish Garden novel tells a story of memory and loss, the fatal history shared between two families, Pākehā and Māori, and a man’s enduring obsession with love.
Bittersweet and intimate, comic and gothic, Dream Girl is a collection of stories about young women navigating desire in all its manifestations.
In her second, spine-cracking collection, Calamities!, Jane Arthur wants “to get morbid.”
Plunging the reader into the gruelling world of the long distance runner, Josie Shapiro deftly weaves the coming-of-age story of Mickey Bloom into a gripping account of adult Bloom running the Auckland Marathon.
In her latest collection, Louise Wallace raises an existential eyebrow at pregnancy-birth-motherhood.
Joe Bennett is probably Aotearoa's most consummate and (intermittently) funny columnist. I use the parentheses not as a criticism, but because he can also write gloriously excoriating political and social commentary.
The Sparrow is a powerful new historical novel from one of New Zealand’s best-loved YA authors, Tessa Duder.
Emma Hislop’s debut collection of short fiction, Ruin and Other Stories, is a sharp observation of the power dynamics that run through relationships, deftly twisting and turning from exploitation to revenge.
A deeply faceted and deeply-mulled literary novel, Fiona Farrell’s The Deck is a relevant, expansive read.
Respirator is a sumptuous celebration of David Eggleton’s tenure as the nation’s poet-at-large during his time as Aotearoa NZ Poet Laureate (2019–22).
From the best-selling and acclaimed author Barbara Else, Laughing at the Dark is a funny, moving memoir about how she rebelled against being a ‘good girl.’
In her latest collection, Michele Leggott speaks to the art and writings of 19th century New Zealand painter Emily Cumming Harris. Face to the Sky tells stories of love and loss from two women in the shadow the same mountain, more than a century apart.
Stephanie Johnson’s contribution to the “pandemic genre,” Kind is a cross between a satire and a thriller that pivots around – before, during and after - that strange silent period of the first lockdown in March 2020.
A wry, pensive, character-driven novel, Landed is Sue McCauley’s first novel in decades.
Tūī Street Legends is book three in Anne Kayes’ successful series about a group of young friends who live in a tightknit community where neighbours still greet each other by name and the kids are in and out of one another’s homes, forging close friendships and connections.
An intimate exploration of the reverberations of family trauma, Anne Tiernan’s The Last Days of Joy is the story of the Tobin family, originating from Ireland but now living in New Zealand, after an long-ago accident that, in its horror, isolated them from their community and made a fresh start desirable.
In Below, a young adult novel by renowned storyteller David Hill, we witness two adolescents who find themselves completely out of their league, trapped in the tunnel.
Author: Guyon Espiner. Reviewer: Michael Burgess. Of all the books that will be published in New Zealand in 2023, it’s hard to imagine there will be many more important than The Drinking Game. It’s a gem; thought provoking, startling, persuasive and entertaining, exploring how the way we drink has been shaped by factors far beyond any individual's control. February 2023 release
Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook - afterburn, edited by Tracey Slaughter, is an essential, annual collection of terrific new poetry from New Zealand.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s fiction commercial fiction is finally growing up, and Megan Nicol Reed has skilfully captured the ‘think global but write local’ zeitgeist in her excellent debut novel One of Those Mothers.
C.K. Stead’s new collection, Say I Do This, is a reminder that during his long and fruitful poetic career, he has always been a civic poet, and one of our most lucid and articulate.
Evana Belich’s collection of stories, How To Get Fired, gives a voice to what is usually quietly but deeply felt: the clumsily transcendent process of moving on.
The Queen’s Wife is unlike anything I’ve read. Sure, it’s a memoir but it pushes against the normative structures and account of one’s life in a refreshing way – it’s experimental, novel and undeniably queer – perfectly matching its subject matter.