A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand edited by Paula Morris and Alison Wong.Auckland: AUP(2021).RRP: $49.99. Pb, 350pp.Reviewed by Vaughan Rapatahana. A Clear Dawn is a compilation of emerging poets, story writers, and essayists. The criterion of ‘new writer’ is explained by the editors as those who ‘had no more than two…
Te Kinakina: E Ngara i te Ngari: Remember where you come from, Stories from Cook Islanders in TokoroaEdited by Vaughan RapatahanaPub: Read NZ Te Pou Muramura (2021).RRP: $50.00. Pb, 182pp.ISBN: 9780473580964Reviewed by Stephanie Oberg. Te Kinakina: E Ngara I te NgariRemember who you are and where you come from. Here is the lovely thingshe saidyour…
The Goddess Muscle by Karlo MilaHuia Pub (2020)RRP: $35. Pb, 220pp.ISBN: 9781775504009Reviewed by Sarah Maindonald. Malo e lelei, talofa Tau kē! e whaea, he mihi nunui ki a koe i tēnei mahi whakahirahira,i tēnei koha, i tēnei taonga. ‘Breathe myself home’ (Goddess Muscle Meditation, p. 208) As a fellow Pasifika poet, who is also of…
Entanglement by Bryan WalpertWellington: Mākaro Press (2021)RRP: $35. Pb. 268ISBN: 978-0-9951110-8-0Reviewed by Rebecca Styles In some regards, Entanglement is a simple story about twin brothers. One twin, Daniel, gets into a fight with some local kids and is severely injured. As an adult, he lives in an assisted living home in Baltimore. The narrator, Daniel’s…
Both feet in paradise by Andy Southall.Wellington: The Cuba Press (2021).RRP: $32.99. Pb, 350pp.ISBN: 978 1 98 859538 2.Reviewed by Rebecca Styles. Adam’s taxi is late. He’s harried while trying to reassure himself that he has enough time to catch his flight to New Zealand. Adam has spent months in Samoa researching butterflies and is…
Ghosts by Siobhan Harvey.Dunedin: OUP (2021).RRP: $27.50. Pb, 112pp.ISBN: 9781988592985.Reviewed by Mary Cresswell. However you define ghosts, they are here in abundance. Siobhan Harvey puts all her poetic skills to bear on the ghosts we carry with us, in our minds and our dwellings, in our bodies and our souls. The book is divided into…
All Tito’s Children by Tim Grgec.Wellington: VUP (2021).RRP: $25. Pb, 96pp.ISBN: 9781776564286.Reviewed by Jessie Neilson. Tim Grgec’s Yugoslavian heritage is the focus of his debut poetry collection. He has masters’ degrees in English literature and creative writing from Victoria University and won the Biggs Family Prize for Poetry (2018). In All Tito’s Children, Grgec selects…