The Artist by Ruby Solly. THWUP (2023). RRP: $30.00. Pb, 142 pp. ISBN: 9781776920709. Reviewed by Isla Martin Ruby Solly’s The Artist is a truth, a history, and a pakiwaitara all at once. Infused with kōrero tuku iho and mātauranga Māori, it tells a tale of Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe and Waitaha that picks us up…
Āria by Jessica Hinerangi. AUP (2023). RRP: $35.00. Pb, 86pp. ISBN: 9781991154149. Reviewed by Māia Te Whetū Luminous and dripping in indigenous wisdom, this debut collection of poetry written by Jessica Hinerangi arrives with an extended hand, promising to hold close as her words move us through many waters. ‘Put your head under’ (p.59), she…
Shared Histories by John Tane Christaller. The Cuba Press (2022). RRP: $30.00. Pb, 50 pp. ISBN: 9781988595597. Reviewed by: Sarah Maindonald. When I first perused this collection, I was hopeful. It seemed a noble task to try and capture our ‘shared histories’ and give profile to some of the most tragic and sacred sites in Aotearoa. In Christeller’s slim but…
Tauhou by Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall. THWUP (2022). RRP: $30.00. Pb, 168 pp. ISBN: 9781776920259 Reviewed by Isla Reeves Martin. Tauhou, by Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall is a refreshing tale of cultural dissonance, connection, and indigeneity. In an imagined reality in which the author’s two cultures, Māori and Coast Salish, find themselves aligned in geography and experience, the reader is…
Te Wehenga –The Separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku na Mat Tait. Allen & Unwin NZ (2022). RRP: $36.99. Hb, 60 pp. ISBN: 9781988547664. Reviewed by S J Mannion. Te Wehenga The Separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku is Mat Tait’s second graphic book and is a bold and beautiful thing. It opens bravely with a karakia, to clear…
Threads by Karen Zelas. Pūkeko Publications (2022). RRP: $25.00. Pb.130pp. ISBN 9780473656867. Reviewed by Hester Ullyart. Karen Zelas’ latest collection, Threads, is a love letter to family lines; past, present, future. Opening poems fall under the hush of ‘I want to say…’; here Zelas uses her most supple tool to hand – the word –…
Kōhine by Colleen Maria Lenihan. Huia Publishers (2022). RRP: $25.00. Pb. 232 pp. ISBN: 9781775506973. Reviewed by N M Smith. Kōhine by Colleen Maria Lenihan opens with a well known Māori proverb: I will never be lost (because) I am a seed sown from Rangiātea. Like the book itself, it is beautiful, small and packed…
Mokorua: Ngā Kōrero mō tōku moko kauae. My story of moko kauae by Ariana Tikao AUP NZ (2022). RRP: $45.00. Hb, 164 pp. ISBN: 9781869409708 Reviewed by: Siobhan Kahu Tumai. Sometimes being tangata Māori in te ao Pākehā feels like you have only half the pieces of your life’s puzzle. The more you learn and grow…
