Bad Archive by Flora Feltham. THWUP (2024). RRP: $35. PB, 256pp. ISBN: 9781776922062. Reviewed by Hannah Patterson. Personal essays take many different forms. They can be fragmented and vignette-y (see: Blueberries by Ellena Savage and Tinderbox by Megan Dunn), they can border on poetry (see: Bluets by Maggie Nelson), they can lean into argument and…
Vultures by Jenny Rockwell. Dead Bird Books (2024). RRP: $30. PB, 59pp. ISBN: 9781738618231. Reviewed by Dani Yourukova. Vultures is a vibrant debut from Tāmaki Makaurau poet Jenny Rockwell, lush with emotionality, nosebleeds, glow-in-the-dark Jesus statues, religious shame and grave dirt. A candid coming-of-age narrative set in church basements and girls’ bathrooms, which contains a…
undressing in slow motion by Michael Giacon. Michael Giacon (2024). RRP $30. PB, 99pp. ISBN: 9780473707743. Reviewed by Angus Smith. As both a debut collection and one written by a queer septuagenarian, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Michael Giacon’s undressing in slow motion is preoccupied with the concept of time. From the opening dedication ‘in questo…
Tidelines by Kiri Piahana-Wong. Anahera Press (2024). RRP: $25. PB, 40pp. ISBN: 9780473710163. Reviewed by Tracey Sharp. At Te Ahua Point, sitting high above the rugged coastline of Piha in West Auckland, stands the pou of Hinerangi. Hinerangi, a beautiful and chiefly tūpuna of Te Kawerau ā Maki (tangata whenua of the area now known…
The Raven’s Eye Runaways by Claire Mabey. Allen and Unwin (2024). RRP: $24.99. PB, 336pp. ISBN: 9781991006820. Reviewed by Laura Borrowdale. The best children’s literature riffs on the literature that has come before it, and few forms are as codified as fantasy adventures. The echoes of pint-sized heroes and heroines and the monsters they have…
Still Is by Vincent O’Sullivan. THWUP (2024). RRP: $30. PB, 122pp. ISBN: 9781776922093. Reviewed by Tim Grgec. I never got a chance to read Vincent O’Sullivan at university. He lectured in the English department at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and was made an emeritus professor long before I arrived. I knew the name,…
Hine Toa by Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku. HarperCollins (2024). RRP: $39.99. PB, 336pp. ISBN: 9781775542322. Reviewed by Isla Huia. Hine Toa is the blazing memoir from activist, rangatira, and advocate for the underdog, Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku. Te Awekōtuku’s early days at the pā of Ōhinemotu, her conflicted rangatahitanga as a student and wāhine takatāpui, and her…
Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud by Lee Murray. The Cuba Press (2024). RRP: $28. PB, 138pp. ISBN: 9781988595771. Reviewed by Nurus Van Vliet. What a thrill and an honour it was to read this book. Author Lee Murray’s novel-in-verse, Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud, is evocative from cover to cover and reading it…
Rugby League in New Zealand: A People’s History by Ryan Bodman. Bridget Williams Books (2023). RRP: $59.99. PB, 364pp. ISBN: 9781991033444. Reviewed by Robert McLean. I remain more convinced than not that an interesting book can be written about almost anything at all; which is to say, such books may throw an unexpected light on…
HIWA: Contemporary Māori Short Stories edited by Paula Morris. AUP (2023). RRP: $45. PB, 271pp. ISBN: 978 86940 9951. Reviewed by Vaughan Rapatahana. He aha te tikanga o tēnei kupu, Hiwa? I roto i tāna Tīmatanga Kōrero, ko te tohutoro a Paula Morris ‘Hiwa-i-te-rangi, te iwa me te whetū whakamutunga o te kāhui Matariki,’ me…