Hannah and Huia by Charlotte Lobb. Quentin Wilson Publishing (2023). RRP: $37.50. PB, 240pp. ISBN: 9781991103109. Reviewed by Rebecca Styles. In the author’s note to Charlotte Lobb’s debut novel, she explains her own challenges with the ‘discomfort of owning and accepting my own battles with depression, anxiety, PTSD and worse’ (p.238). While the novel is…
End Times by Rebecca Priestley. THWUP (2023). RRP: $35.00. PB, 240pp. ISBN: 9781776921188. Reviewed by Hester Ullyart. Dedicated to ‘Maz, my BFF’, End Times is based upon a week-long real-life West Coast road trip in 2021, mapping anxiety, formative teenage years, and rocks—metaphorical and literal. It would make an awesome female-gaze-scientist-post-kids buddy movie. You heard…
Saga by Hannah Mettner. THWUP (2023). RRP: $25. HB, 88pp. ISBN: 9781776921157. Reviewed by Vera Hua Dong. Hannah Mettner’s Saga offers a full-bodied subterranean vehemence, and profound social commentary and thought, inspired by her personal observations and sensibility. She delivers deep reflections without reserve on matters of importance to her. And she is not afraid…
Hoof by Kerrin P. Sharpe. THWUP (2023). RRP: $25.00. PB, 96pp. ISBN: 9781776921225. Reviewed by S. J. Mannion. Kerrin P. Sharpe certainly lives up to her surname here, her poetry has the kind of clarity that bites… and though you’re never quite sure where you’ve been bitten, still you feel the teeth marks throb. Hmm, an extended…
Birdspeak by Arihia Latham. Anahera Press (2023). RRP: $25.00. PB, 100pp. ISBN: 9780473678524. Reviewed by Isla Huia. The most recent release from Anahera Press, Birdspeak, is Arihia Latham’s debut collection of poetry. Speaking through the generations of her tīpuna in their home of Te Wai Pounamu, to the present day in the lives of her closest…
Sea Skins by Sophia Wilson. Flying Islands Books/Cerberus Press (2023). RRP: $10.00 AUD. Pocket pb, 108 pp. ISBN: 978064550320. Reviewed by S J Mannion. I found myself mouthing the lines many times as I read this pukapuka. A finely scored collection, it seems to me an operetta of sorts, though one with some serious grace notes. …
A Bloody Difficult Subject: Ruth Ross, te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Making of History by Bain Attwood. AUP (2023). RRP: $59.99. HB, 320 pp. ISBN: 9781869409821. Reviewed by Vaughan Rapatahana (Te Ātiawa) Te Tiriti o Waitangi: a bloody difficult subject? It seems yes, according to Bain Attwood and his historical muse, Ruth Ross. After…
BITER by Claudia Jardine. AUP (2023). RRP: $24.99. Pb, 76 pp. ISBN: 9781776711017. Reviewed by Andi C. Buchanan. About halfway through her debut collection, Biter, Claudia Jardine opens a poem with: My father has several university degreesbut none of them prepared himfor opening a block of cheese. (‘Thoughts Thought After Surveying the Contents of the Fridge, p.…
Calamities! by Jane Arthur. THWUP (2023). RRP: $25.00. Pb, 72 pp. ISBN: 9781776920723. Reviewed by Hester Ullyart There is an unapologetic doom cloud running though this collection. Split into three sections, RISK ASSESSMENT, THE BEAR and HIGHLY FLAMMABLE, it is a poetry/prose/poetry triple decker charcoal sandwich that opens with: ‘This apocalypse is more boring/than Hollywood has…
Dream Girl by Joy Holley. Te Herenga Waka University Press (2023). RRP: $30.00. PB, 236pp. ISBN: 9781776920846. Reviewed by Naomi Mary Smith. When I was a kid there weren’t many lollies available at the cinema. Or maybe there were? But I only ever had eyes for tangy fruits. Much more than a sweet, each little ball…