Auē a Striking Tapestry of Fierce Love
Coming-of-age novels set among the Métis community in Canada, the Māori population in New Zealand and the Crow Nation in Montana were recently reviewed by The New York Times. According to Gregory Brown writing…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Author Meg Mason in Running for Women’s Prize
Sydney-based New Zealander Meg Mason, American Louise Erdrich, and Turkish-Briton Elif Shafak are among the contenders for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, offering an ‘escape’ from global crises, Lucy Knight reports for The…
Fiordland Bookseller Ruth Shaw’s Extraordinary Life
New Zealander Ruth Shaw has embodied many roles throughout her life: pig farmer, navy deserter, solo sailor, illegal gambler, environmentalist, chef to archbishops, psychiatric patient, failed escort. She’s been arrested twice and married four…
Ali Smith Discusses Mansfield, Woolf and War
In a piece for The Guardian, Orwell Prize winning author Ali Smith looks at how the first world war forced writers Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf to rip up convention – and asks if…
Becky Manawatu’s Auē an Enthralling Bestseller
Things have gone right for New Zealand author Becky Manawatu. “Spectacularly,” Tina Makeriti writes in a review for The Guardian. “Unusually for a first book, Auē won New Zealand’s most lucrative fiction prize, the…
Nina Mingya Powles Explores an Otherness
New Zealand writer Nina Mingya Powles’ essay collection Small Bodies of Water “just might change the way you see the world” the Star Tribune’s Cory Oldweiler suggests. “Powles was born in Wellington, and is mixed-raced,…
1922 – A Year of Katherine Mansfield and Other Great Modernists
“James Joyce’s Ulysses and T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land are rightly hailed as masterpieces – but they unfairly overshadow 1922’s other great books,” writes John Self in a feature for the BBC, which explores…
Reappraising Unjustly Neglected James Courage
“New Zealand-born James Courage is one of those fine writers who, though he enjoyed considerable success in his lifetime, has now more or less slipped from view. None of the eight novels he published…
Hairy Maclary a New Zealander with Scottish Roots
Despite being one of Scotland’s most iconic children’s books, it has been revealed to the Scots that Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy is actually from New Zealand, Lisa Hodge reports for Edinburgh Live. “The beloved…
Berlin-Based Poet Hinemoana Baker on Connections
Ahead of her recent reading at Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin (ILB), mould-breaking poet Hinemoana Baker talked English-language magazine Exberliner through her new book, the New Zealand-Berlin connection and why Germans should stop doing the haka. Christchurch-born…
You don’t need physics to appreciate Katherine Mansfield
In an entertainingly self-deprecating essay for Oxford University’s independent student newspaper Cherwell, Ben Jureidini apologies to the ghost of New Zealand short story master Katharine Mansfield for almost submitting a terribly pretentious theory about…
Jordan Bartlett’s YA Fantasy Novel Cover Released
The cover of New Zealand-born author Jordan Bartlett’s young adult fantasy novel, Contest of Queens, has been revealed, Elise Dumpleton reports for entertainment site, The Nerd Daily. Bartlett, a speech language pathologist and certified…
An Excerpt From After the Tampa by Abbas Nazari
Fulbright winner Abbas Nazari was one of 433 refugees rescued by New Zealand from the Norwegian cargo ship, Tampa, in 2001 after leaving Indonesia in an unseaworthy boat with his Afghan family. Twenty years…
“Genius” Katherine Mansfield’s “frantic creative flourishing” collected in ‘Strange Bliss’
“One of the genuine, if frequently under-recognised, geniuses of 20th-century literature, Katherine Mansfield wrote the majority of her short stories during a frantic creative flourishing between 1920 and 1922 while suffering from the tuberculosis…
Authors Like Mansfield Found Solace in S France
“The shimmering azure of the Mediterranean, the dark green of the cypress trees, the scent of thyme, the sound of cicadas on the terrace at dusk … don’t we feel the pull of the…
Meg Mason’s First UK-Published Book Well Received
New Zealand author Meg Mason’s “moving novel”, Sorrow and Bliss, “about mental illness and sisterly love finds hilarity and wisdom in anguish, without ever diminishing pain”, Clare Clark writes in a review for The…
Dive into Your Superconscious with Chris Duncan
If you’ve felt like you’re at a psychological plateau lately, relief may be only a page turn away, Forbes contributor Serenity Gibbons writes. Gibbons has put together a list of books, including You’re Not…
Mansfield and Woolf’s a Transformative Friendship
“Stories of friendships between artists are often told as love stories: the chance meeting, the electric first encounter, the mysterious mutual recognition that would change everything,” Megan O’Grady writes in a feature about creative…
US Production Company Snaps Up Meg Mason Book
“The production company behind movies such as 12 Years a Slave, Gone Girl and Bohemian Rhapsody has snapped up” the film and TV rights for Foxton-born Christchurch-raised writer Meg Mason’s latest novel – a…
Elizabeth Knox’s The Absolute Book Wry and Precise
New Zealand author Elizabeth Knox’s 2019 novel, The Absolute Book, is reviewed alongside UK-based Everina Maxwell’s Winter’s Orbit, by Canadian writer Amal El-Mohtar for The New York Times. “Here are two novels that are, in some ways, opposites:…
Author Chloe Gong is a New York Times Best Seller
It’s not every day that a 21-year-old debut author lands near the top of the young adult hardcover list, Elizbeth Egan writes for The New York Times. Chloe Gong, a Shanghai native who grew…
Academics Affirm Influence of Katherine Mansfield
Two UK academics from Edge Hill University in Lancashire have taken over editorship of the respected Tinakori: Katherine Mansfield Society Critical Journal, and are hoping to draw further attention to Mansfield’s often overlooked importance…
Kendo Expert Alexander Bennett Has Hand in WWII Kamikaze Pilot’s Memoir
New Zealand-born scholar of Japanese history and martial arts Alexander Bennett has joined forces with fellow kendo practitioner, Shigeru Ohta, to write the English version of World War II kamikaze pilot Kazuo Odachi’s memoir,…
Katherine Mansfield and Another Edge of the World
“What does it take to decide to up sticks and live abroad? More than just a name, although I confess I liked the idea of living on the Avenue Katherine Mansfield – named in…
Katherine Mansfield Book Inspired Legendary British Agent in German Concentration Camp
Passages from a book of Katherine Mansfield’s letters published in 1918 helped a condemned British operative survive her death watch in the German concentration camp Ravensbrück. Odette Sansom, the most highly decorated spy of the…
Elizabeth Knox’s Masterpiece Lands US Publisher
Following a glowing review on Washington Post-owned online magazine, Slate, Wellington author Elizabeth Knox, 60, closed a deal for American and Canadian publication with Viking Penguin for her novel, The Absolute Book. “Every once in…
Lynley Dodd Reveals Secret of Hairy Maclary
The influence of Jane Austen on Hairy Maclary From Donaldson’s Dairy may not be immediately apparent, but it’s there. At least that’s what New Zealander Lynley Dodd said at the opening of the The…
New York Times Reviews Fiona Kidman Novel
“One December night in 1955, a 20-year-old Irish immigrant named Albert Black, wearing heavy boots to make his hanging snap, shuffled to the gallows of a dark prison in Auckland. He’d stabbed and killed…
New Penguins Book by Lloyd Spencer Davis Published
Napier-born Lloyd Spencer Davis is an award-winning scientist with many Antarctic field seasons behind him, Sara Wheeler writes for The Wall Street Journal. Wheeler reviews Davis’ new book, A Polar Affair: Antarctica’s Forgotten Hero…
Linda Collins Writes of Losing Her Daughter
Singapore-based New Zealander Linda Collins wrote Loss Adjustment, about the suicide of her 17-year-old daughter, as part of a Master of Arts in Creative Writing at the prestigious International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML)…
Poet Selena Tusitala Marsh Rails Against Racism
She blows in like a song carried on a powerful current: a wild-haired woman, larger than life, carrying a tall carved stick. She loses things in that hair, she says; finds pens in there…
Annaleese Jochems’s Debut Novel Alive and Squirming
“Cynthia, the simpering, scheming, covetous emotional sinkhole of New Zealander Annaleese Jochems’ assured debut novel, Baby, is alive and squirming; a memorable addition to the growing coterie of unapologetic antiheroines (dis)gracing the pages of…
Don’t Quit Day Job Says Author Brandy Scott
New Zealand-born Dubai-based radio presenter and author Brandy Scott sits down with reporter Ashleigh Stewart, who writes for The National, to talk about her critically-acclaimed first novel, and about her second one already in…
JP Pomare’s Debut Rated Highly by The Guardian
“Excellent characterisation and the ability to conjure cliquey, insecure adolescent world … add up to an immersive and exciting read,” Laura Wilson writes in a review of New Zealand author JP Pomare’s debut…
Author Heather Morris Discusses New Novel
After delivering one of last year’s biggest bestsellers with The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Te Awamutu-raised Heather Morris is ready to reveal Cilka’s Journey as a follow-up. Morris recreated the experiences of Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian…
Graeme Simsion Pens Final Rosie Instalment
Auckland-born IT consultant-turned-author Graeme Simsion’s mega-successful Rosie books have sold almost five million copies in 40-plus countries since The Rosie Project in 2013. Readers fell in love with genetics professor Don Tillman who developed a…
J.P. Pomare’s Debut a Powerful Thriller
“Touted as a ‘literary thriller’, a genre classification often used to characterise a book written by an author who does not usually write crime fiction, Call Me Evie might best…
The Tattooist of Auschwitz Translated into Persian
Recently claiming top spot on The New York Times paperback bestseller list, New Zealand author and screenwriter Heather Morris’ historical novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz has now been published in Persian and is available…
Bill Manhire’s Antarctic Poems Spare and Tender
Ernest Shackleton’s account of his mission and New Zealander Bill Manhire’s Field Notes are among Canadian author Jean McNeil’s favourites about the Antarctic continent. “Antarctica is the fifth largest continent, but it is home to almost…
Wonky Donkey Makes UK Christmas Bestseller List
The tale of a three-legged donkey has become a surprise Christmas bestseller thanks to a viral video of a grandmother reading it to her grandson. The Wonky Donkey, written by New Zealander Craig Smith,…
Redmond Wallis Diaries Enable Leonard Cohen Book
The research for Tanya Dalziell and Paul Genoni’s book Half the Perfect World: Writers, Dreamers and Drifters on Hydra, 1955-1964 has uncovered and drawn on many new first-hand accounts of Hydra’s artists and writers,…
Poet Nina Powles Wins New UK Prize
Wellington-born Nina Powles is one of the three recipients of the inaugural Women Poets’ prize, which aims to celebrate the empowerment of women and reward “creatively ambitious practitioners who are making or are capable…
On Hydra with Writer Redmond Wallis
New Zealander Redmond Wallis plays a role in the new book, Half the Perfect World, which tells the story of the post-war international artist community that formed on the Greek island of Hydra, and…
Writing Saved Author Janet Frame
Spanning unusual cruelty and extraordinary kindness, authors from New Zealander Janet Frame to Briton Pat Barker explore an unsettling branch of medicine. The Guardian looks at the top ten books about psychiatry and includes Frame’s…
Paul Ewen’s Francis Plug Saviour of Comic Fiction
New Zealand-born author Paul Ewen’s creation Francis Plug, sociopathic stalker of literary celebrities, returns in, Francis Plug: Writer in Residence. Ben Myers reviews the book for The Spectator. “Plug first appeared as the unhinged narrator of 2014’s…
Ashleigh Young’s Evocative Prose is Irresistible
“New Zealander Ashleigh Young’s Can You Tolerate This? is an extremely charming essay collection, comprised mainly of snapshots of Young’s life from childhood onwards; walking across gravel roads hand in…
Video of One Honky-Tonky Wonky Donkey Goes Viral
A Scottish grandmother’s reading of New Zealander Craig Smith’s 2009 children’s picture book The Wonky Donkey to her grandson in a home video has seen demand for it skyrocket around the…
Heather Morris on the Books That Have Inspired Her
At first, New-Zealand-born Heather Morris hadn’t intended on writing a novel. When Morris first struck up a friendship with an elderly man named Ludwig Sokolov, she had imagined his incredible story as a screenplay. Sokolov…
Adapting Ruth Park’s Novels for the Stage
New Zealand-born author Ruth Park’s novel, The Harp in the South caused an uproar in 1948 for its portrayal of working-class life. Now, the Sydney Theatre Company has turned it into an epic stage…
New Allen Curnow Collection Masterly in Breadth
Allen Curnow, who died in 2001 at the age of 90, was one of the greatest New Zealand writers: poet, verse dramatist, critic, groundbreaking and controversial anthologist. Principally through the agency of late literary…
Ruth Park’s the Harp in the South Now A Stage Play
“My first publishing negotiation for Ruth Park was conducted in 1971, in Angus and Robertson’s rabbit warren of offices in Lower George Street. Ruth was already a distinguished writer,” Park’s longtime literary agent Tim…
Author Eleanor Catton on the Books That Changed Her
New Zealand Booker Prize-winning novelist Eleanor Catton recently spoke with The Guardian on the crackpot astrological study she’d like to write, and the book she finds “dishonest, pious and vengeful”, for the newspaper’s regular…
Ali Smith Marvels at Katherine Mansfield’s Letters
New Zealand novelist Kirsty Gunn was in London recently listening to Scottish author Ali Smith talk about Katherine Mansfield. Gunn’s article about the event appears in The Scotsman. “ talk, hosted by the
Ashleigh Young Turns a Lyrical Eye
“When I uprooted my family from Seattle this year to move to Wellington, I knew little of the foreign, faraway place beyond its reputation for grey days and great coffee,” Maggie Trapp writes for…
Ashleigh Young’s Essays Praised in New Yorker
Wellington writer Ashleigh Young’s debut essay collection Can You Tolerate This? is New Yorker-recommended summer reading. “Two things happened the first week I moved to New York, in February. I met up with a friend…
Academic Peter Fleming’s Earthy Economics
Peter Fleming, an amiable-sounding New Zealander, professes for a living at the Cass Business School at City University London. Once, business schools taught accounting, finance, and profit-and-loss. Nowadays the institutions seem to specialise in profit-IS-loss critiques…
