Tag: Book Review

The Clean: In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul by Richard Langston. AUP (2026). RRP: $49.99. PB, 376pp. ISBN: 9781776711567. Reviewed by Joanna Mathers. Music artists The Clean emerged from Dunedin in the late 1970s and have exerted an oversized influence on independent music ever since, both in Aotearoa and internationally. Shaggy, shambolic, with…

Childish Palate by Shariff Burke. Tender Press (2026). RRP: $32.00. PB, 242pp. ISBN: 9780473762490. Reviewed by Cybonn Ang. Childish Palate, Shariff Burke’s debut short story collection, brings together eleven stories centred on protagonists from a range of Asian ethnic backgrounds. Food is involved in all of them—the business of it, the enjoyment of it, the…

What to Wear by Jenny Bornholdt. THWUP (2026). RRP. $25.00. PB, 72pp. ISBN: 9781776923069. Reviewed by Jordan Hamel. Jenny Bornholdt’s What to Wear is the former poet laureate’s 12th collection, and, to my deep shame, the first I’ve read cover to cover (a mistake I’ve since rectified). Coming in with mostly fresh eyes to review…

The Work of Angels by Anisha Sankar. Dead Bird Books (2026). RRP: $35.00. PB, 76pp. ISBN: 9780473772499. Reviewed by Kahu Kutia. The role of a storyteller is to preserve. This work of preserving is a burden that I often think about in my writing. As storytellers, we engage in the work of knowledge collectors, archivists,…

Party Boy by Breton Dukes. THWUP (2026). RRP: $38.00. PB, 320pp. ISBN: 9781776923038. Reviewed by Niamh Hollis-Locke. In 2022, spurred by the 2014 conviction of former Otago Boys High School (OBHS) teacher David Bond for indecent assault against a student in the 1970s, and the wave of further convictions which followed, author Breton Dukes began…