The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey. THWUP (2025). RRP: $38. PB, 400pp. ISBN: 9781776922246. Reviewed by Erica Stretton. Catherine Chidgey’s ninth novel, The Book of Guilt, was released in May and has already received strong reviews both in Aotearoa and abroad. Adding to the discourse around one of our most acclaimed authors—twice winner of…
Slowing the Sun by Nadine Hura. Bridget Williams Books (2025). RRP: $40. PB, 240 pp. ISBN: 978199130169. Reviewed by Māia Te Whetū. Nadine Hura’s Slowing the Sun is the kind of book you have to put down for a few days once you realise you’re nearing its end, when the pinch of pages between the…
Overseas Experience by Nicola Andrews. Āporo Press (2025). RRP: $30. PB, 92 pp. ISBN: 9780473745677. Reviewed by Melissa Oliver. It can sometimes be hard, when a work of art holds a light up to your deep insecurities, to look at it objectively. But in Overseas Experience, Nicola Andrews takes your hand and doesn’t let go…
Oceans Between Us: Pacific Peoples and Racism in Aotearoa edited by Sereana Naepi. AUP (2025). RRP: $40. PB, 272pp. ISBN 9781776711253. Reviewed by Tracey Sharp. We know the statistics. Pacific peoples in Aotearoa consistently rank lower than non-Pacific populations across nearly every measure—health, wealth, home ownership, longevity, educational attainment, and wellbeing—and higher in incarceration rates.…
Joss: A History by Grace Yee. Giramondo Publishing (2025). RRP: $33. PB, 96pp. ISBN: 9781923106314. Reviewed by Cybonn Ang. Following the success of her multi award-winning debut, Chinese Fish—a novel-in-verse exploring the struggles of a Chinese immigrant family in Aotearoa New Zealand—author Grace Yee once again dips her pen into the marvelous well of antipodean…
Dear Alter by Jiaqiao Liu. AUP (2025). RRP: $30. PB, 116 pp. ISBN: 9781776711697. Reviewed by Dani Yourukova. I am on a long distance call, sloping about the kitchen in my socks, when I notice that my mum uses ‘he’ pronouns for ChatGPT now. She’s annoyed because I made her feel guilty about the environmental…
the prism and the rose and the late poems by Schaeffer Lemalu. Compound Press (2024). RRP: $30.00. PB, 80pp. ISBN: 9781991154170. Reviewed by Tulia Thompson. One way to approach Sāmoan-Lebanese poet Schaeffer Lemalu’s (1983–2021) posthumous collection the prism and the rose and the late poems is via his attention to the visual. Lemalu was also…
Black Sugarcane by Nafanua Purcell Kersel. THWUP (2025). RRP: $30. PB, 128pp. ISBN: 9781776922222. Reviewed by Māia Te Whetū. To grow black sugarcane, the plant must be kept in full sun. The canes are dark and sweet and should remain humid to flourish. This debut collection of poetry by Nafanua Purcell Kersel is an embodiment…
Symphony of Queer Errands by Rachel O’Neill. Tender Press (2025). RRP: $30.00. PB, 110pp. ISBN: 9780473725754. Reviewed by Sophie van Waardenberg. Symphony of Queer Errands, the third book by filmmaker, writer and artist Rachel O’Neill, is impossible to describe concisely. Made up of eight parts, it follows a composer conceptualising, crafting and recrafting their titular…
The Life and Opinions of Kartik Popat by Brannavan Gnanalingam. Lawrence & Gibson (2024). RRP: $30.00. PB, 304pp. ISBN: 9780473725976. Reviewed by Cybonn Ang. Brannavan Gnanalingam’s eighth novel, The Life and Opinions of Kartik Popat, is a witty, highly entertaining memoir of one Kartik Popat, a guy from Hutt Valley who manages to climb—nay, worm—himself…