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…
A garden is a long time by Annemarie Hope-Cross and Jenny Bornholdt. THWUP (2023). Published in association with Rim Books. RRP: $50.00. HB 151pp. ISBN: 9781776920839. Reviewed by Michelle Elvy. I find myself going back to this book time and again. In fact, it invites us to go beyond notions of time—to sit with objects,…
Bird Life by Anna Smaill. THWUP (2023). RRP: $38.00. PB, 296pp. ISBN: 9781776921249. Reviewed by S. J. Hook. No one wants to begin a literary review quoting 90s self-help guru Steven Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Especially since our two main protagonists, Dinah and Yasuko, may not be who Covey had…
a liminal gathering: Elixir & Star Grief Almanac 2023, edited by Iona Winter. Elixir & Star Press (2023). RRP: $32.99. PB, 188pp. ISBN: 9780473689179. Reviewed by Hester Ullyart. It is the day of a dear friend’s father’s funeral. I open the new collection resting on my desk. The epigraph reads: ‘Love knows not its own…
Tsunami with Mushrooms: Poems & Stories by Te Awhina Rangimarie Arahanga. Steele Roberts (2023). RRP: $25.00. PB, 174pp. ISBN: 9781738589272. Reviewed by Moata McNamara. Te Awhina Rangimarie Arahanga, of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Ati Haunui a Paparangi, and Ngāti Hauiti ki Rata descent, has a rich and varied background as writer, curator and heritage and historical advisor.…