It wasn’t blue, as Delia had been told it would be. Nor were there cacti, at least none that she could make out by the disappointingly golden light of the full moon, which was framed in the black window against which she, in the back seat, was leaning. The moon seemed to be sailing above…
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…
My Bourgeois Apocalypse by Helen Rickerby. Auckland University Press (2026). RRP: $25.00. PB, 80pp. ISBN: 9781776712106. Reviewed by Dani Yourukova. ‘Poets, like architects, love contradiction and near incoherence.’ So reads one of the two Elisa Gabbert quotes that provide the epigraph to My Bourgeois Apocalypse, Helen Rickerby’s eclectic new ‘poetic-memoir’ made with extracts from her…
Giving Birth to My Father by Tusiata Avia. THWUP (2025). RRP: $30.00. PB, 112pp. ISBN: 9781776922918. Reviewed by Hebe Kearney. I set aside time to write this review on the 5th March 2026. There it is: a little blue block in my calendar ‘Review—Giving Birth to My Father.’ I can best describe this latest collection…
Assignment three: Imaginative essay. (c) Gangs are a continuing issue of concern. Imagine you or a persona are a member of a New Zealand gang. Describe an occasion where you take part in gang activity. In your essay, try to show a reader possible reasons why an individual might join a gang, and depict how…