Abstract
Introduction
Self-reflection, the power of stories, conversations between literary texts, and the relationship between past and present were leitmotifs of New Zealand literature in 2011. Perhaps the most talked about novel of 2011 was Hamish Clayton’s debut novel Wulf, which won the New Zealand Society of Authors Best First Fiction Book. Framed by the Old English poem “Wulf and Eadwacker”, the novel is preoccupied with “the power of narratives, the blood-beat of words, the inevitable distortions of history recalled and rearranged” (David Hill, Herald, 11 March 2011). Set in 1830, the novel revolves around Maori leader Te Rauparaha’s attack on his Ngai Tahu enemies in Banks Peninsula using the brig Elizabeth as a Trojan horse. Yet this is a novel dominated by mythologies and stories rather than facts. The unnamed narrator, a sailor, never meets Te Rauparaha and does not travel to Banks Peninsula. He is fascinated by the stories he is told about Te Rauparaha, the “Great Wolf”, by the trader Cowell and by the country that “lay like a gift from the open sky before us” (6).
Other New Zealand novelists were also inspired by historical events. Paula Morris’s Rangatira, a finalist in the New Zealand Post Book Awards, centres on the author’s ancestor Paratene Te Manu, whose compelling portrait by Gottfried Lindauer graces the cover. Morris focuses on Paratene’s 1863 visit to England as part of a tour organized by Wesleyan missionary William Jenkins. Reviewer John McCrystal hails the novel as “a triumph of characterization, [Paratane’s] voice genial and flawlessly authentic” (Listener, 3 December 2011). Another achievement in voice is found in Charlotte Randall’s Hokitika Town, which captures the perspective of Halfie, a young part-Maori boy living rough in Hokitika at the height of the Gold Rush in the 1860s. Halfie speaks a kind of Pidgin English that is initially challenging for the reader, but ultimately richly rewarding. Alternating between the voices of Conny and her stepson Dougie, Owen Marshall’s The Larnachs is a restrained, sensitive exploration of the melodramatic events surrounding the relationship between William Larnach’s third wife and son. Place and period are deftly evoked in this fictionalised retelling of the story of a prominent nineteenth-century Dunedin family.
Sarah Quigley is equally inspired by history, but her The Conductor is set against the backdrop of Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Dmitri Shostakovich struggles to compose his seventh symphony, while Karl Illyich Eliasberg, conductor of the Leningrad Radio Orchestra, is sustained by his musical idol. For Quigley, these figures provide the springboard for a meditation on “what it would be like to create art under that really repressive regime with that strict official eye on you all the time” (Listener, 21 May 2011). Witi Ihimaera’s The Parihaka Woman possesses his signature preoccupation with the impact of British colonisation on Maori, but this too has a musical link – the novel was first conceived as an opera and loosely based on Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fidelio.
Two of the three fiction finalists in the New Zealand Post Book Awards are collections of short stories. Fiona Kidman’s The Trouble with Fire revolves around the motif of fire, particularly as a metaphor for memory and for the “self-renewing fire of storytelling” (Azure Rissetto, Landfall, http://landfallreviewonline). Louise O’Brien astutely observes that “Kidman is so reliably good, her writing so adept, acute and deceptively understated, that her fiction isn’t a way to avoid real life, but becomes rather a way to immerse oneself in it” (Listener 20 July, 2011). Like Clayton and Morris, Kidman is attracted to historical figures, the third section of the collection fictionalising episodes in the life of Prime Minister Gordon Coates and author Lady Barker. For Sue Orr, intertextual reference points are to be found in literature rather than history. The ten stories in From under the Overcoat respond to stories, fairytales, or legends, including Katherine Mansfield’s “The Doll’s House”, Nikolay Gogol’s “The Overcoat”, the “Sleeping Beauty” and the Maori creation story. For fellow nominee Kidman, Orr’s stories have “that mesmerising quality that makes the reader race on, hoping they will never end, yet desperate to find out what happens next” (http://www.fionakidman.com).
Some of the poems in Vincent O’Sullivan’s latest collection, The Movie May Be Slightly Different, pay homage to poetic forerunners such as Emily Dickinson, Rainer Maria Rilke, and James K Baxter. Sullivan ranges widely, recalling childhood, writing about place, and satirising artistic pretension. Nicholas Reid writes that these are “a treasure house”, the “poems of a civilised man”, an “ironist who isn’t sardonic, a romantic who knows romanticism isn’t enough” (Listener, 20 July 2011).
The three volumes of poetry nominated for the New Zealand Post Book Awards capture the inner journeys of three female voices. Rhian Gallagher’s Shift is a personal and poignant record of the poet’s relationship with people and places. Anna Jackson’s Thicket meditates on the complexities of self-perception, the poet’s delight in the Gothic revealed in a series of neo-fairy tales, “Red Riding Hood’s Mother”, “The Fish and I” and “Hansel in the House”. For Dinah Hawken, music provides the intertext in The Leaf-Ride. The final section comprises a sequence of poems commissioned by Chamber New Zealand to accompany performances of Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross. Hawken likewise explores both private experiences (such as a child learning to swim) and public events (such as a bomb blast in Beruit).
The effects of the earthquake that struck Christchurch on 22 February 2011 are present in Fiona Farrell’s collection of poetry and prose essays, The Broken Book, nominated for the best non-fiction prize at the New Zealand Post Book Awards. Farrell was in the midst of writing a book about the pleasures of walking when “an earthquake shook me from bed and ripped up the map entirely. The quake sent a jagged tear right through my text. My mind was shaken.” She added new poems about the trauma of the earthquake and its many aftershocks, the damage and cordons in the inner city, and the extraordinary bravery of the people of Christchurch. These poems are inserted arbitrarily, breaking the text apart with images of cracked tiles, shattered chimneys, unshuttable doors and “a brkn cty / all its wds r / smshd to / syllbls” (Interview with Sally Blundell, Listener 29 October 2011). Writers also reflected on the earthquake experiences in a special issue of Landfall, Christchurch and Beyond.
Elizabeth Smither’s original memoir, The Commonplace Book: a Writer’s Journey through Quotations, is a joyful celebration of the daily epiphanies provided by reading. Everything, from Latin verbs to Leonardo Da Vinci, to Collette, to the reflections of literary critic Terry Sturm, inspires Smither’s inner journey. As reviewer Elizabeth Alley writes: “Always there is the sense of a writer at work whose wise sensibility is deeply experienced, inspired, for whom writing is an everyday mysterious joy. This is an unmissable literary gem” (Listener, 11 June 2011).
Janet Frame takes centrestage in the critical spotlight in 2011. Jan Cronin provides an important overview of Frame’s oeuvre in The Frame Function: An Inside-Out Guide to the Novels of Janet Frame and Claire Bazin re-reads Frame’s fiction from an autobiographical perspective in Janet Frame. For Paul Matthew St. Pierre, it is the semiotics of Frame’s early fiction that appeals, while a special issue of the Commonwealth Essays and Studies focuses on Frame’s short fiction. Of the many articles and chapters published on Frame in 2011, Andrew Dean’s thoughtful analysis of Frame’s three-volume autobiography is worthy of mention as the recipient of the 2011 Journal of New Zealand Literature Prize. In the midst of all of these critical interpretations, Janet Frame in Her Own Words, edited by Denis Harold and Pamela Gordon, seeks to allow Frame to speak for herself and to deconstruct the many myths surrounding her life and fiction.
Two important publications give an insight into the life and thinking of John Mulgan, A Good Mail: Letters of John Mulgan and Journey to Oxford, both edited by Peter Whiteford. Mulgan’s Man Alone receives a fresh and original analysis as a New Zealand Western in Alex Calder lively and thoughtful The Settler’s Plot, which also includes illuminating discussions of Frederick Edward Maning, Lady Barker, Blanche Baughan, Frank Sargeson, and Allen Curnow among others. As usual, the work of Katherine Mansfield continued to attract scholars with the publication of the Centenary Volume of Essays edited by Gerri Kimber and Janet Wilson and Katherine Mansfield and Literary Modernism edited by Janet Wilson, Gerri Kimber and Susan Reid. Lesser known writers also received critical attention in 2011, with articles profiling a range of nineteenth-century novelists such as Charlotte Evans, Emilia Marryat, and Joshua Kirby; the emerging authors Tusiata Avia and Andre Ngapo and themes such as the unexplored terrain of Spanish Civil War writing in New Zealand.
It was with great sadness that the New Zealand literary community farewelled poet, scholar, and teacher Ken Arvidson in whose poetry, as Vincent O’Sullivan observed, “one has the sense of the whole man, creative writer and scholar and alert social commentator, attending to the most important cultural developments of his country and his time” (Journal of New Zealand Literature 29:2, 171).
Bibliographies
General Bibliographies
The bibliography for 2011 does not normally include references for book reviews and offers a very selective listing of non-fiction. Those seeking further information in these categories should consult the following sources:
Journal of New Zealand Literature ed Sarah Shieff Annual sub $25 Overseas NZ$35, US$25. One/two issues per year <www.waikao.ac.nz/wfass/jnzl/>.
Landfall ed David Eggleton Annual sub $49.95 Australia A$45 Rest of World US$42. Two issues per year <www.otago.ac.nz/press/landfall/>.
New Zealand Books eds Harry Ricketts and Jane Westaway Annual sub $24.95 (individuals) $50 (libraries). Four issues per year <www.nzbooks.org.nz/>.
New Zealand Children’s Books in Print 2010-2011 ed Crissi Blair 92pp Silvertone (Auckland) Pb $20.
New Zealand Listener ed Pamela Stirling Annual sub $155. Fifty-two issues per year <www.listener.co.nz>.
Bibliographies Published Serially
Te Puna CD-ROM: Index New Zealand (INNZ), New Zealand National Bibliography (NZNB) RMIT Publishing for the National Library of New Zealand (Wellington) semi-annual [includes Pacific area imprints and bibliography].
<www.bookcouncil.org.nz> includes entries on New Zealand writers from The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature (1998) [updated].
<www.library.auckland.ac.nz/subjects/nzp/nzlit2/authors.htm> works by, and biographical and critical material on, selected New Zealand and Pacific authors [updated].
<www.nram.org.nz> National Register of Archives and Manuscripts [updated].
Research Aids
<www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies> Dictionary of New Zealand Biography online; includes entries on 3000 New Zealanders of note [ongoing].
<www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz> New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre; hub for New Zealand and Pacific poetry resources [ongoing].
<www.nzetc.org> New Zealand Electronic Text Centre; online archive of New Zealand and Pacific texts and heritage materials [ongoing].
<www.teara.govt.nz> Te Ara: The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand [ongoing].
Poetry
Adams, John Briefcase 102pp Auckland Univ Press (Auckland) Pb $24.99.
Beautrais, Airini Western Line 80pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $28.
Bland, Peter Coming Ashore 72pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $24.99.
Bornholdt, Jenny The Hill of Wool 60pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $25.
Bush, Rachel Nice Pretty Things: And Others 80pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $28.
Campbell, Norman Pictures & Murmurs: A Collection of Poems and Songs 184pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $34.99.
Coates, Gerry Te Kapa The View from up There 99pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $24.99
Compton, Jennifer This City 63pp Otago Univ Press (Dunedin) Hb $30.
Cresswell, Mary Trace Fossils 63pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
Deaker, Antony He Waiata Wawata 44pp Kilmog Press (Dunedin) Hb $45.
Direen, Bill Dunedin Poems 29pp Kilmog Press (Dunedin) Hb $65.
Easthope, Nicola Leaving My Arms Free to Fly around You 68pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
Edwards, Robert Rising Together 75pp XLibris Corp (Bloomington IN) Pb US$20.74.
Emeney, Johanna Apple and Tree 71pp Cape Catley (Auckland) Pb $28.
Farrell, Fiona The Broken Book 203pp Auckland Univ Press (Auckland) Pb $34.99.
Fleming, Joan The Same as Yes 79pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $28.
Freegard, Janis Kingdom Animalia: The Escapades of Linnaeus 82pp Auckland Univ Press (Auckland) Pb $24.99.
Fry, Robin Portals 40pp Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop (Paekakariki) Pb $15.
Gallagher, Rhian Shift 72pp Auckland Univ Press (Auckland) Pb $24.99.
Gallas, John FuckingPoets Cold Hub Press (Lyttelton) Pb 3vol $49.50.
Hamilton, Scott Feeding the Gods 191pp Titus Books (Auckland) Pb $30.
Harvey, Siobhan Lost Relatives 71pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
Hawken, Dinah The Leaf Ride 87pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $28.
Howard, David The In-Complete Poems 274pp Cold Hub Press (Lyttelton) Pb $49.95.
Hunt, Sam Chords and Other Poems 84pp Craig Potton Pub (Nelson) Pb $29.99.
Hutchison, Jan The Happiness of Rain 64pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
Ireland, Kevin Dreamy Days and Nothing Done 73pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
Jackson, Anna Thicket 55pp Auckland Univ Press (Auckland) Pb $24.99.
Jackson, Michael Being of Two Minds 63pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
Jones, Marion Renovations 72pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
Langford, Gary Rainwoman and Snake 96pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
Lark, Caroline A Messy Affair 64pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
Leadbeater, W.D. The Random Web 24pp Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop (Paekakariki) Pb $5.
Lehndorf, Helen The Comforter 76pp Seraph Press (Wellington) Pb $25.
McLean, Robert Goat Songs 50pp Kilmog Press (Dunedin) Hb $65.
McLeod, Jennifer Helen Mutterings from a Spiry Crag 62pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
Messenger, Nicholas Roughly as It Happened: Poems by Nicholas Messenger 267pp Konuoi Imprint (Hokitika) Pb $32.
Morgan, Stephen Helix Mystic 58pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
Murphy, J.R. The Black Book: A Poetic Heart Enlightened by the Darkness 127pp Papawai Poetry Press (Greytown) Pb $40.
Murray, Norm Exit Lines: Verses and Poems for Saying Goodbye 42pp Palace Productions (Auckland) Pb $20.
O’Connor, John Bright the Harvest Moon: Haiku & Renga Imitations 100pp Poets Group (Christchurch) Pb $18.50.
Olds, Peter Skew-Whif: Poems by Peter Olds 27pp Otakou Press (Dunedin) Pb $250.
O’Sullivan, Vincent The Movie May Be Slightly Different 150pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb. $30.
Patterson, John Even God’s Ears Ache: Poems 64pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
Pirie, Mark Thinking Cap: A Book of Epigrams 24pp Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop (Paekakariki) Pb $5.
— A Tribute to Kenny the Busker: Poet John D’Estaing Adams (1946-2011) 60pp PANZA (Wellington) Pb $15.
Plumb, Vivienne The Cheese and Onion Sandwich and Other New Zealand Icons: Prose Poems 55pp Seraph Press (Wellington) Pb $20.
Rapatahana, Vaughan China as Kafka 51pp Kilmog Press (Dunedin) Hb $59.99.
Reid, Nicholas The Little Enemy 94pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $24.99.
Routhan, Jayne Elizabeth A Poetic Heart 65pp Papawai Poetry Press (Greytown) Pb $40.
Selwyn, Ila Two Sisters 82pp Ventifact Press (Auckland) Pb $20.
Seyb, Wayne Broken Shadows 28pp Cold Hub Press (Lyttelton) Pb $19.50.
Solomon, Laura In Vitro 53pp HeadworX (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
Sonzogni, Marco Trailer 8pp Wai-te-ata Press (Wellington) Pb $10.
Southam, Barry Portrait Poems: A Collection of People Sketches 69pp Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop (Paekakariki) Pb $20.
Stephenson, Mark No Second Chance 268pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $29.99.
Strang, Barbara The Corrosion Zone 81pp HeadworX (Wellingon) Pb $29.99.
Tato, Ed Red Sky Blues 35pp Kilmog Press (Dunedin) Hb $65.
Thompson, Paul The Colour of Water (Or, a Circumnavigation in Three Watches) 6, 26, 4pp Wai-te-ata Press (Wellington) Pb $80.
Turner, Brian Inside, Outside 134pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $30.
Tuwhare, Hone Small Holes in the Silence: Collected Works 343pp Random House (Auckland) Pb $44.99.
Vicious, Ken Some Justice: Political Poems and Lyrics 121pp Rebel Press (Wellington) Pb $10.
Webster-Watson, Colin Natural Zoo: Poems, Word-Plays, Performance Pieces and Other Perorations eds Anne Manchester and Mary McCallum 140pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $29.99.
White, Bronwyn Angela You Who Delight Me: Words of Spirit and Faith 65pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $24.99.
Wootton, Sue By Birdlight 71pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $24.99.
Wright, Douglas Cactusfear 81pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $24.99.
Drama
Barnes, Rebecca First Act 143pp Whitireia Pub (Porirua) Pb $24.95.
Duncum, Ken Plays 2: London Calling 273pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $35.
Love, Harry Hūrai 71pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $19.99.
McGee, Greg Me and Robert McKee 79pp The Play Press (Wellington) Pb $22.50.
O’Brien Lucy Katydid 73pp Playmarket (Wellington) Pb $22.50.
O’Donnell, David ed No. 8 Wire: Eight Plays from Eight Decades 367pp Playmarket (Wellington) Pb $27.
Parker, Dean Midnight in Moscow 143pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $24.99.
Ross, Jack Scenes from the Puppet Oresteia 44pp Perdrix Press (Auckland) Pb $20.
Fiction
Ayers, Shirley Wild Tussock 273pp Dreamstime Press (Auckland) Pb $28.90.
Baldwin, William Tom Hungerford: A Story of the Early Days of the Otago Goldfields ed Jim Sullivan 213pp Univ of Otago (Dunedin) Pb $25.
Barwell, Anne Cat’s Quill 334pp Dreamspinner Press (Frisco TX) Pb US$17.99.
Beale, Fleur Dirt Bomb 208pp Random House (Auckland) Pb $19.99.
— Heart of Danger 335pp Random House (Auckland) Pb $19.99.
Beckett, Bernard August 204 pp Text Pub (Melbourne) Pb $35.
Boon, Kevin Kezia 138pp Kotuku Pub (Wellington) Pb $25.
Brooking, Wayne Buckinbah Weir 359pp National Pacific Press (Porirua) Pb $29.99.
Burnside, Deborah YES 272pp HarperCollins (Auckland) Pb $22.99.
Chamberlain, M.O. Whenua: A Novel 666pp SHIHvillage Pub (Auckland) Pb $35.
Clayton, Hamish Wulf 240pp Penguin Books (North Shore) Pb $30.
Cleave, Paul Collecting Cooper: A Thriller 391pp Atria Paperback (New York) Pb $29.50.
Cox, Nigel Jungle Rock Blues 463pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $40.
Cross, Neil Luther: The Calling 368pp Simon & Schuster (London) Pb $35.
Dukes, Breton Bird North and Other Stories 91pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $35.
Durney, Peter This Son of Mine: A Tale of the West Country 254pp Pen Press (Brighton) Pb £7.99
Edlin, Nicholas The Below Country 275pp Penguin (Auckland) Pb $30.
Else, Barbara The Travelling Restaurant 295pp Gecko Press (Wellington) Pb $24.99.
Forrester, Gary The Connoisseur of Love 152pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $24.99.
Gnanalingam, Brannavan Getting Under Sail 236pp Lawrence and Gibson (Wellington) Pb $25.95.
Hager, Mandy Resurrection 411pp Random House (Auckland) Pb $19.99.
Hair, David The Ghost Bride 274pp Penguin (Auckland) Pb $25.
— The Lost Tohunga 368pp HarperCollins (Auckland) Pb $23.50.
— Pyre of Queens 228pp Penguin Books (North Shore) Pb $25.
Harris, Jill At the Lake 192pp HarperCollins (Auckland) Pb $19.99.
Helean, Julie The Open Accounts of an Honesty Box 295pp Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop (Paekakariki) Pb $35.
Holman, Michelle Hand Me Down 384pp HarperCollins (Auckland) Pb $29.99.
Ihimaera, Witi The Parihaka Woman 328pp Random House (Auckland) Pb $38.99.
Kidman, Fiona The Trouble with Fire 302pp Vintage (Auckland) Pb $36.99.
Lasenby, Jack Calling the Gods 304pp HarperCollins (Auckland) Pb $24.99.
Lloyd, Bronwyn The Second Location 147pp Titus Books (Auckland) Pb $30.
Lynch, Sarah-Kate Dolci di Love 309pp HarperCollins (Pymble NSW) Pb $39.99.
Mackenzie, Anna Finder’s Shore 218pp Longacre (Auckland) Pb $19.99.
Marsden, Leigh Scarlet 283pp Penguin (Auckland) Pb $30.
Marshall, Owen The Larnachs 293pp Vintage (Auckland) Pb $39.99.
McQuillan, Heather Nest of Lies 287pp Scholastic (Auckland) Pb $18.50.
McRae, Jacquie The Scent of Apples 183pp Huia (Wellington) Pb $20.
Meros, Richard Zebulon: A Cautionary Tale 169pp Lawrence and Gibson (Wellington) Pb $21.95.
Messenger, Nicholas Time in the Ritz 497pp Konuoi Imprint (Hokitika) Pb $35.
Moir, Tanya La Rochelle’s Road 272pp Black Swan (Auckland) Pb $39.99.
Morris, Paula Dark Souls 292pp Point (New York) Hb $29.
— Rangatira: A Novel 296pp Penguin (Auckland) Pb $40.
Olsson, Linda The Kindness of Your Nature 219pp Penguin (Auckland) Pb $40.
Orr, Sue From under the Over Coat 348pp Vintage (Auckland) Pb $29.99.
Orwin, Joanna Sacrifice 368pp HarperCollins (Auckland) Pb $26.99.
Neale, Emma Fosterling 303pp Vintage (Auckland) Pb $29.99.
Palmer, Wayne Ghosts of the Waikato 304pp iUniverse (Bloomington IN) Pb US$18.95.
Poole, Dean This –That Alt Group Ltd (Auckland) Pb US$30.
Price, Tony Kicking Out 294pp Starting Gun Books (Auckland) Pb $25.
— Moving On 324pp Starting Gun Books (Auckland) Pb $25.
Quigley, Sarah The Conductor 303pp Vintage (Auckland) Pb $39.99.
Randall, Charlotte Hokitika Town 272pp Penguin (Auckland) Pb $30.
Rawson, David G. The Atacama Crystal 465pp Strategic Book Group (Durham CT) Pb $41.99.
Richardson, Paddy Traces of Red 322pp Penguin (Auckland) Pb $30.
Robertson, Catherine The Sweet Second Life of Darrell Kincaid 327pp Black Swan (Auckland) Pb $39.99.
Rushforth, David Far from a Carnival 298pp Moth Pub (Tairua) Pb $33.
Sanders, Ben By Any Means 432pp HarperCollins (Auckland) Pb $24.99.
Sang, Ant Shaolin Burning 189pp HarperCollins (Auckland) Pb $24.99.
Schoombee, Pat Catnaps 90pp National Pacific Press (Porirua) Pb $24.99.
Shaw, Tina The Cloud Rider 89pp Pearson (Auckland) Pb $15.50.
Shepherd, Robin L. The Road to Tiritiriwhaeanui and Other Short Stories 216pp Rangitihi Pub (Kaitaia) Pb $24.99.
Simms, Norman Toby The Almost Very True Tales of Boro Park 173pp Outrigger Pub (Hamilton) Pb $35.
Singh, Nalini Mine to Possess: A Psy-Changeling Novel 328pp Gollancz (London) Pb $24.99.
Stringer, John C. The Bloodred Tree: Before the Flood 156pp Resource Pub (Eugene OR) Pb $38.99.
Sutherland, Margaret The Last Party and Other Stories 109pp Create Space (Lexington KY) Pb $13.99.
Sutherland, Peter Operation Bread and Butter Pudding 224pp Joy Pub (Auckland) Pb $30.
Sweet, Mark Zhu Mao 195pp Huia (Wellington) Pb $30.
Symon, Vanda Bound 314pp Penguin (North Shore) Pb $30.
Tawhai, Alice Dark Jelly 237pp Huia (Wellington) Pb $30.
Templar, Nai Something to Think About: The Protective Nature of Water 16pp Taheke Springs Park Pub (Kaikohe) Pb $10.
Thomas, Peter Turn of the Tide 272pp Good Hope Pub (Picton) $25.
Turner, B.E. The Apple Tree and Other Stories 71pp Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop (Paekakariki) Pb $20.
Walker, Peter The Courier’s Tale 337pp Bloomsbury (London) Pb $39.99.
Warren, Fred Odd Little Miracles 167pp Splashdown Darkwater (Auckland) Pb $20.
Wedde, Ian The Catastrophe 191pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $35.
Wilson, Tim The Desolation Angel 189pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $35.
Young, David Carnegie Coast 259pp Sea Change Productions (Mapua) Pb $38.
Translations
Beckett, Bernard Wie du Ihr: Roman (How Did You) trans into German by Christine Gallus 182pp script5 (Bindlach) Pb 12.00€.
Cleave, Paul Czyściciel (The Cleaner) trans into Polish by Aleksandra Ring 334pp Klub Dla Ciebie (Warsaw) Pb 19.90zł.
— Un Employé Modèle (The Cleaner) trans into French by Benjamin Legrand 423pp Sonatine (Paris) Pb 20.00€.
— Un Père Idéal (Blood Men) trans into French by Fabrice Pointeau 405pp Sonatine (Paris) Pb 22.00€.
Mansfield, Katherine In Einer Deutschen Pension (In a German Pension) trans into German by Ute Haffmans, Hrsg. von Gerd Haffmans and Heiko Arntz 189pp Haffmans bei Zweitausendeins (Frankfurt) Hb 9.95€.
Wong, Alison Cuando la Tierra se Vuelve de Plata (As the Earth Turns Silver) trans into Spanish by Dora Sales 371pp Ediciones Siruela (Madrid) Pb 19.95€.
Letters and Autobiography
Beardsley, Eric Sliding down the Hypotenuse: A Memoir 211pp Canterbury Univ Press (Christchurch) Pb $34.99.
Chiaroni, Keren M. The Last of the Human Freedoms 288pp HarperCollins (Auckland) Pb $39.99.
Colenso, William Give Your Thoughts Life: William Colenso’s Letters to the Editor comp Ian St. George 479pp Otago Univ Press (Dunedin) Pb $65.
Direen, Bill Devonport: A Diary: Esplanade 30pp Holloway Press (Auckland) Pb $100.
Duggan, Pat What Have They Done to the Rain? A Kiwi Soldier’s Memoir of Vietnam 224pp Kukupa Press (Wellington) Pb $32.
Edmond, Murray “Sunburn’d Sicklemen: Stories of a Friendship” Journal of New Zealand Literature 29(2) pp148-160.
Frame, Janet Janet Frame in Her Own Words ed Denis Harold and Pamela Gordon 263pp Penguin (North Shore) Hb $42.
Garner, Jean and Kate Foster eds Letters to Grace: Writing Home From Colonial New Zealand 203pp Canterbury Univ Press (Christchurch) Pb $40.
Harper, Glyn ed Letters From Gallipoli: New Zealand Soldiers Write Home 330pp Auckland Univ Press (Auckland) Pb $45.
Jackson, Peter R. A Sacrificial Pawn: Being a Memoir of His War Experiences, Particularly of His Time as Prisoner of the Japanese, 1942-1945 200pp Wily Pub (Christchurch) Pb $34.99.
Maddever, J.C. Unposted Letters: From a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp, 1942-1945 comp Lorna Manson 211pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $34.99.
McIvor, Ernest The Immigrant 292pp National Pacific Press (Porirua) Pb $29.99.
Morrissey, Michael Taming the Tiger: A Personal Encounter with Manic Depression 278pp Polygraphia (Auckland) Pb $39.
Mulgan, John A Good Mail: Letters of John Mulgan ed Peter Whiteford 317pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $50.
— Journey to Oxford ed Peter Whiteford 67pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $30.
Scott, Barry J.E. and Robin M. Startup Treasured Letters: New Zealand Prisoner of War Air Letter Cards, 1941-1945 ed Brian G. Vincent 146pp Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand (Wellington) Pb $199.
Smither, Elizabeth The Commonplace Book: A Writer’s Journey through Quotations 192pp Auckland Univ Press (Auckland) Pb $34.99.
Wedde, Ian “‘A Little Bit Prickly…’” Journal of New Zealand Literature 29(1) pp66-85.
Anthologies
AUP New Poets ed Harry Jones 89pp Auckland Univ Press (Auckland) Pb $24.99.
The Best of Best New Zealand Poems eds Bill Manhire and Damien Wilkins 223pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $35.
The Exercise Book: Creative Writing Exercises from Victoria University’s Institute of Modern Letters ed Bill Manhire 222pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $35.
Huia Short Stories 9: Contemporary Māori Fiction ed. P.J. Akuhata 356pp Huia (Wellington) Pb $30.
Criticism
General Studies
“Beyond Post-Colonialism? Transactions of Power and Marginalisation in Contemporary Australasian Drama” David O’Donnell pp325-341 in Old Margins and New Centers: The European Literary Heritage in an Age of Globalization eds Marc Maufort and Caroline De Wagter 346pp Peter Lang (New York) Pb $88.99.
“The Disconcerting Double Bind: Anonymity and Writing as a Woman in the Nineteenth Century” Jenny Coleman Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies 7(1) [online pub].
“Epos Indigenized: The New Zealand War Films from Rudall Hayward to Vincent Ward” Bruce Babington pp235-259 in The Epic Film in World Culture ed Robert Burgoyne 391pp Routledge (New York) Pb $63.50.
“Fictional Geographies: Versions of the Waikato in Juvenile Fiction, 1874-1907” Louise Clark Journal of New Zealand Literature 29(2) pp89-107.
“Five Imperial Adventures in the Waikato” Kirstine Moffat Journal of New Zealand Literature 29(2) pp37-65.
“From Body Snatchers to Mind Snatchers: Indigenous Science Fiction, Postcolonialism, and Aotearoa/New Zealand History” Dominic Alessio Journal of Postcolonial Writing 47(3) pp257-269.
Identity in Place: Contemporary Indigenous Fiction by Women Writers in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand 183pp Paula Anca Farca Peter Lang (New York) Hb $149.50.
“‘In the Distance a Light?’: Contemporary Spanish Civil War Writing in New Zealand” Mark Derby Journal of New Zealand Studies 11 pp69-79.
Literary Research and the Literatures of Australia and New Zealand: Strategies and Sources H. Faye Christenberry and Angela Courtney 267pp Scarecrow (Lanham MD) Pb $125.50.
A Made-Up Place: New Zealand in Young Adult Fiction Anna Jackson [et al.] 223pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $40.
“Meat or Vegetables? New Zealand’s Literary Sheep and Guthrie-Smith’s Tutira” Philip Armstrong Journal of New Zealand Literature 29(1) pp12-31.
Narrating Indigenous Modernities: Transcultural Dimensions in Contemporary Māori Literature Michaela Moura-Koçoğlu 298pp Rodopi (Amsterdam) Hb $162.50.
New Zealand Cinema: Interpreting the Past eds Alistair Fox, Barry Keith Grant and Hilary Radner 350pp Intellect (Bristol) Pb $75.99.
“Paper, Pen, and Print: The Transformation of the Kai Tahu Knowledge Order” Tony Ballantyne Comparative Studies in Society and History 53(2) pp232-260.
Picturing Tolkien: Essays on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy ed Janice M. Bogstad and Philip E. Kaveny 301pp McFarland and Company (Jefferson NC) Pb $87.99.
“Reel New Zealanders: Contesting Tokenism and Ethnic Stereotyping in Roseanne Liang’s Take 3” Paloma Fresno-Calleja Studies in Australasian Cinema 5(1) pp19-29.
The Settler’s Plot: How Stories Take Place in New Zealand Alex Calder Auckland Univ Press (Auckland) Pb $45.
“Strolling Down Memory Pain: Oral Histories and the New Zealand Far East Prisoner of War Novel” Daniel McKay War, Literature, and the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities 23 [online pub].
“Technologies of Culture: Digital Feature Film-Making in New Zealand” Virginia Pitts New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film 9(1) pp3-17.
“Televisual Memory and the New Zealand Wars: Bicultural Identities, Masculinity and Landscape” Annabel Cooper European Journal of Cultural Studies 14(4) pp446-465.
Studies on Individual Writers
Avia, Tusiata “The Task of the Tusitala: Tusiata Avia’s Wild Dogs under My Skirt” Nicholas Wright Journal of Commonwealth Literature 46(2) pp219-236.
Baxter, James K. The Snake-Haired Muse: James K. Baxter and Classical Myth Geoffrey Miles, John Davidson and Paul Millar Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $50.
Campbell, Alistair Scribbling in the Dark: Alistair Te Ariki Campbell Nelson Wattie 64pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $20.
Campion, Jane Jane Campion: Authorship and Personal Cinema Alistair Fox 269pp Indiana Univ Press (Bloomington) Pb $36.99.
Evans, Charlotte “Returning the Returnee’s Narrative: Charlotte Evans’s Domestic Fiction of Victorian New Zealand” Tamara Silvia Wagner Nineteenth-Century Contexts 33(3) pp247-266.
Frame, Janet “An Other Form of Ghost Story: Janet Frame’s The Adaptable Man” Josephine Carter Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 13(1-2) pp45-60.
— “Feminist Auto/biography as a Means of Empowering Women: A Case Study of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and Janet Frame’s Faces in the Water” Tomasz Fisiak Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture 1(1) pp183-197.
— The Frame Function: An Inside-Out Guide to the Novels of Janet Frame Jan Cronin 222pp Auckland Univ Press (Auckland) Pb $49.99.
— Janet Frame Claire Bazin 123pp Northcote House Pub (Tavistock) Pb $35.99.
— Janet Frame in Her Own Words ed Denis Harold and Pamela Gordon 263pp Penguin (North Shore) Hb $41.99.
— Janet Frame: Semiotics and Biosemiotics in Her Early Fiction Paul Matthew St. Pierre 220pp Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press (Madison NJ) Hb $79.95.
—Janet Frame: Short Fiction, Special Issue Commonwealth Essays and Studies ed Marta Dvorak and Christine Lorre 160pp 33(2) Pb 10.00€.
— “Migrating Between (Mental) States: Janet Frame’s Towards Another Summer” Cornelia Wächter pp211-233 in Explorations and Extrapolations: Applying English and American Studies Lit (Münster) Pb $54.99.
—“Reading An Autobiography: Michael King, Patrick Evans and Janet Frame” Andrew Dean Journal of New Zealand Literature 29(1) pp46-65.
— “Sea, Sex and Sun: Janet Frame’s Experience(s) in Ibiza” Claire Bazin Journal of New Zealand Literature 29(1) pp32-45.
— “‘They Kill on Wednesdays’: Janet Frame, Modernity and the Holocaust” Patrick Evans Journal of Commonwealth Literature 46(1) pp83-101.
Grace, Patricia “‘When the World is Free’: Traumatized Soldiers in Patricia Grace’s Second World War Novel Tu” Donna Coates pp29-55 in The Splintered Glass: Facets of Trauma in the Post-Colony and Beyond ed Dolores Herrero and Sonia Baelo-Allué 262pp Rodopi (Amsterdam) Hb $119.
Hulme, Keri “Keri Hulme’s Holy Family: Postcoloniality and Theology in The Bone People” Shirley A. Stave Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies 17(1) pp20-39.
Hyde, Robin “Riding the Rails with Robin Hyde: Literary Journalism in 1930s New Zealand” Nikki Hessell pp211-224 in Literary Journalism Across the Globe: Journalistic Traditions and Transnational Influences ed John S. Bak and Bill Reynolds 320pp Univ of Massachusetts Press (Amherst) Pb $72.99.
Ihimaera, Witi “Hybridity and Indigeneity in Contemporary Maori Literature of Aotearoa/New Zealand: Witi Ihimaera” Alistair Fox pp91-101 in Littératures d’aujourd’hui: Contemporain, Innovation, Partages Culturels, Politique, Théorie Littéraire: Domaines Européen, Latino-Américain, Francophone et Anglophone ed Jean Bessière 232pp Honoré Champion (Paris) Hb 51.00€.
— Striding Both Worlds: Witi Ihimaera and New Zealand’s Literary Traditions Melissa Kennedy 255pp Rodopi (Amsterdam) Hb $137.50.
Jagose, Annamarie “Andipodean Victoriana: History and Fiction in Annamarie Jagose’s Slow Water” Frances Kelly Journal of Commonwealth Literature 46(1) pp45-61.
Jones, Lloyd “‘The Battle for the Spare Room’ and the Triumph of Hybridity in Lloyd Jones’s Mister Pip” Monica Latham pp82-91 in Hybridity: Forms and Figures in Literature and the Visual Arts ed Vanessa Guignery, Catherine Pesso-Miquel, and François Specq 371pp Cambridge Scholars Pub (Newcastle upon Tyne) Hb $125.99.
— “Bringing Newness to the World: Lloyd Jones’s ‘Pacific Version of Great Expectations’” Monica Latham Dickens Quarterly 28(1) pp22-40.
Lawson, Henry Henry Lawson in New Zealand ed Charles Ferrall 166pp Steele Roberts (Wellington) Pb $29.99.
Mansfield, Katherine Celebrating Katherine Mansfield: A Centenary Volume of Essays ed Gerri Kimber and Janet Wilson 241pp Palgrave Macmillan (New York) Hb $166.99.
— Katherine Mansfield and Literary Modernism ed Janet Wilson, Gerri Kimber and Susan Reid 216pp Continuum (New York) Hb $149.
Ngapo, Andre “Mapping the Human Landscape” Jason Waterman Journal of New Zealand Literature 29(2) pp161-67.
Robinson, Roger Running Writing Robinson ed David Carnegie [et al.] 391pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $40.
Sargeson, Frank Speaking Frankly: Frank Sargeson Memorial Lectures, 2003-2010 ed Sarah Shieff 200pp Cape Catley (Auckland) Pb $31.99.
Ward, Vincent Making the Transformational Moment in Film: Unleashing the Power of the Image (with the films of Vincent Ward) Dan Fleming 240pp Michael Wiese Productions (Studio City, CA) Pb $39.
Non-fiction
The Art of Peter Siddell Peter Siddell 286pp Godwit (Auckland) Hb $75.
Bligh: William Bligh in the South Seas Anne Salmond 528pp Viking (Auckland) Hb $65.
Dark Night: Walking with McCahon Martin Edmond 198 pp Auckland Univ Press (Auckland) Pb $37.99.
Early New Zealand Photography: Images and Essays ed Angela Wanhalla and Erika Wolf 208pp Otago Univ Press (Dunedin) Pb $50.
Fantastica: The World of Leo Bensemann Peter Simpson 222pp Auckland Univ Press (Auckland) Hb $75.
The Hungry Heart: Journeys with William Colenso Peter Wells 467pp Vintage (Auckland) Hb $49.99.
Micronaut in the Wide World: The Imaginative Life and Times of Graham Percy Gregory O’Brien 182pp Auckland Univ Press (Auckland) Pb $59.99.
Museums and Maori: Heritage Professionals, Indigenous Collections, Current Practice Conal McCarthy 288pp Te Papa Press (Wellington) Pb $69.99.
New Zealand Film: An Illustrated History ed Diane Pivac with Frank Stark and Lawrence McDonald 346pp Te Papa Press (Wellington) Hb $84.99.
The NZSO National Youth Orchestra: Fifty Years and Beyond Joy Tonks 314pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $50.
Piano Forte: Stories and Soundscapes from Colonial New Zealand Kirstine Moffat 275pp Otago Univ Press (Dunedin) Pb $45.
A Search for Tradition and a Search for a Language Douglas Lilburn illus Rita Angus 112pp Lilburn Residence Trust, Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Hb $24.99.
Tupaia: The Remarkable Story of Captain Cook’s Polynesian Navigator Joan Druett 439pp Random House (Auckland) Hb $55.
The Violinist: Clare Galambos Winter, Holocaust Survivor Sarah Gaitanos 280pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $40.
Words Between Us: He Kōero: First Māori-Pākehā Conversations on Paper 242pp Huia (Wellington) Pb $45.
World Music Is Where We Found It: Essays by and for Allan Thomas ed Wendy Pond and Paul Wolffram 228pp Victoria Univ Press (Wellington) Pb $50.
Journals
Special Issues
Journal of New Zealand Literature 29:2 Writing the Waikato eds Anne McKim and Kirstine Moffat 184pp Pb $25.
Journal of New Zealand Studies 11 “Parallel Pasts, Convergent Futures? Comparing New Zealand, Iberia and Latin America” eds Nicola Gilmour and Warwick E Murray $30.
Journal of New Zealand Studies 12 “Communicating Culture in Colonial New Zealand” eds Tony Ballantyne, Lachy Paterson and Angela Wanhalla $30.
Landfall: Christchurch and Beyond 222 ed David Eggleton 208pp Pb$29.95.
— Outside In 221 ed David Eggleton 208pp $29.95.