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Ordinary Time
Peter Singer says we are all equally valuable and I believe him. This means I should do more, that the care of one small bundle (never mind that it is my bundle) is insufficient--even if this is what I am fitted to do. Across the road two magnolias, one pink, one white. In the days since we came home I've watched their stark flower-spiked branches soften and go pastoral--the green leaves of ordinary time climbing out of the wood. The thing is, there isn't any indefinite 'later': childhood, adolescence, adulthood. Then, God willing, I'll be wearing out. Already as I lay this down I see you as the reader. I think: A decorative mind isn't much of an inheritance; and One day there'll be no book of mine left on the earth. Having started as a poet I suppose any contribution is a positive mark on the ledger. --"Ordinary Time"
The Salt-Stained Book
Thirteen-year-old Donny lives with his deaf mother Skye, but after an accident Donny is taken into care. Soon it seems that his whole life has been built on a lie, and he and his new friends must work to unravel the mystery of his own identity. Suggested level: primary, intermediate.
The Moonmen
Building on the impressive debut of Good Luck, this new collection from Anna Livesey contains poems that capture the eerie and exhilarating aspects of daily life. All the poems combine a crisp and shapely style with breathtaking openness and urgency in addressing personal material, particularly in the poet's responses to her mother's illness and her thoughts about living in the United States.
My Real Life
This prize-winning collection of short stories playfully questions what 'real life' is and, more importantly, where it can be found. Philip is a New Zealander, born and raised; the trouble is that no one will believe him. He travels widely, though his brother Dan has no intention of going anywhere - why leave when everything you hate is here? His ex-girlfriend, Kumiko, drifts between universities, enrolling in every course she can find in an effort to hold on to her student visa. Her father is searching for her, but like every other character in this collection, he has a problem and a story of his own . . . The characters in this funny and astute book of short stories span genders, generations and identities. Whether at home or abroad, they are often lost, wandering in and out of each other's lives, never quite coming together. Moving convincingly between differing perspectives, these stories are deftly handled, offering flashes of sharp insight and unexpected humour. This book won the New Zealand Society of Authors Hubert Church Best First Book of Fiction Award (2005).
A Ravelled Flag
After being rescued from the social welfare system, Donny hopes for normal family life on board the Chinese junk Strong Winds. However, when he tries to help Anna find her own mother, their adventures take them to semi-derelict docklands, in the darker side of East Anglia. Suggested level: primary, intermediate.
Little Sister
A noir novel, creepy and compelling At 11.06 pm, on 6 September 2001, eighteen year old Shane stands near the house of his girlfriend's father, staring at the hilt of a sword stabbed into the ground. The next morning, his best friend Will is sitting in a police station, trying to explain the tangled relationship between him, Shane, and Shane's girlfriend Eileen. Ten years later, Eileen is living in a distant city under an assumed name. As she faces the tenth anniversary of the murder that re-defined her life, she is confronted by a young woman who claims to be the little sister that Eileen abandoned, all those years ago . . . And, on the morning of 7 September 2001, a failed teacher and father wakes up on his couch, unaware of what has transpired the night before and that he alone holds the key to these past and future events. How much do we know about the people closest to us? How much do we know about ourselves? Clever, creepy and compelling, Little Sister explores ideas of absent fathers, motivation and identity, while building to an unexpected climax.
The Best of Best New Zealand Poems
Since 2000, the online anthology Best New Zealand Poems has showcased the most exciting and memorable poetry produced in this country. Here, for the first time, is a selection of this work in book form. Edited by founding publisher Bill Manhire, and writer Damien Wilkins, this anthology is an indispensable guide to the richness, strangeness, and liveliness of contemporary poetry. With over sixty poets appearing, there's classic work by some of the best-known figures in our writing, including Sam Hunt, Allen Curnow, Jenny Bornholdt, Cilla McQueen, Elizabeth Smither, and Ian Wedde; there are also compelling poems from new writers. Each poet's own note on the selection illuminates the work and takes us inside the writer’s personal workshop. The first decade of the new century comes into view as a vibrant, argumentative, restless period, with our poets unafraid of either political engagement or strong personal feeling.
Secret Kingdom
First published in 1999, Secret Kingdom was the second panel in Francis Bennett's Cold War trilogy. 'For all of us now the Cold War is history... What interested me as a writer was how we survived. What went on behind the scenes?... I went looking for my own fictional explanations for historical events... In Secret Kingdom, which takes place in Hungary in the dangerous summer months [of 1956] that led directly to the Revolution, I knew that the British ambassador's warnings of trouble building up had been ignored by the Foreign Office in London. Why? What were the consequences of such an extraordinary and irresponsible act?' Francis Bennett 'The Cold War here is not just a political but also a psychological landscape... In picking out a personal history from the greater tapestry unfolding in the background Bennett has produced a literary thriller of considerable merit.' The Times
Writing at the Edge of the Universe
WRITING AT THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE looks at New Zealand literature at a time when it is thriving as never before. For many years a marginal activity in a country where sheep and rugby concentrated the national vision, writing is now generously supported by the government, promoted with festivals, and showered with awards. Writers are made national treasures, their manuscripts acquired by libraries, their lives made the subjects of biographies. When our major writers die the whole nation mourns. This book celebrates the maturity that places writing at the centre rather than the outskirts of national life and marks the coming of age of New Zealand literature. But it also examines and question...
