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The Kathleen Grattan Award
Regretfully, due to the recession and its impact on the bequest that generates it, this award will not be made in 2012 and 2014. Landfall/Otago University Press welcome entries for the 2013 award any time before 31 July 2013.
 Karen Nairn (Children of Rogernomics) on Chris Laidlaw's Radio NZ programme and in the Otago Daily Times
Karen Nairn has lead a study on the impact of Rogernomics on the lives of young people born after 1984 and discovered the powerful effects of the neoliberal ideas. She talks to Chris about how neoliberalism obscures social inequalities and blames the individual if they fail to make a successful transition from school, to further education, and work. But Karen is also inspired by those individuals who attempt to re-work the constraints - and the possibilities - of their times.
Listen here
Our new book Children of Rogernomics grapples with big issues. A new article investigates: read here
 Laurence Simmons (Tuhituhi) on Arts on Sunday, Radio NZ
Auckland University's Laurence Simmons explores the work of the 18th century painter, William Hodges, who introduced the beauty of the South Pacific to a fascinated world after travelling with Captain James Cook.
Listen here
About the book
Cover article on Kirstine Moffat and The Piano in Your Weekend
 Click here to read the great 5-page article. For more on the book, click this link, and to order, here
Your Unselfish Kindness in the press
 Mary Edmond Paul talks about Your Unselfish Kindness in the Massey News
Review of Tuhituhi: Cook's Painter in the South Pacific
 The first review of Tuhituhi is out! Read it at Reid's Reader
Come to 'Fridays @ the Press'!
On May 25 at 5 pm Otago University Press will be holding a party at our premises on Cumberland St, featuring author Laurence Simmons talking about his new book Tuhituhi: Cook's Painter in the South Pacific. We hope you can attend!
Recent Reviews
I whanau au ki Kaiapoi: The story of Natanahira Waruwarutu, as recorded by Thomas Green
Te Maire Tau, ISBN 978 1 877578 12 0, $30.00
'rewarding' – Your Weekend, 14 April 2012
'a fascinating facet of the tribe’s history.' – Waatea Radio 603AM, 11 April 2012
Piano Forte: Stories and soundscapes from colonial New Zealand
Kirstine Moffat, ISBN 978 1 877372 79 7, $45.00
'Moffat’s research is wide-ranging and interesting. The stories give a splendid patchwork history of the importance of the piano in this country in the years before talking movies, the phonograph and radio.' – Otago Daily Times, 28 April 2012 READ MORE
May Newsletter
Click here to read the PDF
The Landfall Review Online, May Issue
 The May issue of The Landfall Review Online is up now. Featuring reviews by Cliff Fell, Elizabeth Smither, Siobhan Harvey, Tim Upperton, Andrew Paul Wood and Vaughan Rapatahana. On books by Gregory O'Brien, Rachel Bush, Keith Westwater, Damian Skinner, Dan Arps, Linda Olsson, Scott Hamilton, Tim Jones, Nicola Easthope and Joan Fleming. Who says 'there is a rare originality at work here', and about whom? Which book is deemed 'basically a very expensive, effectively redundant catalogue'? Who is called 'a distinctive and necessary voice in our straitjacketed culture'?
Find out at http://landfallreviewonline.blogspot.co.nz/
Come to our publisher's party in Auckland!
 April Newsletter
Jennifer Compton's prize-winning poetry book This City was recently reviewed in The Listener:
'With a confident understanding of how to ratchet up then relax tension over consecutive lines, Compton seems the most alert of all the poets here to poetry’s compressed dramatic powers. Also the most at ease in diverse forms, she flickflacks happily from cento, to poignant lyric, to a more postmodern, sculptural sense of white space and to type placed like small visual shocks. (Against the silences to come).
Compton’s scathing eye for the sordid and cruel and her empathy for the dispossessed suggest someone as pushed into print by a sense of political injustice as she is by a dark wit that pranks around disaster in this bracing collection.'
A review also appeared on The Landfall Review Online: 'Though the collection’s sections are ‘In Italy’, ‘In New Zealand’ and ‘In Australia’, it’s Compton’s more informal environments which construct the true poetic panorama of This City and which have the most forceful impact on the reader. Florence, Genoa, Moxham Avenue, Hataitai, ‘Palmy’ (according to the title of one of the collection’s poems), the Yarra Ranges, Kings Park: in these settings, Compton alights upon small, personal incidents and uses them to speak of things which hold universal relevance' – Landfall Review Online
Recent reviews
This City
Jennifer Compton, ISBN 978 1 877578 10 6, $30.00
‘This is a handsome book, a strong handsome book. Within the warmth of its hardback covers a body of poetry rests, inviting the intrepid reader to explore cities that have accommodated the poet and triggered her imagination.’ – Scoop Review of Books, 20 March 2012.
An Accidental Utopia?
Social Mobility and the Foundations of an Egalitarian Society, 1880–1940
Erik Olssen, Clyde Griffen & Frank Jones,
ISBN 978 1 877372 64 3, $49.95
‘… It also richly embellishes a project of crucial and strategic dimensions – both academically and morally – on our small, multi-faceted and sometimes precarious social and political democracy that I hope will stimulate others to follow.’ – New Zealand Sociology, Volume 26 Issue 2 2011
Dunedin Soundings
Place and Performance
Edited by Dan Bendrups and Graeme Downes,
ISBN 978 1 877578 22 9, $40.00
‘With concise chapters and a host of very readable and informed contributors, Dunedin Soundings is a valuable document for anybody wanting to learn more about the creation of music in Aotearoa.’ – NZ Musician, January 2012
Seabird Genius
The Story of L.E. Richdale, the Royal Albatross and the Yellow-eyed Penguin
Neville Peat, ISBN 978 1 877578 11 3, $45.00
‘The book is overall very well written and researched, displaying the author’s incredible attention to detail.’ – The Star, 16 February 2012
Early New Zealand Photography
Images and Essays
Edited by Angela Wanhalla and Erika Wolf, ISBN 978 1 877578 16 8, $50.00
‘Collectively, the editors and contributors prove the case that many specific skills are involved in reading old photographs rightly. But it is the moments of personal engagement that give Early New Zealand Photography its greatest appeal.’ – Reid’s Reader, 27 Februrary 2012
‘This is an absorbing selection of studies that traverses diverse subject matter.’ – Your Weekend, 17 March 2012.
India in New Zealand
Local Identities, Global Relations
Edited by Sekhar Bandyopadhyay,
ISBN 978 1 877372 85 8, $49.95
‘This book’s editor and his team must be congratulated for their personal engagement and scholarly acumen which help fill a knowledge gap on an important section of the New Zealand population from many and diverse angles.’ – The Landfall Review Online, March 2012
‘Give Your Thoughts Life’
William Colenso’s Letters to the Editor
Ian St George, ISBN 978 1 877578 14 4, $65.00
‘... a treasure trove for historians who want to see what the concerns and opinions of an articulate person in another age were.’ – Reid’s Reader, 20 February 2012
This study of the art of William Hodges opens fresh theoretical perspectives on the representational problems raised by these early paintings produced in the South Pacific. Following Pacific Island historians of the 1960s, it argues that it is possible to read the texts and visual material produced from early South Seas encounters against the grain, as moments of cross-cultural exchange that challenge postcolonial complacencies.
Tuhituhi is presented in sections that follow the geographical and chronological progression of Cook’s voyage on the Resolution, for which William Hodges was hired as official artist, Cook’s ‘landskip painter’. Painters like Hodges found themselves staring again and again in disbelief at landscapes and seascapes that stretched 18th-century conventions of painting, such as the ‘picturesque’, the ‘sublime’ and the ‘beautiful’. Each chapter of Tuhituhi focuses on the close reading of a significant painting of a South Pacific location by Hodges. The last chapter considers the important influence of Hodges’ work on a series of paintings by the major twentieth-century New Zealand painter Colin McCahon.
Hardback, 240 x 170 mm, 352 pp, b/w and colour throughout, ISBN 978 1 877578 17 5
$60 / £34.50
 Helen May Feature in The Listener
The author of a history of junior education is worried that the era of progressive solutions is past. http://www.listener.co.nz/current-affairs/the-researched-child-in-early-education/
Helen's new book I am Five and I go To School: Early Years Schooling in New Zealand 1900-2010 is the follow-up to her succesful textbook Politics in the Playground: The World of Early Childhood in New Zealand
Read here
Recent reviews
The Twelve Cakes of Christmas:
An Evolutionary History, with Recipes
Helen Leach, Mary Browne and Raelene Inglis, ISBN 978 1 877578 19 9, $40
'Once you have got your mouth watering – and it will be – you can then turn an entertaining history in to a practical cook book. No stone is left unturned – there is even a history of royal icing and instructions for how to make your own. ... Fun, enlightening, and filling. A perfect Christmas treat.'
– D-Scene, 21 December 2011
Give Your Thoughts Life: William Colenso's Letters to the Editor
Ian St George, ISBN 978 1 877578 14 4, $65
'A treasure trove for historians' – Reid's Reader, 20 February 2012
'He ranged across so many topics that St George sensibly abandons any notion of grouping the letters thematically and simply presents them chronologically.' – New Zealand Listener, 14–20 January 2012
I am Five and I go to School:
Early Years' Schooling in New Zealand 1900–2010
Helen May, ISBN 978 1 877372 86 5, $49.95
'... a fascinating, thoroughly researched and eminently readable book ...' – Good Teacher magazine, Term 1 2012
'To put it bluntly: if you're keen to understand or be a part of current debates on public education – read this book. It's a detailed but readable (and delightfully illustrated) history of our "infant rooms".' – Education Aotearoa, Summer 2012
The Landfall Review Online (www.landfallreviewonline.com)
'... anyone interested in New Zealand literature and arts should consult them [the reviews on Landfall Review Online]. They form an integral part of Landfall's ongoing contribution to literature and the arts in New Zealand.' – Otago Daily Times, Saturday 24 December 2011
February 2012 newsletter
Recent Reviews
 Wild Heart: The possibility of wilderness in Aotearoa New Zealand
Edited by Mick Abbott and Richard Reeve
ISBN 978 1 877578 20 5, $45
‘The writers are as varied a bunch as the outback itself and provide views to match … Wild Heart should clarify and enrich the way we think about a vital component of the kiwi identity.’
– NZ Listener, February 11 2012
‘Otago University’s Mick Abbott and Richard Reeve have edited an important and wide-ranging book on wilderness’.
– FMC Bulletin, no. 186, November 2011
 Seabird Genius: The story of L.E. Richdale, the Royal Albatross and the Yellow-eyed Penguin
Neville Peat, ISBN 978 1 877578 11 3, $45
‘This gem of a book is thoroughly researched and, above all, generously illustrated.’
– Forest and Bird, Issue 343, February 2012
Cilla McQueen
Cilla was the featured poet in the ODT on Monday 9 January. Her poem ‘Riddles’ can be found at:
www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/193659/mondays-poem
The Landfall Review Online
The first issue of 2012 is live, featuring reviews of The Parihaka Woman by Witi Ihimaera, Rangatira by Paula Morris, Dark Jelly by Alice Tawhai, Shift by Rhian Gallagher, Travesty by Mike Johnson, The Broken Book by Fiona Farrell, The Movie May Be Slightly Different by Vincent O’Sullivan, and Dark Arts by Leo Bensemann, edited by Peter Simpson. Read them all and support New Zealand books at www.landfallreviewonline.com
Has sold out and reprinted. Copies are available now.
Landfall 223: Fantastic!
The theme for issue 223 (May 2012) is ‘Fantastic!’ – from the gothic and the carnivalesque to the speculative and beyond. This issue is available for pre-order now.
Mick Abbott will be interviewed on 9 till Noon on Radio NZ National on 14 February at 11.15 am. Reviews have appeared in the FMC Bulletin, NZ Listener (Nov 2011 and Feb 2012).
Neville Peat and ornithologist Chris Robertson will be visiting Lance Richdale’s hometown of Whanganui in early March to present his cricket bat to his old school.
Updated backlist category fliers
We have recently updated all of our backlist fliers. These are available as pdfs below or as hard copy printed in colour (order from publicity@ otago.ac.nz). Fliers are available in the following categories:
ART/ART HISTORY
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
BUSINESS/ECONOMICS/GOVERNMENT/LAW
HISTORY
INDIGENOUS & ETHNIC STUDIES
KATHLEEN GRATTAN AWARD FOR POETRY
LITERATURE/FICTION/POETRY
MEDIA/CULTURE/LITERARY THEORY
LOCAL GUIDES
MAORI & PACIFIC
NATURAL HISTORY
OTAGO HISTORY SERIES
SOCIAL SCIENCES
SOUTH ISLAND
Reviews of landscape anthology Making Our Place
 'Short chapters on very different subjects make the book easy to dip into without the reader feeling the need to read it from cover to cover in a single sitting. Even though most, if not all subjects or locations discussed will be familiar to any informed New Zealand citizen, there are many interesting and little known facts and references in every chapter. These little gems add detail to the reader's knowledge of New Zealand's history. I particularly enjoyed MickAbbott's 'Being Landscape' where as an environmental designer he illustrates how simple, well-considered, site-relevant designs can enhance, not impose modern structures on the natural environment that is open for enjoyment by the public. Overall, this is an informative and readily enjoyed work ...' – Survey Quarterly
'100% Pure? Yeah, right: could have been the alternative title of Making Our Place, which provides a thorough, informed and engaging look at the many ways our presence has shaped and scarred the Aotearoa New Zealand landscape. It reveals several sources of land-use tensions in NZ – between Maori and Pakeha, development and protection, dairying and tourism – but its key contribution is in how these tensions are managed and resolved. ... By not avoiding these issues, what is revealed is the overall tension between our own short, selective, human memories, and the capacity of the landscape to retain the scars, and memories, of our impact upon it.' – New Zealand Surveyor No. 301
 Seresin Landfall Residency 2012 deadline
A reminder that the application deadline for the Seresin Landfall Residency is 31 January 2012. Here are the details:
This is a six-week writing residency to be taken at any time of the year. A cottage (accommodation for writer and partner only) at Waterfall Bay in the Marlborough Sounds is made available for the successful applicant to work on a writing project – timing to be agreed between the successful candidate and Seresin Estate.
(a) The residency is open to early to mid-career writers, aged twenty-one or over, working in any genre, who have previously published at least one book. Candidates should be New Zealand citizens or permanent residents.
(b) Applications are called for annually, with a deadline of 31 January. The Residency is announced in the May issue of Landfall.
(c) Submissions will consist of: (i) A covering letter from the writer, outlining the project they will work on during the residency, which may be ongoing (e.g. a major work of non-fiction, completion of a novel or collection of poems or essays). (ii) Two copies of both a CV and up to twenty pages of sample work.
(d) Accommodation will be provided free of charge. The successful applicant must meet travel and living costs for the duration of the residency. There is no stipend.
(e) The Residency's partners, Landfall/Otago University Press and Seresin Estate, must be formally acknowledged in any subsequent publications of work done during the Residency.
(f) The judging panel will consist of the Landfall editor and representatives of Otago University Press and Seresin Estate. Please send your application by post to Seresin Landfall Residency, Otago University Press, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054. The postmarked date on your application must be no later than 31 January.
The launch of Early New Zealand Photography, edited by Angela Wanhalla and Erika Wolf, is this Saturday (Dec 10) at VicBooks, 1 Kelburn Parade, Wellington. All welcome!
 December 2011 newsletter
Publisher's picks for Christmas and summer reading, click here
Kathleen Grattan Award in the media
There is a small item in the ODT about the Kathleen Grattan award today (Dec 8); and last week Emma Neale, the 2011 winner of the Kathleen Grattan Award, got a chance to talk about it on Channel 9. The link is http://www.ch9.co.nz/content/emma-neale-becomes-newest-recipient-burns-fellowship
A recent review of last year's Grattan award winner, This City by Jennifer Compton, can be found at this link, http://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/books/173347/poetry (scroll half-way down)
Cilla McQueen on Radio Southland
An interview with Cilla McQueen will air on the Book Show (Radio Southland, 96.4 FM), Wednesday 30/11/11 between 10.00–10.30 am. Cilla will be talking about her poetry, poetry in general, and the Kathleen Grattan Award, which she judged this year.
Neville Peat talk at Otago Museum
Neville Peat is talking about Seabird Genius Lance Richdale at the Otago Museum, this Thursday 26 November at 5:30 pm in the Hutton Theatre, entry is free.
Landfall 222
Published this week, Landfall 222 announces the winners of the competitions below, explores 'Christchurch and Beyond' with post-earthquake writing and artwork, makes 'A Centenary Tribute' to Allen Curnow, and includes a selection from submitted work, plus good and interesting reviews.
Winner of the Landfall Essay Competition 2011
Judged by David Eggleton
'On Tenuous Ground' by Philip Armstrong of Lyttelton
Highly commended
Raewyn Alexander:'Showdown at the Old Post Office'
Siobhan Harvey: 'The Sandals' Songs'
Natalie Kershaw: 'Encounters with Carl Stead and his Fantastic Other, CK'
Ruth Nichol: 'Making It'
Winner of the Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry 2011
Judged by Cilla McQueen
'The Truth Garden', a collection of poetry by Emma Neale
Highly commended
Nick Ascroft: 'Anonymous Phenomena'
Brent Kininmont: 'Terminal'
Marty Smith: 'Horse with Hat'
Albert Wendt: 'From Manoa to a Ponsonby Garden'
Kathleen Grattan Award announcement
FROM JUDGE CILLA MCQUEEN:
Our best poets have a special relationship with, and respect for, language. Their work has energy, relevance, unobtrusive technique and a voice of its own which has lyrical qualities, perceptiveness, imagination and integrity. These poets work at a high level with a complex gift which they can never fully control or understand.
A collection can be a meta-poem. It has some sort of shape, organic or wrought. Its poems may cluster around a theme, or each other. A voice, both oral and literary, carries the language. The poetry holds its original spark, not extinguished by craft.
My dowsing rod divines five manuscripts. Publisher-ready, they are possibly as good as they can be, interesting examples of poetry's manifold ways and means.
Each fulfils its charter to a high degree, each has character, wit and will, speaks as best it knows how and rejoices in language. I am taken into this and that collection's parallel universe and given the world through that poet's eyes, for the length of a deep reading and beyond. How different they are.
What is poetry? If you could define it exactly it'd cease to be, for uncertainty operates at its core. Its language is under tension. It appeals to memory and to the ear. It has asked to be written and lends itself to being read. It has shape and what Vincent O'Sullivan calls 'charge'.
The poetic line is at its heart, the language heightened by image, metaphor and sound. The lyrical qualities feel unforced. The reader is aware of intelligence at work. Self-taught or workshopped? It did seem to me that a couple of collections had been overworked. Pretty well flawless, they had a slightly enervated tone.
There's courage and self-awareness, as well as literary awareness, in Nick Ascroft's verbal agility and insights, in Marty Smith's musically intelligent ear and sense of fun, in Brent Kininmont's sculpted, beautiful resonances.
Vital tension derives from the breath that carries the long lines of Albert Wendt's poetry. The Pacific oral tradition informs his unhurriedly evolving sequence. Calm, attentive to detail, his musings on the events and continuities of life are courageous, too. At the centre of this collection is the tender relationship of a couple in older age.
The breath held or expelled in wonder, frustration or delight energises Emma Neale's writing. Poems in 'The Truth Garden' take risks because they need to; in the clamour of family life they have required attention, collected thought and a spirited attitude. How else 'to stockpile time, how hoard its shine' except in poems drawn from relationships, home and garden and cast in words that 'spill like incandescence around your hands'. There's economy of language where a silence opens 'gently as a seedling thumbs its green key through the earth's soft lock.'
I congratulate Emma Neale on winning the Kathleen Grattan Award.
Highly commended:
Nick Ascroft: ‘Anonymous Phenomena’
Brent Kininmont: ‘Terminal’
Marty Smith: ‘Horse with Hat’
Albert Wendt: ‘From Manoa to a Ponsonby Garden’
 The Twelve Cakes of Christmas, by Helen Leach, available now
Helen Leach's Christmas cake book has arrived! Back orders and review copies are being sent out now. You can order here or email your request to booksales@otago.ac.nz
The Kathleen Grattan Award 2011 shortlist
This year's Kathleen Grattan Award was judged by Poet Laureate Cilla McQueen. Five poetry collections have been shortlisted from over 60 submissions.
The shortlisted manuscripts in no particular order are ...
Albert Wendt, 'From Manoa to a Ponsonby Garden'
Emma Neale, 'The Truth Garden'
Marty Smith, 'Horse with Hat'
Brent Kininmont, 'Terminal'
Nick Ascroft, 'Anonymous Phenomena'
The winner will be announced in Landfall 222 and by Lynn Freeman on Radio New Zealand National's Arts on Sunday programme on November 20.
The winner will be published by Otago University Press in 2012 and receives $16,000.
The Landfall Essay Competition 2011 shortlist
This year's Landfall Essay Competition was judged by David Eggleton. Five essays have been shortlisted.
In no particular order the shortlisted essays are:
Ruth Nichol, 'Making It'
Raewyn Alexander 'Show-down at the Old Post Office'
Siobhan Harvey, 'The Sandals' Songs'
Philip Armstrong, 'On Tenuous Ground'
Natalie Kershaw, 'Encounters with Karl Stead'
Congratulations to the five!
The winner will be published in Landfall 222 and announced by Lynn Freeman on Radio New Zealand National's Arts on Sunday programme on November 20.
 November 10: Book launch for Ruling Passions: Essays on Just About Everything, by Nick Perry, in Auckland
Ruling Passions
Essays on Just About Everything
Nick Perry
ISBN 978 1 877372 89 6, $45.00
There is a joint launch for Perry's Ruling Passions and Being Cultural by Dr Bruce Cohen on 10 November, 4:15-6pm at the Pat Hanan Room, Arts 2 Building, Level 5, Room 501, University of Auckland.
All are welcome to attend!
November 11: Neville Peat's Seabird Genius book launch in Dunedin
Seabird Genius
The Story of L.E. Richdale, the Royal Albatross and the Yellow-eyed Penguin
Neville Peat
ISBN 978 1 877578 11 3, $45.00
11 November, 5:30 pm at the Hocken Collections, cnr Anzac Ave and Parry St.
Mayor Dave Cull to launch book.
Neville is also speaking at Otago Museum on 24th November at 5:30pm.
All are welcome to attend!
November 8: Wild Heart: The Possibility of Wilderness in Aotearoa NZ book launch in Dunedin
Wild Heart
The Possibility of Wilderness in Aotearoa New Zealand
Mick Abbott and Richard Reeve, ISBN 978 1 877578 20 5, $45.00
8 November, 4.00–5.00 pm: Open lecture by Dr Jan Wright, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, ‘Prosperity or Posterity: The future of our conservation land’, Tower Lecture Room G07, College of Education, cnr Union St and Anzac Avenue, University of Otago.
5.15–7.00 pm, book launch at Scope Designlab, Leithbank Centre for Design, cnr Forth St & Leithbank, University of Otago. All are welcome to attend!
The Landfall Review Online
The Landfall Review Online has a brand-new look!
Visit www.landfallreviewonline.com to check it out and read our October issue, full of insightful, in-depth reviews on books of poetry, literary criticism, experimental fiction and more.
Plus, comment on our Facebook page on what design you like best (you can tab between five options on the site, one is pictured above) and go in to win the upcoming Landfall 222: Christchurch and Beyond.
Books in Review
Making Our Place
Exploring land-use tensions in Aotearoa New Zealand
Edited by Janet Stephenson, Jacinta Ruru & Mick Abbott
ISBN 978 1 877372 88 9, $45.00
‘Here at last is a selection of possible alternatives to conflict and some sound ideas on the way forward from some of the best minds in the field .... It should be required reading for local authority officials, lobby groups and those with an interest in how we share and manage the land.’ – Waikato Times, 29 October 2011
Landfall 221: Outside In
Edited by David Eggleton
ISBN 978 1 877578 40 3, $29.95 NZ
‘It is a journal to dip into, browse and savour over time .... Anyone interested in New Zealand literature, culture and indeed, identity, will want to remind themselves how interesting Landfall is.’ – Waikato Times, 15 October 2011
An Accidental Utopia?
Social Mobility and the Foundations of an Egalitarian Society, 1880-1940
Erik Olssen, ISBN 978 1 877372 64 3, $49.95
‘The book is saved from being a dry recitation of denominational percentages, performative rituals and discursive structures by Olssen’s sweeping prose.’ – Otago Daily Times, 10 September 2011
A Great New Zealand Prime Minister?
Reappraising William Ferguson Massey
James Watson and Lachy Paterson
ISBN 978 1 877578 07 6, $40
‘… this is one of those symposia that fairly puts the received image of an historical figure to the test. It does show fairly conclusively that there is a lot more to Bill Massey than we’ve been led to believe.’ – Reids Reader Blog, 19 September 2011
‘Olssen’s essay is the stand-out piece in this book, worth the purchase price alone.’ – New Zealand Listener, 30 September 20111
Promised New Zealand
Fleeing Nazi Persecution
Freya Klier, ISBN 978 1 877372 76 6, $45.00
‘This is a remarkable story of human tragedy and the will to survive. Freya Klier has filled in much background history, and treated the personal stories she was told with dignity and truth. The book is a fitting memorial and tribute to many brave people.’ – The Southland Times, 22 October 2011
Outspoken
Coming Out in the Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand
Liz Lightfoot
ISBN 978 1 877578 08 3, $40.00
‘Buy and enjoy this book, and give it to your loved ones to read as well. It is a welcome addition to our small treasure of books about our world.’ – Tamaki Makaurau Lesbian Newsletter, September 2011
‘This is a powerful book. You don’t have to be gay or lesbian to find these stories moving. I hope that they are heard with attentiveness and respect.’ – Touchstone, October 2011
Fiona Pardington
The Pressure of Sunlight Falling
Edited by Kriselle Baker and Elizabeth Rankin
ISBN 978 1 877578 09 0, $120
‘As a document of d’Urville’s South Pacific voyage, of pre-photographic recording, of connecting with the past through the power of image, and especially the unseverable connection of ancestry, The Pressure of Sunlight Falling has a resonance far beyond the obvious.’
– D Scene, 14 September 2011
Time of the Icebergs
David Eggleton
ISBN 978 1 877578 02 1, $25.00
‘This book contains the work of a poet in the full maturity of his voice.’ – North & South, October 2011
Fiona Pardington Touring Exhibition
The whakawatea and unveiling of ‘Fiona Pardington: The Pressure of Sunlight Falling’ will take place on 9 September at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. The exhibition will be open to the public from Saturday 10 September 2011 to 22 January 2012.
The Landfall Review Online
Art and fiction dominate the September issue of The Landfall Review Online, edited by David Eggleton. Visit www.landfallreviewonline.com to read insightful, in-depth reviews on the work of Lloyd Jones, Philip Temple, Fiona Farrell, Fiona Pardington, Julian Dashper, Allan Miller and more.
Stunning debut of the repairing of a life wins Mary Egan Typography Award at the Book Design Awards
 Christine Hansen, the wonderful designer of the late Leigh Davis' poetry book Stunning debut of the repairing of a life won the award for best typography last night in Auckland at the PANZ Book Design Awards. Congratulations to Christine!
Joanna Preston interview
Joanna Preston is doing an interview with Lynn Freeman for The Arts on Sunday, live at 12.30 pm on Sunday 4th September. Joanna and Carl Nixon will be talking with Lynn about the 'Putting Words to the Feelings' panel they will be doing at the Christchurch Arts Festival.
Poetry at Dunedin Public Art Gallery
Sunday, 14 August 2011, 3 pm
In conjunction with the beautiful Ralph Hotere and Bill Culbert installation Pathway to the Sea- Aramoana, NZ poets Bill Manhire, Cilla McQueen, Ian Wedde and David Eggleton will read from their works. All welcome.
Fiona Pardington in the Media
NZ Herald: feature interview with Linda Herrick
Radio NZ, Arts on Sunday: interview with Lynn Freeman, 31 July
Gulf News, Waiheke Island: interview
The Press and other Fairfax media: interview with Chris Moore
Listener review: forthcoming
Art News: profile
Jock Philips on Radio NZ
Jock Phillips will talk about A Great New Zealand Prime Minister: William Ferguson Massey on Nights on Radio NZ National tonight (Monday 8 August). Nights runs from 7 pm to 12 am.
Serie Barford
The wonderful 'Papa de los pobres' by Serie Barford, winner of the 2011 Seresin Landfall Residency, is featured in Bookseller NZ's Tuesday Poem section: read it here
 Going West Books and Writers Festival 2011
Going West began 15 years ago and was the Auckland region's first writers' festival. Its focus is on writers, thinkers and performers from New Zealand and the Pacific — past and present, established and emerging.
This year, catch Landfall editor and poet David Eggleton at their festival weekend taster: A Night with David Eggleton | Friday 2 September 8pm | Tool Room, Hardware Cafe, Titirangi Village | $15 entry on the door
On Saturday 9 September, a session called Landfall in Unknown Seas will include a Curnow reading by Eggleton and a discussion about the Seresin Landfall Residency and other Landfall literary competitions with Serie Barford and Wystan Curnow, 2010 and 2011 Residents, and Landfall publisher Wendy Harrex.
Kathleen Grattan Award and Landfall Essay Competition: Entries close July 31
Get your submissions in now, we are waiting for them!
Details on the Landfall Essay Competition (last year's winner was Ian Wedde)
Details on the Kathleen Grattan Award (last year's winner was Jennifer Compton). Cilla McQueen will be the judge of this year's competition.
Jennifer Compton in Auckland on National Poetry Day
 Jennifer Compton, winner of this year's Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry, is appearing at the ‘Poetry Central 2011’ event in Auckland on National Poetry Day: 5.30–7 pm, Friday 22nd July, Central City Library, Level 2, Lorne Street. Her winning manuscript, This City, is being published this month.
Jennifer Compton Book Launch: Wellington and Palmerston North
The 2010 Kathleen Grattan Award winner, Jennifer Compton's This City, will be launched in Wellington and Palmerston North in July. If you would like to attend either launch please come along!
The Wellington launch is Monday 18 July, 6 pm, Thistle Inn, 3 Mulgrave Street.
The Palmerston North launch is Tuesday 19 July, 6 pm, Bruce McKenzie Booksellers, 37 George Street.
Landfall Review Online July Issue
The July issue of Landfall Review Online is now live!
Featuring: A poetry round-up by David Eggleton, who reviews 7 recent volumes, David Elworthy looks at three books on Kiwi English, Graeme Lay on The Conductor by Sarah Quigley, David Herkt reviews Kendrick Smithyman's astounding translations of fourteen Italian modernist poets, + more. Visit www.landfallreviewonline.com
Art book Hauaga: The Art of John Pule and Stunning debut of the repairing of a life, a poetry book by the late Leigh Davis, are shortlisted for best typography in the PANZ Book Design Awards 2011.
 The judges commented of Hauaga 'The typography completes this illustrated art book, featuring a generous amount of white space and justified text set in two refined columns. A single font has cleverly been used to distinguish textual hierarchies.'
And on Stunning debut... : 'A large-format poetry book with centred texts is unusual. With this typography, the designer places full attention on the words and surrounding space. The design is sensitive and graceful and gives the handwritten elements the presence they deserve.'
Congratulations to Fiona Moffat and Wendy Harrex (Hauaga) and to Christine Hansen (Stunning debut of the repairing of a life)!
Article on Landfall Review Online in Dunedin's D-Scene
http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx#
Fiona Pardington Exhibition: The Pressure of Sunlight Falling
 Date: Sat 11 Jun 11 - Sun 28 Aug 11
Venue: Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
Event Type: Exhibitions
Entry Charge: Free
Fiona Pardington’s The pressure of sunlight falling is a powerful series of large-scale photographs that depict life-casts made from indigenous peoples of the South Pacific during one of French explorer Dumont d’Urville’s voyages in the early 1800s. Pardington examines the ways in which the photography of objects and even the proto-photographic medium of casting, can register empathy and the presence of former lives.
A photographer of international reputation, Pardington has exhibited widely in Australasia and in France at the Musee du Quai Branly. A selection from this series was included in the 2010 Biennale of Sydney.
Curated by Govett-Brewster Director Rhana Devenport.
Opening weekend panel discussion
Date: Sat 11 Jun 11
Time: 2.00pm - 3.30pm
Venue: Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
Event Type: Talks & Discussions
Entry Charge: Free
Join the writers of the publication Fiona Pardington: The Pressure of Sunlight Falling in a lively panel discussion. Book editors Elizabeth Rankin and Kriselle Baker, with writer Ross Calman and book designer Neil Pardington, give a talk chaired by Govett-Brewster Director Rhana Devenport.
Media Release Thursday 2 June 2011
Otago Art Book Receives International Indie Award
Hauaga: The Art of John Pule, edited by Nicholas Thomas and published by Otago University Press, has won the Bronze Medal for Best Regional (New Zealand/Australia) Non-Fiction in the 15th Annual Independent Publisher Book Awards 2011.
This is the first year the Award has had an Australia/New Zealand category. 'We jumped at this opportunity,' says publisher Wendy Harrex. 'The local book awards require NZ citizenship or residency for the author/editor, which disqualified our book.'
The 'IPPY' Awards, as they are known colloquially, first launched in 1996 in the United States and are designed 'to recognise the deserving but often unsung titles published by independent authors and publishers, and bring them to the attention of booksellers, buyers, librarians, and book lovers around the world.'
This year, medallists were chosen from 3,907 total entries: 3,059 in the national (USA) categories and 848 in the regional categories. The award-winners were honoured at a gala awards ceremony in New York on May 23rd.
John Pule is one of the most powerful and original artists of the new Oceania. From the mid-1990s his powerful, enigmatic and personal paintings attracted great interest, and his work came to be widely shown. Famously inspired by hiapo, the innovative barkcloths of nineteenth-century Niue, Pule has been fascinated by the Polynesian past and present, but his work ranges far more widely, responding both to ancestral culture, and to the global terror and violence of our time. This is the first book to deal with his art. In Hauaga, essays by leading writers – Peter Brunt, Gregory O'Brien, Nicholas Thomas – and an interview with John Pule provide several routes into his engaging and compelling works.
An associated touring exhibition of John Pule's work, curated by the Wellington City Art Gallery, will open in Christchurch later in 2011 and in Auckland in 2012. Since its release in June 2010, Hauaga has received outstanding critical and public reception and was most recently named one of the top 100 books of 2010 by the New Zealand Listener.
For more information, contact publicity@otago.ac.nz
Landfall 221 in the Media
 A nice write up about Landfall 221 from Bookman Beattie:
'It is always a happy day when the latest issue of Landfall arrives in my mail box.
Editor David Eggleton has pulled together an interesting, diverse and impressive bunch of stuff - poetry (of course), short fiction, non-fiction, art portfolios in colour by environmental artists Maureen Lander and Russell Moses, essays, diary excerpts and reviews.
Very timely are reviews of Patrick Evans' Gifted by Vincent O'Sullivan; Their Eyes Were Shining by Tim Wilson reviewed by C.K.Stead; while Elizabeth Smither reviews The Hut Builder by Lawrence Fearnley. Two of these titles were announced yesterday in the fiction short-list for the NZ Post Book Awards while the third, Gifted, is a surprise omission in the opinion of many observers.
Also reviewed, by Iain Sharp, is Lynn Jenner's Dear Sweet Harry which he considers "the most exciting local literary review of 2010. It was announced yesterday that it had won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry.
Don't miss this issue.'
Thanks Graham!
 The Radio Room, by Cilla McQueen, shortlisted in poetry section of the NZ POST BOOK AWARDS
Congratulations Cilla, and good luck for the 27th July, when the winners are announced!
Seresin Residency winner Serie Barford on Booksellers NZ blog
A number of Serie's poems will feature on the Booksellers NZ blog in June and July: 'The Sabattier Effect' will run on Tuesday 7 June. On Tuesday 14 June the blog will feature 'Making Starfish', and on Tuesday 19 July, 'Papa de los pobres (Potatoes of the poor)'.
Visit http://booksellersnz.wordpress.com/
Media Release Thursday 26 May 2011
Pasifika Writer Awarded Seresin Landfall Residency
Seresin Estate and Otago University Press are delighted to announce poet and fiction writer Serie
Barford as the 2011 recipient of the Seresin Landfall Residency.
Barford has been publishing her work since 1985 and first had a short story in Landfall in 1987. After the 2007 publication of Tapa Talk, her third
book of poetry, she returned to writing short stories, and this spring will use the Residency to work on a collection at Waterfall Bay in the
Marlborough Sounds.
Serie Barford says ‘I’m delighted to be the recipient of the Seresin Landfall Residency. I’ve so many ideas and I’m grateful for the opportunity to establish creative space in a beautiful location. I’ll forget about the demands of my day job and will immerse myself in storytelling for a while. Fa’afetai tele lava.’
The stories in the collection are based on the concept of teu le va, the Samoan notion of taking care
of relationships within and between the visible and invisible worlds. Her working title is Our Stories
are Within Us, the title of a story published in Niu Voices: Contemporary Fiction 1 (Huia, 2006). This
story was also translated for publication in Brèves 91, a French journal devoted to short fiction
(Atelier du Gué, 2010). Serie is also a teacher and it is hoped that the opportunity to focus on her
writing without interruption at Waterfall Bay will see the completion of this collection.
Michael Seresin says ‘the creative world, in all its manifestations is a tough one to survive in, let
alone thrive. I hope the powerful land & seascape of Waterfall Bay will provide a haven for Serie to
find some stimulus to help her undoubted talent as a writer and poet. I love her work and know she
is deserving of this award.’
Established in 2009, the Residency provides a New Zealand writer with six weeks’ accommodation
in either Tuscany or Marlborough to progress or complete a significant project. The inaugural
Seresin Landfall Residency winner was C.K. Stead, who spent six weeks in Tuscany in 2009
working on his memoir, Southwest of Eden and other projects. Wystan Curnow spent six weeks in Tuscany on his forthcoming book on Colin McCahon. Extracts from his Residency journal appear in Landfall 221, which has just been released. In 2010, the entry criteria for the Residency were revised so that it was targeted to support early to mid-career writers.
Entries for the 2012 Seresin Landfall Residency close on 31 January 2012. Criteria for entry are
available on the Otago University Press website, www.otago.ac.nz/press.
For more information or an author interview please contact:
Lorraine Steele
+64 9 4802007
steele.lorraine@gmail.com
NZ Herald reviews Cilla McQueen, David Eggleton and Leigh Davis
The May 14 issue of the New Zealand Herald featured a review of three Otago University Press books (The Radio Room, Cilla McQueen; Time of the Icebergs, David Eggleton; and Stunning debut of the repairing of a life, Leigh Davis) by Auckland poet and children's author Paula Green:
'Cilla McQueen, New Zealand's Poet Laureate, has produced a terrific new collection that, like any good radio, offers a range of options for the reader', writes Green, while 'Time of the Icebergs is a sumptuous buffet – the tables laden withtropical flavours, lush colour, and the astute taste buds of the cook.' On Leigh  Davis: 'Leigh Davis was one of our most innovative poets. His first book, Willy's Gazette, has resonated in its originality and daring over decades. His last book, Stunning debut of the repairing of a life, was written after surgery on a brain tumour and while undergoing radiotherapy. As he struggled to communicate he kept a notebook of poems that then became the final long poem. Sadly, he passed away before learning his manuscript had won the Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry. The first half of Stunning debut reproduces pages from his notebookwhere language is like a foreign country to grapple with. It is as though he is transmitting something from a far-off place that gets fractured accross the distance. As you travel through the visual stutterings and the hiccuping sounds of the book, you fall upon lines you want to hold to the light and marvel at.'
The Landfall Review Online, May 2011
 The May issue of The Landfall Review Online is online now, jam-packed with in-depth and insightful reviews from, among others, Vilsoni Hereniko, Anne Kennedy, Jenny Powell and Richard Reeve. LRO editor David Eggleton contributes two fine pieces and our 'from the archives' classic review is a piece on the writing of Maurice Shadbolt and O.E Middleton by R.A Copland. Our June issue will be live June 1. Feedback is appreciated!
John Pule Hauaga/Arrivals National Tour
A reminder that following on from the inaugural exhibition at City Art Gallery in Wellington, the John Pule – Hauaga/Arrivals major retrospective exhibition is touring nationally. The tour began at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery on 19 February 2011 and will be there untill 8 May 2011. It then goes to Christchurch Art Gallery and Auckland Art Gallery.
 Butterflies of the South Pacific
New profile on Brian Patrick, author of the upcoming Otago University Press book, Butterflies of the South Pacific, coming in 2011:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/life-style/gardening/4514889/A-passion-for-butterflies-never-dies
OUP Poets at 'Readers and Writers Alive' Festival and the Landfall Poetry Wall at Invercargil Public Library
Readers and Writers Alive! Invercargill was back for another year. Yet again the Dan Davin Literary Foundation and Invercargill City Libraries put together a fabulous range of events. On Friday 29 April, guests experienced some real Southern poetry with poets including former Southlander Kay McKenzie Cooke and Christchurch poet Joanna Preston in an evening of poetry and wine.
Readers and Writers Alive! also brought back the ever popular Poetry Wall, sponsored by Landfall, at the Invercargill Public Library. Entries closed 29 April 2011.
 Reading for Writing with Joanna Preston
As part of the Readers and Writers Alive! festival Joanna Preston held a workshop that climbed inside poems to find out what makes them tick.
Auckland Writers and Readers Festival:
'This One's for Christchurch'
“If I set things down on a page and put words to the feelings, I feel more in control,” wrote Fiona Farrell in an email to her friends a week after the devastating earthquake on February 22. “Everything will have to be reconfigured, reimagined, our internal maps of the place will have to be redesigned.” Five Canterbury writers – Carl Nixon, Fiona Farrell, Joanna Preston, Tusiata Avia and Sarah Quigley – reflected on their experiences and pay tribute to their “lost” city on 14 May at the Aotea Centre.
The April issue of Landfall Review Online is now archived. It features reviews of new NZ books by Siobhan Harvey, Ian Wedde, Jeffrey Paparoa Holman and more. Visit www.landfallreviewonline.com
Author appearances: Cilla McQueen
29 April: Oamaru Public Library (6 pm)
13 May: Aotea Centre Auckland, Auckland Readers and Writers Festival (5.30 pm)
'Poets Laureate': Current Poet Laureate Cilla McQueen (2009-2011), inaugural Poet Laureate Bill Manhire (1997-1999), Elizabeth Smither (2001-2003), Jenny Bornholdt (2005-2007) and Michele Leggott (2008-2009) performed for ten minutes each, before talking about what it means to hold the title. MC: Fiona Farrell.
14 May: Aotea Centre Auckland, Auckland Readers and Writers Festival (5.30 pm)
'The Best of Best NZ Poems': Cilla McQueen, Tusiata Avia, Paula Green, Bill Manhire, Emma Neale, Vincent O'Sullivan, Elizabeth Smither and Robert Sullivan performed live in celebration of the publication of The Best of Best New Zealand Poems. MC: Fergus Barrowman.
Recent work by Cilla McQueen:
The Radio Room
Cilla McQueen, ISBN 978 1 877578 03 8, $30.00, 2010
A Wind Harp (compact disc)
Cilla McQueen, ISBN 1 877372 15 3, $34.95, 2006
Cilla McQueen and David Eggleton interviewed on Arts on Sunday, Radio NZ National
28/11/10: Click here to listen
The Secret Lives of Writers
NZ Book Month has drawn to a close for another year, but not without a grand finale to celebrate Dunedin’s literary talent.
Poet David Eggleton, journalist Charmian Smith, novelist Vanda Symon, historian Neville Peat, and playwright and novelist Andrew Porteous spoke at an event held at the Dunedin City Library on 31 March, revealing the highs and lows of writing professionally.
 Neville Peat has written forty books in his career, but also worked as a journalist, writing shipping news for Cape Town’s Argus newspaper and Dunedin's Evening Star in the 1970s. Peat was awarded New Zealand's highest literary prize, the Creative New Zealand Michael King Writers' Fellowship, in 2007, to undertake his latest work of non-fiction, Tasman, the Biography of an Ocean.
David Eggleton is one of Dunedin’s best-loved performing poets, whose award in 1985 as London’s Time Out Street Entertainer of the Year stood him in good stead - winning the PEN Best First Book of Poetry, and becoming the University of Otago’s Burns Fellow in 1990. He has thrilled and charmed audiences ever since, not only with poetry readings but with his collaborative work with other artists. He is currently the editor of Landfall. David Eggleton was recently interviewed by Vanda Symon on the Write On radio show (part of Toroa Radio). You can listen to the podcast by clicking here
Recent books by David Eggleton:
Time of the Icebergs: Poems
David Eggleton, ISBN 978 1 877578 02 1, NZ $25.00, 2010
Landfall 221: The Environment Issue
Edited by David Eggleton
ISBN 978 1 877578 40 3, $29.95, forthcoming May 2011
Recent books by Neville Peat:
The Catlins and the Southern Scenic Route
Neville Peat, ISBN 978 1 877372 78 0, $19.95
Revised edition 2010
Peat is also the author of Wild Dunedin, Wild Fiordland, Wild Rivers, Wild Central, Queenstown, Wanaka, Stuart Island, Detours: A Journey through Small-town NZ, Kiwi: The People’s Bird, and Southern Land, Southern People.
Recent reviews
 Doing Well & Doing Good
Ross & Glendining: Scottish Enterprise in NZ
S.R.H. Jones, ISBN 978 1 877372 74 2, $49.95
‘Weaving the strands of individual, family, and business history together, Dr Jones has produced an outstanding contribution to New Zealand’s economic history.’ – Artifacts, October 2011
Time of the Icebergs: Poems
David Eggleton, ISBN 978 1 877578 02 1, NZ $25.00
‘Eggleton is our ear to the ground and eye on the world, reminding us of the balefulness of it all, at times even sounding like some latter-day glazed-eyed prophet crying out in the wilderness streets and overcrowded shopping malls, denouncing modern-day demons.’ – Waikato Times, 25 March 2011
 John Larkins Cheese Richardson:
‘The Gentlest, Bravest and Most Just of Men’
Olive Trotter, ISBN 978 1 877578 01 4, $45.00
‘This definitive biography provides an informative and fascinating insight into early New Zealand politics, and the life of a pioneer who was not afraid to voice his opinions and argue for what he saw as just causes.’ – Heritage Matters, Issue 26, Autumn 2011
Hauaga: The Art of John Pule
Edited by Nicholas Thomas, ISBN 978 1 877372 80 3, $120
‘There can be no doubt that Pule is not resting on his laurels, for he is continuing to invent himself as an artist, and still producing vital and exciting works ... His journey is well recorded in both images and text, and now in this book.’ – The Lumiere Reader, 11 March 2011
The Radio Room
Cilla McQueen, ISBN 978 1 877578 03 8, $30.00
‘[McQueen’s] newest collection of verse, The Radio Room, reinforces her standing in the poetry world’ – Waikato Times, 25 March 2011
Social Media
Landfall has reached over one thousand friends on Facebook! Befriend us and find out everything Landfall related as it happens
Remember too, that you can follow Otago University Press on Twitter
Recent Reviews
The Radio Room
Cilla McQueen, ISBN 978 1 877578 03 8, $30
‘Somehow McQueen has managed to capture the entire world and fold it between covers.’
– NZ Listener, 19 February 2011
Time of the Icebergs: Poems
David Eggleton, ISBN 978 1 877578 02 1, NZ $25.00
‘Eggleton’s gifts for the sounding line and the startling image are genuine and must be the envy of many a poet.’
– NZ Listener, 19 February 2011
Celebrating NZ Book Month with launch of Landfall Review Online
The clear critical voice of Landfall magazine has commented on New Zealand's literature formore than 60 years. The magazine was shortlisted for the Book Pages of the Year Award in 2008 and 2009.
However, like other print media, Landfall has found it difficult to cover the full range of significant books being published, since the number of new books increases each year.
The solution? The Landfall Review is extending out of the magazine to become The Landfall Review Online. As well as the reviews included in the two print issues each year, from today Landfall is publishing review pages online, with each monthly issue featuring six to eight reviews. An archive of back reviews will be a feature of the site.
The review pages are edited by Landfall editor David Eggleton and published with the assistance of Creative New Zealand as a one-year pilot project in reviewing New Zealand books online. Eggleton has won the Reviewer of the Year award six times and brings special expertise to the site. Typically the reviews will be substantial and will be commissioned by Eggleton from a mix of leading and emerging writers.
It is hoped that Landfall Review Online will be a service to the literary community, making readers more aware of the books that are being published, giving a wide range of New Zealand books international exposure, and leading back to the magazine as a further showcase for New Zealand writing.
Contact: Wendy Harrex Publisher, Otago University Press Tel: 03 479 4194. Email: wendy.harrex@otago.ac.nz
Read our 2010 Catalogue Online
Click here to browse our 2010 catalogue
Recent reprints
Recently reprinted are:
Helen Leach’s From Kai to Kiwi Kitchen
Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies
Helen May’s Politics in the Playground
Bronwyn Dalley & Margaret Tennant’s Past Judgement
Brendan Hokowhitu et al’s Indigenous Identity and Resistance
Recent Reviews
 Landfall 220: Open House
Edited by David Eggleton and Richard Reeve, ISBN 978 1 877372 99 5, $29.95
'Landfall appears to have a steady hand on the tiller. The king is dead (and so are his stewards): long live the king'. – NZ Herald, 1 Feb 2011
'Landfall has a more open feel to it …. And it is better for it. Magazines that take on new writers will sooner or later uncover something brilliant …' – Taranaki Daily News, 19 Feb 2011
The Radio Room
Cilla McQueen, ISBN 978 1 877578 03 8, $30.00
‘McQueen allows words to slip stream rhythmically off her tongue onto the page – delicious.’ – D Scene, 19 January, 2011
‘Her distinctive voice shimmers with just the right amount of pathos to induce repeated reads.’ – Otago Daily Times, 29 January, 2011
Time of the Icebergs: Poems
David Eggleton, ISBN 978 1 877578 02 1, NZ $25.00
‘Gasping for breath, hand rifling through hair, galloping over, under and through words, this is the David Eggleton I’m familiar with.’ – D Scene, 19 January, 2011
‘... beautiful, mysterious and uplifting ...’ – Otago Daily Times, 29 January, 2011
Food historian Helen Leach interviewed on Radio NZ National
 Helen Leach, author of the recenty published OUP book, From Kai to Kiwi Kitchen, was interviewed twice on Radio National last week. Join her below as she discusses what we eat, and what we used to eat ...
Audio from 13 Jan 2011: LISTEN TO PODCAST
Audio from 20 Jan 2011: LISTEN TO PODCAST
Hauaga: The Art of John Pule named as one of the top 100 books of 2010
The Listener's team of reviewers this week named Hauaga: The Art of John Pule, edited by Nicholas Thomas, as one of the top 100 reads of 2010. The full list of recommended reading is in this week's print issue and can be viewed at this link
The 2010 Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry Announced
21/11/2010 The Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry is New Zealand’s major poetry prize and in 2010 is judged by Vincent O'Sullivan.
His choice from the many collections of work submitted was 'This City' by Jennifer Compton, a long resident in Australia, who still writes as a New Zealander. Compton's volume 'sustains a questing, warmly sceptical mind's engagement with wherever it is, whatever it takes in, and carries the constant drive to say it right,' says O'Sullivan.
Jennifer Compton was born in New Zealand in 1949 and now lives in Australia. Since Jennifer sold her first poem at the age of fifteen to the Listener she has written for television, for the stage, for radio, and she also writes fiction, memoir and creative non-fiction. She has had poems in several of the rival Best Australian Poems and Best Australian Poetry books and this year she will have a poem in The Best New Zealand Poems. A book of memoir – Merrimba – is forthcoming from Ginninderra Press, as well as her winning collection for the Kathleen Grattan Award, This City, which will be published by Otago University Press in July of 2011.
Two other collections were runners-up: Ian Wedde's 'The Lifeguard' and Victoria Broome’s 'The Big Red Engine'.
About Jennifer Compton, Winner of The Kathleen Grattan Award 2010
Jennifer Compton was born in Wellington in 1949. Two of her poems were published in the NZ Listener when she was just 15 years old. In 1972 she travelled to Sydney with her husband Matthew O'Sullivan and attended the Playwrights' Studio at NIDA. The play she wrote for this course, Crossfire, jointly won the Newcastle Playwrighting Competition in 1974, premiered at the Nimrod Theatre in Sydney and was published by Currency Press. It was also presented by Downstage Theatre in Wellington in the late 1970s.
Until the early eighties, when her two children were born, Compton flew backwards and forwards across the Tasman, working in both countries. Her radio plays A Wigwam For A Goose's Bridle, Morning Glories, and Several Local Dandelions were produced by both the ABC and Radio NZ. And she won the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Award in 1977 for her story 'The Man Who Died Twice'.
More recently Compton has concentrated on writing poetry and short prose. In 1995, her poem 'Blue Leaves' won the Robert Harris Poetry Prize and she was awarded the NSW Ministry For The Arts Fellowship, the first time this had been awarded for poetry. Her book of poetry, Blue, was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Prize. A stage play called The Big Picture premiered at the Griffin Theatre in Sydney, and was performed by Circa Theatre in Wellington in the late '90s and by Perth Theatre Company in 2010. That, too, was published by Currency Press. Her book of poetry, Parker & Quink, was published by Ginninderra Press in 2005 and a new book of poetry, Barefoot, is just out from Picaro Press.
Jennifer Compton has been a guest at many literary festivals in Australia. In 2005, she was a guest at the International Festival of Poetry in Genoa. In 2006, she was a guest at the Sarajevo Poetry Festival and is booked to attend this festival again in 2011. Throughout her writing life she has considered herself a New Zealand writer. Since her children left home, she has been spending increasing amounts of time in this country. In 2008, she was Writer in Residence at the Randell Cottage in Wellington and as Massey Visiting Literary Artist in 2010, she workshopped her new stage play, The Third Age.
'This City', the manuscript that won The Kathleen Grattan Award, will be published by Otago University Press on National Poetry Day, July 2011.
LANDFALL announces new permanent editor and review website
21/11/2010 Critic, poet and non-fiction writer David Eggleton is to be the next editor of Landfall, it was announced today. Six times winner of the Montana NZ Book Reviewer of the Year Award, and invited judge of many literary competitions around the country, Eggleton brings years of reviewing and assessment experience to the role of sifting creative writing and essays from both emerging and established writers.
‘At a time when New Zealand books are becoming less visible in other media, David will bring his special expertise as a reviewer to The Landfall Review and, early in 2011, with the assistance of funding from Creative New Zealand, he will expand this part of the magazine on to the internet in The Landfall Review Online,’ says Landfall publisher Wendy Harrex of Otago University Press.
Also announced in Landfall 220 are the winners of two competitions.
Winner of The Landfall Essay Competition, judged by Poet Laureate Cilla McQueen, is Wellington writer Ian Wedde's 'The Grass-Catcher': 'His search for and examination of the twin within is honest and tender,' she says. Runners-up are John Newton, writing about the impact of European refugees on our culture, and Tim Corballis, on our changing cities. An essay on nursing by Stephanie de Montalk is highly commended.
The Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry is New Zealand's major poetry prize and in 2010 is judged by Vincent O'Sullivan. His choice from the many collections of work submitted? 'This City' by Jennifer Compton, long resident in Australia, who still writes as a New Zealander. Compton's volume 'sustains a questing, warmly sceptical mind's engagement with wherever it is, whatever it takes in, and carries the constant drive to say it right,' says O'Sullivan. Two other collections were runners-up: Ian Wedde's 'The Lifeguard' and Victoria Broome's 'The Big Red Engine'.
Landfall 220 is themed 'open house' and makes an exhilarating read. There's new voices, an eclectic range of poetry, a whole bunch of 'first-person' fictions, reviews of dozens of recent New Zealand books, and terrific artwork by Max Oettli and Andrew Ross.
2010 Landfall Essay Competition Winner Announced
 21/11/2010 Winner of The Landfall Essay Competition, judged by Poet Laureate Cilla McQueen, is Wellington writer Ian Wedde's 'The Grass-Catcher': 'His search for and examination of the twin within is honest and tender,' McQueen says. This essay will be published in Landfall 220: Open House, out on November 22 2010.
Runners-up are John Newton, writing about the impact of European refugees on our culture, and Tim Corballis, on our changing cities. An essay on nursing by Stephanie de Montalk is highly commended.
Our warm congratulations to Ian, who was also a runner-up in this year's Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry.
About Ian Wedde, Winner of the Landfall Essay Competition 2010
Born in New Zealand in 1946, Ian Wedde grew up in (then) East Pakistan and England, went to university in Auckland (M.A. 1st Class Honours). He is a poet, novelist, essayist, and curator and has published fourteen collections of poetry, five novels, two books of essays, and numerous edited books, anthologies, and art catalogues. His awards include New Zealand book awards for both poetry and fiction, and, as editor, for art book design; the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship at Menton; a Laureate of the Arts Foundation of New Zealand; Distinguished Alumnus of Auckland University; Michael King Fellow at the University of Auckland; and an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Wedde has been poetry critic for the London Magazine, art critic for the Wellington Evening Post, and Head of Art and visual Culture at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. His most recent books are a novel, Chinese Opera (VUP 2008); a book of poems, Good Business (AUP 2009), and an art monograph, Bill Culbert: Making Light Work (AUP/RGAP 2009). A new novel is due from VUP in early 2011. He is currently writing a screen-play of the novel Chinese Opera, and a book about the meaning of home, The Grass-Catcher, an extract from which won the Landfall Essay Competition 2010. He lives in Wellington, New Zealand, with his wife Donna Malane, a screen-writer, television and film producer, and novelist.
New Reviews of Tarara, Lighted Windows, Mad or Bad, Beyond the Scene, Hauaga and More ...
Beyond the Scene
Landscape and Identity in Aotearoa
New Zealand
Co-Edited by Janet Stephenson, Mick Abbott & Jacinta Ruru, ISBN 978 1 877372 81 0, $45.00
'These are wonderful stories and the editors need to be applauded for bringing them to us at this time in our evolving history.' – Waikato Times, 22 Oct 2010
Mad or Bad?
The Life and Exploits of Amy Bock
Jenny Coleman, ISBN 978 1 877372 71 1, $49.95
'It reads like a series of adventures, though it can't have been easy to separate truth from fiction.'
– Heritage Matters, Issue 24, Spring 2010
Lighted Windows
Critical Essays on Robyn Hyde
Edited by Mary Edmond Paul, ISBN 978 1 877372 58 2, $40.00
'It is an excellent book of a consistently high standard and adds much to our understanding of Hyde’s place in the story of her country's literature.'
– Years Work in English, vol. 89, no. 1, Sept 2010
Facing the Music
Charles Baeyertz and The Triad
Joanna Woods, ISBN 978 1 877372 55 1, $45.00
'Woods covers the life of Baeyertz and of the journal with both enthusiasm and critical understanding, making her book a major contribution to cultural history in a period that is relatively unfamiliar to modern readers.'
– Years Work in English, vol. 89, no. 1, Sept 2010
Tarara
The Cultural Politics of Croat and Maori Identity in New Zealand
Senka Bozic-Vrbancic, ISBN 978 1 877372 09 4, $49.95
'... Tarara is well written and only seldom descends into jargon, despite a very heavy theoretical base. The variety of sources employed is commendable and ranges from interviews and photographs to historical records. These are further enhanced by the use of illustrations which complement and highlight the text.'
– Journal of Pacific History, Vol. 45, No. 2, September 2010
Hauaga
The Art of John Pule
Edited by Nicholas Thomas, ISBN 978 1 877372 80 3, $120
'Hauaga – and all it contains – is a thing of terrifying beauty.'
– Sunday Star Times, 26 Sept 2010
Cilla McQueen Receives the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement
On 18 October, Cilla McQueen was honoured in the Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement. Three writers were recognised in the categories of non-fiction (James McNeish), poetry (McQueen) and fiction (Joy Cowley).
Administered by Creative New Zealand, each writer receives $60,000 in recognition of their significant contribution to New Zealand literature.
Cilla McQueen is the New Zealand Poet Laureate for 2009–2011 and has published over 10 volumes of poetry. She has won the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry three times. Her first collection, Homing In, also won the 1983 Jessie MacKay Award.
McQueen has also held the University of Otago's Burns Fellowship and a Fulbright Visiting Writers' Fellowship.
Coverage of the award featured in The Dominion Post, The Southland Times, The Marlborough Express and The Sunday Star Times.
Cilla’s latest volume of poetry is The Radio Room, out now.
Congratulations Cilla!
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