NEW RELEASES
Out of the carton and onto the shelf.
Set amidst the physical and psychological landscapes of New Zealand's southern hills and grasslands, Beneath Pale Water is a social realist and expressionistic novel that follows a triangle of three damaged individuals - a sculptor, a vagrant and a model - who have grown calcified shells against the world. Their search for identity and belonging leads them into dangerous territory that threatens both their sanity and lives. As their protective shells crack they are left vulnerable-both physically and emotionally-to the high country winds and their own conflicts that, ultimately, might free - or destroy them.
>> Review on Radio NZ National.
A huge amount of documentary detail, arranged by location and by theme.
"Vanishing Points concerns itself with appearance and disappearance as modes of memory, familial until we lose sight of that horizon line and must settle instead for a series of intersecting arcs. It is full of stories caught from the air and pictures made of words. It stands here and goes there, a real or an imagined place. If we can work out the navigation the rest will follow."
Poetry and prose poems from an outstanding poet.
Includes the winners of the 2017 Landfall Essay Competition, the 2017 Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry and the 2017 Caselberg Trust International Poetry Prize. No-Fiction and poetry from the usual literary suspects (and some less usual ones), art (Jenna Packer, James Robinson, Andrew McLeod) and reviews.
We take much of city life for granted, but almost every way we interact with a city embeds us in a web of technology designed to make living in proximity to many other humans both possible and pleasurable. Winkless helps us to see what is all around us.
"Offers a unique insight into the revolutionary thinking that is shaping big cities around the world." - Sunday Times
>> Did you hear Winkless (now a Wellington resident) on Radio New Zealand National?
Eilis Ni Dhuibhne's stories are widely acclaimed for their acute perception of Irish women's lives, the power of her verbal economy, and her skillful and unique use of both humour and the fantastic.
"The climate crisis is also a crisis of culture, and thus of the imagination." Is our resistance to addressing climate change embedded in literature, as well as in history and politics? How can writers and artists clear the intellectual dead wood that blocks the path to effective change?
An excellent collection of oral history and context giving insight into the experience of children in one of New Zealand's health camps (to which children from the Nelson area were referred). From the late 1940s, health camps were established to provide health care and education for sickly, disadvantaged and 'at risk' children.
A beautifully presented cookbook, showcasing the French-nuanced Vietnamese food and Vietnamese-nuanced French baking as produced in the Elizabeth Street Cafe.
>> Some sample pages.
An excellent introduction to 66 works of Chinese literature. Much needed.
Why is one compelled to write, to cocoon oneself from others and fill empty space with words? Patti Smith takes us across the invisible line between devotion and obsession to show us the workings of her creativity.
>> Smith channels a literary laureate.
"Too long overlooked, Emma’s legacy mimicked her life – Labyrinths is the first mainstream publication to recognise both the value of her contributions as a practitioner of analytical psychology, but more importantly to acknowledge the integral role she played in the discipline’s development. As Clay astutely demonstrates, Jungian theory was a direct product of the specifics of this marriage." - Guardian
In a near-future, war-ravaged London, impoverished inhabitants are herded into “the Strip”, surveilled constantly by drones and periodically bombed into further submission. Gripping YA dystopia.
Isabella of Castile, Anne de Beaujeu, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, Jeanne d'Albret &c.
"Gristwood handles multiple narrative strands with tremendous finesse. Densely packed with fascinating material, this immensely ambitious undertaking succeeds triumphantly.' - Literary Review
From Canada's global cities to its Arctic Circle - from the country's ongoing story of civil rights movements to languages under pressure - the writers in this issue upend the ways we imagine land, reconciliation, truth and belonging, revealing the histories of a nation's future.
Spirits in jam jars, mini-apocalypses, animal hearts and side shows. A girl runs a coffin hotel on a remote island. A boy is worried his sister has two souls. A couple are rewriting the history of the world. Mermaids are on display at the local aquarium. Twelve haunting stories from this bookshop-positive author (and bookseller).
When Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic ended their relationship they founded a museum for objects that embody the arc of human relationships, from their ignition through their development to their demise. They have curated a selection from the collection.
>> Visit the website.
"A quietly shattering coming-of-age story set in the late 'fifties and early 'sixties. Hill's storytelling is vivid, yet spare. From the Heart is a captivating portrait of a woman caught in the wrong era. This slender novel could be devoured in an afternoon, but it has an unsettling quality that will stay with the reader long after it is finished." - Daily Telegraph
Possibly the best book on the subject.
An inspiring record of the working processes (and the end results) of the celebrated letting artist.
>> What is the difference between a calligrapher, a lettering artist and a type designer?
An account of a journey up the Finnish coast of the Gulf of Bothnia on board a government icebreaker.
"Travel writing at its very best." - Daily Mail
From protests around climate change and immigrant rights, to Occupy, the Arab Spring, and #BlackLivesMatter, a new generation is unleashing strategic nonviolent action to shape public debate and force political change. When mass movements erupt onto our television screens, the media consistently portrays them as being spontaneous and unpredictable. Yet, in this book, Mark and Paul Engler look at the hidden art behind such outbursts of protest, examining core principles that have been used to spark and guide moments of transformative unrest.
"Absorbing...Ambitious...Indispensable. A genuine gift to social movements everywhere." - Naomi Klein
How does evolution actually work? Is life inevitable or a one-off fluke? Could life have taken an entirely different course? What are selfish genes and are they really the driving force in evolution? How has our understanding of evolution changed?
An excellent resource for everyone from young parents to grandparents, showing how to provide developmentally rich experiences without specialist equipment.
By delving into vivid memories of her traumatic childhood, confessions of self-doubt in her journals, and heartbreaking letters to and from her mother, Tan gives evidence to all that made it both unlikely and inevitable that she would become a writer.
From the sheet music of the nineteenth century through Tin Pan Alley to the rise of radio to the label wars and the atomisation of the music industry.
>> 'Love For Sale'.
>> 'Love For Sale'.
>> 'Love For Sale'.
>> 'Love For Sale'.
>> 'Love For Sale'.
>> 'Love For Sale'.
>> 'Love For Sale'.
>> 'Love For Sale'.
>> 'Love For Sale'.
On one level, this is an account of the renovation of a loft; on another it is an insight into the mindset of a craftsperson and the humanising benefits to be had from doing things well.
Magnificent.
When the Apollo mission sent back the first views of Planet Earth from space, how did this change the way we thought about ourselves, our place in the universe and our responsibility towards our planet? What
There's something strange on the Metropolitan Line. Why do commuters keep forgetting their encounters with ghosts on the rails? PC Peter Grant investigates in this, the first novella to accompany the 'PC Grant' ('a.k.a. 'Rivers of London') series. OTT.
Our noses are wired straight into our brains. What are the neurological, psychological and cultural dimesions of our sense of smell?
And attractive and clear introduction to gardening.
A magisterial biography from the author of Steve Jobs and Einstein.
Considered by Byron a fool but not a madman, the 3rd Earl of Portsmouth enjoyed funerals, pinching his servants and being bled (none of which exactly made him an exception to his time and station). In 1823 his family petitioned the court to have him declared insane. This is a fascinating piece of history.
Everything you've ever suspected is backed up by an expert, but what is the mental health status of the nation that elected him?
Esssays from Rebecca Solnit, Cheryl Strayed, Jessica Valenti, Nicole Chung and others.
The annual yearbook from Project Censored features the year's most underreported news stories, striving to unmask censorship, self-censorship, and propaganda in corporate-controlled media outlets.
New edition. Definitive.
A history of, a rumination on, and instructions for fire-making.
>> An incendiary art or a smouldering craft?