Last night there was an event at Scorpio Books in Christchurch to launch Tell You What: Great New Zealand Nonfiction, 2015.
It was a bit of a homecoming – the origin of this book was co-editor Jolisa Gracewood in Connecticut observing Christchurch after the September 2010 earthquake. Her eagle eye took note of some great writing that our earthquakes “shook loose”.
Contributors Megan Clayton, Lara Strongman, Nic Low, and David Haywood read a sampling of their essays. We heard about birth, about messages from the past to the future, about Ōtautahi loosing itself, and ratty haircuts.
Each tale and teller different, unique. But in all of the stories, you felt the personal and the universal.
Tell you what is an omnium gatherum of great recent New Zealand writing, mostly from out on the Web. If you wanted to compare it to food – you could say a degustation or tasting plates – but actually the essays are more substantial than that. Each piece is a complete meal and you can dip in and read, or devour it cover to cover (I did the latter). It features Eleanor Catton, Elizabeth Knox, Tina Makereti, Steve Braunias, Naomi Arnold, snails, cycling, gardens, Kim Dotcom, and Rihanna’s tattoo.
It is a great book. Read it.
More
- Information (and sample pages) on the Auckland University Press website.
- Book Review: Tell You What: Great New Zealand Non-fiction 2015, Aaron Blaker, Booksellers NZ
- David Slack on New Nonfiction Anthology ‘Tell You What’Metro
Christchurch City Libraries Blog 