Kiwi writers

Which of these writers is a Great Kiwi Classic?

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Which of the following writers do you think deserves to be considered a Great Kiwi Classic?

Cover of Maurice Gee Life and work Cover of Your unselfish kindness Cover of The plays of Bruce Mason Cover of James K Baxter Complete prose

The answer is all of them, but if you had to pick one which would it be?

Since 2014 the New Zealand Book Council and Auckland Writers Festival,  have been awarding the title “Great Kiwi Classic” to our country’s most revered literary treasures. In 2014, Keri Hulme’s Booker Prize-winning novel The Bone People was selected after a wealth of public nominations, and Owls Do Cry by Janet Frame received the 2015 crown.

And they’re at it again this year with the above shortlist which will be hotly debated a the Auckland Writers Festival event, The Great Kiwi Classic: Face-Off, in which four super fans will each argue on behalf of one writer for the title 2016 Great Kiwi Classic author. A follow-up discussion will attempt to distil the essence of home-grown literary classics, chaired by Rosabel Tan, editor of The Pantograph Punch.

Rachel Barrowman, Mary Paul, John Smythe, John Weir

Literary biographer Rachel Barrowman (shortlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards) will punt for Maurice Gee; Mary Paul for Robin Hyde; theatre critic John Smythe for Bruce Mason; and John Weir for James K. Baxter.

Which of the four would you nominate as the 2016 Great Kiwi Classic author, and why? Let the New Zealand Book Council know in 400 words or less via email greatkiwiclassic@bookcouncil.org.nz or via a post on their Facebook page by 15 April 2016.

Your contribution could be published on the New Zealand Book Council’s blog Booknotes Unbound, and you’ll automatically be entered into the draw to win a prize pack of classic NZ books!

Ranginui Walker: Teller of truths

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Cover of Mata Toa: The life and times of Ranginui WalkerAt the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival in 2009, I was lucky enough to attend a session in which Ranginui Walker, academic, historian and biographer shared the stage with his own biographer and friend Paul Spoonley.

Over the course of the hour Walker came across as an intelligent, committed man with a great deal of personal integrity. Someone who never intended to be “the voice of Māoridom” for Pākehā New Zealand but somehow ended up there (and as you can imagine this was not often a comfortable position to be in). He spoke quietly and modestly of his accomplishments while there was no doubt that the courteous and stately manner was underlaid by a steely resolve. This is often the case with people who tell difficult truths.

Cover of Ka whawhai tonu matou: Struggle without endHis contribution to our understanding of ourselves as a country cannot be overstated. His 1990 history of New Zealand from a Māori perspective, Ka whawhai tonu matou: Struggle without end (along with Michael King’s The Penguin history of New Zealand) is a must read for anyone interested in how New Zealand came to be the place it is. It was a revelation to many and is a seminal work, which was later updated to address the Foreshore and Seabed debate. It is still a great and relevant read for all New Zealanders.

He wrote many other books that illuminated some aspect of the Māori experience of Aotearoa from a highly-acclaimed biography of Sir Apirana Ngata to a tribal history of his own beloved Whakatōhea iwi.

Ranginui Walker passed away yesterday at the age of 83. New Zealand has lost a great writer, thinker, and person.

Further Reading

New Zealand Book Week & the Rugby World Cup!

knit1purl12 Comments

It’s New Zealand Book Week and the final of the Rugby World Cup. How will we cope? What will we read? I’ve got it covered, so just relax and enjoy the ride.

Leading up to the game.

Cover of On top of everythingCover of No second chanceCover of CollisionCover of The demolition of the century

Followed by.

Cover of Running towards dangerCover of Heart of obsidianCover of Sacrifice

Opening play.

Cover of Final retributionCover of SoonCover of TrifectaCover of Trust no one

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Cover of Cross fingersCover of FalloutCover of The PredictionsCover of The journey

Half time sustenance.

Cover of Chocolate for breakfastCover of Blood wine and chocolateCover of Recipe for lifeCover of A sandwich short of a picnic

And, of course, the back-up plan.

Cover of A jold to the heart

How will you make it through the week?

Go, the All Blacks!

Mad about Mansfield

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What is it about Katherine Mansfield that continues to capture the imagination? Is it her gamine figure and thoroughly modern bob? Is it the fact that she died so young, at only 34 with presumably many more stories in her left unwritten? Is it the idea of someone with such a proper upbringing would so fully embracing the literary, bohemian lifestyle? Is it the turbulent, drama-filled love life? Or is it even… the writing?

Whatever the reason there is no shortage of material about Mansfield (with a new book based on her camping journals in the Ureweras published earlier this year), so what better way to celebrate the 127th anniversary of her birth than with one of the following –

Cover of The Urewera notebookCover of Katherine Mansfield: the story tellerCover of The material MansfieldCover of KeziaCover of The collected letters of Katherine MansfieldCover of Mansfield with monstersCover of Bloomsbury women & the wild colonial girlCover of Mansfield: a novelCover of Katerina: The Russian world of Katherine MansfieldCover of Thorndon: Wellington and Home: My Katherine Mansfield projectKatherine Mansfield: In from the marginCover of The Katherine Mansfield notebooksCover of Katherine Mansfield: A secret lifeCover of Katherine Mansfields' men

Search our catalogue for more Katherine Mansfield titles