Why I won’t write about swimmingPoet Kate Camp learned to swim late in life. Now it's a defining component of her identity. But why won't she write about it?By Kate Camp | 15th March, 2025Guest writer
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending March 14Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is back. By The Spinoff Review of Books | 14th March, 2025
‘It’s such a gift to read something out loud’: Nafanua Purcell Kersel’s life in booksThe author of new poetry collection Black Sugarcane on the best and worst things she's read, the call of the waiting room coffee table and more.By The Spinoff Review of Books | 12th March, 2025
Look who’s coming to Auckland Writers Festival 2025Our picks for this year's most unmissable sessions. By Claire Mabey | 12th March, 2025
The Spinoff Essay: Diary of a writers’ festivalAdelaide Writers' Week was vibrant, resourced and thriving. So why, returning home with a head full of plans, did Claire Mabey feel unexpectedly sad?By Claire Mabey | 8th March, 2025
‘Are you hungry? Are you starved?’: Inside the biggest night in NZ slam poetryA journey from the 14th annual New Zealand Poetry Slam all the way back to where it began. By Ben Fagan | 8th March, 2025Community manager
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending March 7How to make croissants at home, the latest Han Kang, and the requisite cosy fiction.By The Spinoff Review of Books | 7th March, 2025⚖️
‘Sobbed so loud my neighbour came to check on me’: Kiri Lightfoot’s book confessionalThe author of a moving new young adult novel on the book that shattered her into 'teeny tiny pieces'.By The Spinoff Review of Books | 5th March, 2025⚖️
What the judges picked: the 2025 Ockham Book Awards shortlist, revealedThe 16 books still in the running for Aotearoa's biggest literary prizes. By Claire Mabey | 5th March, 2025Books editor
The rise of the ‘healing’ novel and our sad need to cryWhat's behind the soaring popularity of these little books designed to give us big feelings?By Claire Mabey | 1st March, 2025Books editor
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending February 28A swath of new local books, the latest Anne Tyler, and a cosy comfort read from Korea.By The Spinoff Review of Books | 28th February, 2025⚖️
How to read a poem: mount street cemetery by Amy MargueriteA close reading of a startling poem about the impact of an intense crush, set in a graveyard and plagued by sparrows.By Claire Mabey | 26th February, 2025Books editor
The Unity Books children’s book review roundup for summerAmazing jellyfish, a scab called Pepper, and the bestselling children’s books of summer.By The Spinoff Review of Books | 22nd February, 2025⚖️
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending February 21A stunning new poetry collection, the lives of Palestinians, and Booker Prize winners past and present.By The Spinoff Review of Books | 21st February, 2025⚖️
‘It’s a great achievement. To read it, I mean’: Antony Elworthy’s literary EverestThe acclaimed animator and author on the book everybody should read.By The Spinoff Review of Books | 19th February, 2025⚖️
Eleven things I learnt while writing a novel about alpaca breedersWhich is more unsettling: the noise a male alpaca makes when mating, or the noise a human makes when imitating it?By Duncan Sarkies | 18th February, 2025Guest writer
Brilliant and devastating: Are book blurbs anything more than a circle jerk? On the pros and cons of puff quotes on book covers.By Claire Mabey | 15th February, 2025Books editor
The falcon on Taieri Ridge'The falcon waits, statue still, eyes full and unblinking.' An excerpt from The Falcon and the Lark: A New Zealand High Country Journal.By Neville Peat | 15th February, 2025Guest writer
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending February 14Including the secret lives of lizards, dogs, and some humans too.By The Spinoff Review of Books | 14th February, 2025⚖️
‘Roald Dahl refused to sign my book’: Claire Baylis’s best and worst author encountersThe author of courtroom crime drama Dice on her life in books.By The Spinoff Review of Books | 12th February, 2025⚖️