All the best zingers (and the odd clanger) from the Auckland Writers Festival
Cracks and quips by our country's best writers.
Chinese censors refuse publication of NZ union leader Helen Kelly’s story
She is one of the most beloved socialist figures in New Zealand. Chinese printers said: 'We will cancel this title.'
Deprogramme yourself: Author Marilynne Robinson on seeing beauty in everything
Ahead of her appearance at the Auckland Writers Festival, the much-loved Gilead author talks to Sam Brooks.
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending March 12
Books for the very best season of all.
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending March 13
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.
Here’s what happens when no one shows up to your writers festival event
Summer reissue: Madeleine Chapman wrote a book and was asked to speak about it at a writers festival. The problem was, nobody wanted to listen.
Reliving the 2017 election with Jacinda Ardern
In this bonus edition of Gone By Lunchtime, the prime minister talks to Toby Manhire at the Auckland Writers Festival
Papercuts podcast: Live on tape from the Auckland Writers Festival
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass.
The New Zealand Wars: acknowledging ‘an almost incomprehensible level of loss’
In this startling extract from his new book, The New Zealand Wars Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa, Vincent O'Malley explains how the decimation of Māori in Tūranga "completely eclipsed" the country's losses in Gallipoli.
Here’s what happens when no one shows up to your writers festival event
Madeleine Chapman wrote a book and was asked to speak about it at a writers festival. The problem was, nobody wanted to listen.
Auckland teens on racism, misogyny, body image, art, class… and Shakespeare
Sam Brooks has a transcendent experience at the part of the Auckland Writers Festival grown-ups never hear about: the school sessions.
Red roses, cartoons and tatau: an extract from a newly-crowned Ockhams winner
Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing won the Illustrated Non-Fiction category at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards last night. Here, authors Sean Mallon and Sebastien Galliot detail how the tattoos of other cultures are bleeding into Sāmoa, and vice versa.
How Marilyn Waring became an MP aged 23
A saddle sore, a teal bridesmaid's dress and the Ngāruawāhia High School hall: how Marilyn Waring became the National candidate for Raglan.
The misunderstood mongrels of the New Zealand bush
Turns out two of our most-loathed bush dwellers – supplejack and ongaonga – are at once way more annoying and way more fascinating than we gave them credit for.
We have 16 seriously covetable NZ books for you, thanks to the Ockham Awards
All of the books shortlisted for the country’s shiniest literary gongs at this year’s Auckland Writers Festival are boxed up in some publicist’s back room, just waiting to be shipped to YOU!!
Review: The Library Book is a thrilling tale of fire, loss and renewal
As Wellington and Waikanae face a winter without two beloved libraries, Marion McLeod reviews The Library Book, a hymn to a library that burned.
“The book was a way to confront the trauma I had been ignoring”
Playwright and Spinoff culture editor Sam Brooks talks to Val Emmich, author of Dear Evan Hansen, about the process of adapting a smash Broadway musical into a book.
Embracing the void: a powerhouse writer turns to self-publishing
Stephanie Johnson is an acclaimed, multi-award-winning New Zealand author, and also the co-founder of the Auckland Writers Festival. But could she get her latest novel published? Yeah, nah.
Papercuts: Auckland Writers Festival and a special guest
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass.
10 surefire hits in the 2019 Auckland Writers Festival programme
The country's biggest literary festival has just launched its programme, and it's another very impressive lineup.
In which Amazon goes to war with New Zealand bookstores
An essay by Sarah Forster from Booksellers New Zealand about the threat that Amazon-owned Book Depository pose to bookstores - and, ultimately, readers.
Papercuts podcast: The great Auckland Writers Festival wrap-up
Kiran, Jenna and Louisa bunker down on level 5 of the Aotea Centre to record on-the-ground reactions from three days at the Auckland Writers Festival.
Please ban festival audiences from asking questions forever
Has there ever been a good question asked by an audience member at a literary festival? Going by the Auckland Writers Festival, the answer appears to be no, uh-uh, never.
When the bottom falls out: a masterpiece on a town that died
Amy Goldstein wanted to know what happened to the ordinary people impacted by the GFC. She tells Duncan Greive about the extraordinary book she wrote showing what happened after GM shut its oldest manufacturing plant.
Papercuts podcast: The bumper Auckland Writers Festival preview show
Louisa, Jenna and Kiran are back a little early to make sure you're all up to speed with the upcoming Auckland Writers Festival.
World’s greatest writer Karl Ove Knausgård is coming to New Zealand
Exclusive: announcing the imminent arrival of hirsute herring-eating huge Norwegian literary superstar Karl Ove Knausgård.
Book of the Week: Sour Heart by the ‘astounding’ Jenny Zhang
An essay by Sam Gaskin – with GIFs! – about his old friend and now superstar author Jenny Zhang.
Auckland Writers Festival: Rachael King interviews Ivan Coyote
We conclude our week-long series of encounters with guests due to appear at the Auckland Writers Festival as Rachael King interviews the fairly fucken fantastic Ivan Coyote.