Author: Keith Newman Publisher: Oratia Media

The Ratana movement gains national coverage every February as politicians make the pilgrimage to its headquarters near Whanganui, yet the history and workings of the religion are less widely recognised. In this new edition of his standard biography, Keith Newman reveals the life and times of Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana and the movement he founded in 1918, tracing its activities and influence up to the present-day community of some 50,000 followers.

Released: 7 May 2024

Author: Gregory Hill Publisher: Exisle Publishing

89 days of travel, 33 trains, 19 countries … read an extract from the Central Russian segment of Gregory Hill’s epic rail journey.

Released: 1 May 2024

Author: Miriam Sharland Publisher: Otago University Press

In early 2020 Sharland was nearing the end of a 17-year adventure in Aotearoa. A desire to return to family and the familiar was pulling her back to her homeland, England. When Covid put an end to her travel plans, she found herself facing isolation in Manawatu instead.

Released: 22 April 2024

Author: Pippa Latour with Jude Dobson Publisher: Allen and Unwin

This is the astounding true story of one of the last female special operations agents in France to get out alive after its liberation in WWII.
Born in 1921, Pippa Latour became a covert special operations agent who parachuted into a field in Nazi-occupied Normandy.

Released: 23 April 2024

Author: Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku Publisher: HarperCollins New Zealand

‘In the 1950s, a young Ngahuia is fostered by a family who believe in hard work and community. Although close to her kuia, she craves more: she wants higher education and refined living. But whanau dismiss her dreams. To them, she is just a show-off, always getting into trouble, talking back and running away…’

Released: 17 April

Author: Madeleine and Rosie Redding Publisher: Mary Egan Publishing

‘Rosie is a shy young teenager when she starts experimenting with alcohol. When Rosie's parents finally realise that their beloved daughter is having problems with her drinking, Rosie is firmly in the grip of alcoholism…’

Released: 11 March

Author: Anna Crighton. Publisher: Canterbury University Press

For decades, whenever a heritage building in Christchurch has been under threat, one woman has consistently defended this city’s architecture and history against shortsightedness and the threat of bulldozers – Dame Anna Crighton. This abridged extract from Chapter 17 of Still Standing chronicles Crighton’s personal experiences in the February 2011 earthquake and the rebuild of heritage treasure, the Isaac Theatre Royal.

Released: 1 February

Author: Lynn Davidson . Publisher: Te Herenga Waka Press

Do You Still Have Time for Chaos? tells the story of poet and teacher Lynn Davidson’s late-life decision to leave Aotearoa New Zealand, with scant resources, to build a life in Scotland. In 2020, in the frightening quiet of a Covid-emptied Edinburgh, she begins her memoir; temporarily at home at the Randell Cottage residency in Wellington, she completes it.

Read ‘My last night in Edinborough’ extracted from Do You Still Have Time for Chaos?

Released: 8 February

‘My heart swelled with gratitude at how this little child continued to walk with me through such tough terrain without complaining or questioning what on earth we were doing this for.’

Read an extract from Adventures with Emilie by Victoria Bruce.

Released August 2023

Author: Rebecca Priestley. Reviewer: Sam Finnemore.

Priestley’s new memoir explores the complications of living in a world under threat across two parallel timelines. Her primary, present-tense narrative is a road trip down the South Island West Coast in the company of her lifelong friend Maz in the winter of 2021 – almost a whistlestop tour of various aspects of climate crisis … Interleaved with the weeklong road trip, in the past tense, are the experiences of teenaged Rebecca and Maz in the 1980s...’

October 2023 release

Author: Henrietta Bollinger. Reviewer: Elizabeth Heritage.

‘Articulations is a collection of Bollinger’s essays, many of which were originally published in Salient as the column they established there, Token Cripple. It’s relatively short, 131 pages with 19 chapters spaciously typeset. Bollinger has said they hoped to make it small and light enough to take to a café to read. This is indeed what I did and recommend doing.’

September 2023 release

Authors: Jools and Lynda Topp. Reviewer: Ruth Spencer.

‘Untouchable Girls is a rollicking, intimate, uproarious romp through the triumphant lives of Jools and Lynda that will make you want to sing, to go on the road, ride horses, fall in love and never stop laughing.’

October 2023 release

Author: Harry Boorman with Felicity Boorman. Reviewer: Alex Eagles.

‘Boorman writes in an easy-to-read chatty style as though he is telling you all about his escapades over a cup of tea and bikkies. Reading my way through the book I couldn't help but get caught up in Boorman’s enthusiasm and found myself willing him to succeed in his frequently madcap missions to add another tick to his 'been there, seen that bird' list.’

October 2023 release

Kaituhi: Dr Emma Espiner. Nā Hineko Kingi i arotake.

‘Mā te wairua whakakatakata o Espiner e kaingākautia ai te kōrero nei …’

‘Espiner's dark humour keeps it interesting…’

Kaituhi: Carl Hayman; Dylan Cleaver. Nā Michael Burgess i arotake.

‘Kāore a Hayman e pupuri, engari kē ia ka tuku ia i tana katoa.’

’Hayman spares nothing and gives everything.’

Kaituhi: David Riley. Nā Milo Lilo Morrison i arotake.

‘Ka whakaatu tēnei pukapuka i te manawatītī, te aumangea, te kaha me te māia.’

‘This book was an amazing way of showing determination, resilience, strength and bravery.’

Author: Steven Joyce. Publisher: Allen & Unwin New Zealand.

Extract: ‘While we were working on the election specials, we started to discuss launching our own radio station as a short cut into the industry. Rob Muldoon’s government had haltingly allowed the development of private radio over the previous few years. There had been new stations like 89.8 FM in Hamilton, 2XS in Palmerston North, as well as 91 FM and 89 FM in Auckland. Why shouldn’t we start one too?’

August 2023 release

Author: Joan Skinner. Publisher: Massey University Press.

Warm, engaging and important, Labour of Love is a story of a woman at her work, holding together the complexity of living and the growth of skill and wisdom. It is a reflection on what it means to be a midwife and a story of the fundamental connections that are made where living begins.

August 2023 release

Author: Shaneel Lal. Reviewer: Demi Cox.

‘For me, there are not enough words to describe just how stunning One of Them really is.’

July 2023 release

Author: Emma Espiner. Reviewer: Elizabeth Heritage.

There’s a cure for this is Dr Emma Espiner’s pukapuka about entering the hothouse world of medical studies as an adult, beginning in 2015.

May 2023 release