Author: Lily Duval Publisher: Canterbury University Press

Why isn't Aotearoa famous for its insects? We have weta that can survive being frozen, weevils with 'snouts' almost as long as their bodies, and the world's only alpine cicadas. There is mounting evidence that insect numbers are plummeting all over the world. But the insect apocalypse isn't just a faraway problem - it's also happening here in Aotearoa. In recent years, we have lost a number of our native insects to extinction and many more are teetering on the brink. Without insects, the world is in trouble. Insects are our pollinators, waste removers and ecosystem engineers - they are vital for a healthy planet. So why don't more people care about the fate of the tiny but mighty six-legged beings that shape our world?

Author: Peter Jerram Publisher: David Bateman Ltd

In April 1968 the New Zealand interisland passenger ferry Wahine, a fast and modern ship for its time, hit Barrett Reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour in a cyclone, the worst storm ever recorded in New Zealand's history. Six and a half hours later the ship heeled over and sank, with the eventual loss of fifty-three lives. Among the 610 passengers and 125 crew was the Lincoln College cricket team. I was one of that team, and this is our story.

Author: Lee Murray Publisher: Cuba Press

Wellington, 1923, and a sixty-year-old woman hangs herself in a scullery; ten years later another woman 'falls' from the second floor of a Taranaki tobacconist; soon afterwards a young mother in Taumarunui slices the throat of her newborn with a cleaver. All are women of the Chinese diaspora, who came to Aotearoa for a new life and suffered isolation and prejudice in silence. Chinese Pakeha writer Lee Murray has taken the nine-tailed fox spirit huli jing as her narrator to inhabit the skulls of these women and others like them and tell their stories.

1 April 2024

Author: Iona Winter Publisher: Elixir & Star Press

In the shape of his hand lay a river is Iona Winter's fourth collection, and part of a body of work written after her son, prolific musician, Reuben Winter took his life. Here, through a poetic lens, she asks unanswerable questions, while embodying a multiplicity of emotions, and we are called to look at the ineffable absence of a beloved child. Winter's work around suicide bereavement and grief is honest, powerful and fearless, reminding us that love and pain, must always coexist. Iona Winter perfectly captures the pain and confusion that is grief. I often felt like these poems were speaking directly to my personal experience.

30 March 2024

Author: Scotty Morrison. Publisher: Penguin Books NZ

Everything you need to speak te reo Māori with confidence. This pocket-sized book is your guide to using te reo Māori in everyday situations, from introductions to conversations, online and in person.
Carry the essentials with you, and develop confidence in- * Basic pronunciation * Greetings * Dates and times * Meetings * Pepeha * Protocol * Whakatauki * Karakia * Iwi names * and much more! From Scotty Morrison, the bestselling author of the Māori Made Easy series.

26 March 2024

Author: Karen McMillan Publisher: Quentin Wilson Publishing

Dunedin, 1890: Suddenly orphaned at the tender age of twenty, Greer Gillies is reduced to working as a humble servant at Larnach Castle, a far cry from the dreams she held before. As she struggles with the stark reality of grief, she finds her journey has only just begun as the decade proves transformative for women's progress. As she grapples with affairs of the heart, betrayal, the threat of lost love and social upheavals, Greer's resilience shines through. She becomes a symbol of courage, daring to pursue her dreams, follow her heart and find her place in a world that promises a better future. Spanning the last decade of the 19th century, this page-turning saga explores the healing power of friendship while celebrating the pivotal role women played in one of New Zealand's most turbulent eras.

27 March 2024

Author: Saraid de Silva Publisher: Moa Press

Moving between cities and generations, Amma follows three women on very different paths, against a backdrop of shifting cultures. As circumstance and misunderstanding force them apart, it will take the most profound love to knit them back together before it's too late.

27 March 2024

Author: Danielle Hawkins Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Laura and Doug were together for ages. Their breakup was just one of those things - she wanted children, he didn't, no hard feelings - at least not until, with their relationship barely cold in its grave, he got his new girlfriend pregnant.

Now, seven years later, a polite social call to his parents lands Laura back in the family, helping Doug and his playboy younger brother to cope with a whole raft of crises. And what better time to re-evaluate your major life decisions than when you're wrangling a farm, a bookshop, two small children, your ex's wife in labour and his two sick parents?

26 March 2024

Author: Marie Connolly Publisher: Quentin Wilson Publishing

Criminal psychologist Nellie Prayle loves solving murders. The more complicated, the better. But when a professor of astronomy is found dead at Tekapo’s Mt John Observatory during its internationally-attended 50th anniversary conference celebrations and Detective Jack Simmons calls on Nellie to help with the police investigation, she soon realises that this is not your typical murder – and nor are these your usual suspects.

27 March 2024

Author: Dr Tracey Slaughter Publisher: Massey University Press

For the 2024 edition of the Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook, editor Tracey Slaughter has once again hit the zeitgeist in her selection of 101 new poems from an exhaustive submission process. Another packed issue, #58 showcases the raw and the vital - including from this year's featured poet, Carin Smeaton - and a blistering introduction from Slaughter herself. In addition there are excellent reviews of a crop of recent poetry books. With work by both established and emerging New Zealand poets, the Yearbook is essential reading for all poetry fans.

19 March 2024

Author: Gavin Strawhan Publisher: Allen & Unwin NZ

After surviving a brutal attack, Auckland cop DS Honey Chalmers has returned to her hometown to care for her mother. The remote coastal settlement of Waitut? holds complicated memories for Honey, not least the tragic suicide of her younger sister, Scarlett. Honey is hardest on herself. She let herself get too close to a gang informant. She got sloppy. The Reapers are a 501 gang of Aussie imports, ruthless and organised, and she's pretty sure the informant, mother-of-three Kloe Kovich, paid the price. But when a couple of gang enforcers turn up in Waitut?, Honey realises they are hoping she will lead them to Kloe. But if Kloe is still alive, can Honey save her this time around?

19 March 2024

Author: Romesh Dissanayake Publisher: Te Herenga Waka Press

In his small noodle shop in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, a young chef obsessively juliennes carrots. Nothing is going according to plan: the bills are piling up, his mother is dead, and there are strangers in his kitchen. The ancestors are watching closely. Told through a series of brilliant interludes and jump cuts, When I open the shop is sometimes blackly funny, sometimes angry and sometimes lyrical, and sometimes as a car soars off the road on a horror road trip to the Wairarapa it takes flight into surrealism. A glimpse into immigrant life in Aotearoa, this is a highly entertaining, surprising and poignant debut novel about grief, struggle and community.

15 March 2024

Authors: Andy Buchanan Publisher: Quentin Wilson Publishing

or lovers of the great outdoors and those captivated by the silent allure of Canterbury's alpine horizon, Andy Buchanan's Alpine Panorama: A view to a climb is a celebration of nature's majesty and a tribute to the enduring connection between man and mountain. The distant alpine skyline served as a magnetic force during Buchanan's childhood, pulling him towards the untamed beauty of the region. Family holidays were spent tramping and skiing amidst the rugged peaks, creating enduring memories that fuelled a passion for the great outdoors. In the Buchanan family home from the Summit Road atop the Port Hills, a cherished outline sketch adorned the wall - a visual guide to 133 peaks visible from this lofty perch. Inspired by this panoramic masterpiece, Andy Buchanan hatched a retirement plan: to conquer each and every one of those peaks.

March 2024

Author: Bruce Trotter Publisher: Rogue Wave Ltd

Set sail on a nostalgic journey into the exhilarating world of New Zealand windsurfing. In the Footstraps of Giants, written by former grandmaster windsurfing world champion Bruce Trotter, is more than a celebration of the sport - it's a heartfelt tribute to the remarkable individuals, places and events that have shaped half a century of windsurfing in the Land of the Long White Cloud. We're transported back to the humble beginnings of windsurfing in New Zealand - to an era of Dacron, daggerboards, wooden booms and skegs.

18 March 2024

Author: Olivia Hayfield Publisher: Treehouse Books

Britain is sunk in gloom, its government blundering between crisis and scandal. The country desperately needs a new hero. Enter Arthur 'Ace' Penhalagon, smashing his way to Wimbledon victory and into women's hearts. Ace has two missions: to be the first man to win the Golden Slam - the Holy Grail of tennis - and to use his fame as a force for good. Eliza Rose, head of media giant Rose Corporation, shares Ace's dreams for Britain. For him it's love at first sight, but ever cautious, she prioritises her career. When Eliza becomes the target of death threats from Ace's fans, he spirits her away to the safety of his native Cornwall. But there, he too must confront his demons.

15 March 2024

Author: Matt Morris. Publisher: Otago University Press.

Bob Crowder: A New Zealand organics pioneer, by leading garden historian Matt Morris, tells the story of Bob Crowder's life and his role in the birth of the organics movement in Aotearoa New Zealand. Growing up in wartime Britain, the peaceful pursuit of gardening was young Bob's refuge. He later became an innovative horticulturalist and early champion of regenerative agriculture.

14 March 2024

Author: Dr Bex Bell Publisher: Upstart Press

We all have one: an inner critic that sometimes feels like our worst enemy. A loudspeaker in our mind that yells, "You're an impostor! You don't know what you're doing! Everyone else is doing life better than you!". We overwork, over-prepare and people-please to try and erase the anxiety of never feeling good enough. But it doesn't work. The voice is still there. What if there's another way? What if your inner critic isn't an enemy to be eradicated? What if it's more like an overprotective friend who means well and is just trying to help? If you want to do your best work, live your best life and stop feeling shoved around by self-doubt, this book is a must-have. Open the front cover and let's get started!

14 March 2023

Author: Stacey Teague Publisher: Te Herenga Waka University Press

In Plastic, Stacey Teague reaches beyond the frame of her known world to find a way back to te ao Maori. Hers is a complicated, joyful route, full of conversations with ancestors, old places and herself. In form these poems range from plain-speaking prose and concrete poetry to odes and spells; in mood they are just as restless, taking in those times when life feels as big as a movie screen and times when it is more like 'a loose stone to kick down the path'. Gathered here are names that travel through time, failed photos of the moon, and love like a feather in the throat.

14 March 2024

Author: Airini Beautrais Publisher: Te Herenga Waka Press

In The Beautiful Afternoon, award-winning poet and short-story writer Airini Beautrais plumbs history, literature, Star Wars, sea hags, beauty products, tarot, swimwear, environmentalism and pole dancing to deliver a virtuoso inquiry into how we become, and change, who we are. Beautrais surveys the many influences on her life, from Lord Byron and Dante to Dolly magazine and 90s R&B, with intense curiosity and a fierce intelligence. Whether saving the planet in her Quaker childhood and activist youth, surviving the lonely years of early motherhood, or confronting the fears and freedoms of midlife - in which she writes about the body becoming a poem and human touch beginning to feel safe again

14 March 2024

Author: Rosie Redding, Madeleine 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. What follows is the true story of a family's battle over ten years to find help for Rosie, whose journey is lined with the all the horrors the disease can bring, including the tragic loss of friends. Ultimately it is Rosie's resilience and determination that starts her on the tenuous path towards sobriety, while her parents vow to never give up and to never, ever let her go.

March 11 2024