What's coming up? Fiction and Poetry highlights of early 2025
2025 is promising to be an excellent year of books, following on from 2024’s brilliant books. Here are some of the fiction and poetry highlights coming in the first half of 2025!
The big news in Fiction is a new Catherine Chidgey novel, The Book of Guilt, out in May. As well as several debuts, the popular Bookshop Detectives are back in April, and Dominic Hoey and Michael Bennett bring out new novels. This is by no means an extensive list.
Duncan Sarkies – Star Gazers (February): Sarkies’ third novel is a humorous and farcical take within the world of alpacas.
Geoff Parkes – When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows You Whole (February): Parkes’ debut novel is a mystery set in a remote King Country town, investigating the disappearance of a woman in the 1980s.
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Erin Palmisano – Secrets of Maiden’s Cave (March): Grace’s marriage is unhappy, so when she inherits her father’s restaurant and returns to Maiden’s Cove she has a chance to resurrect old friendships, and possibly love.
Stef Harris – The Girl from Sarajevo (March): Two novellas published by Quentin Wilson Publishing, featuring strong female heroines determined to make their own way in the world.
Rachel Paris - See How They Fall (March): Paris’ debut novel was the winner of the Phoenix Prize at the University of Auckland. It’s a twisty, dark thriller that’s an unsettling, wild ride.
Gareth and Louise Ward - The Bookshop Detectives # 2: Tea and Cake and Death (April): The wildly popular Bookshop Detectives (ever in the bestsellers list) are back in their second story. There’s another case to solve…
Jenny Pattrick – Sea Change (April): Veteran author Pattrick has moved out of her usual historical milieu into a novel about a weather-devastated small New Zealand community where the locals defy the government and a prominent businessman to save their town.
Deborah Challinor - Black Silk and Buried Secrets (April): The second in Deborah Challinor’s Tatty Crowe series, set in Sydney, in the Victorian funeral industry.
Michael Bennett - Carved in Blood (April): The third in the Hana Westerman series of crime novels, set in Auckland. Hana’s life is looking rosy, Matariki is on the horizon—but then Jaye, Hana’s ex-husband, is shot in what appears to be a random attack. Or is it?
Michelle Duff – Surplus Women (April): Eagerly awaited short story collection from the winner of the 2023 Fiction Prize from the International Institute of Modern Letters. These are stories of women in Aotearoa – past, present and future.
Catherine Chidgey – The Book of Guilt (May): This is the big news on everybody’s lips. The Book of Guilt will be released in May worldwide. Set in a sinister version of 1979 England, triplet boys grapple with the effects and reverberations of their upbringing in a New Forest government home as residents.
Khadro Mohamed - Before the Winter Ends (May): Mohamed’s first collection of poetry, We're All Made of Lightning, was shortlisted for the 2023 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Her debut novel is the story of a mother and son who grapple to mend their relationship across three countries – Aotearoa, Egypt and Somalia.
Anne Tiernan - The Good Mistress (May): Tiernan’s first novel, The Last Days of Joy, explored the world of motherhood in a blackly humourous way. The Good Mistress looks at the roles of three women in one (dead) man’s life, and promises plenty of the same opportunities for biting wit and warmth.
1985 – Dominic Hoey (May): Hoey returns with a novel set in 1985, an electric story that focusses on the underdog—nearly teenage Obi, set on the path of adventure.
Liam McIlvanney – The Good Father (June): Award-winning author McIlvanney returns with a psychological thriller. A tragedy occurs to parents Gordon and Sarah. As hope trickles away for a good outcome, the community begins to ask questions, and grapple with what it all means.
Josie Shapiro, author of Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts, has a new book in the later half of the year, as does Gavin Strawhan, author of The Call. Airana Ngarewa, who published Pātea Boys in 2024, is also back with a novel later in 2025.
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Poetry is in high spirits and great health! It’s difficult to keep track of so many publishers and books, but here’s a selection of twenty coming in the next six months.
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Nafanua Purcell Kersel – Black Sugarcane
Rachel O’Neill – Symphony of Queer Errands
Amy Marguerite - over under fed
Brent Kininmont - Companion to Volcanology
Catherine Fitchett - The Girl Who Sings Islands
Juliet McAra - Don’t Stop This Old Spell Yet
Mikaela Nyman - The Anatomy of Sand
Janet Charman - The Intimacy Bus
Touch Screen – Philip Armstrong
Anna Jackson – Terror, Worrier
AUP New Poets 11
Jiaqiao Liu – Dear Alter
Nina Mingya Powles – In the Hollow of the Wave
Sophie van Waardenberg - NO GOOD
Emma Barnes - If We Knew How to We Would
Selected poems from Tusiata Avia and a new collection from Erik Kennedy will arrive later in the year.