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Join the Kete community. Stay up-to-date on the latest in new books from Aotearoa, from reviews and events to giveaways.
Read our independent reviews of the latest books from Aotearoa.
Pānuihia ā mātou arotakenga tūhake o ngā pukapuka hou nō Aotearoa.
ReviewBased on author Rosetta Allan’s own experiences, this vivid novel explores how - as the Van Morrison song suggests - crazy love can take away the troubles. It can, though, add a wh...
Reviewed by David Hill
23 August 2021
ReviewWhen the All Blacks face the Springboks in 2021, it will mark a century since the two rugby nations first met. That’s a big deal – or is it? Go beyond the superficial context of ...
Reviewed by Michael Burgess
23 August 2021
ReviewJames Courage Diaries, edited by historian Chris Brickell, is a triumphant and welcome addition to New Zealand’s literary canon. They cover more than 40 years of the writer James C...
Reviewed by David Herkt
18 August 2021
ReviewThe Front Line is a landmark book exploring New Zealand’s WWII effort through more 800 photographs, many never before published and many live-action shots taken by those at the fro...
Reviewed by David Hill
18 August 2021
ReviewWhat happened to the children who escaped the Taliban and found themselves adrift at sea for weeks as refugees? After the Tampa is Abbas Nazari’s must-read story for our times abo...
Reviewed by Renata Hopkins
16 August 2021
ReviewAuthor: Anne Harré. Reviewer: Greg Fleming.The Leaning Man, the debut novel of Anne Harré, captures Wellington in razor-sharp prose where Stella Watson races against time to find h...
Reviewed by Greg Fleming
16 August 2021
ReviewYou think you know someone. You accept that because you are siblings, raised in the same house in the same town by the same parents, you share a common view of the world, live by a...
Reviewed by Greg Fleming
11 August 2021
ReviewCaptivating, spine-tingling and surprising, The Memory Thief is a novel that holds you spellbound and will stay with you long after you close this beautiful book.
Reviewed by Dionne Christian
11 August 2021
ReviewSome of the most familiar portraits of the famous mid-19th century Māori leaders are now known to be originally the work of one Isaac Coates. This book will be an invaluable refer...
Reviewed by Peter Simpson
9 August 2021
ReviewCountry boy and television host Matt Chisholm seemed to have it all. With a plum job on TV and a great family, his future looked bright but behind the happy facade, Matt was barely...
Reviewed by Greg Fleming
9 August 2021
ReviewEditors: Jamie Trower & Sam Clements. Reviewer: Harry Ricketts.As a tribute to the late poet David Mitchell, this anthology of poets who have read at the various venues of Po...
Reviewed by Harry Ricketts
4 August 2021
ReviewReleased in time for Father’s Day, Arthur Taylor’s Prison Break is not your usual cuddly bad-man-gone-good tale of redemption usually trotted out to mark the occasion.
Reviewed by Greg Fleming
4 August 2021
ReviewAuthor: Elizabeth Smither. Reviewer: Jessie Neilson. Elizabeth Smither is a doyenne of literature in New Zealand, with an output including six short story collections, six novels, ...
Reviewed by Jessie Neilson
2 August 2021
ReviewCeridwen Fraser’s Beachcombing is a book destined to become dog eared, stained and battered as it tells the hidden stories behind the likes of sea foam, ambergris, giant squid, str...
Reviewed by David Gadd
2 August 2021
ReviewThe Life and Times of Eddie McGrath is a spirited story about the times when what we think we don’t want, turns out to be more than we could hope for.
Reviewed by Dionne Christian
2 August 2021
ReviewJenny Powell's Meeting Rita is a collection of poems inspired by New Zealand artist Rita Angus, which offers a unique insight into the creative process and the spiritual, intellec...
Reviewed by Paula Green
28 July 2021
ReviewBlanche Edith Baughan was one of our first poets and travel writers. Her poems were praised for their New Zealand vernacular and her travel writing introduced people to our walks ...
Reviewed by Jessie Neilson
26 July 2021
ReviewRangikura is the fiery second collection by Tayi Tibble. These poems live in the space between the end of the world and a new day. They ask us to think about our relationship to de...
Reviewed by Kiri Piahana-Wong
25 July 2021
ReviewWith photographs and quotes from her many, hugely loved books, Patricia Grace begins with her grandparents and parents and takes us through her childhood, her education, marriage a...
Reviewed by Emma Espiner
20 July 2021
ReviewIn Our Own Back Yard is a startling, confronting portrait of a society divided. Anne Kayes has written a masterful YA novel that considers questions of human equality that are as p...
Reviewed by Dionne Christian
19 July 2021
ReviewGetting and staying mentally fit, just like getting and maintaining a high level of physical fitness, involves hard work, effort, and consistency. Prisoner-turned-psychologist Paul...
Reviewed by Lauren Keenan
19 July 2021