The definitive guide to the life and work of Marina Abramovic, the world's most famous performance artist. Combining brand-new interviews, never-before-seen images and fascinating ephemera, this book is a testament to the extraordinary life and work of one of our most courageous and groundbreaking artists, and is published to coincide with the opening of Abramovic's Royal Academy exhibition - the first major show by a female artist in the Academy's 255-year history. Agreeing to answer any question that was posed, Abramovic embarked on 17 months of candid interviews conducted by her friend and confidante, Katya Tylevich. The result is a monolithic retrospective that takes us from the humble beginnings of a shy child sitting at the back of the class, to fearless pioneer, conquering and subverting the art world with boundary-pushing performances, and concluding with her most profound personal experience to date. Over 600 images from Abramovic's personal archives set these captivating memories alight, creating a fascinating, visual landscape and demonstrating the inextricably intertwined nature of her life and work. A breathtakingly intimate journey, we are led across deserts, oceans and cities to explore extreme highs and lows, all the while marvelling at how Abramovic approaches every success and setback with her signature humour and wit. Never shying away from the truth, no stone is left unturned, and Abramovic's fearlessness imbues every page.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 496

Dimensions: 233 x 307 mm

Publication Date: 01-12-2023

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. After emigrating to New Zealand in the early 1960s, Crowder established the country’s only university-based organics research unit at Lincoln, where he experimented with new techniques and plant varieties and inspired generations of students. A controversial figure within orthodox agricultural science, Crowder’s impatience with bureaucracy and criticism of industrial growing methods brought him into conflict with the mainstream. From the late 1970s on, he became an outspoken advocate of organics, helping to build a sector now worth hundreds of millions of dollars. To those who knew him, Crowder was a larger-than-life character, pragmatic and visionary, but his homosexuality also made him an outsider in many ways, and he wrestled with the impact of homophobia throughout his career. Scrupulously researched, drawing on extensive interviews with Crowder, and accompanied by full-colour illustrations, Bob Crowder: A New Zealand organics pioneer captures a complex man whose legacy goes beyond his achievements in horticulture.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 248

Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 14-03-2024

For decades, whenever a heritage building in Christchurch has been under threat, especially in the aftermath of the 2010–11 earthquakes, one woman has consistently defended this city’s architecture and history against shortsightedness and the threat of bulldozers – Dame Anna Crighton. Fearless and articulate, she has fought tirelessly and passionately, not only for the heritage of her hometown, but for the built past of Aotearoa New Zealand. But behind this well-known persona, the city councillor and heritage advocate, lies an extraordinary and unexpected life story, now told publicly for the first time. In Still Standing, Anna recounts, with her usual unflinching honesty, a childhood bereft of parental affection, a wild adolescence that included a stay at the Mount Magdala Convent ‘to straighten her out’, unsuitable relationships clung to in a desperate search for love, an unplanned pregnancy that led to adoption, and a violent marriage. Not many people would survive all this, let alone rise above it, to bring up a beloved son, to restore a magnificent Victorian home, to begin university study as an adult and end up with a PhD, to travel the world and, in 2020, to be appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to heritage preservation and governance. Still Standing will delight anyone interested in history, architecture and the arts, but, even more than that, it is a riveting story of a life lived with courage, and of triumph over adversity. About the author History, classics, art and architectural history have been at the heart of Anna Crighton’s careers in the public and private sector. Before graduating in these subjects later in life at Canterbury and Otago universities, she was registrar of Christchurch’s Robert McDougall Art Gallery for 20 years. She then embarked on a career in local politics as a Christchurch city councillor for 12 years and a member of the Canterbury District Health Board for a further 12. Over three decades, she was a trustee and director of many trusts and companies. Anna has lived in Wellington, Sydney and England but has always returned to the city of her birth. In 2020 she was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to heritage preservation and governance.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 240

Dimensions: 152 x 228 mm

Publication Date: 01-01-2024

The Book: Carterton’s Hector Tankersley was involved with the YMCA in the late 1930s, and lived in the ‘Y’ hostel while working in Wellington from 1938- 1940. He was recruited as a YMCA secretary to work on New Zealand military bases. This led to secondment to the British YMCA in North Africa, running canteens, entertainment and providing some well-being services for the British Empire forces there. Shortly after arriving in Egypt he was sent to Tobruk, arriving just before the besieging German and Italian forces in April 1941. Hector’s diaries and photographs record his YMCA life, for which he was awarded the MBE in late 1942. His service extended to mid-1943 before he returned to New Zealand, where he continued his YMCA work at RNZAF bases in the South Island. Hector’s story brings to life the busy and exhausting experiences of a New Zealand non-combatant in the Desert War. The Editor: Neil Frances, who has edited Hector Tankersley’s diaries and added explanatory notes, is a military historian. His books, published by Fraser Books, include Ketchil (2005), Things have been pretty lively (2008), Safe Haven (2012), A Long, Long Trail (2015), A Rifle and a Camera (2017), and On the Move Again (2021).

Bind: paperback

Pages: 150

Dimensions: 175 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 28-10-2023

When an elderly trio decided to tackle Aotearoa New Zealand’s Te Araroa Trail from Cape Reinga to Bluff, they were asked if they were going to do EFI. What’s that?, they asked. Every F…ing Inch, was the response. Many Te Araroa walkers skip road sections or gnarly mountains or inconvenient rivers or estuaries but Tim Pankhurst, his wife Sue and former Wellington mayor Dame Kerry Prendergast decided that if they were going to take up the challenge, they needed to be true to the entire Trail. Over 141 days across two summers, Tim and the two dames (one upper case) did cover every inch but not without injuries, fears of drowning and falls and endurance tested to the limit. Every Effing Inch, written by former newspaper editor Tim Pankhurst (The Dominion Post, The Press, The Evening Post, Waikato Times), is an entertaining journey through our cities, towns, rivers, mountains and back country and its characters and history. It is summed up as an epic read of an epic deed.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 364

Dimensions: 155 x 235 mm

Publication Date: 01-11-2023

In 2023, to mark its 150th anniversary year, the University of Canterbury showcased 150 of its outstanding graduates. Bruce Ullrich was named as one amongst its Legends of Sport" and was described as a "fierce champion of New Zealand's interest in business and sport". My Arena is Bruce's autobiography. It navigates a life story spanning over eight decades, vividly describing Bruce's 'fierce champion' moments. Bruce Ullrich is best known for his roles in sports leadership. He was vice-chairman of the organising committee of the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, and he went on to be chef de mission for three of New Zealand's Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games teams. He was an enthusiastic advocate for hosting the Winter Olympics in New Zealand. But there is a business story as well. Bruce was admitted to partnership in an accounting firm on the day he qualified as an accountant. He later moved to governance roles and consultancy, using his expertise to foster trade and investment relationships between New Zealand and other countries - especially China. Bruce was awarded an Order of the British Empire for services to New Zealand. Throughout his life journey Bruce has remained a loyal old boy of his beloved Christchurch Boys' High School, a faithful Cantabrian, and highly patriotic New Zealander.

Bind: paperback

Dimensions: 180 x 254 mm

Publication Date: 01-11-2023

For several centuries the Campbells were known for their strong-minded independent women who often stepped in to save their families and to protect their livelihood. They were the unsung heroines whose stories cam to light through careful research. Grace Buchanan Campbell is the central character in this story. Born in Glasgow in 1784, Grace was a published author in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. She moved in the literary circle of Edinburgh's Blackwood group. Grace's life is one of fortitude, loss and kinship; her novels portray echoes of her family history. Caln clashes, religious struggles, politics and patronage set the scene. It is in Argyll, Scotland in the mid-seventeenth century where this story begins; a time when many women and men suffered for their religious beliefs. Argyll's turbulent history was followed by the Darien disaster, resulting in hardship for many Scottish families. During the early eighteenth century, the family, in an effort to survive financially, became plantation owners in Jamaica. Grace's grandfather has a significant role. He grew up in the enlightened world of Glasgow University where his father was the principal. As an influential merchant in London he was closely associated with penal reform in Britain. He was mentor to William Bligh, the husband of his niece, who is remembered for the ill-fated Bounty expedition. It is a story with many characters: ministers, merchants, lairds, explorers, brewers, writers, surgeons, soldiers, naval men, authors and an architect. Rabbie Burns, and Robert Louis Stevenson make brief appearances. Over two-hundred years the lives of these adventurous and entrepreneurial families were intertwined with the politics of significant periods of history. This narrative links Scotland, Jamaica, Georgian England and the valleys and mountains of Wales. The pioneering spirit of Grace's family led to settlement in Canada and New Zealand.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 290

Dimensions: 210 x 265 mm

Publication Date: 01-07-2023

It's Over! A broadcaster's story takes you through the highs and lows of John McBeth's life behind the microphone and in front of the camera. Read about when John: * Sang the national anthem for a gold medal presentation * Fell asleep while commentating on an Olympic event * Called Danyon Loader's fabulous Olympic gold medals * Fronted an historic America's Cup victory * Coached a team in the first official women's rugby match John McBeth was a leading New Zealand sports broadcaster for more than 40 years and has filled this book with humour, memories of great days and tales of what went on behind the scenes. It's guaranteed to amuse and entertain.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 251

Dimensions: 150 x 228 mm

Publication Date: 01-08-2023

‘Sometimes I wonder why I have been forced to spend my creative life grappling with words & the logic & rationality they demand … I wish I could find a way of reaching directly into another’s heart. Words are my only tool. Sometimes I think perhaps I have not worked hard enough. I am still alive. There is time.’ – Robert Lord, diary entry, 31 October 1981 Robert Lord (1945–1992) is an important figure in the history of literature and theatre in Aotearoa New Zealand. He wrote incisive and often satiric radio and stage plays, experimenting with traditional theatre forms and incorporating queer characters at a time when almost nobody else did. His enduring work includes such audience favourites as Well Hung, Bert and Maisy and Joyful and Triumphant. In 1973, he co-founded Playmarket, New Zealand’s playwrights’ agency and publisher. Lord also wrote eight lively, candid and absorbing diaries, now published for the first time in Robert Lord Diaries. From 1974, when he first moved to New York, until his death in Dunedin in 1992, Lord recorded the highs and lows of his writing practice, the theatre world and his social life. His diary entries reveal the dramatic contrast between life as a gay man in 1970s and 80s New York – a world of sex, drugs and socialising – and provincial New Zealand, with its respectable living rooms, fields of carrots and the occasional homoerotic demonstration of sheep shearing. Lord had a complex relationship with his homeland and was never quite sure where he belonged. Witty and incisive, his diary entries tell of torn loyalties and reveal the intense creative momentum Lord forged from his dislocated, outsider status. ‘Lord’s character comes across vividly in entries that are in turns witty, wry, maudlin and insightful.’ – Alison Walls, Artistic Director, The Court Theatre ‘Robert was one of my favourite people and a wonderful man.’ – Sir Sam Neill ‘Lord’s compelling and intimate diaries chart the unpredictability of a playwriting career, revealing the exhilaration of recognition and the crushing disappointment of rewrites and rejections. The diaries provide an honest, funny and astute record of Lord’s life in 1980s New York City and his eventual apprehensive return to Aotearoa. Finally, and heartbreakingly, they reveal a man alone coming to terms with his mortality while simultaneously attaining acknowledgment in his homeland as a theatre, film and television writer.’ – Associate Professor Hilary Halba, School of Performing Arts, University of Otago

Bind: paperback

Pages: 356

Dimensions: 148 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 12-10-2023

One of the most important Japanese photographers of the last century, Masahisa Fukase was known for exploring themes of isolation, lonliness, and melancholy and for his transgressive and intimate approach to the medium. This volume includes two of his last and arguably most personal series. Private Scenes features photographs taken over the course of the year 1989 in different locations around the world and in which he is both subject and photographer. He then painted over the prints with colored washes to create an entirely new piece. For this same series, he later photographed scenes from daily life, this time in Tokyo, changing camera and adding the date on his photographs, but still representing himself in the images. This volume reproduces for the first time in book form all of the photographs that make up both original series. It charts a turning point in Fukase’s work—an artist grappling with his medium and with a compulsion to share his personal experiences with his audience. The photographs are accompanied by a text by Masako Toda, who offers a contextual and historical consideration of Fukase’s œuvre.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 192

Dimensions: 240 x 190 mm

Publication Date: 01-09-2023