Everyone knows Australia was once a penal colony, but few realise that New Zealander prisoners were sent there. During the mid-nineteenth century at least 110 people were transported from New Zealand to serve time as convict labourers in the penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). Even more were sentenced by colonial judges to the harsh punishment of transportation, but somehow managed to avoid being sent across the Tasman Sea. In examining the remarkable experiences of unremarkable people, this fascinating book provides insights into the lives of people like William Phelps Pickering, a self-made entrepreneur turned criminal; Margaret Reardon, a potential accomplice to murder and convicted perjurer; and Te Kumete, a Māori warrior transported as a rebel. Their stories, and others like them, reveal a complex society overseen by a governing class intent on cleansing the colony of what was considered to be a burgeoning criminal underclass. This lively book also offers insights into penal servitude in Van Diemen’s Land as revealed through the lived experiences of the men and sole woman transported from New Zealand. Whether Māori men serving time for political infractions, white-collar criminals, labourers, vagrants or the soldiers sent to fight the empire’s wars, each convict’s experiences reveal something about the way in which the British Empire sought to discipline, punish and reform those who trespassed against it.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 284

Dimensions: 150 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 10-11-2017

Phoney Wars looks at the lives of New Zealanders during the greatest armed struggle the world has ever seen: the Second World War. It is not a political, economic or military history; rather it explores what life was like during the war years for ordinary people living under the New Zealand flag. It questions the war as a story of ‘good’ against ‘bad’. All readers know that the Axis powers behaved ruthlessly, but how many are aware of the brutality of the Allied powers in bombing and starving ‘enemy’ towns and cities? New Zealand colluded in and even carried out such brutal aggressions. Were we, in going to war, really on the side of the angels? Contrary to the propaganda of the time – and subsequent memory – going to war did not unite New Zealanders: it divided them, often bitterly. People disagreed over whether or not we should fight, what we were fighting for and why, who was fighting, who was paying, and who was dying. In this provocative and moving book, Stevan and Hugh Eldred-Grigg explore New Zealanders’ hopes and fears, beliefs and superstitions, shortages and affluence, rationing and greed, hysteria and humour, violence and kindness, malevolence and generosity, to argue that New Zealand need not have involved itself in the war at all.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 424

Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 13-10-2017

In 1966 Michael Illingworth, whose oil painting Adam and Eve appears on the front cover of this book, was awarded the inaugural Frances Hodgkins Fellowship. For the first time in New Zealand a practising artist was given a studio and paid a salary to make art for a whole year. Such support, as Frances Hodgkins herself wrote from her own experience, was capable of ‘yielding up riches – undreamed of’. Poet and critic David Eggleton has described the fellowship as ‘an emblem of cultural endeavour which … holds a legendary status in the public imagination’. The initiative and much of the early funding for the fellowship is thought to have come from poet, editor and arts patron Charles Brasch, and it was set up by the University of Otago Council. Fifty years later, the Frances Hodgkins is still going strong, one of five arts fellowships offered through the University of Otago’s Humanities Division. This sumptuous book brings together the art and the stories of half a century of Frances Hodgkins fellows. Arts commentator Priscilla Pitts writes about their work, while journalist Andrea Hotere interviews the artists about their lives and sources of inspiration. The result is a vibrant celebration of a wealth of talent fostered through New Zealand’s foremost visual arts residency, showing how the artistic wealth created has flowed back into the culture of the small country that nurtured it.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 220 x 280 mm

Publication Date: 11-09-2017

Seabirds Beyond the Mountain Crest tells the fascinating story of New Zealand’s endemic Hutton’s shearwater, a species that breeds only at two remote locations, high in the Kaikoura Mountains. Amateur ornithologist Geoff Harrow is the person most closely associated with the story of Hutton’s shearwater, for it was Geoff who discovered the two remaining nesting sites in the 1960s. For five decades he visited the mountains whenever he could to observe and record the birds, and to encourage the Department of Conservation and its predecessors to take steps to conserve this endangered species. As a result, scientist Richard Cuthbert was to spend three years living with 200,000 Hutton’s shearwaters and their neighbours, studying their behaviour, observing their interactions, measuring and recording facts and figures to build a detailed picture of why and how these birds had survived. The discoveries over time of Richard and his co-workers turned received wisdom on its head and revealed a whole new predator story. Richard’s beautifully written, witty account – of the challenge and exasperation, the heartbreak and hardship, and the sheer joy of conservation fieldwork in a remote environment – is beautifully interwoven with other fascinating stories – of the ‘discovery’ of the species by nineteenth-century scientists and collectors, and Geoff Harrow’s discovery of the nesting grounds and subsequent long involvement with this species. Seabirds Beyond the Mountain Crest is a delightful and highly entertaining read.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 220

Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 14-08-2017

A story about a cheeky Pukeko, Red Band gumboots and cow poo! Stuck in poo What to do? is a delightful kiwi tale about Red Band gumboots and cow poo - a winning combination for kiwi kids. Follow Luke the Pook, a cheeky young pukeko, in his adventure over the farm wearing his 'borrowed' Red Band gumboots. With its easy rhyme, kiwiana storyline and bright, colourful illustrations, this book is sure to delight children and parents alike.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 28

Dimensions: 210 x 270 mm

'We float – we’re not based in one place – we’re floating Islanders. I always come back to theatre, theatre is my first home.’ – Makerita Urale This book celebrates 30 years of Pasifika theatre in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Pacific Underground, Pacific Theatre, The Laughing Samoans, The Conch, The Naked Samoans, Kila Kokonut Krew – the distinctive style and themes of Pasifika theatre have been developed by many individuals and theatre companies in New Zealand. Authors Lisa Warrington and David O’Donnell have interviewed over 30 theatre practitioners to tell the story of Pasifika theatre in Aotearoa from 1984 to 2015. This lively book showcases playwrights, directors and performers whose heritage lies in Samoa, Niue, Fiji, Tonga, Tokelau and the Cook Islands. Extracts from the interviews are threaded throughout the book, providing often entertaining insights into their history and creative practice. While the immigrant experience of living in two worlds is often seen as troubled, the authors suggest that this ‘in-between-ness’ has been turned to advantage in Pasifika theatre to create a unique and often subversive performance phenomenon. Not only is Pasifika theatre a success story within the performing arts in New Zealand, it is also an intriguing case study of migrant theatre that has international resonance.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 284

Dimensions: 155 x 235 mm

Publication Date: 01-11-2017

A late 19th century tale of triumph over obsession and humiliation. From award-winning writer, Karyn Hay, The March of the Foxgloves promises to be essential summer reading. LONDON, 1893, and Frances Woodward is tormented by the restrictions of her puritanical father and the cruelties of 19th century narcissist, Benedict Hunt. Having meted out a particularly creative form of revenge upon Hunt, Frances transcends the social norms of the late-Victorian era and travels alone to the far-flung colony of New Zealand, where she is forced to look beyond the establishment life seemingly pre-ordained for her. Falling in with other artists and non-conformists, and inspired by the revolution in thinking brought about by heroic literary figures and social reformers of the time, Frances forges a new path of her own making.

Pages: 358

Dimensions: 160 x 236 mm

Recognised internationally as one of the twentieth century's great modernist innovators, New Zealand artist Len Lye is most famous for his avant-garde experimental films and for his astonishing and playful kinetic sculptures. Always fascinated by the interplay of movement and light, this extraordinary artist also expressed himself in photography, drawing, painting and poetry. During his lifetime he was better known in the art capitals of North America and Europe than in the country of his birth, but that has changed since the establishment of the foundation dedicated to his works at New Plymouth’s Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and particularly following the opening, in 2015, of the impressive and much-admired Len Lye Centre. In this timely collection of essays, New Zealand and overseas writers consider Lye’s assured place in modern art from a variety of fascinating and thought-provoking angles. He thought of his creations as emerging from ‘the long dream of waking’. And thanks to this richly illustrated collection of essays, we too can be drawn into his long dream and come to see his remarkable achievements through fresh eyes.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 10-10-2017

Who is whimsical, witty and wonderfully weird? Kiwicorn! A ridiculously cute and funny story about being unique. Gorgeous illustrations and writing, help children to understand their emotions and to open a light-hearted dialogue about diversity. The Kiwicorn story can help parents and teachers to convey the important message that we're all different from each other, and being different is awesome!

Bind: hardback

Pages: 28

Dimensions: 216 x 216 mm

Publication Date: 01-10-2017

Many New Zealand families were affected by the 1918 influenza pandemic. In the space of about six weeks, over 6400 Pakeha died and an estimated 2500 Maori. That equals nearly half the total of New Zealand soldiers killed in the First World War. Yet these were civilians, dying in the first month of peace. This was New Zealand's worst-ever public health disaster. The whole country seemed to shut down for several weeks in November 1918. Because the victims' bodies turned black when they died, many believed it was the plague. Could it happen again? The risk of another major influenza pandemic is even greater now, thanks to international jet travel. Global flu surveillance should give us better earning, and we now have anti-viral drugs and antibiotics to deal with the secondary pneumonia that was the real killer in 1918. But do we have the systems in place to deal with another massive health crisis? This book shows how we coped back in 1918 - the response of public health officials, how the sick were nursed, how thousands of convalescents were fed and the lessons learned that may still be useful today. It is an inspiring and fascinating story that all New Zealanders need to know about.

Pages: 96

Dimensions: 210 x 265 mm

Publication Date: 20-09-2017