The Braided River explores contemporary migration to New Zealand through an examination of 200 personal essays written by 37 migrants from 20 different countries, spanning all ages and life stages. The first book to examine migration through the lens of the personal essay, The Braided River presents migration as a lifelong experience that affects everything from language, home, work, family and friendship to finances, citizenship and social benefits. Like migrants themselves, The Braided River crosses boundaries, working at the intersections of literature, history, philosophy and sociology to discuss questions of identity and belonging. Throughout, Diane Comer, both migrant and essayist herself, demonstrates the versatility of the personal essay as a means to analyse and understand migration, an issue with increasing relevance worldwide.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 304

Dimensions: 150 x 230 x 20 mm

Publication Date: 01-04-2019

At the age of 22 Rebecca Arnold, an art student from Greendale in Canterbury,was diagnosed with a rare and vicious cancer. Thirteen months later this vibrant and talented young woman was dead, her family left to cope with a tidal wave of grief and loss. Sing No Sad Songs is a heartbreaking yet beautifully composed memoir by Rebecca’s mother, Sandra Arnold. It is a haunting story of bereavement, survival, courage and acceptance, as well as a tender account of a close mother-daughter relationship cut far too short. The story begins with the family’s move to live in Brazil for a year, during which time we get to know Rebecca and her family, and watch her blossom into womanhood in this colourful and challenging environment. Her subsequent decline and death are all the more shocking in contrast. This moving and compelling memoir is neither sentimental nor voyeuristic. It is a restrained telling of a personal journey – ‘the map I have constructed for myself’ – that is ultimately powerfully redemptive.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 220

Dimensions: 175 x 228 x 20 mm

For twenty years, Shane Cotton has been one of New Zealand's most acclaimed painters. His works of the 1990s played a pivotal part in that decade's debates about place, belonging, and bicultural identity. In the 2000s, however, Cotton headed in a spectacular and unexpected new direction: skywards. Employing a sombre new palette of blue and black, he painted the first in what would become a major series of skyscapes vast, nocturnal spaces where birds speed and plummet. New York poet Eliot Weinberger meditates on Cotton's 'ghosts of birds'. Justin Paton plots his own encounters with Cotton's work, across six years in which the artist was 'finding space'. Geraldine Kirrihi Barlow confronts the haunting role of toi moko tattooed Maori heads in the paintings and in her own past. Meanwhile, IMA Director Robert Leonard argues that Cotton is a cultural surrealist exploring 'the treachery of images'.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 192

Dimensions: 300 x 395 mm

In early 1928, during a time of pioneering, long-distance flights, two New Zealand pilots set off from Australia on the first attempted aerial crossing of the wild Tasman Sea. Amid fervent hope, government interference, a spirit of patriotism, wide newspaper coverage and family pride, John ‘Scotty’ Moncrieff and George Hood, along with their non-flying partner Ivan Kight, dreamed of closer British Empire ties, a safer New Zealand and a shot at aviation glory. The disappearance of their aircraft Aotearoa remains one of Australasia’s great flying mysteries. Bill Conroy has researched this fascinating and tragic story for more than three decades. In the first full-length examination of Moncrieff and Hood’s flight, he recounts the conception, planning, execution and aftermath of the project which enthralled both sides of the Tasman.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 176

Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 22-02-2019

Peat starts out as Lynn Jenner’s study of the Kāpiti Expressway, built between 2013 and 2017 and passing, at its nearest point, about a kilometre from her own house. She decides to create a kind of archive of the construction of this so-called Road of National Significance. How did it come to be built? What is its character? Who will win and who will lose from its construction? What will be its impact on the local environment? Jenner begins a quest to find a fellow writer with different sensibilities to help her think about the natural world the road traverses. New Zealand-born poet, editor, art collector and philanthropist Charles Brasch is her choice. Researching Brasch will be her refuge from the constant pile-driving and the sprawling concrete, and perhaps the poet will offer some ways of thinking that will help her understand contemporary events. She reads and reflects on Brasch’s memoir, some of his poems, his journals and his letters to the local paper. She thinks about Brasch in the context of his family and New Zealand in the 1940s–60s, and she reads local papers. She reads the official handouts about the road and listens to people in her local community when they talk about the road. From there Lynn Jenner carefully builds her unconventional text, layer upon layer, into an intelligent and beautifully refracted work that is haunting, fearless, and utterly compelling.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 286

Dimensions: 150 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 16-07-2019

Be inspired by the courage of this hard-working Southland farmer who led the First Commando Fiji Guerrillas in World War II. My parents were an exceptional couple. Their characters and influence in the local community, the farming world and in a much wider sphere were significant. My father’s contribution to the war effort in the Solomon Islands, and the well-deserved Silver Star awarded to him by the Americans, is a unique story that you will not find in many of the war histories. My mother also made a huge impact in her community and was awarded a QSM for her work. ~DICK TRIPP A more enjoyable glimpse into the life and times of one of this community’s cornerstone families I haven’t ever experienced. ~Tracy Hicks, Gore District Mayor What better way do we have to learn other than from those who have gone before us. ~Ian (Inky) Tulloch, former Mayor of Gore District What an interesting and unique book this is! It combines two things that New Zealand readers love: tales of how our back country was tamed, and action adventures of our modest war heroes. ~Dr Bob Robinson, Laidlaw College

Bind: paperback

Pages: 86

Dimensions: 148 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 15-03-2019

In 1858 Canterbury settler Thomas Potts protested against the destruction of tōtara on the Port Hills near Christchurch. A decade later, as a member of Parliament, he made forest conservation a national issue. Through his writing he raised the then novel idea of protecting native birds on island reserves, and proposed the creation of national ‘domains’ or parks. As a pioneering colonist, acclimatist and runholder, however, Potts’ own actions threatened the very environments he sought to maintain. This makes him a fascinating subject as we confront present-day problems in balancing development and conservation. This book is about, and partly by, Potts, and through him about New Zealand and the course and consequences of colonisation. It describes and interprets his life, from his early years in England through to his 34 years in New Zealand. Excerpts from Potts’ vivid 1850s diary, written from close to the edge of European settlement, are published here for the first time. Thomas Potts of Canterbury also reproduces 11 long-forgotten essays by him from the 1880s, in which he reflected on the 1850s and what had happened since – both to New Zealand’s natural environment and to Māori and Pākehā. Sixteen pages of contemporary images supplement the text. Thomas Potts of Canterbury will appeal to anyone interested in the early history of Canterbury, in environmental change, and in early efforts in New Zealand towards conservation. It is a story of conflicting goals, magnificently exemplified in the life and writings of a man who strove, 150 years ago, to be both colonist and conservationist.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 342

Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 20-09-2020

Cook's Ark is a fascinating account of the animals that sailed with Captain James Cook to the South Pacific, with particular reference to New Zealand. It offers a novel insight into an aspect of Cook's voyages rarely touched on by other authors: the menagerie that travelled in uncomfortably close proximity to the men on board Endeavour and Resolution. From the tiniest mouse, poultry, cats, monkeys, goats, pigs, etc to the larger cattle and horse, the reader follows their journey with Captain Cook. Dr Sutherland's intensive research on the vermin, livestock, utility animals, pets and exotic animals that sailed with Captain Cook not only reveals a captivating glimpse into the life of animals at sea in the 18th century, but also exposes little known or understated historical facts. These include the story behind the massacre of Furneaux's men at Grass Cove, the relationship between a Maori girl and a young seaman, and for the readers interested in heritage breeds, concludes by linking animals introduced during Cook's voyages to some of New Zealand's rarest breeds of livestock.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 200

Dimensions: 203 x 254 mm

Publication Date: 01-12-2019

Colonial Akaroa was surprisingly cosmopolitan with enclaves of speakers of Maori, English, French and German. Migration and ship-jumping further added to the cultural mix. Shipping kept Akaroa and other Banks Peninsula settlements in contact with the rest of New Zealand, supporting its trade and commerce. Despite all this worldliness, it was an isolated place. Almost an island, Akaroa evolved as a little world unto itself. John Watson has always appeared as a man for his time and place but exactly who that man was, up until now, had only been lightly outlined. Colin Amodeo presents a much fuller portrait. In these pages, we see not only a clearer picture of John Watson but also of colonial Akaroa.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 210 x 297 mm

Publication Date: 22-11-2019

What do you get if you cross a Pug with a Yorkie - or a Whippet with a Foxy? You'll laugh out loud at these unlikely canine couples ... and their owners!

Bind: paperback

Pages: 32

Dimensions: 210 x 270 mm

Publication Date: 31-10-2019