Blog
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Book review: No Other Place to Stand – An Anthology of Climate Change Poetry from Aotearoa New Zealand
Edited by Jordan Hamel, Rebecca Hawkes, Erik Kennedy and Essa Ranapiri (Auckland University Press) Can poetry save us? In No Other Place to Stand, ninety-one writers with connections to Aotearoa New Zealand grapple with the biggest issue on the planet right now, and while the answer isn’t quite yes, it isn’t quite no, either. As…
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Poetry Review: Everyone is Everyone Except You and Meat Lovers
Meat Lovers by Rebecca Hawkes (Auckland University Press) Everyone is Everyone Except You by Jordan Hamel (Dead Bird Books) Both of the poets featured in the last issue of 1964 (Issue 9, Autumn 2022) have recently released their debut full-length collections. One word: Yay! Two words: Cows and Timaru! Rebecca Hawkes’ Meat Lovers is “a…
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Poetry Review: Everyone is Everyone Except You and Meat Lovers
Meat Lovers by Rebecca Hawkes (Auckland University Press) Everyone is Everyone Except You by Jordan Hamel (Dead Bird Books) Both of the poets featured in the last issue of 1964 (Issue 9, Autumn 2022) have recently released their debut full-length collections. One word: Yay! Two words: Cows and Timaru! Rebecca Hawkes’ Meat Lovers is “a book of poems on…
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Book review: Fine Line – Twelve Environmental Sculptures Encircle the Earth
By Martin Hill & Philippa Jones (Bateman Books) Fine Line is a global environmental art / science project, which draws a symbolic fine line around the earth and connects 12 ephemeral sculptures. Each work was created in situ using the natural materials available at each site, such as snow, as featured in the cover photograph…
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Book Review: Aspiring
by Damien Wilkins FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD RICKY LIVES IN ASPIRING, A TOWN GROWING AT AN ALARMING RATE, LIKE RICKY HIMSELF, WHO HAS HIT 6’7” AND IS GETTING TALLER BY THE DAY. IT’S THE SECOND YEAR OF THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY. CLIMATE CHANGE FRAMES EVERYTHING. RICKY’S INTERNAL MONOLOGUEIS GETTING LOUDER. “THE SELFIE STICK CARRIED IN ITS TIP THE MOST…
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Book Review: Across the Pass – A Collection of New Zealand Tramping Writing
Selected by Shaun Barnett Across the Pass is like a lolly scramble. It takes you in lots of directions and it’s sweet as. The focus is narrow, sure, but there’s a wide range of voices and genres, including, but not limited to, poetry, prose, song lyrics, diaries, articles, columns and a fair bit of humour.…
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Book Review: Tussock
By Bruce Hunt Despite being primarily black and white, the photos in Bruce Hunt’s Tussocks feel, in both composition and tone, like paintings. Turns out Bruce is a painter, one who likes to head out, brush in hand and polyprop on legs, to capture the hills of Otago and the Mackenzie Basin. He also likes…
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Book Review: A Bunk for the Night
by Shaun Barnett, Rob Brown and Geoff Spearpoint If you’ve read the original Bunk for the Night, you know it’s more than a guidebook. It’s escapism. It’s fantasy. It makes you get your map out, check your gear and plan a trip. It is the ultimate conversation starter. Aotearoa has a vast range of backcountry…
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Review: NZMSC Outdoor safety videos, Season two
The NZ Mountain Safety Council Following the success of their 2018 Tramping Video Series, the NZ Mountain Safety Council (MSC) has made seven new clips detailing the dos, don’ts and be-carefuls of some of the country’s most popular tracks. With a total of 19 short films now on offer, it’s like the Marvel Cinematic Universe,…