THE GROOVE BOOK REPORT

The first round of submissions to the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards is now open and applications can be made online by 10 September. An experienced panel of 12 judges – including prize-winning writers and poets, as well as historians, academics, curators and one of the country’s most respected booksellers – will select the best books published this year for the 2019 Awards. The Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize, which will bestow $53,000 on its 2019 winner, will be judged by Rachael King, James George and Sally Blundell. They will be joined by a well-known international judge, whose identity will be revealed in March 2019, to decide the ultimate winner from their shortlist of four. The Poetry category will be selected by three acclaimed poets: Airini Beautrais, Bryan Walpert and Karlo Mila. The Royal Society Te Apārangi Award for General Non-Fiction will be judged by Rebecca Priestley, Angela Wanhalla and Karl Chitham. Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, Lucy Hammonds and Bruce Caddy j...

In response to far more beautiful books being published for children than can possibly fit on the shelves, a mini Unity Books is opening right next door on the corner of Vulcan Lane and High Street. The new shop will be devoted to words for the very young and nostalgia for the very old. Doors open Saturday at 11am, come and celebrate with us, dress up as your favourite literary character and receive a Unity voucher, or simply admire the new shop and get a goodie bag and a Nice Block! See you there! http://unitybooks.nz/

The Sapling is a website all about children’s books … because books grow humans. The aim of The Sapling is to find conversations nobody has been able to have in the main media about children’s books and give them a good airing. Winner of the 2018 Special Industry Award at the NZ Book Industry Awards, awarded to 'a company or individual for innovation, or for an important contribution to the book trade in Aotearoa over the past year'. Judge Paula Browning said, ‘Our winner has achieved both.' ABOUT THE EDITORS The Sapling is run by its two founding editors, Sarah Forster and Jane Arthur, and editor Thalia Kehoe Rowden. They run The Sapling out of love, not money, which means they pay contributors, not themselves. This also means they fit editorial work around their families and day jobs, so might take a day or two to get back to you. SARAH FORSTER has worked in the New Zealand book industry for 11 years, in roles promoting Aotearoa’s best authors and books. She...

Young readers know Bixley well.  The Looky Book , The Kiwi ABC , and heaps of other titles, always with a cheeky and unique Kiwi take on the subject.  Bixley loves layering his illustrations, requiring many re-reads to find all the details.  That's true of this book, too. In this fresh retelling, Bixley applies his unique twists and trademark humour to this much-treasured story.  Māui is reimagined as a cheeky younger brother, on the type of hilarious fishing trip with the whanau that will be familiar to many Kiwi youngsters. Interestingly, he's taken a slightly 'Disney approach' making his young Maui look more like an extra from Pocahontas .  Maybe he's after an international audience.  S o, he's tried to make his characters as generic as possible - a bit like they did with Moana .   Each of the brothers is depicted differently - short, tall, thin, fat, etc.  And of course, Maui has his sidekick, his very cute dog. “I wanted my book to fo...

Sam has a problem. He has to share a room with his older brother and things aren't easy. When Sam sees Donald Trump on TV talking about `the wall' he realises a solution is at hand! But who knew that planning a wall could be so tricky? The letters that follow invite conversations about the question of living with others in times of conflict. Ok, so this was a somewhat unexpected direction for a children's book.  Sam is fed up with sharing a room with his nemesis, his older brother.  He's fed u with the behaviour, the arrogance.  His brother plays on his phone all night and keeps him awake.  He snores and is generally annoying.  Sam wants to pursue an isolationist policy.  And so, taking a leaf out of Donald's playbook (he is, after all, the most powerful man in the free word) Sam decides to erect a wall to divide the room.  And just like the proposed wall to cut off Mexico, Sam has grand plans to keep his brother out of his little part of the world...

27 Venues, 150 Writers, 40+ Events  |  LitCrawl returns to Wellington between 8-11 November 2018. Programme out in September

To support a new generation of writers, LitCrawl is partnering with Starling and a group of Wellington galleries to provide micro-residencies for exceptional young talent. LITCRAWL'S FIFTH BIRTHDAY We love young emerging writers! To celebrate our fifth birthday, LitCrawl is partnering with Starling to give them an experience of a lifetime through a micro-residency programme. STARLING Starling is an online literary journal showcasing the best new poetry and prose from young New Zealand writers. The writers featured will shape and drive what New Zealand writing is to become. See Starling online here . ART AND LITERATURE Talented young writers selected by Starling will explore the convergence of art and literature while hosted by five fantastic galleries in Wellington during LitCrawl. Bowen Galleries , Enjoy Public Art Gallery , Meanwhile Gallery , Bartley & Co. Art , and City Gallery Wellington will generously open their spaces for this special opportunity. AND...

“Something happened on 26 December which at the time seemed unimportant but came to have a crucial significance. It will probably lead to my being contacted by the police once this book is published, provided they believe what is written here.” And so, the challenge to the reader is issued. Writing himself in as the main character in this dark and bizarre story, Lindqvist invites the reader to join him in the story – and gives no indication which part of this dark fairy tale is true, part-memory or all just the outpourings of a fertile imagination. Set in 1985, 19-year old John Lindqvist finds himself in Stockholm, living in a dank and dilapidated flat and trying to make it as a magician. So far, so autobiographical. Things start to take a dark and twisted turn after Lindqvist is arrested for shoplifting. A presence from another dimension starts to make its way into this world. Exploring the human need for connection with others, Lindqvist brings together a group of ...

New York Times-bestselling team Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton invite readers to come to hang out with them in their 104-Story Treehouse―the eighth book in the illustrated chapter book series filled with Andy and Terry's signature slapstick humour! Andy and Terry live in a 104-story tree house. (It used to be a 91-story treehouse, but they decided it was still missing a few things.) It has a never-ending staircase, a burp bank, a deep-thoughts thinking room, Mount Everest, a mighty fortress reinforced with extra-strong fortress 'reinforcer', and a money-making machine (that also makes honey!). When Andy has a toothache that hurts so bad he can’t write any jokes for their new book, Terry knows just what to do: buy a Joke Writer 2000™ to write the jokes for them! All they need first is some money from their money-making machine and then it’s off to the store. It’s a foolproof plan―a Terry-proof one, even! What could go wrong? The Coffee Bar kid recently intervie...

Fans of SKY TV's Food TV Channel will be familiar with bestselling author and presenter of Rachel Khoo who showed everyone how to cook like a French Chef in the tiniest of spaces for her show The Little Paris Kitchen. In 2006, Khoo moved to Paris, where she lived for eight years. In 2014, she returned to London, settling in Hoxton, a section of Hackney.  In 2014, she became engaged to Swede Robert Wiktorin and married in 2015. In February 2017, she announced on her personal blog that she was pregnant in 2016, and later gave birth to her first child, a boy, in early 2017. She moved to Stockholm in 2016, and that's where she developed a new love for Swedish food hence the book. With her usual chatty dialogue, Khoo gives us a new collection - her take on about 100 delicious and seasonal Swedish recipes pilfered from traditional recipes, magazines and grandmas.  As you would expect the scope takes in the usual: celebrating traditional fare, embracing local ingredients...

More than twenty-five years ago, Sasson released her first book in the Princess series – “ Princess: The True Story of Life Inside Saudi Arabia’s Royal Family ”. Now, she has released the sixth book still featuring Princess Sultana and her family. Billed as lifting the veil on the mysterious life of a Saudi woman, this new book weaves together nostalgic dreamscapes with stories of life inside an ancient and secretive culture. All very well, if you’re a super-wealthy, high-ranking Princess of the Royal Family with direct genetic links back to the founder of modern day Saudi Arabia.  Is that how women are really treated in Saudi?  The book opens with much excitement from Princess Sultana. In 2017 and early 2018, several, monumental changes were announced from the king’s palace, including allowing women to drive. This is the key theme running throughout this book – a new era is slowly dawning in Saudi Arabia. Princess Sultana is related to the Crown Prince leadi...

“A landmark title which will stand the test of time” has been crowned the country’s best book for young readers. Aotearoa: The New Zealand Story by Christchurch writer and illustrator Gavin Bishop received the top honour at the 2018 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, announced last night at an exuberant event at Te Papa in Wellington. The judges describe it as a book for every home, school and library, which can be read and re-read by all ages. “It’s masterful in its execution – a work of art that bears repeated and thoughtful reading and viewing of its vibrant and informative illustrations, a book of enduring significance in the canon of New Zealand children’s literature. We’ve seen nothing quite like it in New Zealand children’s publishing,” says convener of judges Jeannie Skinner. NZ's best book for young readers 2018 Aotearoa: The New Zealand Story by Christchurch writer and illustrator Gavin Bishop As well as winning the cov...