THE GROOVE BOOK REPORT

This is part two of the best, most well written, researched and presented review of McCahon so far.  If you are lucky, you'll still be able to get this alongside Colin McCahon: There Is Only One Direction Vol.1  1919 - 1959 , in a set with a special slip case.  Both cover a huge amount of ground, chronicling forty-five years of painting.  Some would argue McCahon is our most important artist. McCahon was born in Timaru in 1919. However, he spent most of his early years in Dunedin. He was an art fan from the outset and attended many of the local exhibitions with his family. The exposure convinced him that art was the right career for him and in 1933 he started art classes taken by a local artist, Russell Clark. McCahon was an old boy of Otago Boys High. He hated it. A rugby school, with a farmer's attitude. It was not the right environment for a budding artist. After leaving he found better times at King Edward Technical College Art School. He also ...

Bridget Jones discovers Instagram in Animals writers new book.  CoffeeBar Kids has a read. This is Bridget Jones living large on the set of  Absolutely Fabulous , with the twitter habits of Donald Trump - a 'perfect' life of data thin friendships, digital adiction and plastic girl-crushes.  Keeping up with Jane and Jones on Instagram is downright exhausting!  Adults opens with the protagonist Jenny fretting over a caption for her Instagram photo of a croissant she's bought at her local bakery.  Like Bridget Jones, Jenny is a single, image obsessed, insecure and easily influenced wannabe. Her need to document the minutiae of her life is an example of her ridiculous obsession with living and broadcasting her 'perfect' life online.  She immediately texts her long suffering friend, Kelly looking for self-affirmation.  Kelly is, understandingly annoyed at this.  "Who cares?"  Even Jenny doubts her action.  She's spend over h...

A new report from the Publishers Association of New Zealand (PANZ) has revealed Kiwis still vastly prefer print books, with sales of physical books growing while demand for ebooks has shrunk. Despite significant investment by publishers in digital formats, ebooks make up just 7.2% of total trade and education sales in New Zealand. The New Zealand Publishing Market Size Report 2019, completed by Nielsen Book Research for PANZ, shows that in the trade market (books for the general consumer) print book sales increased by +7.1% in 2019, while digital books declined by -4.5%.  “The report confirms that New Zealanders continue to prefer the experience that a physical book has to offer,” says PANZ president Julia Marshall. The report provides a snapshot of an industry that was in good heart at the end of 2019, experiencing a +6% increase in total revenue on the previous year. An impressive 21.1 million books were sold in the country that year. But the closure of physical and...

When her tribe is defeated in battle, Atapo is captured and becomes a slave of her enemies. Freedom seems impossible; the penalty for runaway slaves is death. But when sickness strikes the village, Atap is blamed, and now it is even more dangerous to stay. To save her life, she escapes to the Pkeh mission station at Paihia. There, Atap is taught to read and write, and learns of the threat to Mori by some unscrupulous settlers greedy for land. Against the backdrop of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Atap discovers how her education can save her tribal lands and help her reclaim her destiny as the guiding star of her people" "I choose to start my story at a distant time. A time before I knew it was possible to take the words from my mouth and draw them in marks on paper. My story begins on the day when my world changed forever. I was very young, but the memory of that day is as enduring as greenstone. I write it now so that when my mouth can no longer utter the wor...

The Auckald Writers Festival is excited to announce our online 2020 Winter Series, featuring a star-studded writer line-up which includes  Bernardine Evaristo ,  Ann Patchett ,  Neil Gaiman ,  Samantha Power ,  Barbara Ewing ,  Richard Ford ,  Elizabeth Knox ,  Robert Macfarlane ,  Philippe Sands ,  Lisa Taddeo ,  Cass Sunstein ,  Ian Wedde ,  Alan Bollard ,  Chanel Miller ,  Helon Habila ,  Freya Daly Sadgrove ,  Simon Armitage ,  Maggie O’Farrell ,  Selina Tusitala Marsh ,  Deborah Eisenberg ,  Wallace Shawn ,  Becky Manawatu ,  Peter Stanford ,  Caroline Barron ,  An Yu ,  Amy McDaid ,  Anthony Byrt ,  Olivia Hayfield  and more. Commencing at 9am on May 3rd and running live once a week for 13 weeks, three writers including at least two from the 2020 programme will chat with series host Paula Morris, read from their work and answer a...

When a pandemic sweeps the world all humans infected gain the ability to understand animals. In a hot, sweaty, dry part of the world Jean finds kinship with a dingo called Sue and the unlikely pair set off on a road trip to find Jean's beloved granddaughter. Laura is a fantastic writer and in this event Verb Director (Claire) will talk with Laura about animals in fiction, about launching a pandemic novel in an actual pandemic, and about Laura's favourite writers, reading habits and how moving to New Zealand (from Australia) has influenced her work. Here are the details: Pandemics, Animals  and Us: A conversation with Laura Jean McKay Thursday 2 July, 6pm at Meow, 9 Edward St Ticket only: $20 (due to COVID-19 restrictions we can only take bookings in groups of 3 - 6 as there will be tables and table service at the venue. When/If we move to Level 1 we will be able to sell individual tickets, as well.) Ticket + Book! You can choose to add the book on to your book order. T...

Amaury da Cunha, the 2020 French writer in residence, has had a most unusual residency - locked down in Thorndon with his research trips and public programme cancelled.  With the support of the Friends of the Alexander Turnbull Library and Makaro Press we can bring a one-time opportunity to hear him talk about his Randell project, an exploration of the life and legacy of Minnie Dean Join us at Vic Books Pipitea on Wednesday 10 at midday to hear Amaury in conversation with Karen Zealas, the Christchurch author of  The Trials of Minnie Dean - a verse biography. Two writers, half a world apart, one a photo editor, the other a psychologist and both drawn to the same subject. We look forward to hearing why. For more information about Randell Cottage go to  www.randellcottage.co.nz

During the recent lockdown most of us hunkered down.  Author Karen McMillan chose to launch her latest children's book.  Karen and the CoffeeBar Kid had a bit of a chat about the new book. The fourth in an exciting series of books for children, an action-adventure set in the South Pacific, in early development for a TV series.  Alphabet Resort is the fourth in the Elastic Island Adventures children’s book series for children aged 8 - 12. Kiri, Jed, and twins Emma and Ethan, discover an ‘elastic’ island that sends them pinging across the ocean to a variety of destinations. The children are excited to be going to the wedding of King Shiny and Princess Topaz. Love is in the air, especially when they encounter Wombo the Wombat, a bachelor looking for love, who they decide to help. But then Princess Topaz is kidnapped, and everyone begins a frantic hunt to find her. Will they find her in time for the wedding, and will Wombo the Wombat succeed in finding love? ...