THE GROOVE BOOK REPORT

Released just before the second lockdown, science writing is coming into its own.  Celebrated author Richard Dawkins delves into the treasure trove of science writing that has furnished his own cerebral house and contemplates how scientists can become more normalised and accepted for their great penmanship.  Richard Dawkins has always been a polarising figure.  He comes at the world from the point of view of a scientist and has very little time for the nostalgia and mystery of religion, particularly the constructs of the Christian Church which has fought its hardest to deny all manner of science from the earliest days.  Science was a threat to to the Church, as Galeleo and many thousands of other thinkers have encounted over the centuries because they (scientists/thinkers) had the gall to challenge the structure and belief system that kept these ancient heirachies of power and ignorance in place.   Dawkins is most famous for his explorations of personality ...

Toitoi is delighted to announce a new collaboration with the iconic School Journal!  This gives Toitoi young writers an amazing chance to have a piece of their work published in the world's longest-running serial publication for children, alongside established and celebrated writers like Patricia Grace and Margaret Mahy from Aotearoa New Zealand.  Toitoi is now inviting submissions on the theme of 'Tūpuna', to be published in one of the three May 2022 School Journals: ‍ - Level 2 (students in years 3-4) - Level 3 (students in years 5-6) - Level 4 (students in years 7-8) ‍  If your tamariki are budding writers then encourage them to put in their work.  For more details and information head to www.toitoi.nz/school-journal

Back then we were a colony with a huge chip on our shoulder.  There was no real national identity.  We were poor cousins of Britain.  We needed to prove ourselves, it seems.  And that set us down a path to sign up for nearly every major war or battle since the settlers first arrived.  Even in our earliest history, we managed to cause mahem - the New Zealand wars of the 1880's and the Colonisation thing seems to have been part of some sad and pathetic attempt to spread ourselves out and strike a claim.  Let's face it, being part of the British Empire demands some level of little brother blood lust. Nowhere is that  more obvious than the hunger to join the fray of the 1899-1902 South African War.  Yet when it comes to documenting and critiquing that event and how we responded and involved ourselves there's very little serious material out there.  Only a few scholars have really investigated the development of our national psyche in any true det...

“It’s like being handed this exquisite treasure box that belongs to one of the most remarkable writers ever.” Richard Curtis KM had a lot of love ro give. She was a prolific letter writer.  These letters showcase the 'shining quality of her writing, her powers of observation and her humour'.  In this collection, released on the occasion of her birthday,  cast a wide net, capturing love in its many forms.  In here, you’ll find letters to lovers, colleagues, well known figures like Virginia Woolf, but also to family, friends, and fellow creatives and writers.   These texts paint an intimate and insightful picture of Mansfield and her relationships. They capture her love of nature, art and her passion to capture the details of daily life, and Life itself! Woman in Love: Katherine Mansfield's Love Letters is edited by Nicola Saker (editor of The Katherine Mansfield Cookbook) with a foreword by (born Wellingtonian) Richard Curtis ('Four Weddings and ...

This year’s Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Abdulrazak Gurnah "for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents"  Gurnah grew up on one of the islands of Zanzibar before having to flee persecution during the 1960s and settle in England. A prolific writer, he's published 10 novels as well as a large number of short stories.  Anders Olsson, chair of the Nobel committee, said that the Gurnah’s novels – from his debut 'Memory of Departure', about a failed uprising, to his most recent, 'Afterlives' – “recoil from stereotypical descriptions and open our gaze to a culturally diversified East Africa unfamiliar to many in other parts of the world”. Gurnah is the first black African writer to win since Wole Soyinka back in 1986 (and the first black writer since Toni Morrison in 1993). Gurnah’s fourth novel, '...

The fabulous Schrödinger’s Books on Jackson St. in Petone won the Nielsen Book NZ Bookshop of the Year Award .  And two of the Capital's best small independents, Bridget Williams Books and Mākaro Press , have cleaned up the best publishers awards.   The winners were announced last Wedneseday at the 2021 Aotearoa Book Industry Awards.  Judges Robbie Egan, Anahera Morehu and Peter Vial said Schrödinger’s Books, which opened in September 2019, "had it all...A beautiful physical space, arresting windows and merchandising excellence, a focus on personalised customer service and commercial and community reach beyond their own doors.” It was a destination shop and an enjoyable expexrience.   Even during Lockdown, the shop maintained connections with readers, building moomentum and a strong fellowship. Personally, I've experienced their wonderful service many times.  My daughter, who loves reading, will often pop in to request obscure titles that p...