Pages tagged with: writing

Kiwis love books. To celebrate New Zealand Book Month, we have come up with 30 reasons to love New Zealand books and writing. Check back each day in September for a new story about books, writers and their work.

Historian and poet Keith Sinclair has argued that the decade of the 1950s was the time 'when the New Zealand intellect and imagination came alive'

Frank Sargeson in his garden, Takapuna, Auckland, 1932

Nelle Scanlan, author of the 'Pencarrow' series of historical romances, at her writing desk

During the inter-war years no other monthly magazine matched New Zealand Railways for its commitment to promoting a popular literary culture in New Zealand.

Mixing alcohol and weapons is frowned upon by modern duck hunters who are more safety conscious than their forebears. Contemporary duck hunters also use non-toxic shot (it used to be lead) as hunter Gary Girvan explains in his book Duck hunting in New Zealand.

The story of New Zealand writing wouldn't be complete without acknowledging the important role sport has played as a source of inspiration for many New Zealand writers. For some writers sport is a subject of loathing, but the reality is Kiwis can't seem to get enough of sports books.

Allen Curnow was one of the defining voices of 20th-century New Zealand literature, with a career spanning six decades, and a strong local and international following for his work.

Allen Curnow, Denis Glover, Bob Lowry and Captain Donald McWilliam, seated in front of a movie hoarding in Christchurch in 1948.

The Esther Glen Award for children and young adult books is our oldest literary prize

John A. Lee was a dynamic figure in the Labour Party from the 1920s until 1940. But Lee had a parallel career as a writer and later bookseller. His best-known novel, the largely autobiographical Children of the poor (1934), was described as a ‘sensational book on vice, poverty, misery'.

R.C. Bruce's 1914 memoir, Reminiscences of a wanderer, is a ripping yarn of a nomadic labouring life at sea and on land.

Tutira: the story of a New Zealand sheep station was first published in 1921 - this detailed environmental case study is now considered a classic of its type

Helen Shaw's 50-year career as a creative writer began in the 1930s, when she was strongly influenced by the literary nationalist writing of the day. A growing interest in mysticism and spirituality led her to pursue a more personal kind of art.

Writer Helen Shaw in 1939.

Robin Hyde packed a lot in to her short and often tragic life. She is best known today for her novels Passport to hell, Nor the years condemn and The godwits fly, but she was also a fine poet, a crusading journalist and an outspoken advocate for the downtrodden.

Monty Holcroft's tribute to Ruth France

A portrait of James K. Baxter

Founded in 1947, the quarterly Landfall soon became New Zealand's foremost literary magazine. It was edited until 1966 by the somewhat reserved and intense Otago poet, editor and lecturer Charles Brasch.

This Guide to Style addresses issues of writing style and presentation which come up in the course of preparing books in the History Group of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. It was drafted because of frequent requests for such a guide from those who write and edit for the Group.