Built around the abyss, the tightrope, and the trick that we all have to perform to walk across it, Pasifika poetry warrior Selina Tusitala Marsh brings to life in Tightrope her ongoing dialogue with memory, life and death to find out whether `stories¿ really can `cure the incurable¿. In Marsh¿s poetry, sharp intelligence combines a focused warrior fierceness with perceptive humour and energy, upheld by the mana of the Pacific. She mines rich veins ¿ the tradition and culture of her whanau and Pacific nations; the works of feminist poets and leaders; words of distinguished poets Derek Walcott and Albert Wendt ¿ to probe the particularities of words and cultures. Selina Tusitala Marsh¿s Tightrope takes us from the bustle of the world¿s largest Polynesian city, Auckland, through Avondale and Apia, and on to London and New York on an extraordinary poetic voyage.
ISBN: 9781869408800 Title: He Kupu Tuku Iho: Ko te Reo Maori te Tatau ki te Ao Author: KARETU TIMOTI & MILROY WHAREHUIA
Sir Timoti Karetu and Dr Wharehuia Milroy are widely recognised as two of New Zealand's leading teachers and scholars of Maori language and culture. They both taught at The University of Waikato from the 1970s and pursued an innovative approach by teaching language courses in te reo Maori, with tikanga courses taught in Maori and English. Te Wharehuia and Timoti were pioneers in this area, forging a model for teaching Maori which is now followed by many other tertiary institutions.
This is a book of chapters on key aspects of Maori language and culture authored by two of this country's pre-eminent kaumatua. The authors discuss key cultural concepts (including mana, tapu, wairua, whakapapa, ritual, farewell speeches and Maori humour) as well as language and cultural issues of the modern world. The language used is an exemplar for learners and speakers of the language. With assistance from a team at Te Ipukarea, the National Maori Language Institute, who transcribed and edited structured conversations between these two kaumatua, this book gets down on paper the voices and ideas of these two major scholars for present and future generations.
ISBN: 9781784702403 Title: Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 & How It Changed the World Author: SPINNEY LAURA
With a death toll of between 50 and 100 million people and a global reach, the Spanish flu of 1918-1920 was the greatest human disaster, not only of the twentieth century, but possibly in all of recorded history. And yet, in our popular conception it exists largely as a footnote to World War I. In Pale Rider, Laura Spinney recounts the story of an overlooked pandemic, tracing it from Alaska to Brazil, from Persia to Spain, and from South Africa to Odessa. She shows how the pandemic was shaped by the interaction of a virus and the humans it encountered; and how this devastating natural experiment put both the ingenuity and the vulnerability of humans to the test. Laura Spinney demonstrates that the Spanish flu was as significant - if not more so - as two world wars in shaping the modern world; in disrupting, and often permanently altering, global politics, race relations, family structures, and thinking across medicine, religion and the arts.
ISBN: 9781776562305 Title: Absolute Book Author: KNOX ELIZABETH
Taryn Cornick believes that the past is behind her - her sister's death by violence, and her own ill-concieved revenge. She has chosen to live a life more professional than personal. She has written a book about the things that threaten libraries - insects, damp, light, fire, carelessness and uncaring. The book is a success, but not all of the attention it brings her is good. There are questions about a fire in the library at Princes Gate, her grandparents' house, and about an ancient scroll box known as the Firestarter. A policeman, Jacob Berger, has questions about a cold case. There are threatening phone calls. And a shadowy young man named Shift appears, bringing his shadows with him. Taryn, Jacob, Shift - three people are driven towards a reckoning felt in more than one world. The Absolute Book is an epic fantasy, intimate in tone. A book where hidden treasures are recovered; where wicked things people think they've shaken from their trails find their scent again. A book about beautiful societies founded on theft and treachery, and one in which dead sisters are a living force. It is a book of journeys and returns, set in London, Norfolk, and the Wye Valley; in Auckland, New Zealand; in the Island of Apples and Summer Road of the Sidhe; at Hell's Gate; in the Tacit with its tombs; and in the hospitals and train stations of Purgatory. Cover: Catherine Nelson, Lost (2014). `The master is present. To read Knox on such a huge canvas - to be immersed in her worlds, wrapped in her intelligence and craft so completely - is an experience not be missed. Lessing, Le Guin, Knox - books where the best hearts meet the best minds meet the best imaginations are few and far between. The Absolute Book is a triumph of fantasy grounded in the reality and challenges of the moment we live in.' -Pip Adam
ISBN: 9781988547374 Title: Book of Overthinking Author: SMITH GWENDOLINE
Overthinking, ruminating, worrying: bestselling author Gwendoline Smith explains this common form of anxiety and offers helpful advice for overcoming it. Overthinking is also known as worrying or ruminating and it's a form of anxiety that many people suffer from.
Psychologist and bestselling author Gwendoline Smith explains in clear and simple language the concepts of positive and negative overthinking, the truth about worry and how to deal with the 'thought viruses' that are holding you back.
She helps you understand what's going on in your head, using humour, lots of examples and anecdotes, and she offers powerful strategies for addressing your issues.
Based on cognitive behavioural theory, this book will help you in all the key areas of your life: from your personal life to relationships and work.
ISBN: 9780994136497 Title: Kuwi & Friends Maori Picture Dictionary Author: MEREWETHER KAT & PAPA PANIA
Beginners Maori Language Picture Dictionary, for the Whole Family. From the #1 bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator of the Kuwi the Kiwi series, Kat Merewether, comes a large scale, stunningly illustrated visual dictionary. Full of over 1000 basic words in te reo Maori and English, perfect for every New Zealander.
ISBN: 9780143773658 Title: All the Way to Summer: Stories of Love & Longing Author: KIDMAN FIONA
A powerful collection of stories exploring love and longing from the award-winning author of This Mortal Boy.
Fiona Kidman's early stories about New Zealand women's experiences scandalised readers with their vivid depictions of the heartbreaks and joys of desire, illicit liaisons and unconventional love. Her writing made her a feminist icon in the early 1980s, and she has since continued to tell the realities of women's lives, her books resonating with many readers over the years and across the world.
To mark her 80th birthday, this volume brings together a variety of her previously published stories as well as several that are new or previously uncollected; all moving, insightful and written with love. The final stories trace her own history of love, a memoir of significant people from childhood and beyond.
ISBN: 9781783784769 Title: Weather: A Novel Author: OFFILL JENNY
From the author of Dept. of Speculation, a dazzling and deadpan new novel about hope and despair, fear and comfort as it plays out in these times of environmental and political turbulence.
'What are you afraid of, he asks me and the answer of course is dentistry, humiliation, scarcity, then he says what are your most useful skills? People think I'm funny' Lizzie Benson slid into her job as a librarian without a traditional degree. But this gives her a vantage point from which to practise her other calling: as an unofficial shrink. For years, she has supported her God-haunted mother and her recovering addict brother. They have both stabilized for the moment, but then her old mentor, Sylvia Liller, makes a proposal. Sylvia has become famous for her prescient podcast, Hell and High Water, and wants to hire Lizzie to answer the mail she receives: from left-wingers worried about climate change and right wingers worried about the decline of western civilization. As she dives into this polarized world, she begins to wonder what it means to keep tending your own garden once you've seen the flames beyond its walls. When her brother becomes a father and Sylvia a recluse, Lizzie is forced to acknowledge the limits of what she can do. But if she can't save others, then what, or who, might save her? And all the while the voices of the city keep floating in--funny, disturbing, and increasingly mad.
ISBN: 9781988547480 Title: Husna's Story: My Wife, the Christchurch Massacre & my Journey to Forgiveness Author: AHMED FARID
Husna Ahmed was a victim of the Christchurch mosque terrorist attack on 15 March 2019. She was shot while looking for her husband, who was in a wheelchair. The couple had been praying when a gunman burst into the mosque. He shot and killed 51 people that day and injured many others. In this book Husna's husband, Farid Ahmed, tells Husna's story, including the day of the attack.
Farid describes the selflessness and bravery with which Husna lived her life. As well as looking after her daughter and paraplegic husband, Husna was an important member of the community, helping women and running classes for children.
Her last selfless act was going back into the mosque to look for her husband on that fateful day, after she had already led other women and children to safety.
Husna's husband, quite remarkably, forgives the alleged killer. Farid's philosophy of forgiveness, peace and love is an example of how faith and humanity can be tools for navigating even the most horrific of tragedies.
ISBN: 9780143774518 Title: Taking the Lead: How Jacinda Ardern Wowed the World Author: HILL DAVID & MORRIS PHOEBE
An inspiring illustrated story for children about Jacinda Ardern, and her meteoric rise to become the world's youngest female leader.
Nobody is too young to start changing the world.
When Jacinda was little, she wanted to be a clown. But when she saw schoolmates who didn't have lunch, or even shoes, she knew she had to do something. Some kids laughed at her for wanting to help people so much, or said she couldn't do it. But that didn't stop Jacinda.
She became the Prime Minister of New Zealand, and the world's youngest female leader.
This is the true story of a trailblazer who has inspired people around the planet, told by award-winning author and illustrator.