In 1966 Michael Illingworth, whose oil painting Adam and Eve appears on the front cover of this book, was awarded the inaugural Frances Hodgkins Fellowship. For the first time in New Zealand a practising artist was given a studio and paid a salary to make art for a whole year. Such support, as Frances Hodgkins herself wrote from her own experience, was capable of ‘yielding up riches – undreamed of’. Poet and critic David Eggleton has described the fellowship as ‘an emblem of cultural endeavour which … holds a legendary status in the public imagination’. The initiative and much of the early funding for the fellowship is thought to have come from poet, editor and arts patron Charles Brasch, and it was set up by the University of Otago Council. Fifty years later, the Frances Hodgkins is still going strong, one of five arts fellowships offered through the University of Otago’s Humanities Division. This sumptuous book brings together the art and the stories of half a century of Frances Hodgkins fellows. Arts commentator Priscilla Pitts writes about their work, while journalist Andrea Hotere interviews the artists about their lives and sources of inspiration. The result is a vibrant celebration of a wealth of talent fostered through New Zealand’s foremost visual arts residency, showing how the artistic wealth created has flowed back into the culture of the small country that nurtured it.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 220 x 280 mm

Publication Date: 11-09-2017

what did you eat willful Chang’e? – fly to the moon where no one hears you rabbiting on you won’t silence me by chopping the tree its white leaves and a night-dipped pen the fuel of my longevity As one of eight writers, poet Janet Charman was invited in 2009 to take part in a hectic, immersive literary residency in Hong Kong. Written out of this time of stimulating buzz, 仁 surrender chronicles the tensions, translations and literary crushes that ensue, with ever-present comedy. From this intense hothouse and these privileged constraints flow narrative poems that capture the creative and cultural dislocation of travel, with its petty irritants and constant surprises. Charman’s verse has always been distinguished by a combination of astute observation, compassion, pluck, vulnerability and willingness to poke fun at herself. – Iain Sharp In her laconic and original style, Janet Charman writes a body of work which sees [her] exploiting the motif of journeying to investigate the colonised land, past and present. – Siobhan Harvey

Bind: paperback

Pages: 118

Dimensions: 150 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 01-11-2017

An out-of-the-way corner of the South Island, the Catlins is a beautiful and relatively unspoilt area with many natural attractions, including that rare thing on the east coast, native forest. Neville Peat introduces the region – its flora, wildlife, bush walks, caves and waterfalls – before tracing the journey along the stunning Southern Scenic Route linking Otago, Southland and Fiordland.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 72

Dimensions: 170 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 11-12-2017

This book traces Graeme Thompson’s decision to leave the security of his family farm in remote Central Otago and take actions that would revolutionise the New Zealand meat industry, producing huge benefits to consumers around the world as well as to local farmers. For Graeme, these ventures meant fame and fortune and made the name of the dynamic company he founded, Fortex New Zealand Limited, synonymous with his name. But then the empire he had built came crashing down, throwing him into jail and all of the humiliation that went with it. Fortunately, Graeme’s courage, resilience and unwaver-ing support from family and friends saw him through that hard time. After leaving prison, he established a new and exciting business that has brought him a way of life and the tranquillity his previous fame could never offer. This riveting story also takes us through Graeme’s Scottish heritage, his childhood, boarding school and university days, marriage to his wife Barb, and the raising of their children. It is a story that not only exemplifies the extraordinary things that dynamic leadership of ourselves and others can achieve but also shows that we all have special resources to handle adversity and that success or failure is very much how we as individuals see it.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 216

Dimensions: 190 x 250 mm

Publication Date: 20-11-2017

"I believe we need to quit the approach in which we quietly come in through the frilly pink curtains and talk about suicide carefully so as not to cause upset or offend anyone. I'm saying we should fire up the bulldozer, smash it through the wall and start yelling: "Let's talk about suicide and how much it suck"". This book is the story of the tragic death by suicide of Paul Lynch's brother Brett and the devastating effect it had on his family. It is also a powerful plea for us to face up to suicide as an issue and acknowledge that the way we're dealing with it at the moment isn't working. "If my story can prevent a person, or people, from leaving their family and friends to deal with the aftermath of their suicide and all that goes with it," says Paul Lynch, "then I will consider that to be a success".

Bind: paperback

Pages: 146

Dimensions: 130 x 200 mm

‘New China Eyewitness’ is the fascinating account of the 1956 visit to the People’s Republic of China by a group of prominent New Zealanders – including Roger Duff, James Bertram, Evelyn Page, Angus Ross and Ormond Wilson – and of how Canterbury Museum came to acquire the largest collection of Chinese art in New Zealand. At the centre of the book is the eloquent diary kept by Canterbury Museum director Dr Roger Duff, detailing his efforts to bring to Christchurch the collection of antiquities gifted to the museum by long-time China resident, New Zealander Rewi Alley. Through Alley’s contacts with premier Zhou Enlai and Duff’s diplomatic skills they obtained the sanction of the Chinese government to circumvent its own export ban on antiquities and permit the gifting of seven crates of treasures to Christchurch. These objects were the basis for the museum’s Hall of Oriental Arts and their arrival led to a collections policy dedicated to Chinese art. Beautifully written and illustrated, ‘New China Eyewitness’ offers a rare glimpse of foreigners’ views of China during a period of rapid social, political and cultural change, and at a time of unusual political and cultural tolerance.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 176

Dimensions: 173 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 07-12-2017

FEATURED ARTISTS James Robinson, Jenna Packer, Andrew McLeod AWARDS & COMPETITIONS Results of the Kathleen Grattan Award for Poetry 2017 and judge’s report by Bill Manhire, results of the Caselberg Trust International Poetry Prize and judge’s report by Riemke Ensing, results and winning essays from Landfall Essay Competition 2017, and judge’s report by David Eggleton WRITERS Alie Benge, Marianne Bevan, Tony Beyer, Owen Bullock, Kate Camp, Medb Charleton, H.E. Crampton, John Dennison, Doc Drumheller, Breton Dukes, Lynley Edmeades, Ben Egerton, Riemke Ensing, Sisilia Eteuati, Laurence Fearnley, Rachel J. Fenton, Rhian Gallagher, René Harrison, Ingrid Horrocks, Mark Anthony Houlahan, Stephanie Johnson, Judith Lofley, Owen Marshall, Samantha Montgomerie, Claire Orchard, Bob Orr, Kiri Piahana-Wong, Brian Potiki, Joanna Preston, Vaughan Rapatahana, Rebecca Reader, Sue Reidy, James Robinson, Ali Shakir, Kerrin P. Sharpe, Sarah Shirley, Carin Smeaton, Ruby Solly, Michael Steven, Mua Strickson-Pua, Tayi Tibble, Albert Wendt, Sue Wootton, Phoebe Wright REVIEWS Landfall Review Online: books recently reviewed Martin Edmond on Charles Brasch: Journals 1945–1957 ed. Peter Simpson Iain Sharp on Selected Poems by Ian Wedde Jenny Powell on Die Bibel and Collected Poems 1981–2016 by Michael O’Leary Johanna Emeney on The Arrow that Missed by Ted Jenner and The Ones Who Keep Quiet by David Howard Denis Harold on The New Animals by Pip Adams Charlotte Graham on The Suicide Club by Sarah Quigley Katie Pickles on The Great War for New Zealand: Waikato 1800–2000 by Vincent O’Malley Edmund Bohan on The World, the Flesh and the Devil: The life and opinions of Samuel Marsden in England and the Antipodes 1765–1838 by Andrew Sharp

Bind: paperback

Pages: 208

Dimensions: 165 x 215 mm

Publication Date: 15-11-2017

“Shall I shoot?”… “No don’t shoot”… I’m going to shoot”… “Don’t shoot!”. Rapid fire yelling within the confines of a vehicle stuck in the middle of stalled traffic, facing an unknown person wearing a full burqa peering into the car. Inches away from the driver’s face, a large hand pressed against the window. “We didn’t know if they were male or female or what was about to happen, but we were absolutely sure that if we shot this person, the crowd, including the armed policemen nearby, would turn on us and there’d be no escape.” In 2004, Lieutenant Colonel William Blaikie shipped out to Afghanistan, to head up a team dedicated to rebuilding the country after the war. As part of the New Zealand Defence Force, his skills lay in intelligence and communications – his mission was to form a team, develop and implement plans to work with USA and Coalition partners to help get Afghanistan back on its feet. Bill experienced situations that were beyond tense, often facing life and death situations and decision making that required deep and quick thinking, based on not always having enough information at hand. On his return home to New Zealand, his journey through coping with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder began, and the nightmares were not limited to sleep time. Everything has remained at life and death levels for Bill, and this book details how he and his wife Nancy have worked through suicide attempts, getting help, and finding answers to what is an epidemic level challenge for military personnel everywhere. “No amount of training can prepare you for what happens in your head after the uniforms are off and the guns are packed away.”

Bind: paperback

Pages: 164

Publication Date: 11-11-2017

There is perhaps no issue in New Zealand today more contentious than water rights. The Crown claims that no one owns water, but its use, irrigation and treatment are controlled by local governments empowered by the Crown. Since the 1990s resource consents for the taking of water, in Canterbury and Southland especially, have increased dramatically and the environmental situation is reaching a breaking point. After years of discussion some kind of system regarding the ownership of water is inevitable. In Water Rights for Ngāi Tahu, Te Maire Tau considers the historical and political framework that has contributed to the current state of water rights in the Ngāi Tahu takiwā. He explores the customary, legal and Treaty frameworks that feed into the debate regarding the ownership of water. From 1844 to 1864 the Crown purchased more than 34.5 million acres of land from Ngāi Tahu, but in most purchase deeds water is not mentioned. How does this play into claims to water? Should the Treaty be relied upon? How far can kaitiakitanga take us if the goal is mana motuhake and tino rangatiratanga? In this short book Te Maire Tau lays out the historical background and context to water rights, and opens a discussion about where to proceed next in determining a Ngāi Tahu position on water.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 74

Dimensions: 148 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 17-11-2017

Many New Zealand writers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century travelled extensively or lived overseas for a time, and they often led very interesting lives. The received wisdom is that they were forced to leave these colonial backblocks in search of literary inspiration and publishing opportunities. In The Expatriate Myth, Helen Bones presents a challenge to this conventional understanding, based on detailed historical and empirical research. Was it actually necessary for them to leave to find success? How prevalent was expatriatism among New Zealand writers? Did their experiences fit the usual tropes about expatriatism and exile? Were they fleeing an oppressive society lacking in literary opportunity? In the field of literary studies, scholars are often consumed with questions about ‘national’ literature and ‘what it means to be a New Zealander’. And yet many of New Zealand’s writers living overseas operated in a transnational way, taking advantage of colonial networks in a way that belies any notion of a single national allegiance. Most who left New Zealand, even if they were away for a time, continued to write about and interact with their homeland, and in many cases came back. In this fascinating and clear-sighted book, Helen Bones offers a fresh perspective on some hoary New Zealand literary chestnuts.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 242

Dimensions: 150 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 20-02-2018