In the story of New Zealand art, there's no one quite like Louise Henderson. A painter trained in embroidery and design. A French woman who found freedom to be herself in New Zealand. A modernist who looked to European tradition for inspiration. And a pioneer of abstraction who remained engaged with the world around her. The first substantial book on Henderson - and the only publication to illustrate artwork and archival material from across her seven-decade career - Louise Henderson: From Life connects this extraordinary artist with an international discussion about women modernists and confirms her importance in New Zealand's visual culture.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 256

Dimensions: 245 x 290 mm

Publication Date: 15-11-2019

Dan Davin was the author of the only substantial body of war fiction written by a New Zealand soldier during any of the wars of the 20th century in which the nation was engaged. The General and the Nightingale brings together Davin’s 20 war stories, some drawn from his war diaries and loosely based on his experiences as ‘a wartime scholar-soldier’ and those of his fellow soldiers in the British and New Zealand armies. They yield an unparalleled insight into the Kiwi or Anzac soldier at war during the Mediterranean and African desert campaigns of World War II. Editor Janet Wilson notes they can be read as ‘fictionalised accounts rather than imaginative fictions’. Born and raised in a working-class Catholic family in Southland, Davin was a Rhodes Scholar and had recently completed a degree at Oxford when he enlisted in the British Army in 1939. After receiving a commission in 1940 he successfully applied to be transferred to the New Zealand forces. He saw active service in Greece and North Africa, was wounded in Crete, and rose to become General Freyberg’s intelligence officer in the Italian campaign. The General and the Nightingale updates an earlier collection of Davin’s war stories published in 1986 as The Salamander in the Fire and long out of print. This new publication features comprehensive notes, a glossary, a chronology, a map of story locations, a bibliography and an extensive introduction by Janet Wilson. It is a companion volume to The Gorse Blooms Pale: Dan Davin’s Southland short stories (OUP, 2007), which is also being reissued.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 364

Dimensions: 138 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 24-01-2020

Taranto to Trieste is an account of the author’s fascinating journey to retrace the actual path of the 2nd New Zealand Division in Italy from its arrival in October 1943 until the end of the European war. Although a personal journey with personal reflections, the real story is about the largely off-the-beaten track places which the troops passed through, what they saw and experienced along the way and, in some cases what they missed. To complement the Division’s story, the historical context and military actions are explained with many maps as well as war-time photographs and colourful quotations from official military histories. As the author says, “There are many people of the post-war generation, and their children, with direct connections to the Italian campaign, who would like to know more about the small, mysterious places the Division passed through which appear in diaries, letters and on the back of photographs, but many of which do not appear on maps.” The author’s own photographs, descriptions of the places visited, the landscapes travelled and the roads followed will delight those wanting to follow in the footsteps of the 2nd Division in Italy.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 288

Dimensions: 200 x 260 mm

Publication Date: 16-10-2019

Key Sales Points: * This would be the most extensive body of ecological poetry published in New Zealand * The writing very much confirms the unique positioning of this country as a Pacific nation, its arts now a critical factor in building our environmental awareness * Suitable for readers in senior school and tertiary education as well as general readers Denys Trussell: Denys has worked as a poet, biographer, essayist, editor and environmentalist. He has published in France, Germany, the UK, India, Australia and the USA. In New Zealand he won the PEN Best First Book of Prose Award (1985) and was short-listed in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 1999 for the poetry book, Walking Into The Millennium.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 794

Dimensions: 140 x 225 mm

Publication Date: 19-10-2019

After a forty year voluntary exile, an expatriate kiwi returns to New Zealand to travel around while reporting on the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Return To Rugby Land is a challenging and provocative social commentary encompassing more than just the games or scenery. Scott explores sport's place in society, along with the myths, psyche and anxieties of a small nation. While questioning comfortable shibboleths, including about Maori and women, his personal account offers heartfelt insights and a broad understanding of New Zealand inextricably linked to the omnipresent game of rugby.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 269

Dimensions: 138 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 20-12-2019

New Zealand has always proudly worn its status of being the first country to enfranchise women. But not many know that it took a further 40 long years to get the first woman elected to Parliament. In fact women were not even entitled to stand as candidates in national elections until 1919 – 26 years after they won the right to vote in those elections. Even then there was resistance, with editor of the Auckland Star stating that it would open the way for ‘a class of aggressive females who, thirsting for publicity, would be constantly pushing themselves forward into positions for which they are in no sense fitted’. The journey ‘from the home to the House’ was a shamefully protracted one for New Zealand women, as many male parliamentarians who grudgingly accepted the franchise being extended to women staunchly resisted any further progress. Their political machinations and filibustering were highly effective. Eventually, with an additional 130,000 voters enrolled, politicians began to realise that women’s votes – and even women’s voices – mattered. However, it was not until 1933 that the first woman was elected to the New Zealand Parliament, when Elizabeth McCombs won the Lyttelton seat, following the death of her husband, the sitting MP. The history of women striving to share in governing the country, a neglected footnote in the nation’s electoral history, is now captured in this essential work by Jenny Coleman. She has drawn on a wide range of sources to create a rich portrayal of a rapidly evolving colonial society in which new ideas and social change were in constant friction with the status quo.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 338

Dimensions: 150 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 30-05-2020

Llew Summers (1947–2019) was a rarity in the art world – a figurative artist in a scene dominated by abstract practices. ‘Llew Summers: Body and Soul’ depicts the work and life of one of New Zealand’s most recognisable sculptors, a man of great warmth and astonishing vitality, whose works are daring, sensual and provocative. John Newton takes us from Summers’ beginnings as a self-taught artist, through his relationships and family life, to his success as a highly visible sculptor with works found in public spaces throughout New Zealand. We follow Summers’ progression as an artist, a true independent, working outside the hierarchies of the art world. His early monumental works in concrete made him a public fixture, with themes of nurture and nature, sexuality and solidity seen in his idealised female forms. As he discovered carving in wood and marble, the work became more subtle and increasingly dynamic. From the early 2000s, following his first trip to Europe, religious imagery entered Summers’ work in ways that extended both his visual and thematic range, and introduced a more overtly spiritual element. His later career features depictions of Christ, angelic winged figures and large, ambitious works in bronze. Illustrated with more than 200 photographs, including newly commissioned images of Summers’ works, ‘Llew Summers: Body and Soul’is a joyful record of a life in sculpture and a testimony to the value of public art.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 200

Dimensions: 220 x 250 mm

Publication Date: 21-08-2020

Until about 100 million years ago, New Zealand lay on the Pacific-facing edge of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana; the formation of our sedimentary rocks provides a fascinating view of the tectonic activity and changes since that time. This volume is the culmination of a comprehensive survey of New Zealand’s Cretaceous–Cenozoic strata, begun in 1978, and presents an up-to-date synthesis and interpretation of regional sedimentary information from a variety of sources; the study has been expanded to include large areas of the continental shelf and beyond. Extensive references and indexing complete this essential work, a key resource for students, professional geologists and enthusiastic amateurs. Topics covered include: • sedimentary basins during the Cretaceous continental margin break-up; • the active tectonics of a ‘passive margin’; • Late Cenozoic sedimentary basins in a new, evolving plate boundary; • eustatic sea-level change in an active tectonic setting; • basin scale and facies change on the new and thin continent Zealandia

Bind: paperback

Pages: 312

Dimensions: 210 x 280 mm

Publication Date: 23-07-2020

In 1869, a businessman from China’s Guangdong Province first set foot on New Zealand soil at Port Chalmers. It was the beginning of an illustrious career that would change the shape of commerce and industry in Otago and Southland. ‘Merchant, Miner, Mandarin’ depicts the fascinating life of Choie Sew Hoy – from his early days in China before emigrating to Australia and then New Zealand, to his death in 1901 as one of Dunedin’s most prominent entrepreneurs. The store Choie Sew Hoy established in Dunedin’s Stafford Street was a huge success, while his revolutionary gold-dredging technology improved the fortunes of the gold-mining industry in Otago and Southland. He backed dredging, quartz crushing and hydraulic sluicing ventures in the goldfields of Ophir, Macetown, Skippers, Nokomai and the Shotover. Sharp as a razor, Sew Hoy was a visionary, able to spot opportunities no one else could, whether sending vast amounts of unwanted scrap metal from New Zealand back to China, or joining famous Taranaki businessman Chew Chong’s fungus export trade. Sew Hoy was also a local character, always elegantly dressed and with legendary success in horse racing. His self-assurance and charm gained him entry to the Chamber of Commerce, the Jockey Club, the Masons and even the Caledonian Society. A benefactor to many social causes, he supported hospitals and benevolent associations to help his fellow Chinese immigrants. When the success of the Chinese in New Zealand aroused hostility, he fought the prevalent racism and unfair government legislation of the day. A man of two worlds, Choie Sew Hoy was a success in both. Richly illustrated and deeply researched, ‘Merchant, Miner, Mandarin’ is both the compelling biography of one of the most distinguished figures of New Zealand business and an intriguing account of late 19th-century society, industry and race relations.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 288

Dimensions: 210 x 265 mm

Publication Date: 19-06-2020

This us a rollicking tale of the highs and lows of a life well lived. Born into a life of privilege, James Wilson was always too free-thinking to be kept down on the farm, content to follow in his ancestors' footsteps. Slowly but determinedly he pulled away from tradition and set off on his own sometimes rocky and precarious path. Ten years at elite boarding schools didn't snuff out his dreams of adventure, which subsequently found him travelling across the Sahara desert and down the length of Africa in a little Mini, and later upifting his wife and four children to work as a farm advisor on a cattle farm in Malaysia. Back home again, he turned the farming over to his long-suffering wife Barbie and embarked on a career as an inventor and entrepreneur, with some successful - and occasionally disastrous - results. Eventually the family farm was sold and Barbie and James have carved out a new active life in the Marlborough Sounds. James's ride through life has been a rollercoaster, but he has few regrets and the proverbial silver spoon is now but a faint memory.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 208

Dimensions: 152 x 235 mm

Publication Date: 01-01-2020