Features

The Mahy Questionnaire: Kat Quin

Here’s a fresh instalment of the Margaret Mahy Questionnaire, featuring author-illustrator Kat Quin. Read on for her takes on changeovers, rattlebang cars and sonsense nongs! 1. Describe yourself in three words I’m still learning. 2. During the height of adolescence,…

Aotearoa Book Memories: Dreamhunter

It’s a feeling all booksellers know too well. A book is one of your eternal favourites, you have perfected your sales spiel, you’ve pressed it into the hands of many a shopper. And then one day, the replenishment order you…

Accidental Writing 101: Teine Sāmoa

Dahlia Malaeulu found herself writing every day in lockdown, drafting 12 stories in seven days before realising what we all now know: it’s a book! We published a sampling of Teine Sāmoa yesterday: today, we present a personal essay from…

THE SAMPLING: Teine Sāmoa

Manuia le Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa 2020 – Happy Samoa Language Week 2020! Today we have an extract from Teine Sāmoa, by Dahlia Malaeulu, a new collection of short stories.

Coconut Palms and Library Shelves

Nalini Singh, author of the New York Times bestselling Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter series, reminisces about the stories and books that formed her childhood. Books and reading and stories are an indelibly entwined part of my childhood. I remember sitting…

Book Quiz: Pukapuka & Pasifika

How well do you know your books of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa? Here’s a classic Sapling multiple-choice quiz to get you scratching your heads and inevitably adding to your to-read pile! Test yourself, share with a friend, and let us know on…

The Reckoning: Are we really one?

How many books have you read about Muslims since the Christchurch mosque shootings? How many have you read in your lifetime? In this instalment of The Reckoning, Sapling editor Nida Fiazi argues for more books with Muslim representation, and offers…

Bookseller Top Picks: Overcoming Struggles

We’ve canvassed so many amazing bookshops in our From The Shop Floor feature over the years, and it only seemed right to return to some of those bookshops for another check in. But to mix things up, we’re now asking…

THE SAMPLING: Katipo Joe—Blitzkreig

Brian Falkner is the author of over a dozen books for teens and younger readers, published in New Zealand, Australia, the US and the UK. Enjoy this extract from his latest book, first in a series, Katipo Joe: Blitzkreig.

The Personalised Adventures of [YOUR NAME HERE]

Remember getting one of those books from a kindly relative that features you – your name and everything! – dropped into a story? Sapling editor Briar certainly does – and she takes a stroll down memory lane before exploring some…