Fantasy and science fiction writer Karen Healey reckons that the national book awards, the NZ Book Awards, are erroneously named. Why not the the New Zealand Adult Literary Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry Awards? For that’s what they are, she argues….
How many children’s books have you read that tell stories of family violence and abuse? Today author, speaker and survivor of family violence, Tim Tipene, argues for more books that show the reality of life for far too many children…
Elizabeth Heritage investigates representations of gender in New Zealand children’s book publishing by looking at the 2017 bestsellers and talking to local publishers. Are we doing the best by all genders, and why does it matter? The Observer recently commissioned…
Should children be exposed to books about slavery, racism and violence? Today Sisilia Eteuati, an Auckland writer, lawyer and mother, gives us her very good reasons for putting serious subject matter on her children’s bookshelves. On the eve of my…
Author, publisher, and full-time feminist Deb Potter on how books can open up wonderful choices for young people – or not. I have more than one t-shirt with the word feminist on it. Reading the word, people in lifts, supermarkets…
How do we raise the profile of New Zealand Children’s books? Donovan Bixley has been asking around, and he has an answer… of sorts. Whenever I’m at a children’s book event the question arises: how do we raise the profile…
When is it okay for creative people to draw on cultural traditions they’re not part of? Illustrator, writer and teacher Zak Waipara has some thoughts about cultural appropriation. When Neil Gaiman wrote in Stardust, ‘Without our stories we are incomplete,’…
Non-fiction writer Maria Gill ponders the nature of a creative non-fiction story for children and how creative non-fiction stories are categorised. Toroa’s Journey, by Maria Gill and Gavin Mouldey, is released this week by Potton & Burton. Abel Tasman: Mapping…
In the fourth of our features in celebration of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, award-winning writer Steph Matuku battles clichés, stereotypes, and the voice of the internal critic, as she wonders if her work is ‘Māori enough.’ I’m a…
In the current Anglo-Saxon book market, there is much that is the same. If one book is successful, there’s a flurry to find another one just like it. Sameness can make us all feel safe, but Julia Marshall from Gecko…