The University of Otago has announced that the future of the Children’s Writer Residency is uncertain, following a funding cut. Ella West looks at the significance of the residency. This year’s Children’s Writer resident, Samantha Montgomerie from Dunedin, could be…
Following on from the Auckland Writers Festival, David Hill answers the perennial question of authors everywhere: why do you write? In Graeme Lay’s first novel, The Mentor, a sultry female follower approaches the author-narrator, and breathes “Tell me: why do…
We asked Jane Arthur, co-founder of The Sapling and co-owner/manager of GOOD BOOKS, to sell us the junior fiction finalists, and if you haven’t already read them you’ll be running to bookshops and libraries to add them to your and…
Sarah Forster reviews three recent junior fiction reads from some of Aotearoa’s most accomplished writers. Below, by David Hill This book takes you underground and leaves you there, gasping for breath until the very end. It is pure David Hill,…
By David Hill A nerve-wracking underground adventure from a master storyteller, Below follows Liam as he dares his classmate Imogen to come on a forbidden tour of the railway tunnel being drilled through a nearby mountain, in the hopes she’ll…
Steampunk, historical fiction and mythology? Whatever makes you tick, there’s a serving of fresh new Aotearoa fiction to get you excited. These titles range from junior fiction to young adult fiction, but as with any book, so much depends on…
The brilliant David Hill takes a trip down memory lane in the latest instalment of our ‘books I read to my grandchildren’ series. Read on for his reflections as the grandparent, as well as some rare, but valuable, insights from…
The death of the father of the family whose ordeal David Hill’s YA novel Coming Back is based on spurred him to think about how writers record and adjust reality to suit their narratives. Coming Back might not be regularly…
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…
Fascinating facts aren’t just found in Frank Worsley’s famous expedition to Antarctica, but also in our local shores, with captivating creatures and interesting snippets about our current Prime Minister. Writer Raymond Huber reviews two exciting new non-fiction books from publisher New Holland and…