Today our special guest writer is the Prime Minister of New Zealand, the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, who is also Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage. She tells us about her surprising reading journey as a child and teenager. My…
Poet and children’s bookseller Freya Daly Sadgrove is a strong believer in the power of the right book for the right person at the right time. Here, she writes about why (in her own words) ‘books are great as gifts…
Poet, author and anthologist Jenny Bornholdt tells us about the books she read – and heard – as a child. My earliest memory of being read to: Kate Harcourt’s voice on the radio programme Listen with Mother as I sit…
The follow-up to the award-winning Annual is out this month, ready to be part of the formative childhood reading of a new generation of Kiwi kids. We reviewed it last week, but we have also asked a few of the…
Jordan Watson is better known – to millions of YouTube viewers – as How to Dad, giving hilarious advice on the practicalities of dad-hood to parents all over the world. Today he tells us about the books that were most…
The Sapling editor Sarah Forster writes about her childhood spent between New Zealand and Australia, the books she read as a result, and explains why we’re making room for the Aussies on this site. I lived, from the ages two…
Award-winning fiction (for grown-ups) writer Pip Adam recalls her earliest introductions to story through television and magazines, and resurrects the magic of 1970s Disney. As a kid I loved TV. I lived for it. I often say there weren’t many…
To celebrate the publication of My Meerkat Mum (her 15th picture book), Ruth Paul reflects on the childhood stories and antics that turned her into a grown-up reader, writer and illustrator. Once I won a prize. My sister forced me…
Household name, TV personality and very funny guy, Dai Henwood answers four quick questions about the roles books have held throughout his life. Where did books fit into your childhood? Books were a staple in our household. My parents were…
Miriama Kamo is one of New Zealand’s foremost broadcasters. She looks back on her book-loving childhood, and that time she tried to get Witi Ihimaera to adopt her. It was a watershed, Pounamu, Pounamu: the book that was the growing…