And More Books
Route 52. A Big Lump of Country Unknown
Simon Burt
‘On the surface, Pōrangahau is a classic Aotearoa coastal village. Its entrance is flanked by the elegantly carved Rongomaraeroa marae and the Kaiwhītikitiki urupā, its wire fence adorned with roses and frangipani. Across the river a timber hotel stands prominent.
Opposite, a blindingly blue Tip Top dairy serves ice cream, fish’n’chips, and mail. The garage has a car on one hoist, a tractor on the other, and a quad bike waiting. Past the fire station the war memorial hall waits for the next community fundraiser or ANZAC service. A colonial church sits behind a white picket fence. There’s salt in the air and tūī in the trees. This is about as Kiwi as it gets.’
Wairarapa writer Simon Burt, prompted by curiosity, hooked up his caravan, chucked Meg the foxie in the back seat, and set off to find what makes Route 52, the tortuous back road between Masterton and Waipukurau, tick. The hula parties in ‘Coconut Grove’; Akitio, where James K. Baxter wrote a cautionary poem; fugitive George Wilder’s hideout in Herbertville; and The Longest Placename overlooking the Cooks Tooth Road mist.
He shared beers, cuppas and scones with the people of these places. People informed by their obstacles, and the isolation they face—and largely prefer.
This book is what he found.
Quality soft cover.
late 2024.
Beginnings
Aotearoa and Abroad
Michael D Jackson
Michael was born under the shadow of Mt Taranaki. Educated in Aotearoa, he travelled abroad and currently is Senior Research Fellow in world religions at Harvard Divinity School. In over 40 works of fiction, poetry, memoir, and anthropology, Michael has drawn on his extensive experience in Aotearoa, Sierra Leone, and Aboriginal Australia to develop a unique genre-blurring style that has garnered international praise and many awards, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry, and the Victor Turner Lifetime Achievement Award for Humanist Anthropology.
..."one of our most astute, humane, idiosyncratic, neglected and perdurable writer." Martin Edmond.
Beginnings is not just about growing up in 1950s New Zealand - though Michael writes charmingly and astutely about those times, it is also a commentary on the New Zealand psyche. All New Zealanders will warm to this narrative.
To be published later in 2024.