New Zealand > NZ - Biography/ Memoir

Dame Alison Holst holds more titles than her damehood suggests: she's been invariably described as 'Mother of the Nation', 'Queen of the Kitchen' and 'a groundbreaker in the culinary world'. In the sixties, Dame Alison singlehandedly changed the way women prepared food for their families with her legendary television programme 'Here's How'. She went on to become a prodigious fund-raiser for Plunkett, the chocolate-coated voice of radio, author of a hundred bestselling cookbooks, a successful business brand, as well as our favourit... read more

Lloyd Geering is one of New Zealand's foremost thinkers, a man of clarity and vision who continues to present new and challenging ideas about the spiritual life of the culture he lives in. His life almost spans the twentieth century, and his stories of growing up in the Depression, cycling trips around the country, and a lively but impoverished student life all embellish the historical record of that time. Embarking on life as a newly-wed young minister, he was left suddenly bereft by his wife's death; he writes movingly of his wor... read more

While Ngaio Marsh had a larger than life public persona, she was fiercely protective of her private life. No one knows better how to cover tracks with red herrings and remove incriminating evidence than a crime fiction writer. This fascinating biography of Ngaio Marsh pieces together both the public and private Marsh in a way that is as riveting as a crime novel. Through Marsh's writing and her theatre productions and publications, Joanne Drayton assembles the peices to the puzzle that is Ngaio Marsh. Proving that life can be a... read more

Writer and activist Elsie Locke was a remarkable woman whose contribution to Aotearoa New Zealand went largely unrecognised during her lifetime. In a long and eventful life she campaigned for birth control, women's rights, nuclear disarmament, social justice and the environment before such causes were popular. She wrote almost 40 books, numerous articles and School Journal stories, and was a published poet. Forthright she might have been, but the diminutive Elsie Locke was a very private and modest person. In this insightful and co... read more

'I said many times I would not write autobiography - partly because it might signal, either to my inner self, or to others, a "signing off" as a writer; and partly because I did not want to mark off areas that were fact in my life from those that might yet be invented. Fiction likes to move, disguised and without a passport, back and forth across that border, and prefers it should be unmarked and without check-points.' - C K Stead.
Happily for the many readers of his novels, poems, criticism and essays, C K Stead has changed... read more

David Lange's Fourth Labour Government was a watershed in New Zealand history. Whether it was international politics (ANZUS, Mururoa tests, Oxford Union debate) or domestic economics (Roger Douglas's reforms), New Zealand was a vastly different country in 1990 than it had been when Lange won in 1984. The real story of this time has never been told until now, and Lange's own bestselling autobiography was disappointing in the lack of detail it contained. Written by Lange's cousin, and senior cabinet minister in that Government, Micha... read more

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The most controversial book on family violence published this year, BREAKING SILENCE was initially banned from major book chains after a 50,000 strong Facebook boycott campaign ripped across New Zealand, Australia, the United States and the UK protesting its publication. The boycott campaign had been based on false information, however, and designed to deliberately whip up public hysteria during a Coroner's Court hearing into the deaths of two twins. Now that the book has been published the critics are praising it. Breaking Silence... read more

"I come from Mt Roskill. Somebody has to."
So says Garth Cartwright of growing up in New Zealand's largest suburb. It had acres of rugby fields and more churches than anywhere else in the country - but there were no cinemas, music venues or pubs. In search of a little more culture, a young Garth up and moved to London. Twenty years after leaving he returned to revel in a Kiwi summer. That summer was spent travelling the country from top to bottom and observing New Zealand and its citizens in all their eccentric glory. ... read more

Graeme Sinclair producer, writer and star of the ever popular Gone Fishin' writes candidly about his life and career. While many of his younger fans have only ever known him in a wheelchair, for the first 40 years of his eventful life he had the full use of his legs. Struck down with MS unexpectedly in his forties instead of allowing his misfortune to dominate his life, he carried on as normal, only now on wheels. This presented some interesting challenges, filming and travelling to make the TV show. A hero to his younger viewers t... read more

When news is often confined to sound bites and brief backgrounders, some of the best stories behind the news go largely untold. Here, without those constraints, Mike is able to give full, truthful and honest portrayals of these event. Admired for his credibility and willingness to go to the hot spots, in a reporting career spanning 25 years, Mike is best known for his work in some of the world's most dangerous places, covering conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, East Timor and the Solomon Islands. He has also covered som... read more

'It is the desire really to make myself a first person. For many years I was a third person - as children are, 'they', 'she', and as probably oppressed minorities become, 'they'. - Janet Frame, radio interview about writing her autobiography (1983). For the first time ever, this collection brings together Janet Frame's published short non-fiction in one collected volume, as well as material never seen before. Letters spanning 50 years of Frame's life are published alongside essays, reviews, speeches and extracts from interviews. T... read more

Fleur Sullivan is a South Island legend, the culinary maven responsible for not one but two iconic local restaurants - Olivers in Clyde and the eponymous Fleurs Place in Moeraki. Now, at the age of 72, she's running a third, The Loan and Merc in her home town of Oamaru. Her eventful career has spanned more than 40 years, during which time she's transformed two sleepy towns into international destinations. Fleur is brimming with great stories, anecdotes, reminiscences, the conversations had round her table and friendships formed in ... read more

"I love doubters: of a truly honest doubter I have great hope." Printer, botanist and missionary, William Colenso was a nineteenth-century maverick, a true original. He protested at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, arguing that Maori did not fully understand its implications. He became a troubled conscience during the white-hot period of colonisation, maintaining his dissident voice throughout his career. Peter Wells refreshes our vision of this awkward, highly talented man, who lost his family after the church expelled him ... read more

Jack Ralston is New Zealand's ultimate sports insider. Having started his sporting career training with Arthur Lydiard, he went on to head up Nike Sports Marketing working with greats like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Carl Lewis. Drawn back to New Zealand, Jack then worked for the New Zealand Rugby Union, trained triathletes like Hamish Carter and worked with Round-the-World yachting syndicates. He's a businessman, a sportsman, a trainer and a great story teller. Jack has been an insider during many of the seminal moments in Ne... read more

Amanda Taylor-Ace lives her life by her philosophy of Joie de Vivre Unlimited unlimited joy. So when her 14-year-old son was falling in with a bad crowd and her life in Auckland needed a shake-up, she packed her bags and headed to France with her son for a year. Joie de Vivre Unliimited is the story of how and why she decided to stay, and how her new life has unfurled. Finding two adjoined 18th-century houses and converting them into guest accomodation and a cooking school was her next adventure. Amanda tells of renovation disaster... read more

The enigmatic figure of John Mulgan remains a striking presence in New Zealand culture, his sole novel, Man Alone (1939), one of the classic landmarks of a mature and independent New Zealand literature. His second book, Report on Experience, published posthumously in 1947, is one of the most clear-sighted and moving memoirs to emerge from the Second World War. A Good Mail presents a generous selection of his letters home - letters to those he cared about, but from whom he felt a permanent separation. When he left New Zealand... read more

You've probably heard the rumours about the world ending in 2012 right? Did you know that the smart and powerful people are secretly building three giant spaceships in which to make a getaway but it's only for them? And did you also know that to get on one of those spaceships and escape you've got to be a VIP? That's right, you've got to MAKE IT BIG! You didn't know? You don't know how? Rhys Darby has written just the book for you. Get noticed? Dance like a demon? Score with the opposite sex? Not just talk the talk but walk the tal... read more