New Zealand > NZ Biographies

Mike King's Sunday night radio show on Radio Live - The Nutters' Club - is hugely popular because it's a forum where those with all manner of mental health issues can discuss their stories in a warm and accepting environment. Mike asks the questions and leads the guest through their story and he and psychiatrist David Codyre ... read more

Exploring the Presence: More Faith Patches is 'the passionate, rich and honest spiritual journey' of a woman who left her church after awakening to the Divine Feminine. In her sequel to Faith Evolving, Trish McBride honours the Presence of the Holy One who permeates All that Is, however we may name Her/Him. The book holds a r... read more

These "patches of writing from a 30-year period reveal the struggle, courage, commitment and beauty of a woman's intense relationship with God, family, church and community, and the changing character and understanding of those relationships."

Frank Sargeson wrote novels, memoirs and plays and was New Zealand's most important writer of short fiction following the death of Katherine Mansfield. He also encouraged numerous other writers, playing an invaluable role in the rise of our national literature, which he championed both at home and abroad. He was also a pr... read more

Something for the Birds is an unusual and engaging memoir by a wellknown artist and personality. She traces her roots from her childhood in Timaru and back to her Irish ancestors, her bohemian life as a student and her marriage to celebrated psychiatrist Fraser McDonald. Jacqueline Fahey has always lived flamboyantly and cour... read more

Robin Hyde's extraordinary but short life (1906-39) included a precocious early career as poet and parliamentary reporter. As a journalist, she juggled writing for the social pages with highly political reporting on unemployment, prison conditions and the alienation of Maori land. She struggled with drug addiction and depress... read more

As a child Anna Hoffmann dreamed of visiting Java. Fuelled by Wide, Wide World, an adventure magazine, she avidly read the articles and poured over the photographs. She imagined Java as a mysterious place with steaming jungles and stalking tigers, and fantased about sultans and mermaids.
When she did visit Java it turne... read more

In an effort to conquer his depression, Jimi Hunt decided to travel the length of New Zealand's longest river...on a lilo. Jimi Hunt is a man who has spent most of his life doing ridiculous things for his own amusement. Things like building the country's biggest waterslide; playing golf through the streets of downtown Auckla... read more

This absorbing memoir explores the first half of writer Fiona Kidman's life, notably in Kerikeri in Northland. From the distance of France, she reconsiders the past. A vivid memoir of place and family, and of becoming a writer. First published March 2008.

Kiwi Beatrice Tinsley became a professor at Yale, and her work on the evolution of galaxies has affected scientific knowledge profoundly âÃÃÂ... read more

On the morning of 23 September 2009 Helen Meads was murdered by her husband Greg at the stables on their Matamata farm. It was the final chapter in years of control and abuse. Here, Helen's father David White describes the events of that day, and what led to it, and tells of the ordeals that a family is subjected to when one ... read more

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 I was born Lorna Anne Jenks, in March 1938, under the astrological sign of Pisces.
I was brought up in the South Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe in the forties and fifties.
 This book is dedicated to Papat... read more

A light look at personalities - well known and not so - who keep poultry in urban areas of New Zealand. Contains 'stunning' photographs and concise interviews. Has an Auckland focus.

This is a book about Kim Swan's view of life; pigs, pig dogs, deer, hunting, wildlife, game conservation, pine trees, possums,(the ones you kill and skin),
Possum (her hero and the love of her life) and all the things that come together to make her put pen to paper (make that finger to keyboard) to share with her many f... read more

Warren Wright's amazing journey began when he realised one day at school that anything was within his grasp if he applied himself. From that day he made the most of every opportunity that came his way. As a husband and father, police officer and businessman, he has faced challenges from the 1981 Springbok Tour to a midwife wh... read more

A warm,funny,intimate account of a young NZ graduate's three years in Japan. From the moment the author arrives he is swept up in a mystifying world and encounters a marvellous cast of characters,from fellow teachers with strange habits,to a group of women who cook him meals in excahnge for English conversation,an elderly co... read more

Published with the Mahara Gallery, Kapiti Coast, this book is designed to accompany an exhibition of the drawings of Joanna Paul that will tour throughout the country. It introduces a remarkable artist whose work at her death in 2003 was not widely known but whose striking talents are vividly displayed in her drawings. Both c... read more

In 2006 Marianne Elliott, a human rights lawyer from New Zealand, is stationed with the UN in Herat. Several months into her new role an important tribal leader is assassinated while she is in charge of the local UN office. She must try to diffuse the situation before it leads to widespread bloodshed. Zen Under Fire is a vivi... read more

New Zealand's high country farmers are a special breed. They farm in tough terrain, at high altitudes, in areas where extreme climate puts both man and animal to the test. When she was widowed, with three children, in 1992 Iris Scott had to call on all her farming skill and inner strength to carry on as the runholder of the 1... read more

 Celebrated wine writer and journalist Joelle Thomson has brought together eightteen movers, shakers and risk-takers of the New Zealand wine industry and invited them to talk about their achievements, their favourite wines and how they see the industry developing in the future. They make up a wild bunch, described by Joe... read more