It’s been another successful year for Massey University Press, with five books longlisted for the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
It’s been another successful year for Massey University Press, with five books longlisted for the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Since launching in 2015, we have published 47 books and secured a respected place in the New Zealand publishing sector. Below is a selection of upcoming titles.
New Zealand Yearbook, this country’s longest-running poetry magazine, showcases new writing from New Zealand and overseas. It presents the work of talented newcomers as well as that of established voices. Issue #53 features 130 new poems — including work by featured poet, Stephanie Christie — essays and reviews of 30 new poetry collections. Publishing March 2019.
This handsome book is a rich and loving tribute to the work and cultural significance of one of New Zealand’s most influential but least well-documented architects, John Scott (1924–1992). More than 40 projects, from Scott’s famous Futuna Chapel and the Werry House to the Aniwaniwa Visitor Centre and the Martin House, are beautifully photographed by David Straight. Accompanying essays have been written by Douglas Lloyd Jenkins, Hana Scott, Bill McKay and Julia Gatley, and Gregory O’Brien. Publishing March 2019.
Six-year-old Hazel tends her colony of shoebox snails while observing, with varying degrees of understanding, her father’s illness and final decline. Impending loss forms the heart of this story but it’s charming and funny, too, with black-and-white illustrations by Giselle Clarkson. The book is richly rewarding and cleverly layered, and adults will be as drawn to it as children. Nan Blanchard’s assured eye is a rare quality in a new writer; seldom is the world of a young child so delicately and acutely observed. Hazel and the Snails takes you straight to the heart of childhood’s mysteries and delights. Publishing March 2019.
The future of New Zealand’s rural communities is often in the news. Empty shops, depopulation and a lack of jobs are offered as signs that many towns are dying. However, the strength of social ties, the development of digital technologies, the innovations in rural entrepreneurship and the functioning informal economy suggest that some rural communities are in good health. This important book, based on years of research, shows how, and provides useful insights into, the ongoing process of change in rural communities and the resources on which they draw to support their resilience. It offers a positive message and blueprints for progress. Publishing April 2019.
Frances Hodgkins needed to be out in the world to paint. For more than 40 years she travelled ceaselessly through Europe and England; only war confined her. Why did she need to travel so often? And what was her life like in the tiny, often poor, communities in which she worked? In Finding Frances Hodgkins, art curator Mary Kisler turns art detective and travel writer to find out. Richly illustrated, steeped in scholarship and brimming with the author’s admiration for Hodgkins and all she endured and achieved, this vivid book is a marvellous insight into a major figure in New Zealand and international art. Publishing May 2019.
A unique atlas of New Zealand, this mix of graphs, maps and illustrations is both beautiful and enlightening. It tells us where we are, here, in 2019. Each stunning graphic answers a question: Who visits us? How many fish are in the sea? Where do our cats go to at night? Essays by some of New Zealand’s best thinkers complete the package. Publishing October 2019.
To read more, go to masseypress.ac.nz