Praise poem by Sam Duckor-Jones. Pre-order here: teherengawakapress.co.nz/products/glo... Book credits: Design by Megan van Staden. Photography by Jase Blair, with additional photography by Sam Duckor-Jones and friends.
Bill Manhire
@pacificraft.bsky.social
Socially inept but likes to sing in front of strangers. Wow published by THWUP in NZ http://teherengawakapress.co.nz/wow/ & Carcanet https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781800170049/wow/ in the UK. Toitū Te Tiriti!
Very sad to see that Ian Jamieson, medievalist, has left us. Dougal McNeill''s words feel accurate. dougalmcneill.micro.blog/2026/08/01/v...
Vale Ian Jamieson
I am sorry to read in THE POST this morning that Ian …
dougalmcneill.micro.blog
"Southland Monkey-Puzzle" (1973), silk screen print by Robin White. Dunedin Public Art Gallery: digitalnz.org/records/4340...
Stella at Volume Books gives us a sneak preview of It Gets in Your Blood, Marty Smith's book on horse racing culture that's being launched at the Hawke's Bay Racecourse next weekend, and Thomas recommends Kathryn Scanlan's Kick the Latch as a companion read
NEW BOOKS AND BOOK NEWS
Read our 492nd newsletter! 31 July 2026
mailchi.mp
The new issue of Blackbox Manifold includes a tribute section remembering J H Prynne. sites.google.com/sheffield.ac...
Blackbox Manifold
Issue 36: Summer 2026
sites.google.com
We mourn the loss of another of our @universityofotago.bsky.social History fam but look back fondly on time with one of our best historians and humans. @samelworthy.bsky.social @tommyhigham.bsky.social
David Hood@thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · 6d agoThose near Erik have been ready for this moment for a while, but the day has come that a mighty figure of New Zealand history should be remembered. As historians, tagging @stephenclarkenz.bsky.social and @drdrehistorian.bsky.social to let them know.
Comment: In the collective obsession to avoid every little mistake from the Covid-19 response, we risk failing to learn from what went *right*. newsroom.co.nz/2026/07/30/b...
Brown promises 'future-focused' pandemic plan while relitigating the past
Comment: In the collective obsession to avoid every little mistake from the Covid-19 response, we risk failing to learn from what went right.
newsroom.co.nz
The Odyssey movie has its moments. But if you want to see a truly great film based on a single poem there's only one. 'The Song of Lunch' (written by Christopher Reid) stars Alan Rickman (in his best performance) and Emma Thompson. Set in an Italian restaurant. Epic. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsXK...
The Song of Lunch (2010) Starring Alan Rickman & Emma Thompson
YouTube video by Clips Universe
youtube.com
Or, if you're a bookshop, from Central Books.
N u z h a t B u k h a r i@nuzhatbukhari7.bsky.social · 3w agoThe Editor of CB Editions @cbeditions.bsky.social Charles Boyle (pictured below) would like to get more books into bookshops & readers' hands. If you're a bookshop, or a reader, please order directly from him to make him smile! Please share this post. . . www.cbeditions.com/books.html
I've been sharing sentences every day on Substack and thought I'd share a few here. Follow me at substack.com/@tomjenks if you like sentences or fancy giving them a try.
"Pulse, legato, harmony, tone colour, rhythm, triads, tuning - each appeared in the draft curriculum with incorrect definitions" www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361...
‘Riddled with errors’: How AI has been used in drafting the new school curriculum
A primary school music teacher has flagged major errors in the music curriculum he suspects have “all the hallmarks” of AI, and while the ministry admit it used it to help, it disputes its use for any...
thepost.co.nz
An uncollected poem by John Ashbery that first appeared in The Yale Review
'O is the signature Manhire vowel (“eventually we all shall go / into the dark furniture of the radio”), and the way O can sound elation, exhalation, deflated recognition and dismissal - from O! to ohhh to oh - is as good a guide as any to what I love about what’s at work here'
Journal of New Zealand Literature@jnzl.bsky.social · last wk.On Bill Manhire's LYRICAL BALLADS: dougalmcneill.micro.blog/2026/06/16/j...
I wrote about how the young Andy Burnham's admiration for Philip Larkin was all part of his grand plan to rule the UK
"Little Englandism of the Left"
How Andy Burnham's bid for power started with Philip Larkin
someflowerssoon.substack.com
A community fighting against a #fasttrack #goldmine in Central #Otago received $22,000+ in donations since the death of Sir Sam Neill, a vocal opponent of Australian company Santana Minerals' Bendigo-Ophir gold mine near Cromwell. NZ gets 2% royalties & pollution #nzpol www.rnz.co.nz/news/environ...
'Sam effect' sees donations surge to community group fighting Otago mine
A community group fighting against a proposed gold mine in Central Otago has received more than $22,000 in donations since the death of Sir Sam Neill.
rnz.co.nz
This note gets it just right. You apologise for eating the plums, express sympathy for their owner and explain your motivation for eating them. Just one note: consider offering to replace the plums. This small gesture could do a lot to smooth things over
An honour indeed for my poem to be included on this site. #poemsthatRethabilelikes #poetrysaves
Rethabile@rahlooho.bsky.social · 2w agoSacred Days by Kay McKenzie Cooke | Poems Rethabile Likes po-re-li.blogspot.com/2026/07/sacr... #KayMcKenzieCooke #SacredDays #PoetryCommunity #PoemOfTheDay #PoemsRethabileLikes #Poems #NewZealandPoetry #21stCenturyPoetry #Adolescence #Memory #TheKinks #Days
References to rain in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847), in order of occurrence.
When I first read this Larkin poem (a long time ago) it seemed a triumph of concision. But now I think it's vast and sprawling and mysterious.
Potential adversity is lurking behind every corner. Don’t fear it, embrace it. Installation shots of Alas Alas, open 10am-4pm daily until this Saturday at the Tasman Building, 16-22 Anzac Ave in downtown Auckland.
