My Ockham New Zealand Book Awards report for the Guardian. So pleased my amazing creative nonfiction tutor Ingrid Horrocks has won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction for her short story collection 'All Her Lives’.

‘Stunned and shocked’: Ingrid Horrocks wins top prize at New Zealand’s Ockham awards for her fiction debut

All Her Lives is only the fifth short story collection to win the prestigious NZ$65,000 prize in 58 years

theguardian.com

Was a real pleasure to write about ten of my favourite songs by The Clean for the Guardian to celebrate the publication of Richard Langston's excellent oral history of the band 'The Clean: in the dreamlife you need a rubber soul'.

The Clean – 10 of the best

The Dunedin band had an indelible influence on acts such as Pavement and Guided by Voices. A new oral history by Richard Langston is out now

theguardian.com

I declare today ‘The Clean Sunday’ with the mighty group on the music box all day. This stunning book about them ‘The Clean: In the Dreamlife You Need A Rubber Soul’ by Richard Langston is a beaut, out next month. It’s an oral history, too, which is one of my favourite formats for music books.

Delighted to be participating in 2 events at the Aotearoa Festival of the Arts in Wellington this weekend: Sat I’ll be reading a new essay I wrote for ‘Letter to My Art Mother’ with 6 other amazing writers. On Sun I’ll be interviewing Charlotte Grimshaw about her new novel ‘The Black Monk’.

Includes a review of Craig Robertson’s Chris Knox biography Not Given Lightly by @steelydass.bsky.social so go get it and then order the book. Out this month in North America.

The Wire Magazine@thewiremagazine.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The Wire 506 is out now! Featuring Wendy Eisenberg on the cover, plus an Augustus Pablo primer, Mariá Portugal, KAVARI, Yellow Swans' Invisible Jukebox, and much more. Pick up your copy here: thewire.co.uk/shop/

My final article for 2025, a scene report of Ōtautahi Christchurch for the Guardian. Done for the year, time for a negroni.

After more than a decade of tragedy, Christchurch emerges as New Zealand’s most ‘vibrant city’

Christchurch now at the centre of the country’s fastest-growing region as lower house prices, job prospects and thriving cultural scene entice people to the city

theguardian.com

OOO is on! Now for reading for pleasure! Here’s my summer TBR pile. What’s on yours? (Have since added the new Anne Enright, Arundhati Roy and Laura Vincent books to this). @marigoldatkey.bsky.social @dauntbookspub.bsky.social @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social

R U Still In 2 It? Happy THE NERVE release day to AW & associate @stabbiesetc.bsky.social Can’t get enough of this one. AW plays Dark Room in Ōtautahi next March.

THE SAME, by AW

from the album THE NERVE

awawaw.bandcamp.com

A pleasure to contribute to The Spinoff’s Best Books of 2025 roundup. Happy summer reading!

Martin Shaw@thebooksdesk.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Some lovely shout-outs here for books I had a hand in (by @catherinechidgey.bsky.social & @ingridhorrocks.bsky.social), and @steelydass.bsky.social reminds me of the Chris Knox bio! thespinoff.co.nz/books/10-12-...

It was recommended by @steelydass.bsky.social who truly never misses with her picks!

Two of my worlds/interest areas come together in ‘The Silver Book’: Pier Paolo Pasolini & Olivia Laing!

WORD Christchurch festival kicks off on Wednesday 27 August - 31 August! Have you got your tickets yet? I’m hosting this session ‘This Band Could Be Your Life’ which is perfect for music lovers. Four writers tell us about a band/musician they love. If you’d like any festival recs, I’m here for you!

This Band Could be Your Life

Hosted by Kiran Dass, this lyrical session sees writers including Damien Wilkins, Brannavan Gnanalingam, Pohlen Newbery, and Claudia Jardine share personal tributes to the music and musicians that sha...

wordchristchurch.co.nz

Black Sabbath on my grandfather’s farm at the 1973 Great Ngāruawāhia Music Festival in New Zealand. I remember my dad telling me a crack up story about how they burned a massive cross at midnight which shocked the locals but when you saw it up close it was really homemade and dungy. 📸 David Stone

A real joy to join the divine Susie Ferguson and Mihingarangi Forbes on Radio NZ's Saturday Morning show for Playing Favourites where I selected & chatted about 7 of my favourite songs and talked about WORD Christchurch 2025 and my life in books and music. What 7 songs, though? Listen to find out!

Playing Favourites with Kiran Dass

Literary festival director and music aficionado Kiran Dass plays some favourite tunes and shares what it's like running WORD Christchurch.

rnz.co.nz

WORD Christchurch programme director extraordinaire Kiran Dass @steelydass.bsky.social is Playing Favourites on RNZ Saturday morning tomorrow 11.05am. Tune in! www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro... #WORDChch #pukapuka #WORDChristchurch ^DR

Saturday Morning

Presented by Susie Ferguson and Mihingarangi Forbes. In-depth feature interviews, current affairs and news across a broad range of topics on RNZ National and online.

rnz.co.nz

Most weeks, I gaze up at the @praddenkeefe.bsky.social books on my bookshelf and think, “I wish my favourite narrative nonfiction writer had a new book coming soon…” 🙏

Patrick Radden Keefe@praddenkeefe.bsky.social · last yr.

New book coming.

The 2025 WORD Christchurch programme is now live and you can browse and book tickets. The theme of the festival this year is JOY! Love this incisive roundup from @secondzeit.bsky.social at The Press. As ever, I’m here for you to recommend sessions and books I think you’ll love. #TheJoyOfWords

Philip Matthews@secondzeit.bsky.social · last yr.

A preview of Word Chch www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3607...

"Tender, bittersweet... I loved this memoir and have never read anything quite like it." Thanks to @steelydass.bsky.social at RNZ for her thoughtful review of Base Notes. This really made my day. www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro... @whiterabbitbks.bsky.social

Book review: Base Notes: The Scents of a Life by Adelle Stripe

Kiran Dass reviews Base Notes: The Scents of a Life by Adelle Stripe published by Orion

rnz.co.nz

Popping by to play some records at Civil & Naval in Lyttelton on Sunday for a nice cosy 3-6pm moment. Will be spinning a dolly mix allsorts jumble of interesting records, do pull up for a quiet arvo pint and natter to round off the long Puanga weekend!

Sheffield Dreamin’ Need to get to Sheffield in October, somehow!

‘Yes, there was a riot, but it was great’: Cabaret Voltaire on violent gigs, nuclear noise – and returning to mark 50 years

They made music like sonic warfare, using steamhammers for drums and annoying anyone they could. As the band return, they relive the mayhem years – and their soundtrack spinoffs, from Attenborough to ...

theguardian.com

Let's celebrate @coseyfannitutti.bsky.social visionary, singular icon and cover girl on the latest issue of The Wire magazine. We are so lucky to have her. I love that someone asked her about her lovely sounding garden.

‘24/7 transgression? That would be exhausting!’ Cosey Fanni Tutti on radical art, gardening and Kneecap’s ‘power and strength’

The Throbbing Gristle musician and writer answers your questions on everything from squat life to societal outrage and the best music for striptease

theguardian.com

To celebrate the anniversary of the first episode of Shortland Street being aired on telly in New Zealand, let's revisit the time I not only got the word "c**t" spelled in full into the Guardian, but also a headline with the word "penis".

‘Please tell me that is not your penis!’ New Zealand’s Shortland Street in 14 key moments

Country’s longest-running soap opera marks 30 years on air this week. Here we celebrate some of its most infamous scenes

theguardian.com

Never forget the dream I had where my friend bought a Mr Whippy van but instead of selling ice creams he was cruising around peddling mixtapes and bootleg cassette recordings of gigs by New Zealand underground artists 🍦

Please watch this beautiful, powerful, important, true speech by Max Porter as he announces Banu Mushtaq & translator Deepa Bhasthi as winners of the International Booker Prize for Heart Lamp, the first short story collection to win. “proudly walking into the abyss with a tote bag full of books.” 🤍

Max Porter announces the winner of the International Booker Prize 2025 | The Booker Prize

YouTube video by The Booker Prizes

youtu.be

I’m constantly saying “I just need to return some books to the library,” and am very aware how much that makes me sound like Patrick Bateman.

If you like fiction & essays with "that dark NZ thing", Kirsty Gunn is at Tūranga on Monday 6.30pm talking to WORD Christchurch's @steelydass.bsky.social Get your tickets Ōtautahi! wordchristchurch.co.nz/programme/wh...

I’m looking forward to seeing Kirsty Gunn in conversation with @steelydass.bsky.social in Christchurch on 19 May. Her previous two short story collections were very influential on my own writing (you might not see, but it’s there! She does atmosphere so well). wordchristchurch.co.nz/programme/wh...

What Lies Beneath: Dark Tales with Kirsty Gunn

Scotland-based New Zealand writer Kirsty Gunn is home to celebrate her latest book.

wordchristchurch.co.nz

'future classic from one of the most intriguing, inventive & compelling writers of our time. What a book. It is just jaw-droppingly breathtaking...She is such an attentive, exacting & careful writer & I think one of the best in the world today.' @steelydass.bsky.social www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...

Book review: The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey

Kiran Dass reviews The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey published by Te Herenga Waka University Press.

rnz.co.nz

“A future classic…what a book”. @steelydass.bsky.social enthuses for @catherinechidgey.bsky.social’s Book of Guilt - all of us early readers have felt just the same! www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...

Book review: The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey

Kiran Dass reviews The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey published by Te Herenga Waka University Press.

rnz.co.nz

One of my most anticipated books of the year, especially growing up next to an awa in Ngāruawāhia & having lived in Whanganui where the awa was granted personhood in 2017 by an act of NZ parliament. The Whanganui was the first river in the world to be recognised as an indivisible and living being 🩵

Robert Macfarlane@robgmacfarlane.bsky.social · last yr.

Is A River Alive? is published today, 1 May. It’s about the lives, deaths & rights of rivers—& how our fate flows with that of water & always has. To the people, places & rivers whose ideas run through its pages, thank you so much. I think it’s the book I’ve been learning to write all these years.