books
Light and dark – winning works from local authors
Waitākere local, conservationist and ecologist Annette Lees’ third book After Dark: Walking into the Nights of Aotearoa is due out this month with the writer sharing discoveries from a lifetime of walking deep into the night, from dusk to dawn. Annette (pictured right) has been an outdoor and natural world enthusiast from childhood. With a MSc degree and a career in conservation, her book takes readers on a journey through the night hours in what is often a hidden world. She shares her experiences and observations about those who inhabit the night, from lighthouse keepers, trampers, navigators and ecologists to ghosts, kiwi and kākāpō. Tales of night-time activities include surfing, fishing, mountaineering, community gatherings, floodlit rugby games and voyaging on waka. Her other books also explore our connections to nature: The Deep Sky Waits on the Outskirts of Town (1996) and Swim: A year of swimming outdoors in New Zealand (2018). The latter, about wild swimming through the seasons was long-listed for the 2019 Royal Society Prize of the Ockham Book Awards.
Another local author, visual artist and theatre maker, Kate Parker (left) from Laingholm, has won the picture book category of the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young People. Kōwhai and the Giants was first released in March and tells the story of the decimation of forests following human habitation. The unique and intriguing artwork for the book was created from hand-cut paper, placed in a plywood box and lit from behind. It was first exhibited in 2016 at the Arataki Visitor Centre following Kate’s artist residency at Anawhata. Book Awards judges said their hearts were captured by “this gentle environmental story, both for its call to action and the original illustrations.” They described the book as a classic in the making, delivering an important message for future generations in an engaging manner. Fringe readers have the opportunity to win both of these superb books in our giveaway (see details on page 2). – Moira Kennedy.
What might our future be? Recent weather events have focussed the attention of many on the threats posed by climate change and the actions we need to take to prepare for and mitigate the challenges our future holds. Local writer and consultant, ROB TAYLOR has given this considerable thought over recent years, as has local author Jeff Murray. Here is Rob’s review of Jeff’s book Melt: At the beginning of this century, New Scientist magazine ran an article on the Earth in the year 2100. It included a map showing how each region could fare: the tropics were uninhabitable, the subtropics racked by storm, drought and famine. The entry for New Zealand was terse: “Unrecognisable. Population: 100 million”. Melt, a geopolitical thriller by author Jeff Murray shows how that scenario might come about. Set in 2048 and ranging from a low-lying Pacific island to New Zealand, the Southern Ocean and Antarctica,
it extrapolates from today’s climate crisis to a world divided into refugees, consigned to camps, and migrants, whose wealth and connections guarantee them a place at the table. A novel of ideas that are currently only whispered, it posits that the dominant economic and military powers of the northern hemisphere will quietly but firmly recolonise the nations that border the Southern Ocean, New Zealand in particular. As uncontrollable climate chaos looms, we are the ideal staging zone for a mass migration of wealthy Chinese and Americans to long-term refuge in Antartica. Our feisty heroine, Islander lawyer Vai Shuster, is tasked with making good the New Zealand government’s promise to resettle the entire population of her island, but she knows that the regions on offer, Northland and Hawkes Bay, are disaster zones, and is determined to do better for her people, no matter what. The assorted scientists, politicians, criminals and eco-warriors she meets along the way make for a gripping read, a harbinger of the climate realpolitik to come if business-as-usual prevails. Melt is available for $25 from www.jeffmurraybooks.com
Embossed Lights
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The Fringe OCTOBER 2021
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