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Non-fiction - New Zealand Essays - Christchurch City Libraries

Build a picture of Aotearoa by reading these snapshots of Kiwi living in the 21st century. These essay collections offer an eclectic range of subjects that will appeal to any audience - from the personal to the public, the serious to the comedic, and the technical to the simple. A Christchurch City Libraries list.

Christchurch City Libraries Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi

17 items

  • Highlighting the importance of "keeping the scraps of the past from the bin of today". Pōneke/Wellington based Archivist, Writer, and Winner of the 2021 Letteri Family Prize for Creative Non-fiction, Flora Feltham explores the idea of…
    BookWellington, New Zealand : Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2024. — 824.92 FEL
  • Ockham Book award-winner Airini Beautrais tackles non-fiction in "The Beautiful Afternoon", a stunning collection of essays which explore the people we are and how we change. With pieces on literature, sea hags, solo travel,…
    BookWellington : Te Herenga Waka University Press, Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. — 824.92 BEA
  • Otherhood

    Essays About Being Childless, Childfree and Child-adjacent

    The choice to be childfree has been gaining momentum in Aotearoa New Zealand. 'Otherhood' is a series of thought-provoking essays by a variety of NZ writers who have found themselves living outside of the traditional Western family norms…
    BookAuckland : Massey University Press, 2024. — 306.87 OTH
  • Innerland

    a Journey Through the Everyday Landscape of New Zealand

    Vance, Matt
    Local Horomaka/Banks Peninsula writer Matt Vance combines essay and memoir to explore the more unseen or typically mundane influences of the everyday that can shape images, words, and memories. Both witty and expressive, 'Innerland'…
    BookNelson, New Zealand : Potton & Burton, 2024. — 828.92 VAN
  • Tinderbox writer Megan Dunn brings her satiric sensibilities, personal reflections and trademark humour to growing up in New Zealand during the 1970s, '80s and '90s. Expect a healthy dash of vinegar, especially when she pulls back the…
    BookAuckland : Penguin Books, [2021]. — 828.92 DUN
  • Danyl McLauchlan delves deep into mysticism and neuroscience and reflects on what makes us think and how we feel. Examining human consciousness could be dry and heavy but Danyl brings a light, reflective touch with more than a dash of…
    BookWellington, New Zealand : Victoria University of Wellington Press, 2021. — 824.92 MCL
  • Meet John Summers at The Commercial Hotel 's lounge bar and prepare to be transported to the freezing works, a tramp in the bush, the rubbish dump, moments of life and death including murder, Pacific islands and several trains of the…
    BookWellington, New Zealand : Victoria University of Wellington Press, 2021. — 824.92 SUM
  • Climate Aotearoa

    What's Happening & What Can We Do About It?

    Former Prime Minister Helen Clark has assembled scientists, engineers, researchers and social advocates to assess our national bill of health when it comes to global warming. Thorough and practical with a research-based mix of calmness and…
    BookCrows Nest, NSW ; Auckland, NZ : Allen & Unwin, 2021. — 363.7387 CLI
  • Turangawaewae

    Identity & Belonging in Aotearoa New Zealand

    If you want to examine what it means to be a Kiwi and how our society ticks this book is for you. The editors have assembled researchers and academics to probe the origins of our society and in what directions it is developing. The new…
    BookHamilton, N.Z. : Massey University Press, 2022 — 305.8 TUR
  • Writer, art critic and researcher Lana Lopesi articulates the challenges Pasifika women face in New Zealand society. Lopesi connects with big, societal ideas by writing candidly about her personal experience. Mixing in traditional beliefs…
    BookWellington : Bridget Williams Books, 2021. — 824.92 LOP
  • Tree Sense

    Ways of Thinking About Trees

    Ecologists, a poet laureate, Māori environmentalists, artists and science writers present a vigorous defence of trees. In one essay Christchurch's Dr Colin Meurk packs in ecological history, mentions Covid-19 and promotes the growing of…
    BookAuckland, New Zealand : Massey University Press, 2021. — 582.16 TRE
  • Kia Whakanuia Te Whenua

    People, Place, Landscape

    Academics, environmental scientists, iwi representatives and architects from Aotearoa argue that a Māori-led approach will help restore the environmental health of an ailing Land of the Long White Cloud. Topics include urban planning,…
    Book[Auckland, New Zealand] : Mary Egan Publishing, 2021. — 304.2 KIA
  • Kiwi writer Ashleigh Young won the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize from Yale University with this dazzling collection where she examines, among other subjects, a rare skeletal disease, a stone-collecting French postman, the music scene…
    BookWellington : Victoria University Press, 2016. — 824.92 YOU
  • Mau Moko

    the World of Māori Tattoo

    Te Awekōtuku, Ngāhuia, 1949-
    Artist and academic Ngāhuia Te Awekotuku leads an in-depth examination of moko and its cultural significance in Aotearoa. As well as the history of traditional Māori tattoo, the stories of moko artists and "wearers" are also presented.
    BookNorth Shore, N.Z. : Penguin Group (NZ), 2007. — 391.65 TE
  • Paul Little explores 2020's Covid lockdown in Aotearoa by weaving together reflections and experiences from leading New Zealanders including microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles, finance minister Grant Robertson, funeral directors Francis and…
    BookAuckland, New Zealand : HarperCollinsPublishers, 2020. — 993.042 LIT
  • Inequality

    a New Zealand Crisis

    Academics, policy advisers, researchers and economists traverse the growing gap between rich and poor and how it affects people's lives in the areas of health, housing, education, welfare and crime and punishment. Journalist and editor Max…
    BookWellington, New Zealand : Bridget Williams Books, [2018]. — 339.2 INE