Dionne Christian
“I confess, a children’s book was partly responsible for my decision to return to study last year…
I was reading David Hill’s Dinosaur Hunter: Joan Wiffen’s Awesome Fossil Discoveries (illustrated by Phoebe Morris) with my youngest daughter. David wrote that Joan was in her fifties when she made the first dinosaur fossil finds in New Zealand. I thought, “well, if she could go out and clamber around looking for fossils, I’m not too old to return to university!” I resigned as Deputy Editor of the Herald’s Canvas magazine and enrolled in a Graduate Diploma in Education. I hope to work in arts and wellbeing, particularly with families at risk. I didn’t want to stop writing, though, and when I saw the Kete Reviews Editor role, which is part-time and aligns with studying, I answered it.
Kete was borne partly out of Covid-19 when a number of the country’s most popular magazines closed. These publications reviewed and published stories about New Zealand books and there was a real fear that without this vital part of the literary eco-system, our books and authors simply wouldn’t be written about. New Zealand publishers and authors rely on local media to promote the many wonderful books produced here and I know there is a genuine commitment among media to do so. However, finite column inches and time – not to mention budgets to pay reviewers – mean only so many can be reviewed.
Kete was started by the Coalition for Books, with support from Creative New Zealand, to help address this. It’s an independent website devoted to helping readers discover the latest in books in Aotearoa, across all genres. It hosts reviews and book news and sends out a weekly newsletter. My role is to commission, plan, and manage reviews. Ninemonths in, and I am inspired daily by the dedication and enthusiasm of the sector. The main challenge is keeping pace with the sheer number of books.
It’s a total cliché but the first New Zealand story I have clear memories of is Katherine Mansfield’s The Doll’s House. I read it again recently with my 11 year old and (still) teared up when “Our Else” says “I seen the little lamp”. I relate to it because, growing up, there were times when my family was, to put it politely, “housing insecure” but my parents, especially my mum, would take us to the library and to free community arts events. That’s how I learned how powerful books can be; that they can show you far more than the things around you.
I’m still thinking about Brannavan Gnanalingam’s Sprigs, an astonishing and all too recognisable story about inequality and privilege and the ways in which masculinity is constructed in our society. It reminded me that Greg McGee has explored similar territory. His depiction of the work done by a woman supporting victims of domestic violence in Necessary Secrets was so realistic, its authenticity floored me. I’ve never forgotten Alan Duff’s One Night Out Stealing or Sue Orr’s The Party Line – her new book Loop Tracks is next on my reading pile.
Books tell stories that feed into the way our society grows and develops. On one level, they entertain, lift us out of the everyday and show us what might be possible. On another, they give us an entry point to discuss issues and events and begin difficult conversations. That’s the importance of New Zealand books – this is our place; these are our people.”
Dionne Christian is a writer and Reviews Editor for Kete