Biography

Sam Gibson, aka Sam the Trap Man, is a bushman through and through: hunting, fishing, trapping and adventuring - he does it all. As an unruly teenager starting to get into mischief Sam's parents and teachers struck an...

Aged just seven, Suzanne Heywood set sail with her parents and brother on a three-year voyage around the world. What followed turned instead into a decade-long way of life, through storms, shipwrecks, reefs and isolation, with little formal...

A serial rapist is stalking South Auckland in 1980s New Zealand and police are stumped - they can't seem to find the man they call "The Ghost" before he strikes again.In this incredible memoir of his nearly four...

One woman's solo sailing odyssey - from Land's End to the shores of Greece - explores the unexpected joy of solitude When Susan set sail from the south-west coast of England on her beloved sailboat, Isean, she was...

OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious,...

A deeply moving and profoundly uplifting story about living with joy, even in the face of adversity. Dai Henwood wanted to be a comedian even before he knew what a comedian was. He always knew there was something...

For years as an award-winning war reporter, Sebastian Junger travelled to many front lines and frequently put his life at risk. And yet the closest he ever came to death was the summer of 2020 while spending a...

'Superb... Beautifully written and thoroughly researched' - GuardianA beautifully illustrated travelogue, chronicling the life and work of one of the world greatest poets.Du Fu (712-70) is one of China's greatest poets. His career coincided with periods of famine, war...

The diaries of the last British Governor, five weeks on the Sunday Times best-seller list In June 1992 Chris Patten went to Hong Kong as the last British governor, to try to prepare it not - as other...

The photographer Ans Westra, who died in 2023, took hundreds of thousands of images over her long career. Together, those images constitute what is arguably a photo album of Aotearoa. Her dedication and determination sometimes came at a...

In Aotearoa the number of people who will never have children is growing - and they're pushing back against the narrative that if they don't, their lives will be somehow 'less than'. Otherhood's essays are by writers who've...

Did New Zealand have a secret poisoner? In 1992, builders demolishing a Devonport home stumbled across a skeleton, triggering an investigation that sent shockwaves across the community. The remains belonged to a woman who had died in the...

'The most remarkable story of a most courageous woman' - Hon Judith CollinsThis is the astounding true story of one of the last female special operations agents in France to get out alive after its liberation in WWII.Born in...

In the 1950s, a young Ngahuia is fostered by a family who believe in hard work and community. Although close to her kuia, she craves more: she wants higher education and refined living. But whanau dismiss her dreams....

Rosie is a shy young teenager when she starts experimenting with alcohol. When Rosie's parents finally realise that their beloved daughter is having problems with her drinking, Rosie is firmly in the grip of alcoholism. What follows is...

In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world's most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from...

I was used to my mind being my best friend. Now, all of a sudden, my mind had turned on me: it mocked me for my vapid enthusiasms; it laughed at all of my foolish plans; it no...

The English language has no specific word for the parent that has lost a child. There exist words for orphan, widow and widower, but there is no word that captures and conveys this tragic type of loss. It...

Grace is both mysterious and hard to define. It can be found when we create ways to find meaning and dignity in connection with each other, building on our shared humanity, being kinder, bigger, better with each other....

Michael Palin recreates the extraordinary life and tragic death of a First World War soldier - his great-uncle Harry. From the time, many years ago, when Michael Palin first heard that his grandfather had a brother, Harry, who...

By 1965 at the age of thirty, Frank Erceg had established an impressive reputation as a marksman, mountaineer and photographer, with his work widely published in newspapers and magazines of the day. That same year, Frank and his...

 The recently retired 3-time Olympic gold medalist shares his favorite action-sports photographs and family albums in this personally curated illustrated autobiography.White chronicles his evolution from his childhood in California into becoming the world's best snowboarder and skateboarder, his...

Jeremy takes us back to another year of life as a gentleman farmer at Diddly Squat - what could possibly go wrong this time? Welcome back to Clarkson's farm. At the end of Jeremy's first year, Diddly Squat...

A deeply moving and unforgettable portrait of an ordinary and yet an extraordinary teenage girl. The Diary of a Young Girl is among the most enduring documents of the 20th century. Anne Frank kept a diary from 1942...