Poetry

Leonard Cohen's first book of new poetry since "Book of Mercy" was published two decades ago. It collects Cohen's poetry written between the 1980s and the present, and also includes his wonderfully witty and sensuous illustrations, including numerous playful self-portraits. The illustrations interact with, and complement, the poetry in unexpected and fascinating ways. "Book of...

This Collected Poems includes the work of fourteen volumes of poetry, from Stead's first collection, Whether the Will is Free, to The Black River of 2007. In addition, it reprints 22 early previously uncollected poems that date from 1951 to 1961. Annotated by the author, the Collected Poems illustrates more than fifty years of the range and ambition of Stead's verse, in which the world always...

Sam Hunt is New Zealand's best-known poet. For almost 40 years he has been writing, reading and performing poetry, touring New Zealand constantly and reading his poems in pubs, theatres, schools and many other venues. No other poet in New Zealand has managed to make a living by performing their poems, and it says much about the affection with which Sam is regarded in New Zealand that he has...

Sonja Yelich's new collection is a daring departure from the award- winning Clung. It follows an American marine, Edgar, serving in Iraq, and the responses of his family back home to his tour of 'doody'. Yelich vividly contrasts his life with his family's, and serves up a whirlwind of perspectives on the war and contemporary American life from The Sopranos to Black Hawk Down, YouTube to SUVs. The...

Brian Turner is one of this country's best known and best-loved poets and also one of its most determined conservationists. In this beautifully illustrated anthology he brings together both old and new essays, columns, articles and poetry that concentrate on the wild places and outdoor pursuits he loves and of which he is such an unabashed, articulate and passionate champion.

Janet Frame is regarded as one of New Zealand's foremost writers. She wrote prize-winning novels and a three-volume autobiography, numerous short stories and outstanding poetry. An ideal entree to her writing is through her first published book - The Lagoon and Other Stories - and the only collection of her poetry published during her lifetime: The Pocket Mirror. The Lagoon and Other Stories won...

"Opal Sunset" gathers together fifty years of Clive James' poetry, and will undoubtedly enhance his reputation as one of the most versatile and accomplished of contemporary writers. Indeed - as with "Other Passports", "The Book of my Enemy" and "Angels Over Elsinore" before it - "Opal Sunset" proves Clive James to be as well suited to the intense demands of the poetic form as he is to prose....

"A poem is a ripple of words on water wind-huffed..." This volume showcases the finest examples of Hone's poetry, from his early triumph in No Ordinary Sun (one of the most reprinted collections in New Zealand) right up to his final works published when he was in his 80s. Also included are a handful of previously unpublished poems as well as a number translated into Maori by Pat Hohepa,...

The Lakes of Mars is a stunning new collection of poems by Chris Orsman that follow on from his most recent book, South: An Antarctic Journey, a sequence about Captain Scott's final expedition to Antarctica. These new poems are a characteristic mix of thoughtful reflection and precise imagery of landscape and object. Chris Orsman captures 'the plainness of life' with a visual clarity, but always...

The Prophet is known and loved by readers all over the world. It is a wise and warm testimony to life, whose wisdom speaks to us all. This beautiful edition of Kahlil Gibran's timeless classic is illustrated with the author's own mystical drawings.

Jenny Bornholdt's new book, The Rocky Shore, is a collection of long(ish) poems. In these talky poems, she ranges over a wide variety of territory - love, death, children, illness, bread-making, and the garden. All the big themes.

Bill Manhire's first new book since Lifted shows him building on the themes and expanding the techniques of that prize-winning collection. Here are finely crafted lyrics, found poems, and even a bracket of songs. The Victims of Lightning is Bill Manhire at the height of his powers.

Walking to Africa is Jessica Le Bas's second book of poetry, a major departure from her first collection, Incognito (Auckland University Press), which won the NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry. Walking to Africa is a narrative collection, portraying a parent's experience of coming to terms with the new and frightening world of mental health care, the myriad of foreign ways of...