How does a bookish child develop a love of reading in a household with few books? Libraries of course! Kelly Gardiner writes about the books from her childhood that inspired a love of reading and shaped her own writing. I…
Filmmaker and writer Miro Bilbrough reflects on a childhood backdrop of whimsical watercolour illustrations and the allure of Jadis’ icing sugar drenched Narnian confections—with vital appearances from Snufkin and Sparrowhawk. Miro’s memoir In the Time of the Manaroans is out…
The Sapling co-editor Nida Fiazi reviews the first picture book retelling of her favourite childhood folktale Buz-e-Chini. She recalls the nightmare that revived Afghan oral storytelling traditions within her family, and shares how this helped improve her oral literacy as…
Catherine Robertson reflects on her early years from a literary angle, focusing on the intrinsic connection between her memories of books and memories of her mother. Catherine’s latest novel What You Wish For is out now from Black Swan. My…
‘From where I sleep I can see the book on my bookshelf. I have read it so many times it has fallen apart, and now exists as an inelegant bundle of browning pages and brittle Sellotape.’ All her life, actor…
‘I’m a kindred spirit to Anne of Green Gables’ Anne Shirley. When I feel like crying, you see it in my cheeks, in the flicker in my eyes, and sometimes you see it in my bottom lip.’ Kura Rutherford writes…
What fictional death have you never got over? That’s the question asked of our editor Jane Arthur by poet Chris Tse, guest curator of the ‘In Memoriam‘ event at last weekend’s LitCrawl in Wellington, a literary festival with a difference….
Claire Murdoch is the recently appointed Publishing Manager of Penguin Random House New Zealand. We asked her to share some formative books from her childhood, and she handed us a stunning essay on reading, friendship, imagination, and growing up in…
‘Throughout my life I have turned to the page as a soft place to fall and a wise place to rise.’ For Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day 2018, poet and children’s book author Courtney Sina Meredith shares her personal discovery…
Multi-accoladed poet and founder of the creative writing programme at Victoria University of Wellington, Bill Manhire relives the magic of Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree, in this essay adapted from a talk given at the 2017 Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival….