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The Spinoff
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending May 30
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books' stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Air by John Boyne (Doubleday, $35) The conclusion to Boyne's four-part Elements Series and so far, so good over on Good Reads where 2402 ratings give it an average of 4.47 stars. 2 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $26) Last year's Booker Prize winner. This year's Booker longlist is due on 29 July. 3 Delirious by Damien Wilkins (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) The 2025 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction winner! My heart is still pumping after that hair-raising ceremony in which Wilkins was delayed until the very last moment when he literally ran onto the stage to make his acceptance speech. Read a day-after-the-night-before interview with Wilkins right here on The Spinoff. 4 Is A River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane (Penguin Random House, $65) The people love Macfarlane and his nature writing. 5 M urriyang: Song of Time by Stan Grant (Simon and Schuster, $47) Remember when Stan Grant took the stage at Auckland Writers Festival's gala night and was simply outstanding? Grant is an indigenous Australian writer and journalist and an astonishing, moving storyteller. 6 1985 by Dominic Hoey (Penguin, $38) 'Reading it was just like being back in Auckland, growing up on the streets of Grey Lynn and hoping you might be able to scab some money off your mates and hit up the 562 Takeaway (made famous by appearing on the cover of Hoey's poetry collection 'I Thought We'd Be Famous'). OK, yeah, Hoey and I grew up in Auckland a few decades apart, but reading this felt like looking back on a childhood diary that myself or any one of my friends could have written.' Read more of The Spinoff's Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Claire Mabey's thoughts on this propulsive new novel, here. 7 James by Percival Everett (Picador, $38) One of the bestselling books of 2024 looks to do the same this 2025. 8 Girl On Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Woman Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert (John Murray, $40) Here's the publisher's explanation: 'What happened to feminism in the twenty-first century? This question feels increasingly urgent in a moment of cultural and legislative backlash, when widespread uncertainty about the movement's power, focus, and currency threatens decades of progress. Sophie Gilbert identifies an inflection point in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the energy of third-wave and 'riot grrrl' feminism collapsed into a regressive period of hyper-objectification, sexualization, and infantilization. Mining the darker side of nostalgia, Gilbert trains her keen analytic eye on the most revealing cultural objects of the era, across music, film, television, fashion, tabloid journalism, and more. What she recounts is harrowing, from the leering gaze of the paparazzi to the gleeful cruelty of early reality TV and a burgeoning internet culture vicious toward women in the spotlight and damaging for those who weren't. Gilbert tracks many of the period's dominant themes back to the rise of internet porn, which gained widespread influence as it began to pervade our collective consciousness. The result is a devastating portrait of a time when a distinctly American blend of excess, materialism, and power worship collided with the culture's reactionary, puritanical, and chauvinistic currents. Amid a collective reconsideration of the way women are treated in public, Girl on Girl is a blistering indictment of the matrix of misogyny that undergirded the cultural production of the early twenty-first century, and continues to shape our world today.' 9 Toi Te Mana: An Indigenous History of Māori Art by Deidre Brown & Ngarino Ellis with Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Auckland University Press, $100) Winner of the Bookhub Award for Illustrated Nonfiction at this year's Ockham New Zealand Book Awards! Read about how the writers approached this ground-breaking book, here. 10 Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth (HarperCollins, $35) 'On the first morning of their holiday together in a remote part of Scotland, 42-year-old Sarah convinces her younger sister, Juliette, to clamber on to the roof of their mobile home for a better phone signal,' writes Shahidha Bari on The Guardian. 'Juliette has three layers of tinfoil wrapped around her limbs and a tinfoil cone hat plonked on her head before she clocks that she's fallen for a prank. It's a pleasing bit of sibling slapstick in Slags, the new novel from Emma Jane Unsworth about desire, dissatisfaction and the ferocious loyalty of sisters. And sisterhood, as Unsworth writes it here, is an unbreakable connection for which no prank antenna is needed.' WELLINGTON 1 Slowing the Sun | Essays by Nadine Hura (Bridget Williams Books, $40) Spinoff readers may well be familiar with Nadine Hura's insightful essays. This is an outstanding collection, a long time in the making. Here's what the publisher says: 'In the midst of grief, Hura works through science, pūrākau, poetry and back again. Seeking to understand climate change in relation to whenua and people, she asks: how should we respond to what has been lost? Her many-sided essays explore environmental degradation, social disconnection and Indigenous reclamation, insisting that any meaningful response must be grounded in Te Tiriti and anti-colonialism.' 2 This Compulsion In Us by Tina Makereti (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $40) What a week for Aotearoa books! Tina Makereti's long-awaited collection of nonfiction is exquisite. Read an excerpt from This Compulsion In Us on The Spinoff, here. 3 Delirious by Damien Wilkins (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) 4 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) The Auckland Writers Festival's bestselling book and the first in New Zealand to reach 1000 sales in 2025 (are you surprised by that number?). It's a stonkingly good tale about an alternate England of the 1970s. Sinister, thought-provoking and gripping. Read books editor Claire Mabey's review right here. 5 Wonderland by Tracy Farr (Cuba Press, $38) Tracy Farr fans rejoice! We've another compelling novel from the author of The Lives and Loves of Lena Gaunt, and The Hope Fault. Here's the blurb for Wonderland: 'Te Motu Kairangi Miramar Peninsula, Wellington 1912. Doctor Matti Loverock spends her days and nights bringing babies into the world, which means her daughters – seven-year-old triplets Ada, Oona and Hanna – have grown up at Wonderland, the once-thriving amusement park owned by their father, Charlie. Then a grieving woman arrives to stay from the other side of the world, in pain and incognito, fleeing scandal. She ignites the triplets' curiosity and brings work for Matti, diverting them all from what is really happening at Wonderland. In a bold reimagining, Marie Curie – famous for her work on radioactivity – comes to Aotearoa and discovers both solace and wonder.' 6 Tackling the Hens by Mary McCallum (Cuba Press, $25) Local hero Mary McCallum's latest poetry book tackles hens … 'Hens can be fun visitors, when they gossip and sunbathe and pop inside for a chat, but they can outstay their welcome and tackling them to send them home isn't easy,' reads the charming blurb. 'They aren't the only creatures in the pages of this book— there's Ursula the golden-eyed cat, a leporine emperor, singing mice and all the swallows! Then there are the people who interact with them: an entomologist in love with the spiders he observes, a builder who releases a trapped mouse, a woman who attracts bees as a flower does—and Mary and the hens, of course.' 7 The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (Jonathan Cape, $38) Vuong is unstoppable. This latest work is already a TikTok sensation and massive bestseller. Here's the blurb: 'One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to alter Hai's relationship to himself, his family, and a community at the brink.'
The Spinoff
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Fury of the Small: listen to episode one now!
In a brand new series, five of Aotearoa's coolest nerds gather round the table to tell an immersive fantasy story through the medium of Dungeons & Dragons. Fury of the Small blends radio drama, improv comedy and tabletop roleplaying into a unique audio experience. In our story, four stalwart heroes delve into a goblin den seeking fame and fortune. Months later, four avenging goblins step into the human world seeking retribution. All that follows is decided by the roll of the dice! Meet our 'heroes' in all their grimy bravado. Rhapsody White the dwarven trophy hunter, Karla-Rose the alluring halfling bard and Ser Norbert Reindholt, paladin of the Weeping Dame. These three mercs are led by the aged wizard Blustifer Greystorm, their employer. Together they delve into the darkness of a goblin cave in search of treasure – but before long the camera turns and the real story begins. Hours have passed and the adventurers have left chaos and death in their wake; the only survivors are four lowly goblins left to find each other among the wreckage. Each has their own journey to travel, their own demons to face, their own 'hero' to slay. The road to revenge is long and perilous. Fury of the Small is a limited series Dungeons & Dragons podcast produced by The Wild Magic Tavern, in partnership with The Spinoff. It stars Brynley Stent, Arlo Gibson, Ella Hope-Higgginson, Tom Eason and Paddy Carroll with sound design by Te Aihe Butler.
The Spinoff
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Spinoff
Introducing David Seymour, deputy prime minister
As the Act leader officially steps into the deputy prime ministership this weekend, some political onlookers are bracing for fireworks, writes Catherine McGregor in today's extract from The Bulletin. 'Disproportionate' no more David Seymour is finally getting a job title that matches the role he often seems to believe he's already playing. At midday on Saturday, the Act Party leader will be sworn in as deputy prime minister in a ceremony at Government House in Auckland, replacing Winston Peters. The following morning, he'll host a self-styled 'celebration brunch' for party supporters, using the occasion for a speech setting out his 'vision, goals and priorities' in the role. It marks a significant milestone for Act, which has gone from a caucus of one in 2014 to a party of 11 MPs and seats in cabinet. 'Now here we are at the centre of government,' he told RNZ's Anneke Smith last year, adding that Act had a 'disproportionate' influence on government policy – a claim the prime minister diplomatically disagreed with. As Seymour takes up the second-highest post in cabinet, the influence he once boasted of as leader of a coalition party now has an even stronger platform. What kind of deputy PM will Seymour be? For a role that holds little actual power unless the prime minister is absent, the deputy PM title is generating an unusual level of anxiety. Much of that stems from Seymour's unfiltered style and fondness for ideological skirmishes, notes the Herald's Audrey Young (paywalled), who says there hasn't been this much anticipation about a deputy PM since Winston Peters in 1996. Unlike Peters, who has often performed the role (if not his own party leadership) with discipline, Seymour shows little inclination to self-moderate, says Young. However Seymour tells RNZ's Craig McCulloch this morning the transition will be largely 'business as usual', adding, 'I've actually been the acting prime minister several times, and we're all still here, so don't worry.' In Young's charming (paywalled) profile of Jim Bolger on Wednesday, the former National prime minister – who celebrates his 90th birthday tomorrow – was blunt in his advice: Luxon should tell Seymour to 'shut up', and Seymour should 'remind himself that he's not prime minister'. Bolger's assessment was clear: 'Deputy prime minister should not be a high-profile role and wasn't in my day and shouldn't be now. It's a support role.' But if Seymour's track record is anything to go by, he has no interest in meekly playing second fiddle. A quieter power play While much of the focus has been on the ceremonial handover, Seymour is quietly amassing influence elsewhere. As Henry Cooke wrote in The Spinoff earlier this year, a shift in cabinet protocol now requires ministries to loop in the Ministry of Regulation, which Seymour leads, at the earliest stages of policymaking. Previously, Treasury had oversight of regulatory impact assessments (RIAs), giving it leverage over government policy development. That role now sits with a ministry Seymour controls. As Cooke observes, the change might look procedural, but it gives Seymour access to the inner workings of nearly every other ministry, essentially placing him in the loop on anything that could involve new regulation. 'The transfer of a 'deputy prime ministership' – an essentially meaningless role when the prime minister is in the country – pales in comparison with the power Seymour is gaining over the machinery of government.' Radio silence continues Despite his ascension, one high-profile habit Seymour won't be dropping is his long-running boycott of RNZ's Morning Report, reports Stewart Sowman-Lund in the Sunday Star-Times (paywalled). Seymour has turned down over 20 interview requests from Morning Report in the past year – including during times he was acting PM – and has no plans to re-engage. He claims the show has a 'toxic culture' and has treated him with disrespect. 'The minister isn't the first to hold a long-running grudge against a particular media outlet or programme,' wrote Sowman-Lund. 'Te Pāti Māori doesn't speak with the NZ Herald and rarely if ever appears on Newstalk ZB [and] Jacinda Ardern notably pulled the plug on the prime minister's weekly interview with Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking.' Still, political commentator Janet Wilson says Seymour 'absolutely 100%' should front for Morning Report, describing it as a missed chance to reach centrist voters who might be open to his arguments. 'Isn't this an opportunity for him to step up and show what leadership looks like?'
The Spinoff
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Would you pay to secure a gig? Local theatre company sparks debate over casting fees
An Auckland community theatre company's request for cast members to pay a $150 fee to star in its production of The Phantom of The Opera has been labelled 'unethical'. A dream role, with a 'hefty' price tag attached: an Auckland theatre company's production of The Phantom of The Opera has copped flak from thespians for asking its cast to each pay a $150 fee, put towards production costs. In the eyes of one actor, it's like paying $150 for a 'job interview'. Ardent Performing Arts' upcoming Phantom production will be paid for out of the pockets of director Linda Marais and her husband who run the company, plus the fees fronted by its cast. A casting call published on April 10 for the production asked for potential stars to front '$150 upon audition' for an unpaid acting gig. The call was amended over the weekend to specify that the fees would be required only once actors were cast, after actress Gabrielle Salazar penned an open letter alleging it was 'unethical' to ask actors to pay, given for the most part they are paid no fee to perform in local theatre. Salazar told The Spinoff a pay-to-play model of business was basically non-existent in New Zealand's theatre community, and operating by that blueprint risked creating a barrier to participation, and commodifying a 'fun hobby'. Membership fees are common throughout many community theatre companies and offer perks such as free tickets, Salazar said, but they aren't a requirement to star in a show. 'Phantom of The Opera is going to be a huge show, but I reckon if you don't have the means to put it on, just don't,' Salazar said. She acknowledged the price that comes with producing a show – time, venue hire, costuming and more – but noted the actors were also offering their time and services for free. Local theatre productions are typically funded by ticket sales, though other funding options are available such as Auckland Council's regional arts and culture grants. In this instance, smaller companies such as Ardent would compete for funding with the likes of the Auckland Writers Festival, dance collectives and other various businesses in the arts. Fundraising events and sponsorships are other options, but can be less reliable. Salazar had contacted Ardent to share her disappointment about the fee, to which Marais replied that the casting fee 'included' the Ardent membership fee. After more concerns were shared, the Ardent representative clarified that the fee would only be required on casting. After publishing the open letter, Ardent edited the call to clarify that fees are 'due on casting', and published its statement to social media. The company sent The Spinoff the same statement when asked for comment. They were 'truly sorry for the confusion or distress caused' by the original wording and 'deeply appreciate those who took the time to reach out'. The statement, sent by Marais, explained that the company typically charged a $50 membership fee for cast, but as Phantom was a 'significantly more ambitious and resource-intensive production', the fee had been upped by $100 to meet costs. 'It would only apply to those offered and accepting a role in the production, and certainly not be collected on audition day,' she said. Marais said anyone who could not front the fee could 'speak with us confidentially'. Marais said Ardent was also 'actively pursuing other fundraising options to support this production'. 'We are listening, learning and always striving to do better,' the statement ended. Salazar's open letter drew support – as well as criticism – from a number of experienced actors and directors in Auckland's community theatre scene. One Auckland-based theatre director wrote in a Facebook group for local actors that he and his theatre partner 'lived off noodles' and made 'a lot of sacrifices' to be able to pay their way without the help of arts grants. 'I just downright wouldn't do a show we couldn't afford.' 'I'm not saying they are bad people,' they wrote, 'but perhaps a committee of advisers to help them on the right track is a good idea. Working within your means is important … The entire thing just screamed inexperienced at their end and that's OK.' Other actors who say they have worked with Ardent in the past confirmed they had paid a membership fee to star in the company's productions, but were happy with the free ticket perks which came with the fee, and support from the owners. 'They go above and beyond to be an inclusive family style theatre group that include [sic] everyone from kids on the spectrum to disabled people to more elderly individuals,' one commenter wrote.
The Spinoff
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Spinoff
Windbag: Khandallah Pool and the high price of inequality
The quiet suburban pool is a microcosm of everything wrong with New Zealand's broken rates system. Windbag is The Spinoff's Wellington issues column, written by Wellington editor Joel MacManus. Subscribe to the Windbag newsletter to receive columns early. On Thursday, as the nation's media were preoccupied with the government's budget, another budget was passed, less than a kilometre from parliament: Wellington City Council's Long Term Plan. One of the most controversial debates in the final weeks was about whether to spend $7.5m repairing Khandallah Pool. The 100-year-old unheated outdoor pool is not particularly well used. It gets about 10,000 users annually (down from 45,000 in its heyday), the lowest of any public pool in Wellington. By some estimates, ratepayers will subsidise swimmers to the tune of $60 to $80 per swim. Khandallah residents campaigned hard to save their pool and the council ultimately agreed to fund the repairs. The fact that the pool is heavily subsidised isn't inherently a problem; all council facilities are subsidised. The problem comes from the political processes that decide what the council spends money on. Councillors increasingly see community facilities as 'bread and circuses' politics. They'll spend money on whatever councillors think will make their constituents happy, which biases decision-making towards the loudest voices. That's a recipe for short-sighted decision-making and white elephant projects. Every council spending decision is an investment in city land. Land connected to serviced roads and mains water is more valuable than land without those things. That also applies to libraries, pools, parks, community centres and theatres. Land with nearby amenities is more valuable than land in the middle of nowhere. A 2019 meta-analysis of 33 studies by Texas A&M and Swansea University researchers found there was an 8%-10% premium in house prices when they were located near a public park. For a small public park, the increase in value is quite localised. Once you're more than 750 metres away, the price premium all but disappears. A destination park, like a botanical garden or a multi-sports field, will spread its benefits across a larger area. Major facilities, like a stadium or art gallery, will add some small value to every property in the city, but will have a greater impact on nearby commercial properties because they attract customers. Khandallah Pool is a value-add for nearby residents. They get the benefit of a pool without the cost of installing one on their property. To justify the investment, the council must hope that the pool will make Khandallah a more appealing place to live, encouraging higher property values and more development, which means more rates revenue for the council. The problem is that Khandallah residents don't seem to want that. The Onslow Residents' Community Association, which represents Khandallah, has consistently fought against new housing in its area. One of the reasons for the drop in Khandallah Pool users is that the number of school-aged children in the suburb is declining, down 19% since 2015. Young families are being priced out. Khandallah is increasingly a community of elderly people sitting on $2 million properties, watching their grandchildren grow up over Zoom. Recent zoning changes under the district plan should help to address this, but some suburbs are still highly motivated to fight back. In Mt Victoria, a group of residents led by Dame Gaylene Preston is organising sustained protest action to block a seven-storey apartment development. In financial terms, for the council, this apartment building contains 32 units, which would generate about $500,000 per year in rates. The single-storey building that stood there previously generated about $30,000 annually. Would Mt Victoria residents be willing to accept lower council spending in their community in exchange for cancelling the development? I doubt it. Wealthy and well-organised communities like Khandallah and Mt Victoria are very effective at demanding investment in their areas while simultaneously opposing the growth that pays for it. That means the younger, poorer, denser neighbourhoods are subsidising the lifestyles of the leafy suburbs. A Greater Wellington Regional Council study last year found councils were spending three to five times more per dwelling to provide infrastructure to the outer suburbs than in the inner city. So what's the answer? We could go down a convoluted rabbit hole of targeted rates and development levies earmarked for local projects, but that's probably more effort than it's worth. There's a far more elegant solution waiting in the wings: switch from property value rates to land value rates. Land value rates allow councils to directly recoup their investments. If your land value goes up because the council upgraded the road and built a new pool, it's fair enough that you should pay more rates. On the other hand, if you increase your property value by renovating your house, the council hasn't added anything. The major benefit of land value rates is that they are based on developable capacity, which encourages more efficient land use. People who own large, underdeveloped sections would pay higher rates, which would encourage them to sell up or develop the land into apartments or townhouses. That's what this is all about, really – allowing more people to enjoy the benefits of council facilities. Now that Wellington City Council has decided to repair Khandallah Pool, we should want more people to live near it and use it.
