The City in Literature

ed. Christine Johnston

Includes work by Janet Frame, James K. Baxter, Paula Boock, Duncan Sarkies, Emma Neale, Charles Brasch, Cilla McQueen, Brian Turner and more.

Each book in this groundbreaking series is an anthology of writing featuring one of our major cities. Chosen with care by a well-known editor from each city, the selections are usually from works of fiction (short stories and novels), but extracts from writers’ memoirs and some poems are also included. The writers are both contemporary and historical and all have either lived in or visited the city concerned. All the extracts have something significant to say about the character of the city, and together they create a strong picture of what makes the city the unique place it is. Most of New Zealand’s great writers are represented in the series. Each book is presented in an attractive cased and jacketed format. They can be dipped into at leisure or given to friends as a splendid memento of the city.

The pictures on the jackets were specially commissioned from Christchurch born and Wellington-based artist Jacqueline Henderson, whose work is included in many private and corporate collections.

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Reviews

'As you'd hope, these compact, congruent compendia have plenty of idiosyncratic things to say about their towns. Substantial things also, several pieces go well past 5000 words. There's poetry, prose, fiction and non-fiction, a teensy bit of drama. There's content that goes back to Sarah Amelia Courage tut-tutting over colonial manners in Lyttleton or John Logan Campbell declaiming at the Waitemata, and that comes right up to this century with Emma Neale, Sonja Yelich, Denis Baker, Frankie McMillan. Each book comes with a neat intro from an editor who is also a writer. Yay!' The Dominion Post

‘The concept of these books – cities as seen in literature, both poetry and prose – is great.’ The Southland Times

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SPECIFICATIONS
Size: 165 x 125 mm
Format: cased and jacketed
Extent: 240 pages
Weight: 400 gms
First published: November 2003
Auckland: ISBN 978-0-908988-36-5
Wellington: ISBN 978-0-908988-39-6
Christchurch: ISBN 978-0-908988-42-6
Dunedin: ISBN 978-0-908988-45-7