NZ Biographies

This book reveals the real Burt Munro - the man behind the movie. Roger Donaldson has been studying Burt Munro for many years. He made a documentary on him back in 1971, called 'Offerings to the God of Speed', as well as the 2005 international hit "The World's Fastest Indian'. Roger Donaldson is a high profile director of movies, from home-grown Kiwi movies to Hollywood blockbusters. He is now based in California but returns to New Zealand regularly. During research for both films, he collected lots of material which has never been... read more

Walter Callaway was among the first ever to fight abroad for New Zealand. Being Māori, he defied the British dictum of the day that “no natives could fight in a white man’s war.’ Brushing aside these bigoted attitudes, he excelled as a soldier in the harsh Southern African conditions and was eventually promoted to lieutenant – making him one of the first Māori to become an officer in the NZ Army. This came though at a great personal cost. While galloping to the rescue of an Australian in dire danger, he wa... read more

A true story of love in wartime and in peace by one of New Zealand's finest writers. In Crete during the Second World War a wounded Maori Battalion soldier and a young Cretan woman fall in love when the young infantryman is sheltered by her family. After marrying in Crete, Ned and Katina come back to live in New Zealand, settling in the Far North. They live a long, rich and happy life together, raising a family and involving themselves in community affairs there and in the Wellington region. Ned dies in 1987, Katina in 1996. Ye... read more

Pragmatism, humour, stubborn bloody-mindedness - what else does a woman need to carry her through the ups and downs of her life's work? Her Life's Work chronicles the extraordinary life stories of five New Zealand women - Jacqueline Fahey, Merimeri Penfold, Anne Salmond, Gaylene Preston and Margaret Mahy. As artists, writers, teachers, filmmakers and thinkers each has carved out an impressive career, balancing society's gender expectations with the pursuit of a meaningful identity through creative work. Born between 1920 and 1947, ... read more

The Tizard political dynasty is headed by a woman many would consider a New Zealand matriarch, Dame Catherine Tizard, formerly mayor of Auckland and our first woman Governor General. Feisty, irreverent, shrewd, fun-loving and resourceful, she built the Aotea Centre and lifted Government House out of its stiff and starchy past and into a more relevant present. When she bungy-jumped off the SkyTower for charity the Queen sent her a telegram: 'Well jumped. Elizabeth R.' The daughter of left-wing Scots immigrants and born in a tiny W... read more

Academic, author, biographer, historian, commentator, controversialist, activist, iwi consultant, mover and shaker - Dr Ranginui Walker has been in the headlines for decades, ever since the beginnings of the Maori political and cultural renaissance in the 1970s. Walker is one of the few Maori leaders to take on the responsibility of crossing the cultural/racial divide and making the Maori world intelligible to Pakeha readers. Articulate and forthright, he has had a major influence on how Pakeha view Maori in the twenty-first centur... read more

With more than 50 test matches at fullback under his belt, Mils Muliaina is the most capped All Blacks No.15 of all time. Muliaina combines pace and a dangerous counter-attacking ability with dependability and strong positional play at the back for New Zealand. He also has the speed and rugby nous to play at the highest level at either wing or centre. He has scored 21 test tries for the All Blacks, which places him amongst the top 10 all-time test tryscorers for New Zealand. Mils Muliaina's biography will plot a highly unusual path... read more

The tragic story of one of the world's best jockeys. Lisa Cropp's descent into drug use ruined her career. Cropp climbed her way to the top of the horse riding industry using sheer talent and grit but everything came crashing down following a postive drug test for methamphetamine in May 2005.

New Zealand's greatest war hero, Charles Upham, was one of the few people in history to have won the Victoria Cross twice.In consultation with Upham, and with those who knew him, Kenneth Sandford has crafted a fine testament to his legenday exploits, his acumen as a soldier, and the classically understated Kiwi mannerisms that have for ever endeared him to all New Zealanders.In 1957 Kenneth Sandford persuaded a reluctant Charles Upham to allow his unique and heroic story to be told.Sandford, the author of two novels and a lawyer an... read more

The amazing story of Kiwi motorcycling legend, backyard engineering genius and land-speed record holder Burt Munro. Munro was the archetypal eccentric, 'number-eight-wire' Kiwi inventor. He took an original Indian motorbike and modified it in his Christchurch shed so that it was capable of extreme speeds. With this bike he broke several international speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in 1967 (he was clocked on several occasions at over 200mph). From small town Invercargill in the 1920s to heroic deeds in the USA, M... read more

Christine Fernyhough is well known as a leading Auckland philanthropist, having set up Books in Homes and then the Gifted Kids Programme for high achieving children in low decile schools. In 2004 she was a recent widow when she spied an advertisement for the sale of the legendary Castle Hill Station, near Porters Heights in the Canterbury alps. A woman of energy and enterprise, she bought it and so began a new life learning to run a high country farm at some of the highest elevations in the South Island. This joyful book tells of t... read more

'The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor' enables us to enter into the life and times of a man, a family, a society, and ways of thinking and acting different to, yet not so distant from, our own. We enter the world of an architect, who is also an artist; builder, craftsman; a theosophist, an astrologer, a photographer, a furniture maker. We are presented with the life story of a complex and talented man, a man who influenced the lives of others, and was influenced by particular beliefs, both religious and artistic. To e... read more

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Robert Long and his family - wife Catherine, and children Christan (17) and Robyn (14) - live in complete isolation, in a hut two days' walk south of Haast in South Westland. Robert has lived there for nearly 30 years; Catherine for 20 and the kids all their lives. Their only contact with the outside world is a helicopter or plane once a month, and two trips a year to the 'outside world'. This is the story of how and why Robert - known locally as 'Beansprout' - came to live at Gorge River, and the family's experiences there over t... read more

Kiwi Heroes brings together the tales of 50 of New Zealand's bravest people. Some of the people featured are household names - some are barely known outside their own households. Some have become heroes in a moment, some over a lifetime. Some are professionals who have gone beyond the call of duty; others are ordinary people who have been plunged into terrifying circumstances and responded with astonishing bravery. Many have forfeited their lives or their livelihoods for the sake of others. All have great stories to tell.

Shrek's strong personality has meant that he's a favourite with children and adults alike. This book tells his story and it's handsomely illustrated with many excellent photographs. It's a classic Kiwi story.

Helen Brown wasn't a cat person, but her nine-year-old son Sam was. So when Sam heard a woman telling his mum that her cat had just had kittens, he pleaded to go and see them. Helen's heart melted as Sam held one of the kittens in his hands, with a look of total adoration. In a trice the deal was done - the kitten would be delivered when she was big enough to leave her mother. A week later, Sam was dead. Not long after, a little black kitten was delivered to the grieving family. Totally traumatised by Sam's death, Helen had forgott... read more

This is the story of the Reverend Henry Williams, beginning the day he arrived in New Zealand in 1823, a 30-year-old retired Navy lieutenant now a Church Missionary Society missionary. Through his private journals and letters he wrote to family and his superiors in England, Henry Williams tells his own story from his arrival in the Bay of Islands until the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. This eye-witness account covers almost twenty years of Henry Williams's daily life - his trials and successes, travels with Maori, peacemaking ... read more

In 2006 Marianne Elliott, a human rights lawyer from New Zealand, is stationed with the UN in Herat. Several months into her new role an important tribal leader is assassinated while she is in charge of the local UN office. She must try to diffuse the situation before it leads to widespread bloodshed. Zen Under Fire is a vivid and deeply personal account of a young woman's time living and working as a peacekeeper in one of the world's most notorious battlegrounds. As well as sharing the incredible details of her UN work in and arou... read more

Robin Hyde's extraordinary but short life (1906-39) included a precocious early career as poet and parliamentary reporter. As a journalist, she juggled writing for the social pages with highly political reporting on unemployment, prison conditions and the alienation of Maori land. She struggled with drug addiction and depression, single motherhood twice over, and a lengthy period as a voluntary patient in a residential clinic (The Lodge) attached to Auckland Mental Hospital in Avondale. Her life culminated in brilliant reporting on... read more