ANNAFROMUNI

Angsty Murderbot is Back in Martha Wells’ Platform Decay I love this series, I love Murderbot, and I am in absolute fits and giggles with…...

My July 2026 Reading Summary Overall mood: nervous. As I have entered my third and final year for my PhD, I have found less and less time to read....

Grounded Reflections in Richard Shaw’s The Good Settler To round off my Matariki month reads, I felt drawn to include something that sits with the other side of the New Zealand experience, the other side of me, of my upbringing, and the histories and experiences many of us Pākehā New Zealanders are wrestling with today....

A Phenomenally Tense Thriller in Zoe Rankin’s The Vanishing Place New Zealand crime thriller fiction is a genre that is alive and well, unlike some of the characters in the many stories at our fingertips, and I can think of no better example of such literary brilliance as Zoe Rankin's…...

Walking Backwards into the Future with Dr Hinemoa Elder’s Waitohu Taking the lessons from Aroha and Wawata, two of Dr Hinemoa Elder's guide books to better connect with the Papatūānuku, ourselves, and the world around us, I have begun my reflexive journey with…...

A Wealth of Inspiration in Witi Ihimaera Smiler’s Te Kaikaukau One of my favourite sessions of Auckland Writers Festival was Witi Ihimaera Smiler's free event where he talked about the experiences that make up…...

Euphoric Poetry and Sobering Non Fiction in Haro Lee’s Watching Television in a Love Motel I attended the launch for Haro Lee's Watching Television in a Love Motel last night and it was such a fun, exciting evening....

Lessons from Hinengaro in Dr Hinemoa Elder’s Ara This pukapuka had me immersed from start to finish, and I usually wouldn't say that about a nonfiction book....

Tina Makereti’s This Compulsion in Us Mirrors My Own Thinking Tina Makereti is a fiction and nonfiction author, with This Compulsion in Us being her first nonfiction book, though essays within the collection have been published separately....

The Wonders of Memoir in Siobhan Harvey’s What We Remember, What We Forget This post is a little later than my scheduled Saturday, as I have been enjoying Matariki and really focusing on what I want to prioritise for the year....

Listening to the Moon with Dr Hinemoa Elder’s Wawata Matariki is almost upon us, so let me share a Mānawatia a Matariki with you all. May your family find love, happiness, and comfort in each other....

Bringing Mana Back in Tame Iti’s Mana I had the absolute pleasure of listening to the iconic, influential, and incredibly intelligent Tāme Iti speak across multiple sessions at the Auckland Writers Festival in May, and he has been one of the key people in reshaping my approach to reconnecting with te ao Māori and te reo Māori....

A Beautiful Terrifying Journey of Discovery in Shana Chandra’s Banjara It has been several months since I started Banjara, getting me through the struggles of returning to the voluntary free reading space without feeling like an imposter for how little I was reading, and even making it into the hands of the very author who wrote it during the Auckland Writers Festival....

Resonating with Dr Hinemoa Elder’s Aroha In my journey to reconnect with my ancestors, my ao Māori, and myself once again through reading, and in light of July housing Matariki, the Māori New Year this year, I have opened my mind and soul to this wonderful pukapuka (book)....

My June 2026 Reading Summary Mood: wistful - I have been invigilating exams across the month, and slipping in a few PhD-related meetings and interviews here and there....

My March-June PhD Check-In Can I blame anyone but myself for this lapse in updating you all? Absolutely not. It has been a busy time, full of data collection, illness, literary events, and exam invigilation, culminating in a delay wholly resting on me....

My First Year at Auckland Writers Festival In May, I attended the Auckland Writers Festival for the first time, and I was mesmerised from beginning to end....