All welcome to the launch of Karen McMillan’s new novel, Turbulent Threads, a tale of passion and love in Victorian Dunedin.

5.30 to 7.00pm, Thursday 18 April 2024
GOOD BOOKS, 2/16 Jessie Street, Te Aro, Wellington

RSVP to karen_m@xtra.co.nz

How do queer writers respond to Wellington — not only its people, but also its physical geography and sense of place?

Chaired by Joy Holley (Dream Girl, THWUP), join this panel of queer writers (Stacey Teague, Plastic; Sylvan Spring, Killer Rack; and Olive Nuttall, kitten) as they discuss what Wellington means to them. A Wellington Pride Festival event.

That scallywag poet Jordan Hamel (‘Everyone is Everyone Except You’, Dead Bird Books) is back in Aotearoa for the summer, taking a break from his studies in the USA.

Does he now have some weird US/Kiwi hybrid accent? Will he smell like pumpkin spice lattes? Can he still remember the lyrics to 'Tūtira Mai Ngā Iwi’?

Come and find out at this pre-Christmas gathering with readings by Jordan and special guests Leah Dodd, Claire Mabey and NZ Poet Laureate Chris Tse.

FREE EVENT! Sunday 17 December, 5pm at GOOD BOOKS, 2/16 Jessie St, Te Aro, Wellington. All welcome.

GOOD BOOKS Writer Talks: Giselle Clarkson, in conversation with Jane Arthur of GOOD BOOKS

RSVP essential - click here to RSVP

5.30 to 7.30pm, Wednesday 8 November
GOOD BOOKS, 2/16 Jessie St, Te Aro, Wellington

This will be a fascinating talk for anyone interested in making a living from art, children's books, conservation, or making the leap from illustration to writing.

Don't miss out: RSVP now.

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Giselle Clarkson is a 2023 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate. Known for her non fiction comics on environmental topics, Giselle illustrated a number of awardwinning books before her new book The Observologist, a highly illustrated, playful field guide for budding natural scientists and curious observers of the world right under our noses. It is an antidote to boredom, an invitation out of the digital world and screentime, an encouragement to observe our environment, with care and curiosity, wherever we are.

Giselle's work has appeared in magazines, newspapers and online, including the children's literature website The Sapling. Her illustration 'Common Household Biscuits of New Zealand' went viral and was turned into posters and tea towels.

Come and join Hannah Mettner, Holly Hunter and Jane Arthur, who will be in conversation to celebrate the new anthology from Whitireia Publishing, Everything I Know About Books.

The event is free to attend. Further details here.

Monday 30th October, 5:30pm
Good Books
2/16 Jessie St, Wellington

We're excited to be the venue for the launch of Issue 3 of Lemon Juice zine on Thursday 26 October, 6pm-7.30pm! The launch will include poetry readings from this stellar lineup:

⭐️ Tim Grgec - author of the brilliant poetry collection, ‘All Tito's Children’, and Issue 1 Lemon Juice writer

⭐️ Rhys Feeney - an AUP New Poet, published in version 7 with their punchy chapbook, 'soyboy'

⭐️ Maddie Ballard - essayist and poet with an essay collection/sewing diary coming next year, and Issue 1 Lemon Juice writer

⭐️ Ya-Wen Ho - letterpress printmaker, graphic designer, and poet who works bilingually between Mandarin and English

⭐️ Devon Webb - two-time Wellington Slam Poetry champion, incredible live performer, and Issue 3 Lemon Juice writer

All are welcome to come along and celebrate poetry in all its forms. There will be wine and food and lots of poetry-cheer. All three issues of Lemon Juice will be available to purchase as well. Come!

Please join us for the launch of Root Leaf Flower Fruit, a new verse novel by Bill Nelson

Thursday 21 September

6.00 to 7.00pm

GOOD BOOKS

2/16 Jessie Street, Te Aro, Wellington

All welcome. Root Leaf Flower Fruit will be launched by editor Ashleigh Young

Queer Practice is a panel discussion arranged by SameSame But Different, celebrating the writing practice of local queer writers.

Chaired by comic artist, author and archivist Sam Orchard, authors Mia Farlane, Rose Lu and Chanelle Moriah will explore what, how and why they write. Free to attend, no registration required.

☁ BOOK LAUNCH ☁
Join us with Cloud Ink Press to celebrate the launch of Secrets of the Land, the novel by Kate Mahony

6.00 to 7.30pm
Thursday 14 September
GOOD BOOKS, 2/16 Jessie Street, Te Aro, Wellington

All welcome

GOOD BOOKS Writer Talks: Jared Davidson, in conversation with Arie Faber

5.30 to 7.30pm, Wednesday 13 September
GOOD BOOKS, 2/16 Jessie St, Te Aro, Wellington

This will be a fascinating talk for anyone interested in local history or social justice.

Free to attend, but RSVPs essential. Click here to RSVP.

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Jared Davidson is an award-winning writer based in Wellington, and is currently the Research Librarian Manuscripts at the Alexander Turnbull Library. Jared explores the lives of people often overlooked by traditional histories – from working-class radicals of the early 20th century to convicts of the 19th. His books include the acclaimed Dead Letters: Censorship and Subversion in New Zealand 1914–1920 (Otago University Press) and The History of a Riot (BWB Texts). His new book is Blood and Dirt: Prison Labour and the Making of New Zealand (BWB).

Forced labour haunts the streets we walk today and the spaces we take for granted. The unfree work of prisoners has shaped New Zealand's urban centres and rural landscapes and Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa – the Pacific – in profound and unsettling ways. Yet these stories are largely unknown: a hidden history in plain sight. Blood and Dirt explains, for the first time, the making of New Zealand and its Pacific empire through the prism of prison labour.

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Free to attend, but RSVPs essential. Click here to RSVP.

Come along and celebrate the launch of Ben Egerton's new collection of poems, THE SEED DRILL

To be launched by Nikki-Lee Birdsey

6.00 to 7.30pm
Thursday 7 September
GOOD BOOKS, 2/16 Jessie Street, Te Aro, Wellington

All welcome

GOOD BOOKS Writer Talks: Hannah Mettner & Morgan Bach, in conversation with Jane Arthur of GOOD BOOKS

Free to attend; RSVP essential. Click here to RSVP.

Our shop is small, so numbers for this are strictly limited. 

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HANNAH METTNER is a Wellington-based poet from Gisborne. Her first collection, Fully Clothed and So Forgetful, won the 2018 Jessie Mackay Best First Book Award for Poetry, and 'Saga' is released in 2023. In Saga, poems explore questions of love, sexuality, family, friendship and politics. They are woven through with wild blackberry and everyday magic.


MORGAN BACH was the recipient of the 2013 Biggs Family Prize in Poetry, and her first book was Some of Us Eat the Seeds (2015). Her second collection, Middle Youth, is released in 2023 and is filled with a dark, crackling energy and controlled rage about the world we find ourselves in. Morgan and Hannah founded, with Sugar Magnolia Wilson, 'Sweet Mammalian', an online poetry journal.

Celebrate the poets of Pōneke with GOOD BOOKS this Phantom Billstickers National Poetry Day, Friday 25 August

Keep an eye on our social media feeds and spend a minute or two throughout the day watching video readings from some fabulous Wellington-based poets who've released new books this year – without even leaving your bus, home or workplace!

Poets include: Arihia Latham, Jane Arthur, Philippa Werry and more to be announced!

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to see the video readings.

GOOD BOOKS Writer Talks: Pip Adam, in conversation with Jane Arthur of GOOD BOOKS

Free to attend; RSVP essential. Click here to RSVP.

Our shop is small, so numbers for this are strictly limited. 

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Pip Adam's new novel, Audition, has been released to astounding early reviews. Angelique Kasmara on Aotearoa NZ Review of Books called it 'ingenious'; Sarah Laing on Newsroom said it's 'audacious, inventive and radical'; Rachael King in the NZ Listener said, Audition 'asks us to critically examine our society – our systems, our prejudice, and our violence – by imagining worlds beyond our own'.

This novel is one of the must-reads of 2023, and we are really excited to present this conversation between author Pip Adam and GOOD BOOKS manager, Jane Arthur.

PIP ADAM is the author of five books, including The New Animals, which won the 2018 Acorn Prize for Fiction at the Ockham NZ Book Awards. In 2012 she received an Arts Foundation New Generation Award. She makes the ‘Better Off Read’ podcast, where she talks with authors about writing and reading.

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Audition is hurtling through space towards the event horizon. Squashed immobile into its rooms are three giants: Alba, Stanley and Drew. If they talk, the spaceship keeps moving; if they are silent, they resume growing.

Part science fiction, part social realism, Audition asks what happens when systems of power decide someone takes up too much room – and about how we live with each other’s violences – and imagines a new kind of justice.

GOOD BOOKS Writer Talks: Jenny Bornholdt & Frances Samuel, in conversation with Jane Arthur of GOOD BOOKS

Free to attend; RSVP essential. Click here to RSVP.

Our shop is small, so numbers for this are strictly limited. 

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Jenny Bornholdt has published over a dozen books of poems, edited a number of notable anthologies, and has worked on numerous book and art projects with artists. In 2005 she became the fifth Te Mata Estate Poet Laureate, in 2010 she was the Creative NZ Victoria University Writer in Residence, and in 2013 she was appointed a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to literature.

In 2018 Jenny was the co-recipient, with Gregory O’Brien, of the Henderson Arts Trust Residency and spent 12 months in Alexandra, Central Otago, during which time she met Annemarie Hope-Cross. With Jenny's poetry and prose treading deftly around the edges of Annemarie’s life and photographic work, A garden is a long time (Te Herenga Waka University Press) is a meditation on time, light and the spaces we all inhabit.

Frances Samuel is the author of Sleeping on Horseback and Museum. Her poems have appeared in many print and online publications, including Sport, Best New Zealand Poems, Short Poems of New Zealand, and the National Library exhibition 'The Next Word: Contemporary New Zealand Poetry'. For many years, she worked at Te Papa, writing the text for exhibitions.

Like freewheeling thought experiments, Samuel’s poems blur the lines between material and immaterial, natural and supernatural, to funny and surreal effect. In this book, a museum is the air itself, and the idea that everything we love survives. The result is continually surprising, intimate and imaginative. 'Frances Samuel's Museum is full of wonders. It's a storehouse of words, objects, feelings – at once strange and marvellous.' —Jenny Bornholdt

Matariki event alert! The Māori Literature Trust will be holding a lunchtime Matariki Poetry reading, with four amazing Māori poets, at GOOD BOOKS on Thursday July 27th ⭐

We are stoked to be partnering with the Māori Literature Trust again, and can't wait to share our space with Anahera Gildea, Arihia Latham, Aziembry Aolani, and Trinity Thompson-Browne, as they share their poems to call in the new year and reflect on the time of Matariki.

Please RSVP via email to programme@mlt.org.nz ✨

GOOD BOOKS Writer Talks: Khadro Mohamed, in conversation with Ash Davida Jane of Tender Press

Free to attend; RSVP essential. Click here to RSVP.

Our shop is small, so numbers for this are strictly limited. 

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We’re All Made of Lightning (Tender Press) by Wellington-based Khadro Mohamed won the 2024 Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book at the 2024 Ockham NZ Book Awards.

In the book, Mohamed expertly navigates the experience of being a Muslim woman in Aotearoa, bringing us along on her journey of selfhood. Shifting between Aotearoa, Egypt and Somalia, we get a glimpse into her worlds, which are rich and full of life. This book is a love letter to her homeland, her whakapapa, and herself.

All welcome to the launch of Claire Orchard’s new poetry collection, Liveability

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‘These poems take us from the ordinary to the extraordinary and vice versa. Claire Orchard’s eye tilts the world and shows how the extraordinary is actually all around us.’ — James Brown

In LIVEABILITY, Claire Orchard places us vividly in the lives, pasts, futures and homes of others: A young farmer obsessively photographs snowflakes in wintry Vermont. A pair of geckos named Romeo and Juliet live out their lives in an ice-cream container. A CPR manikin contemplates their resuscitator, Leonard Nimoy peers through the TV screen into a family living room, while a girl reaches her own conclusion about who is bravest of them all.

An ode to the eccentricities and occasional sorrows of the everyday, LIVEABILITY is also a joyous and witty celebration of the otherworldly.

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CLAIRE ORCHARD studied English and history at Massey University and completed an MA in Creative Writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters. She lives in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Her previous book is COLD WATER CURE (2016).

GOOD BOOKS Writer Talks: Bob Kerr, in conversation with Philippa Werry
Free to attend; RSVP essential. Click here to RSVP.

Our shop is small, so numbers for this are strictly limited. 

Bob Kerr is a Wellington painter & illustrator, with a studio on Cuba St. He has written many children's books and won many awards for his work, and one of his best-known works is Terry & the Gunrunners, which was twice developed for television. His newest book is Jack & Sandy. Jack & Sandy is an adventure story with graphic novel sections, told across 3 generations - a story about friendship, family & the devastating effects of war. It's told between 21st century NZ, and Scotland & Malta during WW2.

This event will be fascinating for anyone interested in history, war, and researching family stories. The book is told partly in graphic novel form and partly as illustrated novel (to appeal to teen readers) and Bob will be bringing along some of his original sketches and artwork. This book has a really wide appeal, not just for young readers: the rep who sold it to us is in his sixties and absolutely raved about it, saying it moved him to tears - so we are delighted to host this event and believe it will hold a lot of interest for many people. You can read more about the personal background to the book in this moving account on The Spinoff.

We're so happy to be helping author and food systems expert Emily King (@emilykingauthor ) launch her brand new book Re-Food, on Tuesday 11th July! Joining Emily in conversation will be Dr Jessica Hutchings, Julia Milne, and Tric Malcolm, three change-makers in the Aotearoa food system. Come along to hear this great discussion and celebrate Re-food's publication!

Free to attend, all welcome / RSVP via Humanitix here

Join us at GOOD BOOKS on Thursday July 6th, at 5:30PM, for a cozy midwinter get-together– the GOOD BOOKS Queer Social Evening! A chance to meet other queer booklovers in Te Whanganui-a-Tara and make some new friends, come along for a browse and a chat, and some party snacks! Go alone or with friends, we'll provide the books and the good vibes :)

This event is free to attend– sign up here via the Google Form!

Celebrate the launch of PEARL IN A WHIRL, written by Catherine Robertson and illustrated by Fifi Colston

6pm to 7.30pm, Thursday 29 June

GOOD BOOKS, 2/16 Jessie Street, Te Aro, Wellington

RSVP by email to shop@goodbookshop.nz

Written by bestselling author Catherine Robertson, illustrated by Fifi Colston and published by Picture Puffin NZ, every copy sold will raise much-needed funds for the Hawke's Bay Foundation to assist in the Cyclone Gabrielle recovery effort.

Travel with Redmer Yska through Katherine Mansfield's Europe: Station to Station, and step aboard Philippa Werry's adventurous verse biography of Robin Hyde, Iris and Me.

In conversation with Tracy Farr, Philippa and Redmer will consider the challenges and delights of historical research - an onerous but necessary task, or a magical and inspirational ticket to write?

Books available to purchase, and authors will be signing on the night
Koha $3 for NZSA members / $5 for non-members

Join us at the shop to celebrate the exciting launch of Chris Stuart’s latest crime novel, The Glasgow Smile.

Chris’s debut crime novel, For Reasons of Their Own, was the winner in the Best First Novel category of the 2021 Ngaio Marsh Awards.

Come and hear exciting new writing from young New Zealand authors featured in the issue, browse the Good Books shelves, and celebrate the latest issue of Starling.

Reading at the launch party will be:

• Aroha Witinitara

• Charles Joseph

• Geena Slow

• Leah Dodd 

• Lily Stelling

• Loretta Riach

• Maia Armistead 

• Margo Montes de Oca

• Ruben Mita

We are thrilled to be helping to launch not one but two new collections of poetry– one from our own Jane Arthur, titled Calamities!, as well as This Is A Story About Your Mother from the inimitable Louise Wallace.

These books will be launched by current Poet Laureate, Chris Tse. Drinks and snacks provided.

Join us at the shop to celebrate the launch of Nick Davies’ debut novel, El Flamingo. An “escapist sunset-noir” set across Mexico and Colombia, El Flamingo follows the journey of Lou Galloway, a failed actor who is fatalistically mistaken for an enigmatic assassin named 'El Flamingo', and forced to assume his identity to survive.

Nick Davies is an actor-turned-writer from Wellington who has appeared internationally in both film and tv. He has written a collection of travel stories titled The Lost Gringo Chronicles and has worked as a freelance contributor for The Dominion Post.

We are delighted to (finally) launch

The GOOD BOOKS book club

On the third Tuesday of each month, from 5.30 to 7pm, we will host a discussion of a great recently released novel.

Numbers for the book club are strictly limited, so if you can commit to attending every month please fill out this form with your details ASAP - and tell your friends! 

We will also have a waiting list, in case you miss out. Book club members will receive 10% off the RRP of that month's novel.

The first meeting will be at the shop at 5.30pm on Tuesday 21 February.

The first book we'll discuss is The Axeman's Carnival by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press).