News

Information on New Zealand author and poet, Elizabeth Kirkby-McLeod

3 August 2022: Elizabeth features on stuff.co.nz’s How I Write feature – read it here.

2 August 2022: Elizabeth was honoured to be invited to open Hamilton Book Month 2022 with a conversation with NZ author legend, Witi Ihimaera. They have a great month of events planned and most are free! If you are in the Waikato make time to attend one.

21 July 2022: Elizabeth’s book World Folk Tales featured on Suzy’s Book Corner where beloved children’s entertainer Suzy Cato read one of the stories aloud. View the video here.

6 July 2022: July review for Rhema – talking Nee Zealand children’s book series with Di and Andrew (listen here):

• Eugene’s Island from myself and Anna McKessar
• Flying Furballs from Donovan Bixley
• Des Hunt’s fiction (books with the same sort of adventure)

20 May 2022: Elizabeth answers Five Quick Fire Questions for Kids Books NZ about the Eugene’s Island book series.

19 May 2022: Elizabeth has continued her collaboration with illustrator Anna McKessar on early fiction series for children Eugene’s Island, with two new books in the series!

Set on a bird sanctuary island in Aotearoa New Zealand, there was now four books in the series – for more information, reviews, and online purchasing, visit the Eugene’s Island website.

5 May 2022: May review for Rhema – talking New Zealand classics with Andrew and Di (listen here):

• Night Race to Kawau by Tessa Duder Penguin Books NZ
• The Penguin History of New Zealand by Michael King Penguin Books NZ
• Nature’s Alphabet by Andrew Crowe, illustrated by Dave Gunson Bateman Books

6 April 2022: Elizabeth joined Di and Andrew on Rhema (listen here) to talk about the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards non-fiction shortlist:

• From the Centre, A Writer’s Life by Patricia Grace, published by Penguin Books NZ
• The Mirror Book by Charlotte Grimshaw, published by Penguin Books NZ
• The Alarmist by Dave Lowe, published by Te Herenga Waka University Press
• Voices from the New Zealand Wars | He Reo nō ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa by Vincent O’Malley, published by Bridget Williams Books

2 March 2022: Elizabeth joined Di and Andrew on Rhema (listen here) to review books set in the South Island:

• Uprising by Nic Low, published by Text Publishing
• Kakapo Keeper by Gay Buckingham, published by OneTree House
• Ravenscar House: A Biography by Sally Blundell, published by Canterbury University Press

17 September 2021: Elizabeth is excited to announce a blog tour for Family Instructions Upon Release. The tour details, organised by Anne Cater at Random Things, are below. International readers can purchase the eBook of Family Instructions Upon Release at their favourite eBook store, while in New Zealand the paperback is available in any good bookstore or through the publisher, Cuba Press.

Book tour links:

• On The Shelf Books
• Wild Writing Life

01 September 2021: Elizabeth has collaborated with illustrator Anna McKessar on a new early fiction series for children called Eugene’s Island.

Set on a bird sanctuary island in Aotearoa New Zealand, two books have been released – for more information, reviews, and online purchasing, visit the Eugene’s Island website.

01 August 2021: Elizabeth is honoured to be the guest poet in takahe magazine, issue 102. The issue is available to all as a free download from the takahe website.

28 June 2021: Elizabeth is proud to have edited a new short story collection Lit: stories from home for OneTree House. Featuring sixteen short stories from home-grown literary heroes, established contemporary authors, and award-winning emerging writers, this new collection explores identity, activism awareness, coming-of-age, society, and family from the Aotearoa New Zealand perspective.

21 June 2021: Elizabeth had a wide-ranging discussion on Words From The Bubble with Rachel Doré on Manawatu People’s Radio, digging deep into her books World Folk Tales and Family Instructions Upon Release. Listen to the interview online here.

10 June 2021: Elizabeth spoke with Andrew about her new picture book World Folk Tales on Rhema, New Zealand’s Christian radio network. The interview is online here.

8 June 2021: Elizabeth talked about World Folk Tales with NZ Booklovers – full Q&A available on their website.

31 May 2021: Elizabeth’s new book, World Folk Tales has been reviewed on Bob’s Books Blog who said “This picture book of folk tales from fourteen different countries and cultures around the world is possibly the best collection of it’s type that I have read.” Read the full review online.

21 May 2021: Photos with Elizabeth from the ‘Purgatory Reimagined’ session of the Auckland Writers Festival this month.

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13 May 2021: Elizabeth is delighted to announce the publication of her first children’s book, World Folk Tales, published by Giltedge Publishing. Introduce children to myths, legends and fables from across the globe in this movingly illustrated collection. The varied stories use a range of storytelling techniques and perspectives with full-colour, two-page illustrated spreads. More on the books page.

12 May 2021: Elizabeth with be joining Airini Beautrais, Vana Manasiadis, Helen Rickerby, Reihana Robinson, Jamie Trower and Bryan Walpert to discuss More Favourable Waters: Aotearoa poets respond to Dante’s Purgatory, at the Auckland Writer’s Festival this Sunday. See event details here.

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1 April 2021: Elizabeth is thrilled to be one of the poets in More Favourable Waters: Aotearoa poets respond to Dante’s Purgatory, published by Cuba Press.

More Favourable Waters is an anthology of contemporary poets from Aotearoa New Zealand commemorating one of the world’s great poets, Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), 700 years after his death. Each of the 33 poets has written a poem of 33 lines inspired by and including a short passage from one of the 33 cantos of Dante’s Purgatory, the second part of his epic The Divine Comedy.

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12 March 2021: Elizabeth had the pleasure of reading alongside poets Rata Gordon and Tracey Slaughter at a poetry event in Raglan, New Zealand.

11 March 2021: Elizabeth’s collection Family Instructions Upon Release was reviewed in Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2021. Reviewer, Elisabeth Kumar, said that Kirkby-McLeod “writes with utter confidence, a master of craft and insight…”

1 January 2021: Elizabeth’s essay ‘Unspooling Threads’ was published in takahē 100. You can also read it on the “Writing+” page

1 December, 2020: Elizabeth is honoured to have two poems published in the inaugural issue of Tarot,  a free-to-access Aotearoa poetry journal, released biannually. Read her work along with work by Siobhan Harvey, Jamie Trower, and others, at the link above.

20 November, 2020: Elizabeth’s essay ‘Moonwalking’ was published in the online journal Love in the Time of Covid: A Chronicle of a Pandemic, edited by Witi Ihimaera & Michelle Elvy.

21 October, 2020: Elizabeth’s short poem features in the Heart of the City’s ‘In Your Words’ Auckland installation.

April 28, 2020: Elizabeth has had her short story Close Neighbours published in takahe 98. You can also read the story on the “Writing+” page.

April 14, 2020: an opinion piece by Elizabeth on our response to the covid-19 challenge and our need for moral courage has appeared on Newsroom. You can also read the essay on the page “Writing+”

March 27, 2020: an essay by Elizabeth on the narratives in climate change literature for children has been published on book industry website, The Sapling. You can read the essay on the “Writing+” page.

March 20, 2020: Elizabeth has received notification of the cancellation of the Auckland Writers Festival. Elizabeth was due to read in two events but is fully supportive and appreciative of the steps the AWF team is taking to protect our community.

March 14, 2020: Elizabeth appeared as guest poet at Titirangi Poets in Auckland to read from Family Instructions Upon Release and discuss the process of publishing

March 03, 2020: Elizabeth appeared as guest poet at Poetry Live in downtown Auckland alongside guest musician, Jeremy Redmore.

February 12, 2020: An essay by Elizabeth about her poetry collection Family Instructions Upon Release has appeared on Newsroom. You can also read the essay on the page “Writing+”

February 11, 2020: Family Instructions Upon Release was reviewed by Phil Vine on Radio New Zealand National who called it “an extraordinary collection of poetry … Elizabeth Kirkby-McLeod writes with such bravery, accuracy and candour about a subject which is so important to our country.” Listen to the review on the RNZ website.

December 6, 2019: Family Instructions Upon Release was number 2 in the week’s biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list, reported on The Newsroom.

December 3, 2019: Elizabeth spoke with Andrew about her book Family Instructions Upon Release, on Rhema, New Zealand’s Christian radio network. The interview is online here.

November 29, 2019: Family Instruction Upon Release was the number 1 bestseller in the Unity Auckland bookseller chart.

November 22, 2019: Elizabeth spoke with Radio New Zealand host, Jesse Mulligan, about her new collection, Family Instructions Upon Release. Listen to the interview here.

November 21, 2019: Elizabeth spoke at Glen Eden Library about Family Instructions Upon Release at an event called ‘To My Father‘.

July 2, 2019: Great to be involved in another NZSA Auckland Branch ‘Literary Lounge Series’ event with NZSA CEO Jenny Nagle. The best publishing advice you can squeeze into an hour!

June 4, 2019:
So, I know we are meant to be “cool” about this sort of stuff (there was a reason the humble-brag was invented!) but when I heard Harry Ricketts include me in a list of new poets he thought would grow to be “terrific presences” – and then talk about my typographic poem – I was just too happy to be cool!! This is a link to his review of Poetry New Zealand Yearbook 2019 (edited by Jack Ross, published by Massey University Press) on RNZ.

November 22, 2018: Elizabeth’s poem ‘A Matter of Timing’ has been published in Landfall 236: Spring 2018

November 08, 2018: Elizabeth’s poems ‘His Little Apologies’ and ‘Her Warning Signs’ have been published in the 2018 New Zealand Poetry Society Anthology, The Unnecessary Invention of Punctuation, which is now available to purchase.

September 7, 2018: Elizabeth’s poem ‘Her Warning Signs’ has been Highly Commended in the 2018 International Poetry Competition.  Click on the link to read the full judges’ report.

December 11, 2017: Elizabeth had two poems – ‘ ‘Placing Blame’ and ‘Her Son Gets A Casting Call’  published in takahe 91.