Bird North and other stories

Breton Dukes

Victoria University Press

Publication  October

rrp          $35.00

Breton Dukes stands in the great tradition of New Zealand writers—Frank Sargeson, Maurice Duggan, Owen Marshall—who have looked at men’s lives. The portraits in Dukes’ stories are searingly fresh, always pointing away from clichés about male failure. The characters here are often trying to break free of expectation, and our engagement with them is always heightened by the language Dukes creates. With a bold mix of plain-speaking and lyrical flourish, the writer brings emotional urgency as well as surprising humour to a range of worlds—from remote hot pools to a Johnsonville bottle store—from a predatory act during a cross-country run in Fiordland to a doomed diving trip off Wellington's south coast.

About the author:

 Breton Dukes has worked in hospitals, language schools, gymnasiums, bars, kitchens, factories and government call centres. Raised in Dunedin, he currently lives with his partner in Northland where he is a house-husband, an ocean swimmer, a bird watcher . . .