Griffith REVIEW devotes an edition to New Zealand, co-edited by Lloyd Jones.

GRIFFITH REVIEW: PACIFIC HIGHWAYS
edited by JULIANNE SCHULTZ & LLOYD JONES
edition 43 • NEW ZEALAND ISSUE • FEBRUARY 2014 • RRP AUD $27.99 / NZ $35.00 • griffithreview.com

Isolated by ocean, New Zealand’s ecosystem is particularly vulnerable to introduced species. The constant arrival of new flora and fauna, via humans, wind and sea, means the biodiversity is constantly changing. Humans too have been washing up on New Zealand’s shores for centuries, leading to constant shifts in demographics, culture and economics. Auckland is now one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world. As a result. New Zealand is adjusting and evolving to create a new twenty-first century identity at the crossroads of the Pacific.

Griffith REVIEW: Pacific Highways, edited by acclaimed New Zealand author Lloyd Jones and Julianne Schultz, examines the shifting tides in New Zealand through a heady mix of essay, memoir, fiction and poetry by some of New Zealand’s most exciting and innovative writers. Pacific Highways explores New Zealand’s position as a hub between the Pacific, Tasman and Southern oceans, and examines the exchange of people and culture, points of resistance and overlap.

How New Zealand adapts to recent profound changes and moves forward is a matter of urgent consideration. The country’s economic model is generating escalating environmental and cultural strains, but also presents great opportunities. A recent worldwide survey found the NZ education system is one of the worst at overcoming economic and social disadvantage. Auckland is home to more than a third of the (increasingly diverse) population, presenting challenges and opportunities for the whole country. Christchurch is finding inspiring new ways of reinvention. Pacific Highways asks what can be learnt, and what lessons does New Zealand offer the world?

With multiculturalism comes questions of identity which many of the writers in  Pacific Highways explore. Who decides who is a ‘New Zealander’? How are Chinese immigrants accepted? Who are you if you are brought up with the strict codes and behavioural norms of your parents’ country but live in another? Does immigration offer the capacity for reinvention?

New Zealand is an island nation, and oceans and rivers imbue Pacific identities. They run paths through major cities and offer courseways for stories. From migrating eels to tasty sea grapes, castaway sailors to volcanic rafts, waterways flow through the essays and stories of Pacific Highways.

Pacific Highways also celebrates the art and literature of New Zealand looking at the country’s wealth of artistic and literary talent in critical essays, and includes short stories and poetry by many of New Zealand’s best writers.

Pacific Highways, with support from the New Zealand Book Council and Creative New Zealand,  is a profound overview of a complex Pacific nation with a polyphony of voices. It will challenge what you thought you knew, and inspire you to think again.

**Includes free e-book Pacific Highways vol 2 featuring Greg O’Brien,  Chris Price, Owen Marshall  and more**

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Lloyd Jones was born in New Zealand in 1955. His best-known novel is Mister Pip, which won the 2007 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the 2008 Kiriyama Prize Fiction Category, the 2008 Montana Award for Readers Choice, the Montana Fiction Award and the Montana Medal for Fiction or Poetry. It was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and has been made into a major feature film, directed by Andrew Adamson (Shrek and Narnia). His other books include Hand Me Down World, The Book of Fame — which won the Deutz Medal for Fiction at the 2001 Montana New Zealand Book Awards and the Tasmania Pacific Fiction Prize — Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance, Biografi and, most recently, A History of Silence. He has also published a collection of short stories, The Man in the Shed. He is the co-editor of Griffith REVIEW: Pacific Highways with Julianne Schultz. Lloyd Jones lives in Wellington.

Julianne Schultz FAHA is the founding editor of Griffith REVIEW. She was born in New Zealand, but left as a child. Julianne is a member of the board of the ABC and chair of the Australian Film Television and Radio School. She is also an acclaimed author, and in 2009 became a Member of the Order of Australia for services to journalism and the community.

ABOUT GRIFFITH REVIEW

Griffith REVIEW has been one of Australia’s leading literary magazines since 2003. Showcasing the best established and emerging writers, Griffith REVIEW is a high quality, agenda-setting resource, delivering insight into the issues that matter the most in a timely, authoritative and engaging fashion.