Writing week 0 A new kind of week, in which nothing happens again – but a different kind of nothing.

A Sunday treat you didn’t know you needed: Eyelashroaming is back with a daily chronicle of writing, not writing and getting trapped in the bathroom. There’s also a sighting of Jerry.

So brilliantly reviewed

Finally made it to the V&A East Storage where I swooned at the Frankfurt Kitchen. These were designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky for German social housing in 1926 and were the forerunner of the ‘fitted kitchen’. Such beautiful simplicity.

#V&A #frankfurtkitchen #london #architecture #design

‘Calamities and care’: Elizabeth Knox’s profoundly moving memoir, reviewed 'The best of literature about the worst of times.'

thespinoff.co.nz/books/18-04-...

Friction makes things stick. Cultural experiences. Music. Learning. A book you have to work through rather than skate over. Not like inconvenience for its own sake is a virtue, but the friction imposed by it can be genuinely meaningful in a lot of contexts.

Review: Night, Ma: a memoir Review: Night, Ma: a memoir

www.ketebooks.co.nz/reviews/revi...

Sounds like a Eleanor Catton novel

Lucky Creatures In his debut essay collection, award-winning Filipino-Kiwi essayist Joseph Trinidad explores the lessons of his grandmother’s chicken farm and his grandfather’s lucky golden fish; the vibrancy of his ...

Also over here 🤩

teherengawakapress.co.nz/products/luc...

A galley of Lucky Creatures by Joseph Trinadad. Out in June from Sarabande Books. The cover is royal blue and features a cow with its calf nursing. There are rainbow colored streaks emerging from the cow and her calf's hooves. Quote from Alexander Chee on cover: "an entirely original voice"

I'm currently reading and absolutely loving Lucky Creatures by Filipinx writer Joseph Trinadad about growing up and his family. Funny and to echo @alexanderchee.bsky.social "an original voice" Out in June from @sarabandebooks.bsky.social.

4 😎

A blue and white watercolour book cover, titled 'Night Ma: a Memoir, by Elizabeth Knox.'

On a blue and white background, it reads: ''Such magnificent writing, and it never really lets up. Not in quality and not in emotional intensity.' — Philip Matthews, ReadingRoom'

On a blue and white background, it reads: ''Lucid, informative, and a joy to read. It is the memoir of a novelist with her attendant descriptive powers and incisive observations well in play, as the past and the everyday are recalled with splendid clarity.' — Chris Baskett, The Listener'

On a blue and white background, it reads: ''Night, Ma is a remarkable and remarkably honest book.' — Sally Blundell, Aotearoa New Zealand Review of Books'

It's been a joy to watch Night, Ma go out into the world! 💙 Elizabeth Knox has written something truly extraordinary and given us the gift of seeing as she sees. We couldn't be prouder to have published this book.
The reception has been wonderful—here are some of the things people have been saying.

Jenna Todd buys Time Out

A jewel in the bookselling trade is under new management

the brutality of arts organizations who think artists exist to adorn their reputations 😔

Elizabeth Knox’s farewell to a family home In this personal essay, Knox reckons with the memories, people and lives that cannot be packed up and taken with her.

www.thepost.co.nz/wellbeing/36...

Text reads: Join us for the launch of 'Peace and Quiet' and 'New Days for Old'. Thursday 23 April, 6pm, Unity Books Wellington. The covers of the two books are shown, and the logos of Unity Books and Te Herenga Waka University Press.

And our April doesn't end there, it's not long until we launch two excellent new poetry collections...

🎼 Thursday 23 April, 6pm
🎼 Unity Books Wellington
🎼 Free entry — all welcome!

Elizabeth Knox, a pākehā woman with long, white hair, stands behind a lectern reading to the room. Behind her, the Earth Mothers, a dazzling Rawa (artwork) by renowned Māori artist Darcy Nicholas that celebrates the sacred life‑giving power of women, and is lit from behind so it glows with vibrant colours, lots of yellows, oranges, and pinks.

We were so grateful to launch Night, Ma at the newly opened Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui! Here is Elizabeth Knox reading from the new memoir in front of Earth Mothers, a dazzling rawa by Darcy Nicholas that celebrates the sacred life‑giving power of women. Thank you, Wellington City Libraries!

'In How to End a Story,...Helen Garner said writing about her life "is the only thing that makes it possible for me to live it". That sentiment ripples through this quiet, reflective, captivating and deeply empathetic memoir.' Sally Blundell on Night, Ma.
www.nzreviewofbooks.com/night-ma-by-...

www.nzreviewofbooks.com/night-ma-by-...

Maybe I should

Lisa O’Neill! Wish I’d been there 😕

Very apt that Elizabeth Knox launched her memoir Night, Ma under the gaze of the atua wāhine Hineahuone the birther, Hinetītama the maturer, and Hinenuitepō the spiritual guardian last night at Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui 🧵

Booklaunch time 😍

Book of the Week: Philip Matthews on Elizabeth Knox The magnificent writing in Elizabeth Knox's new memoir never really lets up

Nice photo of Elizabeth, Disco, Patrick and Ida Knox newsroom.co.nz/2026/04/09/b...

Emily Perkins on Elizabeth Knox Emily Perkins reveals what went on inside a Wellington book club that led to Elizabeth Knox's extraordinary new memoir.

I really like this interview I did with the wonderful Emily Perkins about my memoir Night, Ma and the Glen Road Writers group.

newsroom.co.nz/2026/04/08/e...

www.takahe.org.nz/party-boy/

www.takahe.org.nz/giving-birth...

www.takahe.org.nz/what-to-wear/

We swam around the rocks wondering what that interesting grey bird was, but didn’t look it up until later

Matuku moana (reef heron, est population 300–500), Ligar Bay today

I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake By A Horse Hello. I am a horse. I work very hard at my job of being a horse. When humans say move the heavy thing, I move the heavy thing. When humans sit on top of me and pull on my head, I carry them where they want to go. The main food the humans give me is hay and oats. But I am thinking it would be nice to have a different food. I am thinking I would like to try cake. Yes, yes. Cake. I know all about it. When humans eat cake, it is in glad times. It is the food for a celebration, such as when a woman becomes 47. I have seen cake on the Fourth of July. When humans have a cake, they stand around it and clap hands and smile and say happy birthday at each other. Sometimes there are beautiful markings on a cake, such as balloons or a pink shape. Sometimes the top of a cake is on fire and a boy must blow on the fire with mouth wind. This is the scariest cake. I do not want this kind. But I will eat any other cake. Any cake that is not the fire cake that tries to kill the boy. Please understand: I do not get money for doing work. I do not get to go inside the house. All I am either doing my horse job or standing in my pen or eating food off the floor. I always do these things. But I have never once gotten cake and I would like it very much. I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children. I am more helpful to the farm. Children do not move the heavy things like me or let anyone ride on them. And yet they get cake. Maybe the humans will realize this. Maybe they will say, "You know who deserves cake? That horse. That horse whose back we are always on." Every day I dream about what it will be like if I get to eat cake. Here is what will happen. First, I will walk to the cake and putt my nose at it like hrrfff to make and stomping my hooves to make sure it is not a snake. Then I will trot in a circle to show that I am a horse and I am large. After that, I will nuzzle the cake to …

The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me.

It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."