The Bridget Williams Books – Text Collection is a diverse group of short eBooks on the big issues facing Aotearoa. Dive in to discover stories, insights and analysis by some of Aotearoa’s best writers and commentators. The collection is available to read online for free by logging in with your WCL library card here.
In 2013 BWB launched the first of their 100 BWB Texts series. A celebration of this milestone is happening at National Library at 6pm on Tuesday 26 September. Speakers on the night include Morgan Godfrey, Rebecca Kiddle, Rebecca Macfie, Damon Sales and Tom Rennie.
My all-time favourite Bridget Williams Book, and top of the charts, is Imagining Decolonisation (2020) because of the kōrero of Moana Jackson in the launch of the text at Unity Books: Read Anahera Gildea’s account of the “slim book that invites us to dream big.”
It has always been a privilege to hear Moana’s quietly compelling commentaries on the topics of the day, but in this video excerpt there is a last chance to hear the words of a beautiful thinker and absolute advocate for Māori. How I do miss his understated wisdom, his humility, and a deep love for his whānau.
So many titles and authors to dip into; here are just a few:
Ko Taranaki te maunga / Buchanan, Rachel
“In 1881, over 1,500 colonial troops invaded the village of Parihaka near the Taranaki coast. Many people were expelled, buildings destroyed, and chiefs Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi were jailed. Rachel Buchanan tells her own, deeply personal story of Parihaka. Beginning with the death of her father, a man with affiliations to many of Taranaki’s eight iwi, she describes her connection to Taranaki, the land and mountain; and the impact of confiscation. Buchanan discusses the apologies and settlements that have taken place since te pāhuatanga, the invasion of Parihaka”–Publisher information.” (Catalogue)
The first migration : Māori origins 3000BC – AD1450 / Anderson, Atholl
“Thousands of years ago migrants from South China began the journey that took their descendants through the Pacific to the southernmost islands of Polynesia. Atholl Anderson’s … synthesis of research and tradition charts this epic journey of New Zealand’s first human inhabitants. Taken from … Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History this Text weaves together evidence from numerous sources: oral traditions, archaeology, genetics, linguistics, ethnography, historical observations, paleoecology, climate change and more”–Publisher information.” (Catalogue)
New myths and old politics : the Waitangi Tribunal and the challenge of tradition / O’Regan, Tipene
“Negotiating a claim before the Waitangi Tribunal can involve troubling challenges to an iwi’s legitimacy, sometimes from unexpected places. In this unique behind-the-scenes account of the negotiation of Ngāi Tahu’s Waitangi Tribunal claim, Sir Tipene O’Regan describes what happened when claims of New Age mysticism attempted to undermine traditional whakapapa and academic scholarship”–Publisher information.” (Catalogue)
Two hundred and fifty ways to start an essay about Captain Cook / Te Punga Somerville, Alice
“Alice Te Punga Somerville employs her deep research and dark humour to skilfully channel her response to Cook’s global colonial legacy”–Back cover.” (Catalogue)
Generation rent : rethinking New Zealand’s priorities / Eaqub, Shamubeel
“Increasing numbers of young New Zealanders rent, rather than own, their homes. In some places house prices are simply too expensive relative to incomes. For this generation of renters, the dream of home ownership is often beyond reach. This BWB Text assesses the scale of the problem and what it means for this country’s pervasive culture of home ownership. In advocating greater rights and responsibilities for renters, Shamubeel and Selena Eaqub propose rethinking priorities that have guided New Zealand for generations”–Publisher information.” (Catalogue)
Island time : New Zealand’s Pacific futures / Salesa, Damon Ieremia
“New Zealand is a nation that exists on Pacific Islands, but does not, will not, perhaps cannot, see itself as a Pacific Island nation. Yet turning to the Pacific, argues Damon Salesa, enables us to grasp a fuller understanding of what life is really like on these shores. Setting a course through the ‘islands’ of Pacific life in New Zealand – Ōtara, Tokoroa, Porirua, Ōamaru and beyond – he charts a country becoming ‘even more Pacific by the hour’. What would it mean, this far-sighted book asks, for New Zealand to recognise its Pacific talent and finally act like a Pacific nation?”–Publisher’s website.” (Adapted from catalogue)
Forthcoming titles for the BWB Texts Collection in 2023 include:
• Introducing He Whakaputanga, He Tohu Collection
• Introducing Te Tiriti o Waitangi, He Tohu Collection
• Introducing the Women’s Suffrage Petition, 1893, He Tohu Collection
• Encounters Across Time by Judith Binney
• Abolishing the Military: Arguments and Alternatives by Griffin Leonard, Joseph Llewellyn and Richard Jackson
• Reconnecting Aotearoa: Loneliness and Connections in the Age of Social Distance by Kathy Errington and Holly Walker (eds)
• Why Memory Matters: ‘Remembered Histories’ and the Politics of the Past by Rowan Light
• From Paper to Platform: How Tech Giants are Redefining News and Democracy by Merja Myllylahti
These new BWB Texts will be added to the collection from this month, through to November.
