I JUST TALK ABOUT SOME OF MY FAVOURITE COVERS

Something a little light on this Saturday

In addition to running this blog, I also have a couple of online Māori lit-related resources – one of which is a folder full of quality cover art (which you can check out here!).

I thought I’d do something a little light and fun today, and just talk about some of my favourite covers that I’ve collected in the folder so far!

Feel free to comment with your own favourites? Would love to hear all about them.

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THE NEW NET GOES FISHING / WITI IHIMAERA

I know it’s a cliché at this point to complain about book covers that use images from the film adaptation, but it’s an opinion I can generally get behind – except here. I’m a huge fan of this cover for Ihimaera’s second collection of short stories, which takes an image from Ian Mune’s adaptation of ‘Big Brother, Little Sister’ (which screened on television as part of the Winners and Losers anthology series). Even though the story (and subsequent adaptation) is pretty dark, the photo in isolation is just so charming.

UENUKU / TRIXIE TE ARAMA MENZIES & TOI TE RITO MAIHI

Another example of a beautiful central image framed with a stark, single colour. The cover here lets the painting by Toi Te Rito Maihi’s – a response to the carved sculpture of Uenuku – do the talking. One of my absolute favourites.

TAMA & OTHER STORIES / BRUCE STEWART

I love everything going on here: the muscled man-animal hybrid at the centre (which I believe was drawn by Stewart himself), the gradient background, that completely intense tagline. This is a collection that deserves a new edition, and I’d love if the publisher kept this original cover intact!

SAP-WOOD & MILK / HONE TUWHARE

I couldn’t not mention this one, with its incredible Ralph Hotere design (he also provided paintings in a similar style for pages within the collection). This collection (Tuwhare’s third) as a whole might just be my favourite collaboration between Tuwhare and Hotere, and that is saying something.

JAZZ WAIATA / ROBERT SULLIVAN

With its stark colours and jagged black lines, this cover feels like the perfect match for Sullivan’s bold poetic voice in this debut collection; this is poetry with a hard edge, and the art reflects that. Also, I guess I really like borders in my covers.

TAHURI / NGAHUIA TE AWEKOTUKU

Another one that pulls off the stark black and white style. Love this cover to a great collection of short stories: the evocative image of Tahuri gazing across a stylised expanse of water, the splash of red, the iconic ‘NEW WOMEN’S PRESS FICTION’ banner. So good.

AND THE GLORY / DAVID BALLANTYNE

Arriving about a decade before another Māori author would publish a book of fiction, this cover feels like it’s from a complete different era. I’ve always loved old covers of New Zealand fiction, with their brash font choices and stylish – even surreal – settings (And the Glory’s cover has a little of the art for Owls Do Cry, published six years earlier).

DEAD JAZZ GUYS / PHIL KAWANA

The cover for Kawana’s debut collection of short stories is pretty unassuming really, but I just love that no-nonsense font (and what a great title too) and the photo of Kawana is cool and 90s in the best possible way (that is him, right?).

As I said, do let me know about your own favourites!