Acerbic, acid-bright, yet unapologetically sentimental, this collection reflects on what it means to perform and dissect identity, as a poet and a person.Ħ Peter Wells and Rex Pilgrim, editors: Best Mates: Gay Writing in Aotearoa New Zealand (1997, Reed) These are poems that delve into hyper-masculine romanticism and dancing alone in night clubs.

Enter a world of self-loathing poets and compulsive liars, of youth and sexual identity, and of the author as character - pop star, actor, hitman, and much more. A Change for the Better documents Beyer’s turbulent life and times.Īfter reckoning with the dead in the award-winning How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes, Tse has turned to issues of identity and how to live today in his powerful second collection. A long-standing human rights advocate, Beyer’s legacy includes a long and powerful list of legislative reform, but it hasn’t been easy. Sex worker, famed actor, entertainer, politician and the world’s first openly transgender mayor in 1995, Georgina Beyer became a household name as the first openly transgender Member of Parliament in 2000. It won best first work of fiction at the Ockham NZ Book Awards 2016: the judges called Cole ‘a new, assured and vibrant voice’ and said the stories ‘burn you down, freeze you in your tracks, comfort or cool you’.Ĥ Georgina Beyer: A Change for the Better – the Story of Georgina Beyer (1999, 2002, 2010, Random House) Whether it’s exploring lesbian dating dynamics or coup politics, this story collection stuns. 3 Gina Cole : Black Ice Matter (2016, Huia)Ĭole’s-award winning stories transport you to unlikely places, from Suva to Auckland, up Fox Glacier to inside a toxic sweatshop. Now in its fourth edition (and adapted for TV in 2010), Nights in the Gardens of Spain explores points of conflict between sexuality and social mores, and within contemporary gay culture. Which life should you follow? Ihimaera’s semi-autobiographical book is the story of David Munroe, a man who confronts his double life and the impact that his coming out has on wife, children, friends and career. A poignant novel about self-discovery, sexuality and coming of age.Ģ Witi Ihimaera : Nights in the Gardens of Spain (1995, Penguin) A regional finalist for the 1998 Commonwealth Prize, Boy Overboard is the story of eleven-year-old Jamie, staying with family friends in a place called Hungry Creek and trying to work out who he is and where he fits in the world. Wells, the founder of SSBD, is a visionary mover and shaker in NZ lit. 1 Peter Wells : Boy Overboard (2014, Penguin Random House) To celebrate the fourth Same Same But Different festival – the only LGBTQI writers festival in New Zealand, held every year in February as part of Auckland Pride – we suggest some contemporary NZ reads: twenty-plus books either by queer writers, with queer content, or both.

Boy overboard by Peter Wells