Sally Blundell reviews Nine Lives: New Zealand Writers on Notable New Zealanders

Nine Lives: New Zealand Writers on Notable New Zealanders
Various authors
(Upstart, $40)

The essayists here cover a range of New Zealand writers, leaders, politicians and sportspeople – all personally influential, all grazing the lives of the writers in some way. In the most engaging of these, this proximity is close – the subject has been a touchstone, a mentor, a mirror even for their own lives.

Catherine Robertson presents a compelling portrait of doctor and trailblazing abortion advocate Margaret Sparrow. She begins with her own abortion at 21 then moves quickly to that of Sparrow, her abortionist, at the same age. "This woman had fought fiercely for longer than I'd been alive to give women more autonomy over their bodies, more choices about their reproductive future."

This proximity is evident, although not so overtly, in Stephanie Johnson's important portrait of Carole Beu, unlikely businesswoman and founder of Auckland's Women's Bookshop. Opened in 1989, the bookshop became a social hub, championing a new wave of feminist literature and inspiring a new generation of young women writers – including Johnson.

In her spare yet intimate portrait of Matiu Rata, Paula Morris tracks the life of the Māori leader and politician from "the end of our world, the flickering tail of Te Ika a Māui, Te Hāpua" to Auckland then, at the age of 29, to Parliament where he becomes the first Māori Minister of Māori Affairs, instigator of the New Zealand Day Act and progenitor of the Waitangi Tribunal and the Mana Motuhake movement.

Greg McKee's finely crafted portrait of legendary All Black Ken Gray begins in Circa Theatre, McGee sitting nervously behind Gray and his wife Joy at the opening of his play, Foreskin's Lament. Gray's astonishing departure from rugby was prompted by the 1968 All Blacks tour of apartheid South Africa – an "immoral regime", he concluded.

Selina Tusitala Marsh is a young university student when she first encounters Albert Wendt – "the godfather of Pacific literature". He is austere, distant, "plain ole grumpy", but he becomes a mentor, a role model, a relentlessly inquiring and incisive writer.

Lloyd Jones weaves together a portrayal of Paul Melser the local potter, Paul Melser the activist and Paul Melser the cricketer. For Elspeth Sandys, Rewi Alley – "Uncle Rewi", her mother's cousin – is a distant, controversial figure in remote China (she was once given a bloodied nose because her uncle was "a commie"), but also an ally, a guide.

Malcolm Mulholland's description of Ranginui Walker – academic, teacher, writer, Māori rights and social justice campaigner – is relayed through the impact of Walker's 1990 book, Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou: Struggle Without End, a history of Aotearoa from a Māori perspective that launches Mulholland on his own search for identity. Paul Thomas' account of cricketer John Wright is that of an experienced journalist, sports writer and commentator, teasing apart Wright's "ambivalent, perhaps even-love hate relationship" with cricket.

Nine Lives' unnamed editor tells us the authors wrote "on a notable New Zealander of their choice". There are no stated criteria for notability. For a reviewer this is unnerving. For readers, it is more than offset by some great writing.

- Reviewed by Sally Blundell

Sally Blundell is a journalist, writer and reviewer based in Ōtautahi Christchurch. A longer version of this review will appear at www.anzliterature.com