Carl Nixon Carl Nixon was born in Christchurch in 1967 and is one of New Zealand’s leading authors. He has written three novels, a short story collection and numerous theatrical scripts. His books have regularly appeared on the top selling New Zealand fiction lists and have been listed for international awards, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize, Best First Book (South East Asia and Australasia region), and the Dublin International IMPAC Awards. His last novel, The Virgin and the Whale, has been optioned for film by South Pacific Films.
Settler’s Creek Box Saxton just wants to bury, Mark, his stepson. What happens, though, when the boy’s biological father, a Maori leader, unexpectedly turns up in the days before the funeral and forcibly takes the boy’s body? According to Maori custom the boy should be buried in the tribe’s ancestral cemetery at the small coastal town of Kaipuna. According to the law there is very little Box can do. With no plan and little hope, Box gets in his old truck and drives north, desperate and heartbroken.
Original language: English Published in 2010 336 pages RIGHTS SOLD ENGLISH (ANZ) | Random House New Zealand GERMAN | Weilde Verlag
Settler’s Creek examines the claims of both indigenous peoples and more recent settlers to have a spiritual link to the land. The book explores with depth and compassion some of the many issues of race and culture which New Zealand, like Australia, faces. “Brave, bold and unflinching, one of the best novels to come out of New Zealand. It’s not only a gripping, brutal thriller but also a dissection of a country and its culture. It’s the kind of book that gets you run out of town.” Witi Ihimaera
Rocking Horse Road Lucy Asher’s murder makes a huge impact on all those who live along Rocking Horse Road, which runs through the Spit, a long ‘finger of bone-dry sand’ between the ocean and the estuary. It’s an event that for one hot summer brings together a group of fifteen-year-old boys and then keeps them linked for the rest of their lives. Evolving from Nixon’s celebrated short story, this powerful novel is much more than an intelligently evoked murder mystery. It’s a book about coming of age and loss of innocence, not just for the characters but for New Zealand, as the country turns upon itself during the 1981 Springbok Tour. It examines how early events can influence the rest of our lives, and probes ideas of community, collective memory and story-telling. www.pontas-agency.com
Original language: English Published in 2007 240 pages
RIGHTS SOLD ENGLISH (ANZ) | Random House New Zealand CHINESE (Complex) | Crown GERMAN | Weilde Verlag