Did the entire New Zealand land mass sink beneath the waves 23 million years ago? Many biologists reject the idea and insist that our native terrestrial fauna can be explained only by the continuous existence of land. But many geologists are now asserting that there is no longer any convincing geological evidence that the New Zealand section of Zealandia remained above the sea’s surface. But if Zealandia did sink completely beneath the waves 23 million years ago – where did our distinctive ancient flora and fauna such as the tuatara and our tree ferns come from? This BWB Text is a provocative treatment of the ‘Drowning Zealandia’ scientific controversy by geologist Hamish Campbell.

The bicycle is a time machine, a link to the past. But sometimes the bicycle also feels like a link to the future – not the future we once imagined, the one with flying cars and replicators, but more like the one the Victorians might have pictured: streets crowded with bikes, strange ones of all kinds. The bicycle – cheap, healthy and little-changed in more than a century – is, for Laura Williamson, more than just about sport or transport. Riding a bike brings moments of joy, liberation, revolution and change. From cycling suffragists to the Christchurch rebuild, life on two wheels spins us out beyond well-trod paths to a fresh and fast-moving take on New Zealand.

Award-winning New Zealand writers Martin Edmond, Maurice Gee, Kirsty Gunn and Owen Marshall explore life and memory in this bundle of BWB Texts. These four works are combined into one easy-to-read e-book, available direct and DRM-free from our website or from international e-book retailers. Martin Edmond’s Barefoot Years is a memoir in which the author attempts to re-inhabit the lost domain of childhood. Widely regarded as one of New Zealand’s greatest fiction writers, Maurice Gee has written virtually no non-fiction. The exceptions are the two exquisite childhood reminiscences combined in a mini-memoir, Creeks and Kitchens. In this exquisitely written ‘notebook’ – ‘My Katherine Mansfield Project’ – Kirsty Gunn explores the meaning of ‘home’ in Thorndon. Owen Marshall reflects at length on his writing career and the forces that have shaped him as a writer, in Tunes for Bears to Dance To. BWB Texts are short books on big subjects by great New Zealand writers. Commissioned as short digital-first works, BWB Texts unlock diverse stories, insights and analysis from the best of our past, present and future New Zealand writing.

Migration and the movement of people is one of the critical issues confronting the world’s nations in the twenty-first-century. This book is about the economic contribution of migration to and from New Zealand, one of the most frequently discussed aspects of the debate. Can immigration, in economic terms, be more than a gap filler for the labour market and help as well with national economic transformation? And what is the evidence on the effect of migration not just on house prices but also on jobs, trade or broader economic performance? Building on Sir Paul Callaghan’s vision of New Zealand as a place ‘where talent wants to live’, this book explores how we can attract skilled, creative and entrepreneurial people born in other countries, and whether our ‘seventeenth region’ – the more than 600,000 New Zealanders living abroad – can be a greater national asset.

The decline of home ownership has struck at the heart of the Kiwi dream – so perhaps it is time to fashion a new one. House prices may boom or bust but the long-term trend is clear: for more New Zealanders than ever, home ownership is out of reach. Incomes simply have not kept pace with skyrocketing property prices. Generation Rent calls into question priorities at the heart of New Zealand’s identity. In this BWB Text, Shamubeel and Selena Eaqub investigate how we ended up here, and what can be done to ensure all New Zealanders – home owners and renters alike – live in affordable and secure housing.

‘The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear’ – Antonio Gramsci Is New Zealand’s political settlement beginning to fray? And does this mean we’re entering the interregnum, that ambiguous moment between society-wide discontent and political change? In BWB’s latest book of essays, edited by Morgan Godfery, ten of New Zealand’s sharpest emerging thinkers gather to debate the ‘morbid symptoms’ of the current moment, from precarious work to climate change, and to discuss what shape change might take, from ‘the politics of love’ to postcapitalism. The Interregnum interrogates the future from the perspective of the generation who will shape it. Contributors: Andrew Dean, Max Harris, Lamia Imam, Chloe King, Daniel Kleinsman, Edward Miller, Courtney Sina Meredith, Carrie Stoddart-Smith, Wilbur Townsend and Holly Walker.

Award-winning writers Geoff Chapple, Claudia Orange, Anne Salmond and Dick Scott explore pivotal moments in New Zealand’s history in this bundle of BWB Texts. These four works are combined into one easy-to-read e-book, available direct and DRM-free from our website or from international e-book retailers. In When the Tour Came to Auckland Geoff Chapple describes the startling scenes as the Springbok rugby tour of New Zealand in 1981 comes to a violent conclusion. In What Happened at Waitangi? Claudia Orange explains the events on the ground that led to the signing of the Treaty on 6 February 1840. Anne Salmond’s First Contact details the dramatic visit of Dutch ships led by Abel Tasman to Golden Bay at the top of the South Island in 1642, and the meeting of Māori and European worlds. Dick Scott’s Parihaka Invaded describes the non-violent defiance of Te Whiti-o-Rongomai, Tohu Kakahi and their followers at Parihaka and is one of the great New Zealand narratives. BWB Texts are short books on big subjects by great New Zealand writers. Commissioned as short digital-first works, BWB Texts unlock diverse stories, insights and analysis from the best of our past, present and future New Zealand writing.

Get up-to-speed with some of the biggest challenges facing New Zealand with this bundle of high-profile BWB Texts. These four works are combined into one easy-to-read e-book, available direct and DRM-free from our website or from international e-book retailers. Seventy-five years after Labour’s social security reforms of the 1930s, Paul Dalziel and Caroline Saunders argue in Wellbeing Economics it is time for a major shift in New Zealand’s economic perspective. In Growing Apart, Shamubeel Eaqub highlights the changing economic fortunes of people in different parts of New Zealand – the growing gaps between our regions. Max Rashbrooke’s The Inequality Debate provides a succinct introduction to income inequality in New Zealand using the latest data. The meaning of The Piketty Phenomenon for New Zealand is explored by a diverse range of economists and commentators addressing the relevance of Thomas Piketty’s ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’. BWB Texts are short books on big subjects by great New Zealand writers. Commissioned as short digital-first works, BWB Texts unlock diverse stories, insights and analysis from the best of our past, present and future New Zealand writing.

Our seas are literally rising, but under the surface of our politics too, something is also happening. Everywhere there is a growing mood for change, increasing unease and greater efforts to live more sustainably. World leaders and scientists agree that climate change is real, and around the world we can see its effects. Yet despite the scientific and political agreement, meaningful action by governments eludes us. Bronwyn Hayward tackles this inertia head-on. In Sea Change, she argues that our best hope of combating climate change lies in people-driven climate action. She shows how to reclaim our status as political actors and come together to work towards social and climate justice.

A large and peaceful pro-independence march along Beach Road in Apia, Samoa. Amidst panic and confusion, New Zealand police open fire with rifles and a machine-gun, killing nine people and wounding fifty. In this BWB Text, Michael Field describes what happened on Black Saturday, 28 December 1929, a day that is largely forgotten in New Zealand history but is vividly recalled in Samoa.