THE PRESENTATION of the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel, which was postponed when The Press Christchurch Writer’s Festival was cancelled due to the Canterbury earthquake, has been rescheduled for Tuesday, 30 November.

WHODUNNIT AND WHOWUNNIT? PANEL

The Award will now be presented at the conclusion of the ‘Whodunnit and Whowunnit?’ event, a cocktail function and author panel where three of New Zealand’s most outstanding crime writers will discuss storytelling, the state of modern mystery writing, and the books industry in general, to be held amongst the relaxed atmosphere of Visions on Campus Restaurant at CPIT city campus.

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Abortion Then & Now: New Zealand Abortion Stories From 1940 to 1980 By Margaret Sparrow

VUW Press. $45/$50. Review by Alison McCulloch

The grainy black and white image accompanying the introduction to Dame Margaret Sparrow’s powerful and heartrending book Abortion Then & Now: New Zealand Abortion Stories From 1940 to 1980 shows a fresh-faced young woman formally dressed in cap and gown, clutching a diploma and a posy of flowers. Contained within the caption information beneath is this surprising statement: “You are looking at a criminal.”

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