Acknowledgements

This book was put together first and foremost for teachers and students, to ripple out from schools into the world, and in this regard I would like to thank teachers Susana Carryer and Chris (Kit) Willett for their advice right at the beginning. This wouldn’t be as well ordered or as interesting without them.

The unfortunate destination of so many kiwi short story collections and literary journals is the upper floors and the shut cupboards in libraries. But there they are well preserved and cared for by librarians, waiting for someone like me to request a towering stack of them. Thank you to all librarians in New Zealand for this service and especially the staff at Hamilton Central Library who brought out stack after stack of books to my small research table, helped me use the scanner, and let me take precious items to other floors (librarians have a strong rebellious streak. I recommend having one on your side when the zombies arrive!).

Thank you to established writer Alison Wong who couldn’t herself be in the collection but championed and directed me to some wonderful emerging authors.

Also thank you to Christine Dale and Jenny Nagle at OneTree House. Publishing Aotearoa New Zealand books is done on a dollar in the rain, on a Sunday at midnight, in clothes that need mending while the cat needs feeding; in other words, it isn’t easy; people aren’t even that grateful, but it is a wonderful thing. This opportunity, and the many you have given me over my career, are precious things.

Finally thank you especially to our writers, all of them so generous with their time and talents. And thank you too to you, the reader. We are in a relationship, us writers and you – nau te rourou, naku te rourou, ka ora te manuhiri.

Elizabeth Kirkby-Mcleod