Giant Sparrow Press - Inside Word

Effortless, powerful and unafraid

4/20/2016

Julie Hill's first short story collection ShameJoy is "an astonishing and original collection of stories that face moral questions and suggest that out of the muddle of youthful exuberance can still come some hope."

So says reviewer Patricia Prime in her review of ShameJoy, which features on the new (and beautiful) Takahe website.

"It is hard to think of another collection like this one" says Prime. "The writing in this collection is apparently effortless, powerful and unafraid of mentioning forbidden subjects."

You can read the full review here on the Takahe website. You can secure your own copy of ShameJoy through our Bookshop.

Tim Jones' Landfall review of ShameJoy

11/25/2015

The Spring issue of literary journal Landfall has just hit bookshops and it features a review of Julie Hill's ShameJoy by author Tim Jones.

Says Tim of ShameJoy: "it is funny, something New Zealand books rarely aim for and even more rarely achieve. The humour comes from a mixture of verbal wit and absurd situations, as the characters start wars, quest for unusual body modifications, and generally pinball around of one another."

You can read the full review of ShameJoy in the print issue of Landfall 230, which is available now in all good bookshops.

NZ Books features ShameJoy

9/7/2015

ShameJoy has been reviewed in, and features on the cover, of the Spring 2015 issue of NZ Books.

Your Weekend of Pav

2/16/2015

An hilarious taste of Julie Hill's ShameJoy featured in Your Weekend magazine over Valentine's weekend.

The tempting start to the tale of Caramel, her dead Uncle Jeff and the Pavlova Debacle that he started and that led to "full-on, hard-out trans-Tasman war" can be read in the attached extract.

shamejoy_extract_in_your_weekend_14_feb_15.pdf
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GSP author Julie Hill talks to NZ Booklovers

1/21/2015

Julie Hill spoke to NZ Booklovers website recently about New Zealand humour, the creativity that comes out of the Kiwi-German connection, and about writing her short story collection, published by Giant Sparrow Press, ShameJoy:

http://www.nzbooklovers.co.nz/general-fiction/interview-julie-hill-author-shamejoy/

ShameJoy in the South

1/14/2015

The stories in ShameJoy mix "lighthearted snippets of real life with more sinister, often historically-based alternative realities" says the reviewer in the Otago Daily Times' 13 December 2014 issue. To read more about the "crazy characters and strangely enticing scenarios" you can find the full review here: http://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/books/327029/crazy-characters-and-strangely-enticing-scenarios-merge-here

odt_books_page_december_13_1.pdf
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Nine to Noon reviews street sharp, sophisticated ShameJoy

12/3/2014

David Hill (not related to the talented Ms Julie) reviewed ShameJoy on Radio New Zealand's Nine to Noon on Tuesday, 2 December.

Describing the stories as "glittering" and featuring "jet black fantasy", he says "there's an engaging mischief in a lot of them... you chuckle with recognition... not belly laughs... cerebral laughs".

The author, he says, is "good at recognising the foibles and the pretentions of her characters, at the same time she sympathises with them and there's also often a very mature underpinning of morality, I'm not saying she preaches, she's a good enough writer to avoid that, but she's good at giving you a sense of vulnerability, fallibility, which gives an extra dimension to the stories".

You can listen to the full review here.

ShameJoy author wins residency

11/21/2014

Julie Hill, author of ShameJoy, has been awarded a prestigious D'Arcy Writers' Residency. Julie will spend 3 months on Waiheke Island where she will work on an essay about Auckland's historic Karangahape Road.

More here: http://www.booksellers.co.nz/book-news/awardsresidencies/writers-chosen-d%E2%80%99arcy-residencies-waiheke-island

Blogs Love ShameJoy

10/1/2014

Julie Hill's ShameJoy received another great review and was featured on the popular books blog of former publisher and top New Zealand bookman Graham Beattie.

Writing on the NZ Booksellers' We Love Books blog, reviewer Angela Oliver said ShameJoy was "undeniably clever" and layered. You can read her full review here.

Meanwhile, Graham Beattie is talking about ShameJoy over at his popular Beattie's Books blog.

Very short, very punchy

9/4/2014

You can listen here to the lovely Rachel Morton interview the equally lovely Julie Hill about ShameJoy on RDU http://www.mixcloud.com/MorningGlory/julie-hill-shamejoy-04-09-14/
Some snippets from their conversation:
"For me, everything starts with a short story" - Julie
"It reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut and Roald Dahl's adult literature, very short and very punchy" - Rachel