Walking the Land is Kevin Ireland’s 15th collection of poems, and Penelope Bieder sings its praises in the Herald:

His poems are darts of restrained emotion dipped in fearless ink, that reach their target with smart-bomb accuracy, always just the right length for their subject matter. But if they are marvellous intellectual missiles, they are always launched with peace and reconciliation in mind, bureaucrats and politicians thankfully aside.

Also just out are two new books from the multi-talented Peter Bland, Let’s Meet: Poems 1985-2000 and Ports of Call, featuring poems written since 2000. Bieder is a fan of Bland as well as Ireland, saying:

His gift is an acute ability to convey a sort of mental spaciousness, repose and delight as he draws a vivid picture of what he finds around him.

Also on the local front, the Dominion Post reports that Rough Guides will publish a Rough Guide to Maori Culture and Heritage this year – "the first time it has devoted a guide to a single culture". (Apparently, the Rough Guide to New Zealand has been outselling the guide to Australia.)