Photo by Ebony Lamb
Louise Wallace is a writer and editor, with four previous collections of poetry and her first novel, Ash. She is the founder of Starling, an online journal publishing the work of young writers from Aotearoa, and the 2022 editor of Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems.
ASH
‘I have not felt this seen by a book, ever. Ash worked through me like a drug: I will be going back again and again. The craft is exquisite, the comedy deeply satiating. What Louise Wallace has achieved in Ash is a monumental call to all the women who have been called good girls and bitches with the same breath. Ash simmers and smokes with honesty. It makes sparks fly.'
— Claire Mabey
Available April 2024
Te Herenga Waka University Press
Thea lives under a mountain – one that’s ready to blow.
A vet at a mid-sized rural practice, she has been called back during maternity leave and is coping – just – with the juggle of meetings, mealtimes, farm visits, her boss’s search for legal loopholes and the constant care of her much-loved children, Eli and Lucy.
But something is shifting in Thea – something is burning. Or is it that she is becoming aware, for the first time, of the bright, hot core at her centre?
Then comes an urgent call.
Ingeniously layered, Ash is a story about reckoning with one’s rage and finding marvels in the midst of chaos.
Poetry Collections
Louise’s work has featured in numerous journals and anthologies, including Prose Poetry: An Introduction (Princeton University Press, 2020), Wild Honey: Reading New Zealand Women’s Poetry (Massey University Press, 2019) and Bonsai: Best Small Stories from Aotearoa New Zealand (University of Canterbury Press, 2018).
You can find examples of her writing online at Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems 2017, Peach Mag, The Spinoff and Sweet Mammalian.