jQuery(document).on('gform_post_render', function(){ /* apply only to a textarea with a class of gf_readonly */ jQuery(".gf_readonly input").attr("readonly","readonly"); }); lang="en-NZ"> COMP CLOSED | Book Giveaway | Outliers - GrownUps New Zealand
GrownUps New Zealand

COMP CLOSED | Book Giveaway | Outliers

We’re excited to be giving away two copies of Outliers by Michael Jackson to our GrownUps members!

To be in the draw, simply make sure you’re a GrownUps member, signed up to our newsletter, and fill in your details at the bottom of the page.

About Outliers

In eight short stories set in the antipodes, award-winning New Zealand author Michael Jackson explores themes that will resonate and provoke thought.

Author of Beginnings in Aotearoa and Abroad, Jackson returns to tell stories which speak ‘to my double life, shuttling between the southern and northern hemispheres, and blurring the line between fact and fiction. In ancient geomythology, antipodean referred to people and places at the far side of the known world who walked with their feet facing backward. Accordingly, antipodean may be construed as a metaphor for being estranged by temperament or accident from mainstream society.’

‘… a modest, confident, international voice …’ VINCENT O’SULLIVAN

‘… one of our most astute, humane, idiosyncratic, neglected and perdurable writers.’ MARTIN EDMOND

‘In the early pages I wondered if this book was for me … within a short while I was hooked. A joy to read – a feel-good tome.’ TERRY TONER reviewing Beginnings in Aotearoa and Abroad

Poet and anthropologist Michael Jackson grew up in Taranaki in the 1950s, then travelled to the United Kingdom to study at Cambridge University (PhD), and further afar for fieldwork. In his first book for Ugly Hill Press, Beginnings in Aotearoa and Abroad, published in 2024, Jackson wrote evocatively of his Aotearoa upbringing, his New Zealand literary friends, and the beginnings we associate with childhood. Jackson continues this theme in Outliers – eight short stories, though based in the antipodes, also reference those we know who dwell in the fringes of ‘mainstream society’.

Author Note

‘I believe we all tend to compare ourselves with our contemporaries, especially as we get older. We also compare the person we have become with the person we once were. In these ways, we take stock of ourselves, asking whether we have realised our childhood dreams, led an ethical life, or found happiness. Outliers explores these questions through a set of fictional characters who, for various reasons, have fallen short of their goals, made mistakes they regret, or been perennial outsiders. As for my own life, I admit luck has been on my side, though I am haunted by the question of whether the same satisfaction I have found as an expatriate could have been found by spending my entire life in Aotearoa.’

About the Author

In over 40 works of fiction, poetry, memoir, and anthropology, Michael Jackson has drawn on his extensive experience in Aotearoa, Sierra Leone, and Aboriginal Australia to develop a unique genre-blurring style which has garnered international praise and many awards, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry, and the Victor Turner Lifetime Achievement Award for Humanist Anthropology. Jackson is one of New Zealand’s earliest recipients of the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship. He is currently Senior Research Fellow in World Religions at Harvard Divinity School.

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Terms and conditions

    1. You must be a GrownUps member and subscribed to our newsletter to be eligible to enter.

    2. The competition closes on 17th December 2025. Winners will be notified via email by 18th December 2025.

    3. It is your responsibility to provide a correct New Zealand postal address for prize delivery. GrownUps is not responsible for prizes sent to incorrect addresses.

    4. Winners will be drawn at random by the GrownUps administration team.

    5. GrownUps employees and their immediate families are not eligible to enter.

    6. By entering, you agree to GrownUps using your name on social media as a winner of the competition.

    7. One entry per household.

    8. The prize is non-transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash or other items.

    9. You must reside in New Zealand, as the prize can only be delivered within New Zealand.

    10. You must be over 50 years of age to enter. Please ensure your membership details are up to date in your dashboard.