Landfall 249 by Lynley Edmeades and David Eggleton
By Chris Reed - Otago University Press | Posted: Wednesday Jul 16, 2025
Now in its eighth decade, Landfall continues to offer a vibrant platform for literary and artistic expression in Aotearoa New Zealand. Issue 249, co-curated by poet Lynley Edmeades and reviews editor David Eggleton, reinforces the publication’s enduring reputation as the country’s most dynamic and thoughtful arts and letters journal. With its combination of striking visual art, fresh poetry and fiction, and compelling cultural criticism, this issue captures the breadth and depth of the contemporary New Zealand creative landscape.
As always, Landfall’s strength lies in its range. Seasoned voices appear alongside emerging talent, providing a textured and polyphonic reading experience. The inclusion of two full-colour art portfolios gives the volume a visual vitality that complements the written work. The striking cover image by Tia Ranginui sets the tone — richly layered, symbolically loaded, and distinctly local.
A highlight of Landfall 249 is Ava Reid’s winning essay, Two and a Half Mealworms, recipient of the Landfall Young Writers’ Essay Prize. Reid’s piece is a quietly brilliant meditation on the everyday objects we discard, the things we overlook, and the curious blend of anonymity and intimacy embedded in urban detritus. Her reflections move fluidly between personal anecdote, social observation and philosophical inquiry. Reid has a talent for turning mundane ephemera — a spilled perfume bottle, a flattened receipt — into potent cultural artefacts that reveal both the absurdity and fragility of modern life.
Editor Lynley Edmeades praises Reid’s “uncanny ability to speak from within the overlooked,” noting how her essay balances wit and melancholy, banality and insight. Indeed, Reid’s essay exemplifies what Landfall continues to do best: provide a space for creative voices that are alert to the subtleties of lived experience and responsive to the changing social and aesthetic currents of Aotearoa.
The range of poetry (including some wonderfully rich imagery from Rhian Gallagher) is staggering, and reinforces the place that New Zealand poetry holds in so many hearts - and that the skill of the modern poet is equally matched to those that have gone before. Similarly new names are peppered throughout, giving voice to young and talented writers across the nation.
Throughout the volume, readers will find work that questions, delights and disturbs. Whether it’s a poem that reimagines place, a short story infused with unease, or a critical essay that interrogates cultural assumptions, Landfall 249 proves once again that it is not merely a repository of creative work, but a living conversation.
In a media environment where critical space is increasingly eroded, Landfall remains an indispensable institution — a place where art, ideas, and language are taken seriously. This latest issue affirms its role as both a cultural witness and a creative catalyst.