2009 was a particularly rich and diverse year for New Zealand literature, with the publication of significant works by many established authors and the emergence of several new and promising voices. Experimentation with form and a joyful celebration of the act of creation are a hallmark of much of this year’s bibliography. The first decade of the twenty-first century continues to be distinguished by a range of genres and forms – realist, mythic, fantastical and historical modes remain particularly popular – and, in some authors’ work, by a movement away from New Zealand settings to other, actual or imagined, locations.