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The Human Dress

Personal Essays
By Tracey Slaughter
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Brief Description
In The Human Dress, the body is an archive: it folds trauma, threat, desire and chaos into itself. But it’s also a place where one has to go on living. In her singular, astonishing prose, the award-winning Tracey Slaughter offers us the writing that has helped... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3800
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Releases 11th February 2027 (Approx. Date) Pre-order  "The Human Dress" now to secure your copy from our first shipment

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Even when a woman takes the chair in silence, the nape of her neck has something to say.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

In The Human Dress, the body is an archive: it folds trauma, threat, desire and chaos into itself. But it’s also a place where one has to go on living.

In her singular, astonishing prose, the award-winning Tracey Slaughter offers us the writing that has helped her know her past selves and keep her present self standing. Through scenes from a childhood in 1970s South Auckland, a mother’s hair salon, a stage where actors perform her work, hotel rooms, doctor’s offices, and the car crash that for a time made her life unrecognisable, she describes the desolation of losing faith in language and the joy of finding it again. Together, these fierce and intimate essays chart Slaughter’s return to herself.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781776923397

Publisher: Te Herenga Waka University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 11 February 2027

Country: New Zealand

Imprint: Te Herenga Waka University Press

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 138.0mm

Height: 210.0mm

Weight: 0g

Pages: 282

Collections

Biography & Memoir Coming Soon in Fiction Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction New Zealand and Australia Published New Zealand Biographies New Zealand Non-Fiction New Zealand Published Pre-order Books Pre-order General Fiction Pre-orders Pre-orders by Release Date Tracey Slaughter

About the Author

Tracey Slaughter was born in South Auckland, and grew up in Waikato and on the Coromandel Peninsula. She is the author of three collections of short stories – Devil’s Trumpet (2021) deleted scenes for lovers (2016), and her body rises (2005) — and two collections of poetry – The Girls in the Red House are Singing (2024) and Conventional Weapons (2019). She has also acted in plays, including Liam Hinton’s Passionfruits, winner of the Adam NZ Play Award for 2026, and On Travelling Backwards to Punish Ourselves as Ghosts, and she was drummer and vocalist in Radiobaby. Her novella The Longest Drink in Town was adapted for the theatre in 2022, and she is currently collaborating with Liam Hinton on a feature-length film adaptation. Tracey is the editor of Poetry Aotearoa, and teaches creative writing at the University of Waikato. The Human Dress is her first work of non-fiction.

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