160,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿 

Happy Halloween! Join us this weekend for some spooky fun and sweet treats! 🎃

To Tell a Story

Series: Canons
Brief Description
Despite their status as intellectual giants of the twentieth century, John Berger and Susan Sontag's artistic collaboration—and intense friendship—remains virtually unknown. Published for the first time, To Tell a Story offers a glimpse into their shared history that spanned nearly a quarter-century. From sources such as... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2799
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Published for the first time, John Berger and Susan Sontag's collaboration and correspondence across a quarter-century offers a rare glimpse into the minds of two intellectual giants of the twentieth century

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

Despite their status as intellectual giants of the twentieth century, John Berger and Susan Sontag's artistic collaboration—and intense friendship—remains virtually unknown.

Published for the first time, To Tell a Story offers a glimpse into their shared history that spanned nearly a quarter-century. From sources such as their eponymous film broadcast, rare personal letters and archival recordings, the composite fragments build a portrait of a relationship that was often lively and challenging, sometimes trivial, and always affectionate.

Berger and Sontag's voices echo throughout these pages, riffing off the other as they grapple with their respective concerns. Above all, their conversations reveal a deep reciprocal admiration and an exchange of ideas about storytelling, the self and society that informed their own work.

Series: Canons

View all
  • Bird by Bird
    Bird by Bird is not just a guide to writing; it's a deeply moving, insightful journey through the mind and spirit of a writer. Anne Lamott, acclaimed novelist and memoirist, shares her wealth of experience in this witty, honest, and profoundly down-to-earth book. A compendium of advice, anecdotes, and encouragement, it has remained a timeless resource for writers and aspiring...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Garden of Evening Mists
    The Garden of Evening Mists is the international bestseller shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and the winner of both the Man Asian Literary Prize and the Walter Scott Prize. Teoh Yun Ling was seventeen years old when she first heard about Aritomo and the garden. But a war would come to Malaya, and a decade would pass before she...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Gift
    The Gift by Lewis Hyde is a profound exploration of the role of creativity in a world increasingly dominated by money and materialism. At its core, this modern masterpiece delves into the very nature of a "gift" and examines how it can inspire and transform our lives, art, and culture. Hyde weaves together insights from literature, anthropology, and psychology to...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3299
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Outrun
    The Outrun by Amy Liptrot is a deeply moving memoir that beautifully narrates the journey of a woman seeking redemption and recovery amidst the rugged, untamed landscapes of the Orkney Islands. After a harrowing decade-long struggle with alcohol addiction, thirty-year-old Amy returns to her childhood home in Orkney, seeking solace and healing. In this hauntingly honest account, she immerses herself...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Hope In The Dark
    Hope In The Dark by Rebecca Solnit is an inspiring exploration of the power of hope amidst the turbulence of contemporary life. In a world often overshadowed by political unrest, environmental challenges, and social inequalities, Solnit presents a compelling argument for maintaining optimism. Through vivid storytelling and profound insight, she unveils the latent potential of social and political movements, illustrating...
    Paperback
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The First Bad Man
    The First Bad Man is a Guardian literary highlight and a Huffington Post 'One to Watch'. 'Astounding', says Lena Dunham, creator of Girls and author of Not That Kind of Girl. The First Bad Man brings together all of Miranda July's talents. It's a book that must be read and purchased in duplicate—one for you, one for a friend. Don't...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • To the River
    Over sixty years after Virginia Woolf's tragic drowning in the River Ouse, Olivia Laing embarks on a journey that intertwines the natural world with poignant reflections on life and literature. In To the River, Laing sets out to walk along the banks of this historic river, tracing its path from its source to the sea. This journey is not just...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • How to Lose a Country
    How to Lose a Country is a warning to the world that populism and nationalism don't march fully-formed into government; they creep. Award-winning author and journalist Ece Temelkuran identifies the early warning signs of this phenomenon, sprouting up across the world from Eastern Europe to South America, in order to arm the reader with the tools to recognise it and...
    Paperback
    $5300
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Under The Skin
    With an introduction by David Mitchell. Isserley spends most of her time driving. But why is she so interested in picking up hitchhikers? And why are they always male, well-built, and alone? An utterly unpredictable and macabre mystery, Under the Skin is a genre-defying masterpiece.
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    19% off
    My Father's Notebook
    When he was a boy, Aga Akbar, the illegitimate, deaf-mute son of a Persian nobleman, travelled with his uncle to a cave on nearby Saffron Mountain. Once there, he was to transcribe a cuneiform inscription over three thousand years old. Decades later, his son, Ishmael - a political dissident in exile - attempts to translate a notebook filled with a...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Abundance
    Annie Dillard has spent a lifetime examining the world around her with eyes wide open, drinking in all things intensely and relentlessly. Whether observing a sublime lunar eclipse or a moth consumed in a candle flame, the trembling of lily pads on a pond or hundreds of red-winged blackbirds taking flight, Dillard's awe at the fragility of the natural world...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    20% off
    Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
    Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West is an extraordinary blend of travel memoir and historical analysis, undertaken during a six-week journey through Yugoslavia in 1937. Spanning over 1,000 pages, this epic work offers a detailed exploration of the landscapes, cultures, and political tensions of a region on the precipice of war. West meticulously documents her travels while engaging...
    Paperback
    $4400
    Usually:
    $5500
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781837262960

Publisher: Canongate Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 12 March 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Canongate Canons

Edition: Main - Canons

Illustration: integrated black and white images throughout

Contributors:

  • Edited by Benoît Bourreau

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 10.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 134g

Pages: 160

About the Author

John Berger was born in London in 1926. His seminal Ways of Seeing was one of the most influential books on art in the twentieth century. His many books, innovative in form and far-reaching in their historical and political insight, include To the Wedding, King and the Booker Prize-winning novel, G. He died, aged ninety, in January 2017.

Susan Sontag was born in Manhattan in 1933 and studied at the universities of Chicago, Harvard and Oxford. Her non-fiction works include Against Interpretation, On Photography, Illness as Metaphor, AIDS and its Metaphors, Regarding the Pain of Others and At the Same Time. She was also the author of four novels, including The Volcano Lover and In America, as well as a collection of stories and several plays. Her books have been translated into thirty-two languages. In 2001 she was awarded the Jerusalem Prize for the body of her work and in 2003 she received the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. She died in December 2004.

Also by John Berger

View all
  • Ways of Seeing
    Based on the groundbreaking BBC television series, Ways of Seeing by John Berger is an innovative and compelling examination of how we perceive visual art. Published as part of the celebrated Penguin on Design series in Penguin Modern Classics, this book delves into the intricate relationships between art, society, and individuals. The opening premise, "Seeing comes before words. The child...
    Paperback
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Confabulations
    Confabulations is a profound exploration of language and its intrinsic ties to the human experience. Renowned writer and critic John Berger invites readers into a rich tapestry where language, thought, art, music, storytelling, and political discourse intertwine. Berger, whose work has significantly shaped our understanding of visual language, now turns his reflective eye to the fabric of language itself. Within...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Steps Towards a Small Theory of the Visible
    We live within a spectacle of empty clothes and unworn masks. In this series of remarkable pieces from across his career, John Berger celebrates and dissects the close links between art and society and the individual. Few writers give a more vivid and moving sense of how we make art and how art makes us. GREAT IDEAS. Throughout history, some...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Red Tenda of Bologna
    Fifty new books at £1 each, celebrating the pioneering spirit of the Penguin Modern Classics series, from inspiring essays to groundbreaking fiction and poetry. It's an improbable city, Bologna – like one you might walk through after you have died. A dreamlike meditation on memory, food, paintings, a fond uncle and the improbable beauty of Bologna, from the visionary thinker...
    Paperback
    $699
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Understanding a Photograph
    A selection of John Berger's writings on photography, including incredible images, edited & selected by Geoff Dyer. John Berger's writings on photography are some of the most original of the twentieth century. This selection contains many groundbreaking essays and previously uncollected pieces written for exhibitions and catalogues, in which Berger probes the work of photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Foot of Clive
    In the centre of a 1960s hospital ward sits a curtained-off bed, guarded by a policeman. In it lies a murderer, hidden from view and likely to die before he can be hanged for his crime. In the closed, regimented society of the ward, his invisible presence fractures and rebuilds the way the other patients see the world. In the...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • From A to X
    In the dusty, ramshackle town of Suse lives A'ida. Her insurgent husband Xavier has been imprisoned. Resolute, sensuous, and tender, A'ida's letters to the man she loves tell of daily events in the town, and of its motley collection of inhabitants whose lives flow through hers. But the town is under threat, and as a faceless power inexorably encroaches from...
    Paperback
    $5700
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Hold Everything Dear
    From the War on Terror to resistance in Ramallah and traumatic dislocation in the Middle East, Berger explores the uses of art as an instrument of political resistance. Visceral and passionate, Hold Everything Dear is a profound meditation on the far extremes of human behaviour, and the underlying despair. Looking at Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq, he makes an impassioned attack...
    Paperback
    $3699
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Case Closed! Neuroanatomy
    This carefully-designed textbook offers a brand-new approach to learning neuroanatomy for medical students and newly-qualified doctors, particularly those considering a career in neurology and neurosurgery. Promoting active learning and taking inspiration from other popular case-based formats, readers are encouraged to overcome their inherent ‘neurophobia’. The accessible text and practical examples, unencumbered by esoteric minutiae, support students and trainees in developing...
    Paperback
    $9199
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Corker's Freedom
    John Berger brings us this tender and bittersweet novel, Corker's Freedom. It is a book of dreams of freedom and romance, dreams that intoxicate and redeem, dreams that have the power to exalt their dreamers or dash them against hard truth. It is the unforgettable, often comical portrait of a dreamer, one William Corker, the genteel proprietor of a London...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Goya's Last Portrait/A Question of Geography
    Goya’s Last Portrait presents the artist struggling to comprehend the relationship between his life and his work. Having painted humanity at its most violent and depraved amid the horrors of war, and also depicted the vibrancy of aristocratic life, Goya faces an overwhelming question: Has he changed the world or merely caught its reflection? The Question of Geography is set...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Moment of Cubism
    John Berger is one of the most passionate and incisive writers on the relationship between art and politics. Whether looking at Vermeer in his studio, or Poussin's poignant meditation on death, the contradictions of Rodin's sculpture, Berger was always able to see the threads that bound the individual life, their passion for creativity and the social and political contexts they...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Also by Susan Sontag

View all
  • Notes on Camp
    In Notes on Camp, Susan Sontag explores the intriguing and often misunderstood aesthetic of "camp," delving into the reasons why certain art forms, fashion, and cultural expressions resonate uniquely with audiences. Through incisive analysis and sharp insights, Sontag unravels the complex interplays between taste, irony, and exaggerated style. This essay is a compelling exploration of the pseudo-serious, the extravagant, and...
    Paperback
    $699
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Against Interpretation and Other Essays
    Against Interpretation and Other Essays is a landmark collection that showcases the formidable intellect and insightful critique of Susan Sontag. Originally published in 1966, this collection has never gone out of print and continues to resonate with readers around the world due to its timeless exploration of art, culture, and thought. As Sontag's first collection of essays, it firmly established...
    Paperback
    $3200
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Women
    On Women brings together Susan Sontag's most fearless and incisive writing on women, a crucial aspect of her work that has not until now received the attention it deserves. For the most part written in the 1970s during the height of second-wave feminism, Sontag's essays are strikingly relevant to our contemporary conversations. At times powerfully in sync and at others...
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors
    Illness as Metaphor is an examination of the fantasies concocted around conditions such as cancer and tuberculosis in our cultural history. Susan Sontag argues that illness is not a metaphor and that the most truthful way of regarding illness—and the healthiest way of being ill—is to resist such thinking. Her examples of metaphors and images of illness are taken from...
    Paperback
    $3600
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Styles of Radical Will
    Styles of Radical Will is Susan Sontag's second collection of groundbreaking essays, now available in Penguin Modern Classics. This collection features some of the most significant pieces of criticism from the twentieth century. Among them are the classics "The Aesthetics of Silence," offering a brilliant account of language, thought, and consciousness, and "Trip to Hanoi," penned during the Vietnam War....
    Paperback
    $3400
    Elsewhere:
    $3700
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Volcano Lover
    The Volcano Lover is an enchanting, always interesting, and always entertaining book. It has been described as "a big, old-fashioned broth of a book" by John Banville in The New York Times. The British Ambassador at the court of Naples has only two passions: his precious art collection, and his fascination with volcanoes. This changes when he agrees to care...
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $2900
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Photography
    The most original and illuminating study of the subject New Yorker How do we see the world around us? The Penguin on Design series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings on art, design, and the media have changed our vision forever. Susan Sontag's groundbreaking critique of photography asks forceful questions about the moral and aesthetic issues surrounding this...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Under the Sign of Saturn
    New to Penguin Modern Classics for Sontag's exploration of the most important artists of our time. Under the Sign of Saturn, Susan Sontag's third essay collection, brings together her most important critical writing from 1972 to 1980. In these provocative and hugely influential works, she explores some of the most controversial artists and thinkers of our time. This collection includes...
    Paperback
    $3200
    Elsewhere:
    $3500
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Photography
    Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism A new edition of Susan Sontag's groundbreaking critique of photography—its problems, politics, and possibilities. "To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed," Sontag writes in the opening pages of On Photography, which went on to influence generations of theorists, film critics, and readers everywhere. Originally published in the 1970s, her...
    Paperback
    $5300
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Against Interpretation
    A reissue of Susan Sontag's classic first collection, featuring some of her most beloved writing—on art, life, camp, and criticism—that cemented her legacy as one of the brightest thinkers of, and beyond, her generation. Susan Sontag is widely regarded as one of the most formidable, original, and influential writers of the last century. Against Interpretation is a modern classic, her...
    Paperback
    $5500
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Regarding the Pain of Others
    A brilliant, clear-eyed consideration of the visual representation of violence in our culture—its ubiquity, meanings, and effects. Considered one of the greatest critics of her generation, Susan Sontag followed up her monumental On Photography with an extended study of human violence, reflecting on a question first posed by Virginia Woolf in Three Guineas: How in your opinion are we to...
    Paperback
    $5100
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Stories
    Complete collected stories from one of the most brilliant & influential writers of the twentieth century. Susan Sontag is most often remembered as a brilliant essayist—inquiring, analytical, fearlessly outspoken. Yet all throughout her life, she also wrote short stories—fictions which wrestled with those ideas and preoccupations she couldn't address in essay form. These short fictions are allegories, parables, autobiographical vignettes,...
    Paperback
    Sold Out

More from Arts & Culture

View all
  • Dylan's Pick
    Bold Types
    A tribute to 32 truly independent bookshops throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, from north of Auckland down to Dunedin, and coast to coast. Jane Ussher's photographs show every bookstore in its unique nature - including behind the counter, smoko rooms, the mess which tells the hardworking story behind the joy of matching books with customers. Jemma Moreira's careful editing has crafted...
    Hardback
    $5999
    Elsewhere:
    $7000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    I’ll Believe in Anything
    From Jacob Tierney, the creator of Heated Rivalry, in partnership with Brendan Brady and Accent Aigu, comes I’ll Believe in Anything, an official and complete collection of annotated scripts for the biggest cultural sensation of the year, with all new exclusive behind-the-scenes content.Based on Rachel Reid’s blockbuster Game Changers book series, Heated Rivalry premiered on Crave and HBO in late 2025 and immediately took the world by storm. I’ll...
    Hardback
    $5499
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    16% off
    New Release
    Home Again
    Join rock-legend, former Shihad frontman and lead singer of The Adults, Jon Toogood in this unflinching and no-holds-barred memoir Home Again.This is more than a rock story. Toogood looks back on a 37-year career that helped define New Zealand rock music, and the personal cost that came with it. From a music-obsessed childhood in Wellington to the deafening roar of international stages, this...
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    20% off
    The Odyssey
    Composed at the rosy-fingered dawn of world literature almost three millennia ago, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage and family; about travellers, hospitality, and the yearning for home. This fresh, authoritative translation captures the beauty of this ancient poem as well as the drama of its narrative....
    By Homer
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $3599
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook
    Embark on a culinary adventure with Moana of Motunui with Pacific recipes inspired by Moana and Moana 2! After a long day of sailing to see how far you’ll go or keeping the demigod Maui out of trouble with Te Fiti, catch a break with the delicious dishes in Moana: The Official Cookbook! Featuring more than 50 recipes spanning the...
    Hardback
    $4499
    Elsewhere:
    $5299
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    21% off
    The Iliad
    When Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey appeared in 2017—revealing the ancient poem in a contemporary idiom that was "fresh, unpretentious and lean" (Madeline Miller, Washington Post)—critics lauded it as "a revelation" (Susan Chira, New York Times) and "a cultural landmark" (Charlotte Higgins, Guardian) that would forever change how Homer is read in English. Now Wilson has returned with an...
    By Homer
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    A Life in Lyrics
    Freddie Mercury was one of the greatest showmen of the twentieth century. With his unparalleled voice and searing on-stage energy, he was a great pretender, a killer queen and a champion of the world. But behind the glamour lived a musician and lyricist talented beyond measure, and the creative force behind one of the most culturally significant and musically diverse...
    Hardback
    $5000
    Elsewhere:
    $6500
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Birdlands Birdlands
    New Release
    Birdlands
    A rare, intimate journey into the wild islands where Aotearoa's birds live beyond the reach of most human lives. In the most remote outposts of Aotearoa, our islands are populated not with people, but with birds. From the storm-lashed Subantarctic Islands in the deep south to the scattered volcanic islands of Tikapa Moana/Hauraki Gulf in the north, Birdlands offers a...
    Hardback
    $4199
    Elsewhere:
    $5000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    21% off
    This Angry Pen of Mine
    This Angry Pen of Mine by Layne Staley invites you to dive into the untold creative world of Layne Staley, the legendary voice behind Alice in Chains. This extraordinary collection showcases his handwritten lyrics, deeply personal poetry, stunning original artwork, rare photos, fan tributes, and so much more. Step into the world of Layne Staley like never before. For the...
    Hardback
    $5800
    Elsewhere:
    $8999
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Artist's Way
    The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron is a transformative guidebook that has captivated millions, including luminaries such as Elizabeth Gilbert and Tim Ferriss. With its profound ability to inspire and elevate, this book invites readers to embark on an enriching creative journey, fostering a deeper connection to one's artistic process and sense of purpose. The heart of Cameron's groundbreaking programme...
    Paperback
    $3700
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Beautiful Chaos
    New Release
    Beautiful Chaos
    Featuring five exclusive new poems, this stunning foil-embossed hardback edition is a collector's item and a gorgeous gift. The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller. Selected poems on motherhood from bestselling author and Instagram poet, Jessica Urlichs. 'Reading Jess's poems makes me feel like she's somehow reached into my own personal reflections and articulated them in a way I never could.' –...
    Hardback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Mah Jong Player's Companion
    Since the arrival on the market of Patricia Thompson and Betty Maloney's two previous books, The Game of Mah Jong Illustrated and Improve Your Mah Jong, a wide range of hands from many parts of the world has been sent to them. In this player's companion, the authors have put together a cross-filled reference guide where over 120 hands, illustrated...
    Paperback
    $1999
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 160,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.