Mark Sweet

Sweet, Mark (1953-) (Ngā Māhanga, Tītahi, Taranaki) is a writer living in Napier. In 1976 he graduated from Auckland University, then worked as a property valuer for ten years. During this time he lived in Hong Kong, and travelled through China. Sweet then worked in the restaurant industry until 2007, when he became a writer full-time.

Portrait and Opinion is Sweet’s first book, published under Critical Mass Press in 1999. With photographs taken by Richard Brimmer, it is described as addressing “the subject of change and its impact on the lives of 40 Hawke’s Bay residents.”

Zhu Mao was published by Huia in 2011. Zhu Mao describes the experiences of a New Zealander visiting China to return the ashes of his wife, and witnessing the political and social change of a country.

Wine: Stories from Hawke’s Bay was published by Baybuzz in 2015, for whom Sweet works as a feature writer. This book is well regarded as telling a sparsely recorded history through a lively “collection of tales”. It has been reviewed by Bob Campbell as a “well-researched piece of important wine history,” and “a great read”.

Sweet’s most recent book is The History Speech, published by Huia in 2019. Sweet draws on his own experiences as a boy growing up in Hawke’s Bay to tell a story about life in 1960’s New Zealand. Described as “a slice of Aotearoa Gothic,” by the New Zealand Book Awards Trust, the book deals with a variety of social issues, and reflects the time-specific tension between “public morality and private behaviour”. The History Speech was shortlisted for the 2020 Young Adult Fiction award in the New Zealand Book Awards.

MEDIA

Portrait and Opinion record, Hawke's Bay Archive

Wine: Stories from Hawke's Bay Review by Raymond Chan

Wine: Stories from Hawkes Bay Review by Bob Campbell

The History Speech in the 2020 New Zealand Book Awards

The History Speech Review by Katie Brazil

Mark Sweet discusses The History Speech with Riccarton High School Students