Revolutions Per Minute: The Counterculture in NZ 1960 - 1975

A Friends of the Turnbull Library event.

Do you remember the 1960s and 1970s? Nick Bollinger is a Wellington freelance writer and researcher working on a book chronicling the development of the counterculture in New Zealand. His book will trace the roots of countercultural ideas, showing how these were disseminated in this country, how they intersected and diverged.

Nick Bollinger is a Wellington freelance writer & researcher. He was awarded a FoTL Research Grant this year, to work on a book chronicling the development of the counterculture in New Zealand 1960-1975. The term counterculture originated in the 1960s and became widely used to identify a collection of groups and individuals broadly sharing a belief in an alternative society. His book will trace the roots of countercultural ideas, showing how these were disseminated in this country, how they intersected and diverged.

It will look critically at how these ideas evolved in practice, how some flourished and others failed, and the effect these had on New Zealand society as a whole, at the time and up to the present day While noting there has been some published writing and academic work on individual aspects of the counterculture, Nick saw a gap and a demand for a book drawing these multiple strands together in a compelling narrative.

His research examines existing interviews, periodicals, photographs, letters and personal memoirs, many held by the Turnbull, and he has been interviewing key figures throughout the research period. Don’t miss this lively public talk on 12 November.

Nick Bollinger is a Wellington freelance writer, a researcher, and a regular presenter on RNZ National. Nick is the author of several books including 100 essential New Zealand albums (2009) How to listen to pop music (2004) and Goneville: a memoir (2016), winner of the Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing.