“A lyrical love letter to the land” is how reviewer Linda Burgess describes Manawatu farmer, poet and performer Tim Saunders’ debut memoir This Farming Life. Further south in Central Otago, novelist, memoirist, poet and essayist Jillian Sullivan walks the hills and mountains of the Ida Valley that surround her home, conjuring her perceptive essay collection Map for the Heart. Both books provide beautifully rendered portraits of lives lived close to the land and exposed to the seasons and shine a light on the ways in which geography shapes connection. Saunders and Sullivan share stories in conversation with Mary de Ruyter.