This spectacular collection of contemporary works from 32 Maori and 12 Northwest Coast artists will coincide with a new exhibition in the Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver in February 2006. Manawa explores the cross-cultural connection, including an affinity for weaving and wood sculpture that is common to both cultures.

Forty pieces of Maori art and 20 works of Northwest Coast art have been produced especially for this publication, including mixed media by Susan Point and wood sculptures by Dempsey Bob. Each artist has also contributed stories about their artworks. Beautifully designed and produced, Manawa is a must-have for lovers of aboriginal art and those interested in cross-cultural exchange. Accompanying the art is a text by distinguished Maori and Northwest Coast writers that sets the historical context.

Nigel Reading oversees the Inuit collection at the Spirit Wrestler Gallery, particularly exhibitions of the new generation of Inuit artists.

Nigel Reading's profile page

Gary Wyatt was educated at the Alberta College of Art and the University of British Columbia, where he also interned in museum studies and Northwest Coast art at the Museum of Anthropology. He was curator of the Northwest Coast collection at the Inuit Gallery from 1987 to 1995. Since 1995 he has been a curator at the new Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver. His first book, Spirit Faces: Contemporary Masks of the Northwest Coast, was published to critical acclaim and has sold over 25,000 copies in Canada, the United States and Europe.

Gary Wyatt's profile page

• Runner-up, Alcuin Society Book Design Awards - Pictoral