In Kin of Place, C. K. Stead addresses most of the leading New Zealand literary figures of the last decades of the twentieth century including Allen Curnow, Lauris Edmond, Kendrick Smithyman, Frank Sargeson, Janet Frame, Ian Wedde, Maurice Gee and Elizabeth Knox. Kin of Place represents a collection of perceptive, readable, opinionated comment on a wide range of local writers and writing over a long period and shows in an interesting way the evolution of Stead's critical position.