Welcome to american.nz!
I’m Dan Keane, an American writer in Aotearoa New Zealand. I write letters home—to both countries. Subscribe and you’ll receive a letter each Wednesday in the US, or Thursday in NZ. Down here we live in the future.
If you enjoy what you read, consider a paid subscription! It’s cheap, about the price of a coffee each month, and your support really helps this project happen. Paid subscribers receive weekly letters plus full access to the archives, including deep-dive Kiwiana explainers on the nation’s favorite ice cream tub, ketchup vs. tomato sauce, and the weird joy of island vertigo.
Heading South?
If you’re an American thinking about moving to New Zealand, I’d love to talk with you about the journey ahead. Founding Subscribers receive weekly letters, the full archive, and a one-on-one consultation about anything and everything NZ.
How can I help? My family and I have been here five years now, and before that I’ve lived in seven countries on four continents, writing and teaching the whole time. I study the American expat experience here in NZ and beyond. I’m not an immigration lawyer, or a tax accountant, though of course my family deals with both questions! I’m a story man, and lifelong wanderer. I can help you think through questions big and small about nation, identity, restlessness, homesickness, the logistics of moving young kids, and moving your own American soul—all the ups and downs of expat/immigrant life, and what never to bring to a Kiwi potluck. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and just need a real dude on the ground, I’m your man. Drop me a line at dan@american.nz and let’s talk.
Who am I?
I’m a writer, journalist, teacher, and now a PhD candidate in creative writing at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. My work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Washington Post, Harper’s, North & South, McSweeney’s, ChinaFile, Zoetrope, The Austin Chronicle, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading, among others. I’m a former Bolivia correspondent for The Associated Press, and covered the U.S.-Mexico border for The Big Bend Sentinel in Marfa, Texas. I grew up in Tempe, Arizona, sister city to NZ’s own Lower Hutt. We live just over the hill in the Wairarapa. Maybe this was fate.
What’s with Superman?
That’s Superman and Wanganui Hills (1994), by NZ artist Graham Kirk, used with his generous permission. Kirk’s got a whole series of American icons superimposed on Kiwi landmarks, with the familiar heroes quite lost but swaggering on anyhow. They’ve been my daemon for these letters from the jump. Thanks, Graham!
