Since Katherine Mansfield wrote some of her greatest stories on the Riviera, France has occupied a place in the imagination of New Zealand writers and readers. This anthology includes memoirs, stories and poems written in France by some of New Zealand's greatest writers - among them Janet Frame, Allen Curnow, James K. Baxter and Michael King. During the same period, French writers have, in turn, visited New Zealand and their imaginative engagement with this place is also represented. Not only has the experience of New Zealanders living in France enriched this country's literature; French writers are having a comparable experience of New Zealand. The Colour of Distance samples the traffic in both directions. Herein lies the proof that traveling 18,000 kilometres can make you see more vividly both the place of origin and the adopted home.

Contributors: Fleur Adcock, Peter Bland, Jenny Bornholdt, Charles Brasch, Nigel Cox, Allen Curnow, Geoff Cush, Blaise Cendrars, Catherine Chidgey, Stephanie de Montalk, Lauris Edmond, Riemke Ensing, Janet Frame, Pierre Furlan, Michael Gifkins, Michael Harlow, Dinah Hawken, Dylan Horrocks, Witi Ihimaera , Michael Jackson, Louis Johnson, Stephanie Johnson, Andrew Johnston, Lloyd Jones, M. K. Joseph, Charles Juliet, Michael King, Alan Knowles, Elizabeth Knox, Denis Lalanne, Mary Macpherson, Bill Manhire, Katherine Mansfield, Cilla McQueen, Vincent O'Sullivan, Frederick Page, Nadine Ribault, Elizabeth Smither, C. K. Stead, Ian Wedde, Damien Wilkins