Stream Light is a collection of writings detailing life in Dunedin, NZ, after Direen shifted there from a small rural town (described in companion volume Seasons (2022).

He takes us on a read through the suburbs ('Skirting'), with visits to regional Otago and Canterbury (Oamaru, Tekapo, Cave and Pukaki). Behind much of the book is another city, now largely destroyed and rebuilt, the one both Direen and illustrator Scott Flanagan once called home - Christchurch, NZ.

Detailed Notes make up a kind of autobiographical novella going back to Direen's education and early adult experiences 1970s in Christchurch. Flanagan has also provided notes to his artworks, some completed after his recovery from cancer and its treatment.

Both William (Bill) Direen and Scott Flanagan have more than estrangement from their home cities to deal with. Their works deal with grief and the steady accumulation of bereavement the longer one lives, the passage of time, illness, treatment, not forgetting health and, as with Seasons, the wonder of life, local light and nature.