Jane WestawayJane Westaway

Jane Westaway is a Wellington writer and reviewer, and a partner in the writing consultancy Words@Word. Her books include the YA novel Love and Other Excuses. Jane was born in Watford in 1948.

In a room with Colin Hogg and Sam Hunt, wasted

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Book of the Week: Jane Westaway reviews Colin Hogg’s portrait of poet Sam Hunt. Personal disclosure first. Sam Hunt and I crossed paths back in the 1970s and early 80s, in his Bottle Creek/Battle Hill/Death’s Corner days. His Minstrel-the-dog and first-son days. And at what he would probably dislike being dubbed his peak-celebrity days. He was … Read more

A clever, entertaining novel about a man who makes the mistake of falling in love

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Jane Westaway reviews CK Stead’s ‘thoroughly 21st century novel’ about intellectuals in Paris. Much action in the general run of literary fiction seems to be prompted by characters who make an awful mess of things. Consequently, about a third of the way in and if the writing is less than excellent, I find myself wanting … Read more

A ‘profound meditation’ YADDA YADDA YADDA: stripping away the hype about Catherine Chidgey

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The return of Catherine Chidgey has been greeted as a literary event, but her fruity, humourless prose fails to impress Jane Westaway. From time to time a reviewer strikes a novel whose external circumstances threaten to disrupt the intimate relationship between the reader and the fiction. The Wish Child – Catherine Chidgey’s first novel in … Read more