In an early Auckland Writers Festival appearance, the creator of Veep and The Thick of It urged network execs to resist meddling – and chipped in on the great New Zealand political pizza debate. The British creator of television including The Thick of It, Veep and I’m Alan Partridge has offered some words of advice for New Zealand commissioners hoping … Read more
George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo is the year’s most talked-about novel, and there’s much excitement that the author will appear at the Auckland Writers Festival in May. Wyoming Paul reviews what may be a masterpiece. A year into the Civil War, a tormented President Lincoln visits his 11-year-old son’s crypt in the cemetery. He holds … Read more
A lawyer has run amok at the Auckland Art Gallery at the launch of the Auckland Writers Festival. The Spinoff Review of Books was there. A glass of red wine was spilled on a guest wearing an A-line Trelise Cooper pattern dress, quite ruining it, at tonight’s launch of the Auckland Writers Festival at the Auckland … Read more
Kiran Dass interviews Dutch novelist Herman Koch, a guest at the Auckland Writers Festival. Dutch author Herman Koch writes cracking good thrilling page-turners filled with repellent and flawed characters who despise each other, are driven by sex and power and who will make you wince and laugh. In The Dinner, he examines how far two … Read more
Fiona Kidman reviews the essay collection Everywhere I Look by Helen Garner Everywhere I Look is Australian writer Helen Garner’s latest collection of essays and, like much of her former work, it’s not lacking in controversial aspects. Her early writing was like entering a soothing bath of recognition, a woman who understood the suburban condition and … Read more
Steve Braunias shares a divan with British writer Andrew O’Hagan at the Wellington writers festival. London novelist and essayist Andrew O’Hagan was in Wellington last week as a guest at the New Zealand Writers Week, and people constantly mistook him for another guy. “Look,” said the Oscar-nominated screenwriter Anthony McCarten, as O’Hagan walked into the … Read more
Many readers have imaginary relationships with their favourite authors, but few manage to turn fantasy into reality. Madeleine Chapman – who starts as a Spinoff intern in February – tells how she tried to bridge the gap between fandom and friendship with The Luminaries author Eleanor Catton. This post first appeared on Madeleine Chapman’s blog … Read more