Auckland Writers

Book of the Week: Holly Walker reviews Roxane Gay’s short stories about sex, violence, and sexual violence

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Feminist writer Roxane Gay explores the female condition in her new collection of short stories. Some critics have loathed the depiction of women characters who welcome violence; reviewer Holly Walker takes another approach. Roxane Gay is good at opening sentences. Examples from her first short story collection, Difficult Women: “The stone thrower lives in a glass house … Read more

The guy who writes really good novels about totally repulsive assholes

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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

The Monday extract: Going South, by Colin Hogg

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An excerpt from Colin Hogg’s sweet, elegiac book Going South, about going on a roadtrip with his friend, the journalist Gordon (“Gordie”) McBride. The two first met at the Southland Times in Invercargill. Hogg takes up the story in chapter one… Shortly after turning 21, I packed all my records in my car and moved … Read more