Morrall titles

I just love the titles of the books by Clare Morrall. I first read Astonishing splashes of colour when I learnt that it had been shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2003. Then I found The language of others in the Heathrow airport bookshop and read it non-stop on my journey home to New Zealand. I have just finsished her latest book The Man who disappeared and realise that I like them all for similar reasons: they are about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances or maybe extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances; her characters lead interesting lives but there are always issues that need resolving. She describes people and situations with an understanding eye and lets her readers draw their own conclusions. Insightful, I would say!

Andrea Levy

Andrea Levy, author of the Orange prize-winning novel, Small Island is in New Zealand talking about her new book The Long Song. With articles in The Herald and interviews on the radio she is gaining lots of interest and rightly so. In conversation with Carole Beau at The Raye Freedman Centre, she explained the origins of the book and its links with her family. She was both funny and serious and a pleasure to listen to.She switched her Jamaican accent off and on to read from the new book in the voices of various characters. In fact, she has recorded the audiobook herself and I am seriously considering listening instead of reading this time.

Fiction on Friday

Although today began with two history sessions; serious stuff too, a panel on Judith Binney's books and then James Belich on Replenishing the earth, it was the fiction writing that formed most of the programme and I made a list of books to request and authors to investigate:

Alligator and February by Lisa Moore (pictured left) are set in Newfoundland. Lisa's writing is sharp but sympathetic and I'd like to see how it fits with other contempoarry Canadian writers that I've enjoyed.

The good parents by Joan London, a celebrated Australian writer, sounds dark but evidently explores intimacy.

American novelist Susanna Moore started her writing life with three books set in Hawaii that explore place, family and identity. She wrote the erotic thriller In the cut filmed by Jane Campion but read from her latest book The big girls a narrative about the aftermath of a brutal murder. Not my kind of read but I'd certainly like to find out about her early autobiographical novels.

The fiction finale brought together Neil Gaiman and Margot Lanagan with chairperson Kate de Goldi in a talkfest accompanied by thunderclaps, strong winds and drumming rain - yes, the southerly came through but Neil Gaiman kept a straight face and continued talking about sinsiter things in graveyards!

Discoveries on Thursday at the Writers' Festival

The first session this morning with Geoff Dyer was very funny. I didn't know about him but North Shore Libraries does have some of his books. He is a travel writer, a columnist and a novelist who makes his readers work hard. His titles are carefully chosen to give clues about the book's content; for example Yoga for people who can't be bothered to do it and his latest Jeff in Venice, death in Varanasi which is made up of two parts with no narrative links but containing little clues and pointers to enhance the reader's understanding of the story. He was intellectual and witty and chairperson Emily Perkins was his equal.

Kamila Shamsie, author of Burnt shadows, is my choice for "best at the festival".

She has written four previous novels, collectively referred to as the Karachi novels, in which she explores the powerful legacies in the history of Pakistan; politics, war, love, family, food, flora, language, religion  and gender. Burnt shadows is an international novel, an epic narrative - a very readable one that spans 5 continents and 60 decades relating the experiences of one woman affected, indeed buffeted, by a series of historical events from Nagasaki in 1945 to 9/11 in 2001.
Kamila talked about her books and her life with Kate de Goldi for an hour that passed so quickly. She was engaging, articulate, perceptive and a worthy nominee for the Orange Prize.

Further impressions from Thursday

• Margot Lanagan shocked many in the audience
• Bill Manhire's poetry reading was moving
• Peter Singer got a full house and had many followers in his audience
• At 12 o'clock I was on Freyburg Beach in the hot sun but by 2 o'clock after the next session it was raining and my feet were cold: guess I'll remember the first two blue sky days!

Highlights from Wednesday in Wellington

• Walking along the waterfront watching the sun rise
• Emily Perkins reading from her novel in progress
• Catching up with "old" colleagues from various places
• Watching Audrey Niffenegger smile her way through a huge signing queue
• The fig icecream

Sarah Waters has written 3 novels set in Victorian times and 2 set in postwar Britain. She described The Little stranger as exploring tensions, social, cultural and personal. She likes to surprise her readers but also wants the story to be intelligent, gripping and emotionally true. Her historical settings are not meant to recreate the past but to look at it with fresh eyes. That is quite different to Sarah Dunant's approach. The Little stranger is her most recent book and was shortlisted for the Booker prize but I prefer Night watch.

Audrey Niffenegger is an author, an illustrator and a teacher and a very interesting person to listen to. She described her books as extremist but appeared to be a gentle, bashful person. Her fearful symmetry is a twenty first century take on a nineteenth century novel and took a long time to research. She even became a tour guide at Highgate Cemetry in order to understand how to write it into the story. The Time traveler's wife was a huge success but she has not and will not see the movie as she holds her own pictures in her mind. She did work very hard constructing the story so that the "rate of reveal" was just enough to keep the action rolling along. She thinks fiction is unlimited in what it can offer the reader but it must still be recognisable with a certain amount of reality.

Gala opening

Tonight was the first of 46 book related events happening in Wellington over the next six days. Kate de Goldi valiently attempted to lead four disparate writers in a conversation about the modern novel dropping several quotable remarks into the proceedings e.g. novels are adventurous wanderings in other lands, an opportunity to explore the outer reaches of human behaviour, report on experience speaking a realistic truth.
The authors spoke for themselves and failed to find any common ground; Gil Adamson said that reading novels didn't help her learn to write them, Audrey Niffenegger claimed that reading is everything. Neil Cross likes action but Kamila Shamsie is fascinated by words.
This panel introduced the authors and gave them all chance to comment on how they write their fiction but I am keen to hear Audrey Niffenegger and Kamila Shamsie in their own sessions tomorrow. They will have more time to explore the balance between reality and fantasy (Niffenegger) and between politics and domesticity (Shamsie). I won't be following up Neil Cross!

NZ Post Writers and Readers Week, Wellington

I'm off to Wellington on Tuesday to hear some wonderful authors talking about their books. I can't wait!
I have 3 days and 15 sessions covering fiction, poetry, history and contemporary issues. I have my laptop and will add posts as often as possible about what I hear and learn.
The opening session has Kamila Shamsie, Neil Cross, Gil Adamson and Audrey Niffenegger in conversation with Kate de Goldi. Watch this space!

Please add your comments too.

Summer season of international women writers

Week 2 Xinran
At Raye Freedman Arts Centre, Epsom Girls' Grammar School, Silver Road

Xinran, author of The Good women of China and Sky Burial, described her childhood and working life in China and how she stored her experiences and insights in order to write her latest book Message from an unknown Chinese mother. This book tells the stories of Chinese mothers whose daughters have been wrenched from them, and also brings us the voices of some adoptive mothers from different parts of the world. These are stories which Xinran could not bring herself to tell previously - because they were too painful and close to home. She was in tears during the interview and so were members of the audience.

Summer season of international women writers

Week One

Marina Lewycka

Sarah Dunant