The Women's Bookshop annual event with a line-up of local writers and tea tables of delicious cakes is always a wonderful event. Last Sunday's session connected diverse writers: Joan Druett, Joanne Perry, Hannah McQueen and also highlighted the commonality in female experience: Mary Paul, Gigi Fenster, Emily Perkins.
Gigi Fenster opened with the question about what makes a New Zealand book or a Jewish book? Her analysis of the contents of the story and the sensibilities of the characters made me realise that although I like a location I respond to the universal in a novel. The Intentions book is just that, being subtle and thought-provoking.
Emily Perkins closed the afternoon with an explanation of how she wanted to write a life in fiction through feelings and memory. Her descriptive snapshots of Dorothy Forrest through a long and ordinary life, explored in her latest novel The Forrests, show a depth of observation and understanding and reveal the common experiences of sisterhood, motherhood, loving and longing.
The next Litera-tea is on Sunday 4 November at the Raye Freedman Arts Centre, Epsom Girls' Grammar School with Stephanie Johnson, Paula Green, Fiona Farrell, Lynda Hallinan, Xanthe White, Jacqueline Fahey and Kate de Goldi. Tickets from The Women's Bookshop.
